CHEMICAL NEWS,
August 27, 1875.
be by human power; to have applied pulleys and capstans,
such as would now be employed in similar undertakings,
would have been mere waste of time. In some countries,
even now, where manual labour is more plentiful than
mechanical appliances, large numbers of men are employed
to transport heavy weights, and do the work in less time
than it could be done with all our modern mechanical
appliances. In other operations, such as raising obelisks,
or the large stones used in their temple palaces, where
human labour could not be applied to such advantage, it
is quite possible that the Egyptians used mechanical aids.
On one of the carved slabs which formed part of the wall
Panelling of the palace of Sardanapalus, which was built
about 930 years before our era, a single pulley is clearly
shown, by which a man is in the act of raising a bucket-
Probably drawing water from a well.*

British Association.-The President's Address.

It has sometimes been que-tioned whether the Egyptians had a knowledge of steel. It seems unreasonable to deny them this knowledge. times of which we have any record. It is often mentioned Iron was known at the earliest in the Bible, and in Homer; it is shown in the early paintings on the walls of the tombs at Thebes, where butchers are represented as sharpening their knives on pieces of metal coloured blue, which were most probably pieces of steel.+ Iron has been found in quantity in the ruined palaces of Assyria; and in the inscriptions of that country fetters are spoken of as having been made of iron, which is also so mentioned in connection with other metals as to lead to the supposition that it was regarded as a base and common metal. Moreover, in the Great Pyramid a piece of iron was found in a place where for 5000 years. The tendency of iron to oxidise must must have lain render its preservation for any long period rare and exceptional. The quality of iron which is now made by the native races of Africa and India is that which is known as wrought iron in ancient times, Dr. Percy says the iron which was made was always wrought iron. It is very nearly pure iron, and a very small addition of carbon would convert it into steel. Dr. Percy says the extraction of good malleable iron directly from the ore "requires a degree of skill very far inferior to that which is implied in the manufacture of bronze." || secret in making steel: the natives of India now make And there is no great excellent steel in the most primitive way, which they have practised from time immemorial. When steel is to be made, the proportion of charcoal used with a given quantity of ore is somewhat larger, and the blast is applied more slowly than when wrought iron is the metal required. Thus, a vigorous native working the bellows of skin would make wrought iron where a lazy one would have made steel. The only apparatus required for the manufacture of the finest steel from iron ore is some clay for making a small furnace 4 feet high, and from 1 to 2 feet broad, some charcoal for fuel, and a skin with a bamboo tuyere for creating the blast.

The supply of iron in India as early as the fourth and fifth centuries seems to have been unlimited. The iron pillar of Delhi is a remarkable work for such an early period. It is a single piece of wrought iron 50 ft. in length, and it weighs not less than 17 tons. How the Indians forged this large mass of iron and other heavy pieces which their distrust of the arch led them to use in the construction of roofs, we do not know. temples of Orissa iron was used in large masses as beams In the or girders in roof-work in the thirteenth century." The influence of the discovery of iron on the progress of art and science cannot be over-estimated. India well repaid any advantage which she may have derived from

Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains," vol. ii., p. 31.

+ Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," vol. iii., p. 247.
Vyse's Pyramids of Gizeh," vol. i., p. 275.

Percy's "Iron and Steel," p. 873.

§ Ibid., p. 259.

**

89

the early civilised communities of the West if she were the first to supply them with iron and steel.

parison of the relative conditions of India and this country at the present time. India, from thirty to forty centuries An interesting social problem is afforded by a comgoods, which manufactures, in less than a century, have done so much for this country. ago, was skilled in the manufacture of iron and cotton coal is not so abundant or so universally distributed as in China had probably knowledge of the use of metals as It is true that in India this country. Yet, if we look still further to the East, iron and coal. described some of the coalfields of China, believes that soon as India, and moreover had a boundless store of Baron Richthofen, who has visited and thousand years. one province alone, that of Southern Shansi, could supply abounds with it. the world at its present rate of consumption for several visited towards the end of the fourteenth century, and universally used as fuel in the parts of China which he The coal is near the surface, and iron from other sources we have reason to believe it was used Marco Polo tells us that coal was there as fuel 2000 years ago. undoubtedly in store for that country; but can the race who now dwell there develop its resources, or must they China made in the last ten centuries? But what progress has await the aid of an Aryan race? Or is anything more A great future is necessary than a change of institutions, which might come unexpectedly, as in Japan?

Fergusson's "History of Architecture," vol. ii, p. 460; and "Rude Stone Monuments," pp. 481-3. Cunningham's "Archæological Survey of India," vol. i., p. 169.

** Hunter's "Orissa," vol. i., p. 298,

The art of extracting metals from the ore was practised ago of tin mines in Cornwall, which are so often spoken at a very early date in this country. The existence long of by classical writers, is well known to all. was also extracted from the ore by the ancient Britons is That iron worked iron extensively in the Weald of Kent, as we most probable, as it was largely used for many purposes by them before the Roman conquest. coins which still remain there. The Romans availed themselves of the mineral wealth of the countries assume from the large heaps of slag containing Roman often carried out on the largest scale, as in Spain, for The Romans always which they conquered, and their mining operations were regularly employed in the mines at New Carthage." instance, where as many as forty thousand miners were

been largely used for iron smelting until the eighteenth
Coal, which was used for ordinary purposes in England
century, though a patent was granted for smelting iron
as early as the ninth century, does not appear to have
that purpose was not given up until the beginning of this
century, since which period an enormous increase in the
with coal in the year 1611.+
mining and metallurgical industries has taken place; the
The use of charcoal for
quantity of coal raised in the United Kingdom in 1873
having amounted to 127 million tons, and the quantity of
pig iron to upwards of 63 million tons.

spent on the erection of tombs, temples, and palaces.
The early building energy of the world was chiefly

stone had 5000 years ago reached the greatest perfection,
While, in Egypt, as we have seen, the art of building in
only available material in that country, was in an equally
advanced state some ten centuries later.
so in Mesopotamia the art of building with brick, the
of such a material have lasted to this day shows how well
owing to their having served as quarries for the last three
the work was done; their ruinous condition even now is
That buildings
nezzar, apparently one of the greatest builders of ancient
times, is as common on the bricks of many modern towns
or four thousand years, so that the name of Nebuchad-
in Persia as it was in old times in Babylon. The labour
required to construct the brick temples and palaces of
Chaldæa and Assyria must have been enormous.
mound of Koyunjik alone contained 14 million tons,
The
and represents the labour of 10,000 men for twelve years.
The palace of Sennacherib, which stood on this mound,
was probably the largest ever built by any one monarch,
•Strabo, Bk. iii., c. ii., sec. 10.

Iron and Steel," p. 882.

90

British Association.- The President's Address.

containing as it did more than two miles of walls,
panelled with sculptured alabaster slabs, and twenty-
seven portals, formed by colossal bulls and sphinxes.*
The pyramidal temples of Chaldæa are not less
remarkable for the labour bestowed on them, and far
surpass the buildings of Assyria in the excellence of
their brickwork.

The practice of building great pyramidal temples seems to have passed eastwards to India and Burmah, where it appears in buildings of a later date, in Buddhist topes and pagodas; marvels of skill in masonry, and far surpassing the old brick moulds of Chaldæa in richness of design and in workmanship. Even so late as this century a king of Burmah began to build a brick temple of the old type, the largest building, according to Fergusson, which has been attempted since the Pyramids.t

The mere magnitude of many of these works is not so wonderful when we take into account the abundance of labour which those rulers could command. Countries were depopulated, and their inhabitants carried off and made to labour for the conquerors. The inscriptions of Assyria describe minutely the spoils of war and the number of captives; and in Egypt we have frequent mention made of works being executed by the labour of captive peoples. Herodotus tells us that as many as 360,000 men were employed in building one palace for Sennacherib.‡ At the same time, it must not be forgotten that the very character of the multitude would demand from some one the skill and brain to organise and direct, to design and plan the work.

It would be surprising if men who were capable of undertaking and successfully completing unproductive works of such magnitude did not also employ their powers on works of a more useful class. Traces still remain of such works; enough to show, when compared with the scanty records of the times which have come down to us, that the prosperity of such countries as Egypt and Mesopotamia was not wholly dependent on war and conquest, but that the reverse was more likely the case, and that the natural capabilities of those countries were greatly enlarged by the construction of useful works of such magnitude as to equal, if not in some cases surpass, those of modern times.

Far more

Egypt was probably far better irrigated in the days of the Pharaohs than it is now. To those unacquainted with the difficulties which must be met with and overcome before a successful system of irrigation can be carried out, even in countries in which the physical conditions are favourable, it may appear that nothing more is required than an adequate supply of unskilled labour. than this was required: the Egyptians had some knowledge of surveying, for Eustathius says they recorded their marches on maps; but such knowledge was probably in those days very limited, and it required no ordinary grasp of mind to see the utility of such extensive works as were carried out in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and, having seen the utility, to successfully design and execute them. To cite one in Egypt-Lake Moris, of which the remains have been explored by M. Linant, was a reservoir made by one of the Pharaohs, and supplied by the flood waters of the Nile. It was 150 square miles in extent, and was retained by a bank or dam 60 yards wide and 10 high, which can be traced for a distance of thirteen miles. This reservoir was capable of irrigating 1200 square miles of country.§ No work of this class has been undertaken on so vast a scale since, even in these days of great works.

The prosperity of Egypt was in so great a measure dependent on its great river, that we should expect that the Egyptians, a people so advanced in art and science,

Layard's "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 589.

+ Fergusson's "History of Architecture," vol. ii., p. 523. Rawlinson's "Herodotus," vol. i., p. 389, second edition. Rawlinson's "Herodotus," vol. ii, p. 278, second edition. § M. Linant's "Mémoire sur le lac Moris.

CHEMICAL NEWS,
August 27, 1875.

would at an early period have made themselves acquainted with its regimé. We know that they carefully registered the height of the annual rise of its waters; such registers still remain inscribed on the rocks on the banks of the Nile, with the name of the king in whose reign they were made.* The people of Mesopotamia were equally observant of the regime of their great rivers, and took advantage in designing their canals of the different periods of the rising of the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates. A special officer was appointed in Babylon, whose duty it was to measure the rise of the river; and he is mentioned in an inscription found in the ruins of that city, as recording the height of the water in the temple of Bel.+ The Assyrians, who had a far more difficult country to deal with, owing to its rocky and uneven surface, showed even greater skill than the Babylonians in forming their canals, tunnelling through rock, and building dams of masonry across the Euphrates. While the greater number of these canals in Egypt and Mesopotamia were made for the purpose of irrigation, others seem to have been made to serve at the same time for navigation. Such was the canal which effected a junction between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, which was a remarkable work, having regard to the requirements of the age in which it was made. Its length was about 80 miles; its width admitted of two triremes passing one another.‡ At least one of the navigable canals of Babylonia, attributed to Nebuchadnezzar, can compare in extent with any work of later times. I believe Sir H. Rawlinson has traced the canal to which I allude throughout the greater part of its course, from Hit on the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf, a distance of between four and five hundred miles. It is a proof of the estimation in which such works were held in Babylonia and Assyria, that, among the titles of the god Vul were those of "Lord of Canals," and "The Establisher of Irrigation Works."§

The springs of knowledge which had flowed so long in Babylonia and Assyria were dried up at an early period. With the fall of Babylon and destruction of Nineveh the settled population of the fertile plains around them disappeared, and that which was desert before man led the waters over it became desert again, affording a wide field for, and one well worthy of, the labours of engineers to come.

Such was not the case with Egypt. Long after the period of its greatest prosperity was reached, it remained the fountain head from whence knowledge flowed to Greece and Rome. The philosophers of Greece and those who, like Archimedes, were possessed of the best mechanical knowledge of the time, repaired to Egypt to study and obtain the foundation of their knowledge from thence.

Much as Greece and Rome were indebted to Egypt, it will probably be found, as the inscribed tablets met with in the mounds of Assyria and Chaldæa are deciphered, that the later civilisations owe, if not more, at least as much, to those countries as to Egypt. This is the opinion of Mr. Smith, who, in his work describing his recent interesting discoveries in the East, says that the classical nations "borrowed far more from the valley of the Euphrates than that of the Nile." T

In the science of astronomy, which in these days is making such marvellous discoveries, Chaldæa was undoubtedly pre-eminent. Among the many relics of these ancient peoples which Mr. Smith has recently brought to this country is a portion of a metal astrolabe from the palace of Sennacherib, and a tablet on which is recorded the division of the heavens according to the four seasons, and the rule for regulating the intercalary month of the year. Not only did the Chaldeans map out the heavens * Lepsius's "Discoveries in Egypt," &c., p. 268.

↑ Smith's "Assyrian Discoveries," pp. 395-7, second edition.
"Herodotus," Bk. ii., c. clviii.

Rawlinson's "Herodotus," vol. i., p. 420, second edition.
§ Ibid., p. 498.

Smith's (G.) "Assyrian Discoveries," p. 451, second edition

92

British Association.-The President's Address.

art, when widespread lands were again united under the sway of powerful rulers. Science owes much to Arab scholars, who kept and handed on to us the knowledge acquired so slowly in ancient times, and much of which would have been lost but for them. Still, few useful works remain to mark the supremacy of the Mohammedan power at all comparable to those of the age which preceded its rise.

A great building age began in Europe in the tenth century, and lasted through the thirteenth. It was during this period that these great ecclesiastical buildings were erected, which are not more remarkable for artistic excellence than for boldness in design.

While the building of cathedrals progressed on all sides in Europe, works of a utilitarian character, which concern the engineer, did not receive such encouragement, excepting perhaps in Italy:

From the twelfth to the thirteenth centuries, with the revival of the arts and sciences in the Italian republics, many important works were undertaken for the improvement of the rivers and harbours of Italy. In 1481 canal locks were first used; and some of the earliest of which we have record were erected by Leonardo da Vinci, who would be remembered as a skilful engineer had he not left other greater and more attractive works to claim the homage of posterity.

The great use that has since been made of this simple means of transferring floating vessels from one water level to another, in connection not only with inland navigation, but in all the great ports and harbours of the world, renders it all the more deserving of remark.

In India, under the Moguls, irrigation works, for which they had a natural aptitude, were carried on during these centuries with vigour, and more than one emperor is noted for the numerous great works of this nature which he carried out. If the native records can be trusted, the number of hydraulic works undertaken by some rulers is surprising. Tradition relates that one king, who reigned in Orissa in the twelfth century, made one million tanks or reservoirs, besides building sixty temples, and erecting numerous other works.†

In India, the frequent overflow of the great rivers, and the periodical droughts, which rendered irrigation necessary, led to extensive protective works being undertaken at an early period; but as these works have been maintained by successive rulers, Mogul and Mohammedan, until recent times, and have not been left for our inspection, deserted and useless for 3000 years or more, as is often the case in Egypt and Mesopotamia, there is more difficulty in ascertaining the date of such works in India.

Works of irrigation were among the earliest attempts at engineering undertaken by the least civilised inhabitants in all parts of the world. Even in Australia, where savages are found as low as any in the scale of civilisation, traces of irrigation works have been found. These works, however, must be taken to show that the natives were once somewhat more civilised than we now find them. In Feejee, our new possession, the natives occasionally irrigate their land, and have executed a work of a higher class, a canal some two miles long and sixty feet wide, to shorten the distance passed over by their canoes. The natives of New Caledonia irrigate their, fields with great skill. In Peru, the Incas excelled in irrigation as in other great and useful works, and constructed most admirable underground conduits of masonry for the purpose of increasing the fertility of the land.¶

It is frequently easier to lead water where it is wanted "Under the last of the house of Ommiyah (750 A.D.) one command

was obeyed almost along the whole diameter of the known world, from the banks of the Sihon to the utmost promontory of Portugal."Hallam's "Middle Ages," vol. ii., p. 120, 2nd edition.

King Bhim Deo, A.D. 1174, 60 temples, 10 bridges, 40 wells stone cased, 152 landing stairs, and one million tanks.-Hunter's "Orissa," vol. i., p. 100.

Erskine's "Western Pacific," p. 171.

Seeman, p. 82.

$ Erskine's "Western Pacific," p. 355. Markham's "Cieza" (note

{CHEMICAL NEWS,

August 27, 1875.

than to check its irruption into places where its presence is an evil, often a disaster. For centuries the existence of a large part of Holland has been dependent on the skill of man. How soon he began in that country to contest with the sea the possession of the land we do not know, but early in the twelfth century dykes were constructed to keep back the ocean. As the prosperity of the country increased with the great extension of its commerce, and land became more valuable and necessary for an increasing population, very extensive works were undertaken. Land was reclaimed from the sea, canals were cut, and machines were designed for lifting water. To the practical knowledge acquired by the Dutch, whose method of carrying out hydraulic works is original and of native growth, much of the knowledge of the present day in embanking, and draining, and canal making is due. The North Holland Canal* was the largest navigable canal in existence until the Suez Canal was completed; and the Dutch have just now nearly finished making a sea canal from Amsterdam to the North Sea, which, though not equal to the Suez Canal in length, will be as great in width and depth, and involves perhaps larger and more important works of art. This country was for many years beholden to the Dutch for help in carrying out hydraulic works. In the seventeenth century much fen land in the Eastern Counties was drained by Dutch labour, directed by Dutch engineers, among whom Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, an old campaigner of the Thirty Years' War, and a colonel of horse under Cromwell, is the most noted.

While the Dutch were acquiring practical knowledge in dealing with water, and we in Britain, among others, were benefiting by their experience, the disastrous results which ensued from the inundations caused by the Italian rivers of the Alps gave a new importance to the science of hydraulics. Some of the greatest philosopeers of the seventeenth century-among them Torricelli, a pupil of Galileof-were called upon to advise and to superintend engineering works. Nor did they confine themselves to the construction of preventive works, but thorougly investigated the condition pertaining to fluids at rest or in motion, and gave to the world a valuable series of work on hydraulics and hydraulic engineering, which form the basis of our knowledge of these subjects at the present day.

Some of the best scientific works (prior to the nineteenth century) on engineering subjects we owe to Italian and French writers. The writings of Belidor, an officer of artillery in France in the seventeenth century, who did not, however, confine himself to military subjects, drew attention to engineering questions. Not long after their appearance the Ponts et Chauséest were established, which has maintained ever since a body of able men specially educated for, and devoted to, the prosecution of industrial works.

The impulse given to road-making in the early part of the last century soon extended to canals and means for facilitating locomotion and transport generally. Tramways were used in connection with mines at least as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, but the rails were, in those days, of wood. The first iron rails are said to have been laid in this country as early as 1738; after which time their use was gradually extended, until it became general in mining districts.

By the beginning of this century the great ports of England were connected by a system of canals; and new harbour works became necessary, and were provided, to accommodate the increase of commerce and trade, which improved means of internal transport had rendered possible. It was in the construction of these works that our own Brindley and Smeaton, Telford and Rennie, and other engineers of their time, did so much.

But it was not until the steam-engine, improved and almost created by the illustrious Watt, became such a

*North Holland Canal, finished in 1825.
+ Galileo, b. 1564; Torricelli, b. 1608.
Ponts et Chaussées, established 1720.