The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Pamphilius ; or, the Head and Heart Legacy.
Dedicated to the Rising Generation. One-vol.,
pp. 148. H. Bale, 340, Strand.
It has been remarked, by one profoundly versed
in the knowledge of human nature, that—lf one
man would sit down and honestly write the history
of his own life and experiences he would produce a
work as enthralling as any romance. Hero is
exactly a case in point. The writer of this little
volume has done literally what the philosophic
thinker recommended. -And the result of his manly,
truthful labours, to our thinking, is precisely
what was prophesied. Here, in fact, is the faithful
record of a life sufficiently chequered in its way.
Here is the outline of a career " showing," as the
brief preface intimates, " how an untaught boy rose,
step by step, to the honourable position mentioned
in these pages." And that position ? Well, the
record itself will best satisfy the reader's curiosity
on that point. We are loath in any manner to an-
ticipate it- Yet we may be permitted, perhaps, to
remark that PAMPHILIUS, the " Untaught Boy,"
by the simple exercise of his industry and of his
intelligence, by the aid of his clear Head and of his
warm Heart, has risen to be Author, Printer,' Pub-
lisher—Dramatist, Song-writer, Grammarian—be-
ing at this present writing in fact one of the largest
printers and publishers of literary periodicals, but
principally of daily and weekly newspapers. He
claims, and with reason, to be one of the foremost
pioneers of cheap and popular serial publications.
He long issued from his press the once well-known
Mirror, the precursor of all the penny and two-
penny miscellanies. He introduced to the world
the Daily Telegraph. He has long been publish-
ing, and still publishes, among many other perio-
dicals and journals, the great weekly organ of
finance, the journal that was first raised to its pre-
eminence (as such) by the genius of the late Right
Hon. James Wilson, meaning, of course, the Eco-
nomist newspaper. Mr. Wilson's portrait is grace.
fully and gratefully prefixed to the volume as its
frontispiece. And under the effigy of the lamented
financier is inscribed—not his name (that would
have been superfluous—so truthful is the resem-
blance) but—this simple and touching inscription,
"A Dear Friend of Pamphilius." From the first
page of this little book to the last, the narrative is
delightful to read. It is wholesome throughout.
It is as frank and manly a little record of a homely
but adventurous life as we can remember to have
met with for a very long while. Quaint the style
of the narrative is at times, almost to the length of
extravagance. Whimsical the writer is very fre-
quently. But of him we may assuredly write
quite as earnestly and cordially as Biddy ,a rote to
Pip (in a memorable note in Give Expectations)
when referring to dear old Yoe Gargery, the Black-
smith—" He is a worthy, worthy man." Pamphi-
hue, as will be seen, dedicates his volume to the
Rising Generation. And to the Rising Generation
we do hereby heartily commend it. We should
like to know for certain that upon every honest
schoolboy's bookshelf in the land there were found,
ranged side by side with the Life of Benjamin
Franklin, with Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and Day's
Sandford and Merton, and half a dozen other fami-
liar books of that class, a well-thumbed copy of this
Head and Heart Legacy, by PAMPHILIUS. It is
high praise, we are aware, but it is praise that the
book well merits. It is so honest, and manly, and
neirty in every syllable of it. Several years back,
it may be remembered by the lovers of Fun, that
a select party of the contributors to Punch
gave to the public a little volume of
facetire entitled very modestly, and we are con-
strained to add, not altogether untruthfully, " A
Shilling's worth of Nonsense." Well, here on the
contrary is " A Shilling's worth of Sense" and of
sound good sense too--sense that it will do nobody
any harm to " read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest." Is there a craving on the reader's part for
mere variety ? He will find it here to his heart's
content and his head's advantage in abundance.
For here within the compass of this little pocket
volume, besides the autobiographic sketch, which
is the thread of the narrative stringing together
the pearls of Pamphilius's experience, there will be
discovered in its pages—scattered carelessly through
them, often adorning them, always diversifying
them—we don't know how many original Songs
and Ballads, a Comedy, the libretto of an Opera,
and, besides other miscellaneous effusions, a complete
French Grammar ! It wore ungracious on our part
did we not add as a piece of information in regard
to Pamphilitis, not without peculiar inter eat for the
readers of The Sun and for ourselves, that once
upon a time in the course of his chequered life, the
author of this delightful little volume was numbered
amongst the ranks of our compositors handling the
types upstairs in our composing room, working
manfully at the galleys, not like a French slave,
but like a free-born Englishman. As with that
cordial grasp of the hand one gives to an old friend
at meeting and at parting, we bid adieu to Pam-
philius.

A Treatise on the 'Steam Engine.
Bourne. Longman and Co.
Although innumerable works have been written
on the steam engine, relating to its various ap-
plications, its history, and its mechanical con-
struction, none has yet appeared that embraces
so completely and so extensively all its
branches as the treatise before us. Its
application to mines, mills, railways, navigation,
and agriculture, are all in turn considered ; but
beyond this tables are furnished, showing the rela-
tive proportions of engines required for various
purposes, with practical. instructions for the manu-
facture of every species of engine. Mr. Bourne
informs us in his preface to this, the fifth edition
of the work, that although it bears the name of
former editions of " A Treatise on the Steam
Engine," by the Artisan Club, which was originally
published in monthly parts, it is really a new
work, so numerous have been the additions and
emendations; and great credit is undoubtedly due
to him for the pains he has taken to render
this work complete. It consists. of twelve chap-
ters, each devoted to one particular branch ; thus,
in Chapter 1., the early history of the steam engine
is explained, showing how, although the properties
of steam were known to the ancients at a remote
period, it was never turned to any practical use.
In another chapter the theory of the steam engine
is explained; then the practical part of the work
commences, and instructions are given for con-
struction and management of every kind of engine,
and so on throughout the volume. Although at first
sight one might naturally suppose that this treatise
would be useful to the engineer or scientific
student only, it contains much to interest and
instruct the every day reader. At the commence-
ment much useful matter is furnished, together with
details of how in ancient times of ignorance, and
superstition, the priests imposed on their credulous
dupes, and performed miracles through the agency .
of natural philosophy. Mr. Bourne maintains that
it was not the want of genius that prevented the
development of the steam engine in remote ages, but
the want of a necessity for its application. When
that time came it was first invented and then brought
to its present perfection in the country which most
required its assistance.
The ancients appear to have had very vague notions of
the nature of steam. They believed in the existence of only
four elements—fire, air, earth, and water, and thought that
water was turnel into air when dissipated by evaporation.
Thus Plato says, " That which we now call water becomes
as a stone or solid, but being melted and diffused becomes
gas or air ;" and it w ts the prevalent notion of his time, and
of many subsequent ages, that water is turned into air by,
heat. In consequence of this misconception, it is often dif-
ficult to understand, in the description of ancient pneumatic
contrivances, whether steam or air was the moving power,
and we have indeed generally to form our conclusion on
this head from the nature of the arrangement. 'We have,
however, very clear evidence that both steam, and air ex-
pandedby heat, were often used by the ancients as motive
powers ; and some of the expedients employed for that pur-
pose are of considerable elegance. In a work which has
been often referred to, entitled " Spiritalia seu Pneumatica,"
written by Hero, a philosopher of Alexandria, about 130
years before the Christian era, a variety of devices are set
forth for elevating liquids, and obtaining rotatory motion
by means of air and steam, of which we shall only enume••
rate those in which it is beyond doubt steam was the agent.
The first of these is a method of causing wine to flow from
the hands of effigies set beside an altar, after the fire upon
the altar has been lighted. A kueam.tight vessel or vase,
containing wine, is placed within each effigy, and the altar
is made hollow, and is partly filled with water, bent pipes
being conducted from the space above the NI ater in the altar
to the spaces above the wine in the vases, and other tubes
again being led from beneath the level of the wine in the
vases to the hands of the effigies. 'When, therefore, says
Hero, you are about to sacrifice, you must pour into the
tubes a few drops, lest they should be injured by heat, and
attend to every joint, lest it leak ; and so the heat of the fire
mingling with the water will pass in an aerial state through
these tubes to the vases, and pressing on the wine make it
pass through the bent siphons, until, as it flows from the
hands of the living creatures, they will appear to sacrifice as
the altar continues to burn.
The instrument for the production of rotatory motion is
one of great ingenuity, and has all the qualities of a true
and efficient steam-engine, except its size. This instrument
is called the iEolipile, and is identical in all its material
features with the engines constructed by Avery in America,
and Ruthven of Edinburgh, in this country. These en-
gines are more expensive in steam than ordinary engines,
and travel at an inconvenient speed ; but in other respects
they are quite as:effectual, and their construction is extremely
simple and inexpensive. The substance of Hero's recipe
for the construction of an .2Eolipile is substantially this :
Let a boiler be set on the fire, and nearly filled with
water, and let its mouth be closed by a cover which is
pierced by a bent tube, whose extremity fits exactly into a
hollow sphere. But at the opposite end of the diameter (of
the sphere) let there be an iron axis supported from the top
of the cover, and let the sphere have two bent pipes at the
ends of the diameter of the sphere, perforated therewith, and
bent round in opposite directions; and let the bends make
right angles, and be in the plane perpendicular to the axis.
Then it will follow that the boiler being heated, the vapour
passing through the tubes into the sphere ill rush out
through the reversed pipes, and whirl the sphere round on
its axis.

By John

After travelling carefully through the dark ages,