The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1837-05-06

thing but smoke.
Revenge early produced hostile weapons.
The club and the dart are obvious inven-
tionsi not so the bow and the arrow; and,
for that reasof, it is not easy to say how
that weapon came to be universal. As iron
is seldom found in anime like other metals.
twas late discovery: at the siege ofTfov,
spears, darts, and arrows, were headed
with bfass. Menestheus, who succeeded
Theseus in the kingdom Of Athens, and led
fifty ships to the siege of Troy, was repu-
ted the first who iftarshalled an army in
battle array. instruments of defence are
made necessary by those of offence. Trunks
of trees, interlaced with branches, and sup
ported with earth, made the first fortifca-
tions; to which sutcecded wall finished
with a parapet, for shooting, in safety, ar
rows at besiegers: As parapet covers but
half the body, holes were left iii the wall: a
battering-rain was first used by Percles the
Athcnian, and perfected by the Carthagen-
ans at the siege of Gadcs. To oppose that
formidable machine, the wall was built with
advanced pnfapets, for throwing stones and
fire upon the enemy; which kept them at
distance. A wooden booth upon wheels,
and pushed close TO the wall, secured the
men who wrought the battering-ram. This
invention was rendered Intellectual, by sur
rounding the wall with deep and broad
ditch. Besiegers were reduced to the ne
cessity of inventing engines for throwing
stones and javelins upon those who occu-
pied the advanced parapets, in order to give
opportunity for filling up the ditch; and an
cient histories eXpatiate upon the powerful
operation Ofthe catapulta and balista. These
engines suggested new invention for de-
fence. Instead of circular wall, it was a
built with salient angles, like the teeth of a
saw, in order that one part might flank
another. That form of a wall was after
wards improved, by raising round towers
upon the salient angles; and the towers
were improved by making them square.
The ancients had no occasion for any
form more complete. This being sufli-
cient for defending against all the missile
weapons at that time known. The invcn-
ton Of cahiion required variation iii mill
tary architecture. The first cannons were
made of iron bars, forming a concave cyl
inder united by rings of copper. The first
cahridn-balls were of stone, which required
a very large aperture. A CANTON was redu-
ced to a smaller size, by using iron for balls,
instead of stone; and that destructive en-
CINE was perfected by making it of cast
metal. TO resist its force, bastions were
invented, horn-works, crown-worls, half
moons, &c. &c. and military architecture
became system governed by fundamental
princip Plies and general rules. But all in
vain: it has indeed produced Notifications
that have made sieges horribly bloody; but
at the same time, has been carri-
ed to such perfection, and the art of attack
so improved, that, according to the general
opinion, no lortifcation can be rendered |
The only impregnable de-
fence is good neighbourhoods among weak
princes, ready to unite whenever one of
them is attacked with superior force; and
nothing tends more ellectually to promote
such union, than constant experience that
Notifications ought not to be relied on.
With respect to naval architecture, the
first vessels were beams joined together
and covered with planks, pushed along
with LONG poles in shallow water, and drawn
by animals in deep water. To these sue
ceeded trunks of trees, cut hollow, termed
by the Greeks, moryles. The next were
planks joined together in form of mon
oxle. The thought of initiating fish adj
vanced naval architecture. A prov was
in imitation ofthe head; stern,
with a moveable helm, in imitation Of the
tail; and oars in imitation of the fins. Sails
were at last added; which invention. was so
early, that the contriver is unknown. Be