The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-02-09

elIneT ulieCtly VI ny thO oSOhNJ VI
machinery. At the present time,
however, mechanical science has
assumed broader significance, COM
pretending the theory as well as the
practice of motion and equilibrium,
both with and without the aid Of
machinery. In its essence, 1T is
branch OF mathematics; and there is
no department of science so intimate
ly interviewer with the progress of
civilization.
1t is not our intention, however, in
this article to outline the history and
trace the development of mechanics.
Our purpose rather is to indicate
some of the more remarkable tri-
umphs of the science, and to specify
some of its peculiar developments.
Mechanics, in practice, it is safe to
say, is as old as the race. Men were
mechanics long ages before there was
what could be called mechanical
science, just as they used language
long before there was a science OF
speech. There were good boat build
ers before the flood; and in the years
that Immediately followed there were
Tubal- Gains as we'll as Nimrods-
men who could work in brass and
iron and wood-as we'll as mighty
hunters.
Practical experience soon becomes
knowledge; and knowledge well
founded soon becomes science. We
have no reason to doubt, therefore,
that at very early age of the worlds
history some of the principles of
mechanical science were we'll under
stood.
One of the earliest applications of
human genius would naturally be in
the direction of building. Men re-
quired homes; and they built for
themselves houses. They required
protection; and they congregated in
vast multitudes, and built for them
selves walled cities. They had to
hunt for living, and they had to
fight and protect themselves against
the enemy; and they made for them
selves swords and spears and other
weapons of destruction. They needed
clothing; and the productions of the
loom gradually took the place of the
skins of the wild animals. And so
it was that experience led to knowl-
edge, and knowledge to science.
The Pyramids.
The Pyramids of Egypt, for long
and to this day included among the
worlds wonders, are to be regarded
as marvellous triumphs of mechanical
skill. Ofthese there are many scattered
over the Nile Valley, some of brick,
some of stone, and of varied height
The two largest are in the neigh
borhood of Cairo. They are, and have
been for thousands of years, the most
colossal monuments in the world. The
largest, that of Cheops, in its original
state is said to have been 800 feet
high, and the length of its base on
each side the same. 1t is built of
huge stones ranging from two to four
feet in height. 1t is now rugged,
and has the character as we'll as the
appearance of a four-sided great
stairway. The hollows between the
steps are believed to have been filled
in with white marble, which would
shine like snow under the bright
Egyptian sun. The pyramid is now
reduced in height, not being more
than five hundred feet. 1t is gener-
ally admitted that the pyramids were
built for tombs, and on certain astron-
omical principles.
There is an inner chamber where
the sarcophagus was placed. When
a monarch began to reign he COM
menced to build his tomb. When he
died, his body was placed in the
sacred chamber prepared for it, and
the opening which led to it was
closed. The pyramid was then COM
pleted. If the monarch's reign was
long, the pyramid was large. If short
the pyramid was small.
How those great structures were
reared-how the huge masses were
brought together and put in their
places-is question which has never
been satisfactorily answered. Of me-
chanical forces some of the early peo-
Piles seem to have had much more
knowledge than we have any direct
record of.
1t was Archimedes who made the
first contributions to mechanics as a
science. We owe to him the lever
and the screw; and it was he who dis
covered that body immersed in a
fluid loses as much of its weight as is
equal to the fluid it displaces-a prin-
ciDle which has much To do with o,,r