Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-04-20


inventions have had . wider or more
varied usefulness than the barrel; few
give such promise of perpetuity.-
Unique in principle, simple yet singular.
ly perfect in plan and structure, the
barrel is little less than stroke of ge-
MUS. Who set up the first one? Who
FIRST conceived the happy thought Of
making . vessel tight and strong out
Of strips of wood bound together with
hoopsS And when did he livep
No history Of inventions, none Of the
encyclopedias in our great libraries, no
historian of human progress, 80 far as
we know, gives any information on the
subject, unless we except the Roman
author Pliny who mistakenly attributes
the invention to the Gauls who in
habited the banks of the Po. We say
mistakenly, since there is the best Of
good reason for believing that the bar.
rel was in use long before the Gauls
took possession of their italian home,
perhaps long before the Gauk existed
as a people.
The monuments of Egypt furnish
proof Of the early use Of hooped vessels,
though no date il given of their inven-
tion. In one of the incriptious copied
by Wilkinson may be seen two slaves
emptying grain from a wooden vessel
made with hoops, while a scribe keeps
tally. and q sweeper stands BY with a
broom to sweep up the scattered ker.
nels. Close by, an unfortunate Is under.
going punishment by bastinado, for
short measure perhaps, or a. Mr.. Will
kinson suggests, for petty theft. The
measure is barrel-shaped, and precise
ly like the kayl of modern Egypt. II
would hold, apparently, about a peck
Unfortunately the age of this inscrip-
tion is not indicated. Measures of the
sort seem to have been in common use
very early in Egypt, though not for the
storing of liquids, for which purpose
skins and earthen vessels were employ
ed.
At first thought, Egypt would be the
last place to look for the invention oi
hooped vessels, its arid climate making
it specially unsuited for their employ.
ment Possibly, however, that may
have been the compelling cause of tbeii
invention.
Throughout the East, the bamboo j.
largely used for making hollow vessels,
a section of the stem through a node
securing q solid bottom, and one be.
tween the nodes an open mouth for q
natural tub or bucket. Inwell wooded
regions, nothing would be more natu.
raj than the employment of hollow tree
trunks for the same purpose, or sections
of tree stems, followed out BY fire OF
otherwise. In drying, such vessels
would split and spoil, and it would re.
quire no great genius to repair them
BY means of withes or wooden bands
the primitive form of the hoop.
If the users of such natural barrels
should migrate to q region where tim.
Der was scarcer, economy of lumber
would be likely to suggest the building
of barrels from pieces artifcially split
in short, the use of slaves, by means oi
which the primitive cooper would bt
able to make several barrels out of a
block that would suffice but for sin.
gle dug-out-
But this is speculation merely. It j,
enough to know for certainty that thu
cooper's art, like the potter's, is one ot
extreme antiquity. We had no suspi
cion of its venerableness when We be-
gan to trace its history in Response
to the inquiry-who made the fifst bar
rel.