Chapter VII: The Universal Medicine and the Elixir of Life (3)

Now, we know, by the laws of mechanics, that, whatever be the construction of a machine, the space passed over by the weight, is to that passed over by the moving power, in the reciprocal ratio of the latter to the former. It is known also, that a man can act with an effort equal only to about 30 pounds for eight or ten hours, without intermission, and with a velocity of about 10,000 feet per hour. If then we suppose the machine of Archimedes to be put in motion by means of a crank, and that the force continually applied to it is equal to 30 pounds, then with the velocity of 10,000 feet per hour, to raise the earth one inch the moving power must pass over the space of 384,344,762,638,287,052,800,000 inches; and if this space be divided by 10,000 feet or 120,000 inches, we shall have for a quotient 3,202,873,021,985,725,440, which will be the number of hours required for this motion. But as a year contains 8,766 hours, a century will contain 876,600; and if we divide the above number of hours by the latter, the quotient, 3,653,745,176,803, will be the number of centuries during which it would be necessary to make the crank of the machine continually turn in order to move the earth only one inch. We have omitted the fraction of a century as being of little consequence in a calculation of this kind. The machine is also supposed to be constantly in action, but if it should be worked only eight hours each day, the time required would be three times as long.

So that while it is true that Archimedes could move the world, the space through which he could have moved it, during his whole life, from infancy to old age, is so small that even if multiplied two hundred million times it could not be measured by even the most delicate of our modern measuring instruments.

There is a modern saying which has become almost as famous amongst English-speaking peoples as is that of Archimedes to the world at large. It is that which Bulwer Lytton puts into the mouth of Richelieu, in his well-known play of that name:

"Beneath the rule of men entirely great
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD."

About thirty years ago it occurred to the writer that these two epigrammatic sayings--that of Archimedes and that of Bulwer Lytton, might be symbolized in an allegorical drawing which would forcibly express the ideas which they contain, and the question immediately arose--Where will Archimedes get his fulcrum and what can he use as a lever?

And the mental answer was: Let the pen be the lever and the printing press the fulcrum, while the sword, used for the same purpose but resting on glory, or in other words, having no substantial fulcrum, breaks in the attempt. The little engraving which, with a new motto, forms a fitting tail-piece to this volume, was the outcome.

It is true that the pen is mighty, and in the hands of philosophers and diplomats it accomplishes much, but it is only when resting on the printing press that it is provided with that fulcrum which enables it to raise the world by diffusing knowledge, inculcating morality, and providing pleasure and culture for humanity at large.

When assigned to such a task the sword breaks, and well it may. But we have a well-grounded hope that through the influence of the pen and the printing press there will soon come an era of universal

INDEX

Absurdities in perpetual motion, 42

Accuracy of modern methods of squaring the circle, 17

Adams, perpetual motion, 71

Ahaz, dial of, 133

Air, liquid, 65

Alkahest, or universal solvent, 104

Altar of Apollo, 30

Angelo, Michael, finely engraved seal, 136

Angle, Trisection of, 33

Apollo, Altar of, 30

Approximations to ratio of diameter to circumference of circle, 17
De Morgan's Illustration of, 18
New Illustration of, 19

Archimedean screw, 49

Archimedes, area of circle, 13
Ratio of circumference to diameter, 14

Archimedes and his fulcrum, 171

Arithmetic of the ancients, 15

Arithmetical problems, 163
Chess-board problem, 163
Nail problem, 164
A question of population, 165
How to become a millionaire, 166
Cost of first folio Shakespeare, 168
Arithmetical puzzles, 170
Archimedes and his fulcrum, 171

Army Medical Museum, 142

Ball, Prof. W. W. R., 39, 129, 133, 134

Balloons for conveying letters, 147

Balls--proportion of weight to diameter, 32

Bean, jumping, 128

Bells kept ringing for eight years, 41

Bible in walnut shell, 136

Bible, written at rate of 22 to square inch, 141

Boat-race without oars, 129

Bolognian phosphorus, 102

Boots--lifting oneself by straps of, 128

Boyle and palingenesy, 107

Bramwell, Sir Frederick, 38

Brick, to look through, 151

Buckle and geometrical lines, 119

"Budget of Paradoxes," De Morgan, 6, 18, 118

Carbon bisulphide for perpetual motion, 67

Capillary attraction, 53

Carpenter, Edward--fourth dimension, 122

Catherine II, 118

"Century of Inventions," 74

Chess-board problem, 163

Child lifting two horses, 131
Perpetual motion by a, 64

Circle, squaring the, 9
Supposed reward for squaring the, 9
Resolution of Royal Academy of Sciences on, 10
What the problem is, 12
Approximation to, by Archimedes, 14
Jews, ratio accepted by, 13
Egyptians, ratio accepted by, 14
Symbol for ratio introduced by Euler, 14
Graphical approximations, 22

Circumference of circle, to find, when diameter is given, 22

Clock that requires no winding, 38

Columbia College seal, 140

Column of De Luc, 40

Compass, watch used as a, 134

Congreve, Sir William, 53

Cube, duplication of, 38

Crystallization seen by microscope, 108
Mistaken for palingenesy, 100

Dancer--microphotographs, 144

Dangerous, fascination of the, 1

Declaration of Independence, 145

De Luc's column, 40

De Morgan--Legend of Michael Scott, 6
Ignorance _v._ learning, 8
Illustration of accuracy of modern attempts to square the circle, 18
"Budget of Paradoxes," 6, 18
Trisection of angle, 34, 118
On powder of sympathy, 112
Anecdote of Diderot, 118

Dial of Ahaz, 133

Diderot, anecdote of, 118

Digby, Sir Kenelm, and palingenesy, 109
Sir Kenelm and powder of sympathy, 111

Dircks, 56, 71, 75

Discoveries, valuable, not due to perpetual-motion-mongers, 36

Duplication of the cube, 30

Elixir of life, 95

Engineering, insect, 130

Euler, 14, 118

Fallacies in perpetual motion, 65

Falstaff and the philosopher's stone, 97

Faraday's discovery, 93

Farrants, Prest. Royal Mic. Soc, 140

Figure, a, enlarged by cutting, 126

First folio Shakespeare, cost of, 168

Fixation of mercury, 92

Follies of Science, The Seven, 2
D'Israeli's list, 2
An inappropriate term, 3

Fourth dimension--conception of, 117
Flatland, 120
Kant and Gauss, 121
Spiritualists, 121
Edward Carpenter on, 122
Possibility of a new sense, 123

Frauds in perpetual motion, 69

Freezing of mercury, 93

Froment, micrographs, 139

Gases, liquefaction of, 93

Geiser's clock, 71

Geometrical quadrature impossible, 21

Gibberish, origin of word, 96

God, demonstration of existence of, 118

Hammer made of solid mercury, 93

Hand, to look through, 156

Heat and cold, illusions, 150

Hesse, Landgrave of, 77

Hindoos, ratio accepted by, 16

Holmes, O. W., and powder of sympathy, 111

Homer's Iliad in nutshell, 136

Honecourt, Wilars de, 42

Horses lifted by child, 131

Hydrofluoric acid, 104

Hydrostatic paradox, 46

Iliad of Homer in nutshell, 136

Impossible, fascination of the, 1

Insect engineering, 130

Irradiation, 152

Jews, ratio accepted by the, 13

Keeley gold cure, 97

Keeley motor, 69

Kircher and palingenesy, 106

Lacomme, on squaring circle, 27

Lamps, ever-burning, 100

Library, Congressional, in hand-bag, 145

Light from electric earth-currents, 103

Lines, geometrical, 119

Lines, direction of, deceptive, 154
Length of, deceptive, 153

Liquid air, 65

Lodge, Sir Oliver, on conservation of energy, 5

Longitude, relation of squaring the circle to, 10

McArthur, on arithmetic of ancients, 15

Machin, 16

Magnetism for perpetual motion, 61

Man lifting himself, 128

Mathematicians--how they go to heaven, 8

Mercury, fixation of, 92
Freezing of, 93

Metals. See _Transmutation_.

Metius, Peter, 16

Micrography, or minute writing, 136
Homer in a nutshell, 136
Michael Angelo's seal, 136
Ten Commandments, 136
Bible in a nutshell, 136
Earliest micrographic engraving, 139
Micrographic copy of seal of Columbia College, 139
Peters' machine, 141
Lord's Prayer written at rate of 22 Bibles to square inch, 141
Webb's fine writing, 142
Calculation in regard to, 143
Microphotographs by Dancer, 144
Pigeon-post in Franco-Prussian War, 146

Millionaire, to become a, 166

Miracle--dial of Ahaz, 133

Morgan. See _De Morgan_.

Morton, President Henry, 66

Motion, perpetual. See _Perpetual motion_.

Muir, Prof. On Archimedes, 14

Musitanus, Carolus, 96

Nail problem, 164

Nicomedean line, 29

Orffyreus--his real name, 77
His fraudulent machine, 77

Overbalancing wheels, 43

Paint, luminous, 102

Palingenesy, 106

Patent office U. S. and perpetual motion, 42

Pen mightier than the sword, 173

Perpetual lamps, 100

Perpetual motion, 36
What the problem is, 37
Clock that requires no winding, 38
Watch wound by walking, 39
Clock wound by tides, 41
By electricity, 41
Absurdities, 42
Overbalancing wheels, 43
Dr. Young, on, 44
Bellows action, 45
Hydrostatic paradox, 46
Bishop Wilkins, 48
Archimedean screw, 49
Archimedean screw, by mercury, 51
Congreve's, by capillary attraction, 53
Tube and balls, 56
Tube and rope, 59
Magnetism, 61
Self-moving railway carriage, 63
A child's perpetual motion, 64
Fallacies, 65
Liquid air, 65
Bisulphide of carbon, 66
Frauds, 69
Keeley motor, 69
Geiser's clock, 71
Adams, 71
Redhoeffer, 72
Lukens, 72
How to stop the machine, 73
Marquis of Worcester, 74
Dircks' model, 75
Orffyreus, 77
Possibility of, 78

Peters' micrographs, 141

Philosopher's stone, 97

Phosphorus, discovery of, 101

Pigeon-post, 146

Population, a question of, 165

Power, the, of the future, 40

Ptolemy, on the circle, 15

Puzzles, arithmetical, 170

Railway carriage, self-moving, 63

Ramsay, Sir William, 80, 98

Ratio of diameter to circumference carried to 127 places, 17

Redhoeffer's perpetual motion, 72

Rosicrucius, 100

Rutherford, 16

Schott, Father, and palingenesy, 107

Schweirs, Dr., 52

Scott, Michael, and his slave demons, 6

Scott, Sir Walter, legend of the great Wizard, 6
Powder of sympathy, 112

Self-moving railway carriage, 63

Senses--illusions of, 148
Taste and smell, 149
Heat and cold, 150
Hearing, 150
Touch, 150
Sight--size of spot, 152
Length of lines, 153
Direction of lines, 154
Objects seen through hand, 156
Looking through a brick, 158

Sense, possibility of a new, 123

Shadow going backward on dial, 133

Shakespeare, cost of first folio, 168
Philosopher's stone, 97
Witchcraft, 114

Shanks--value of ratio carried to 707 places, 16

Sharp, Abraham, 16

Sight, sense of, deceived, 152

Smith, James, on squaring circle, 28

Snake lifted by spider, 130

Solvent, universal, 104

Space enlarged by cutting, 126

Spider lifting a snake, 130

Sun-dial--shadow going backward, 133

Taste and smell--illusions, 149

Tides, clock moved by, 40
Will be the great source of power of the future, 40

Time it would take Archimedes to move the world, 171

Touch, sense of, deceived, 150

Transmutation of the metals, 79
Ancient fables, 79
Hermes Trismegistus, 80
Treatises not allegorical, 81
Seven metals, 82
Metals named after planets, 82
Methods of cheating, 83
"Brief of the Golden Calf," 84
Story of unknown Italian, 87
Possibility of effecting, 88
Sir William Ramsay, 89
Effect of such discovery on our currency system, 90

"Tribune," New York, 29

Trisection of angle, 33

Tube and balls, 56

Tube and rope, 59

Universal medicine. See _Elixir of Life_.

Van Ceulen, Rudolph, 16

Wallich, Dr., 35

Watch that is wound by walking, 39
Used as a compass, 134

Webb micrographs, 142

Whewell's refutation of 3-1/8 ratio, 28

Wilkins, Bishop, 48

Witchcraft or magic, 113

Worcester, Marquis of, 74

Writing, fine, 139

Young, Dr. Thomas, 44

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