In 1841, Professor Forbes, along with M. Agassiz, and others, made a
successful ascent of the great Swiss mountain, the Jungfrau, whose
summit is 13,720 feet above the level of the sea.
Of six travellers and seven guides who formed the party, four of each
reached the top--viz., of the former, MM. Forbes, Agassiz, Desor, and
Duchatelies; of the latter, Jacob Leutvold (who ascended the Finster
Aarhorn,) Johan Jannon, Melchior, Baucholzer, and Andreas Aplanalp. They
left the Grimsel on the morning of the 27th of August, 1841, ascended
the whole height of the Ober-Aar Glacier, and descended the greater part
of that of Viesch. Crossing a col to the right, they slept at the chalet
of Aletsch, near the lake of that name. This was twelve hours' hard
walking, the descent of the glaciers being difficult and fatiguing. Next
day, the party started at six a.m., having been unable sooner to procure
a ladder, to cross the crevices; they then traversed the upper part of
the glacier of Aletsch in its whole extent for four hours and a half,
until the ascent of the Jungfrau began.
The party crossed with great caution extensive and steep fields of fresh
snow, concealing crevices, till they came to one which opened
vertically, and behind which rose an excessively steep wall of hardened
snow. Having crossed the crevices with the ladder, they ascended the
snow without much danger, owing to its consistency. After some similar
walking they gained the col, which separates the Aletsch Glacier from
the Rothal, on the side of Lauterbrunnen, by which the ascent has
usually been attempted. Thus, the travellers, although now at a height
of between 12,000 and 13,000 feet, had by far the hardest and most
perilous part of the ascent to accomplish. The whole upper part of the
mountain presented a steep, inclined surface of what at first seemed
snow, but which soon appeared to be hard ice. This slope was not less
than 800 or 900 feet in perpendicular height, and its surface (which
Professor Forbes measured several times with a clinometer,) in many
places rose at 45 degrees, and in few much less; and all Alpine
travellers know well what an inclined surface of 45 degrees is to walk
up. Of course, every step taken was cut with the hatchet, whilst the
slope terminated below, on both sides in precipices some thousand feet
high. After very severe exertion, they reached the top of this great
mountain, at four p.m. The summit was so small that but one person could
stand upon it at once, and that not until the snow had been flattened.
The party returned as they came up, step by step, and backwards, and
arrived at the chalets of Aletsch, and by beautiful moonlight, at
half-past eleven at night.
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THE STEAM-GUN IN THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY.
In 1841, M. Delectuze discovered, among the manuscripts of Leonardo da
Vinci, an entry carrying a knowledge of the steam-engine, applied to
warfare, to at least as far back as the fifteenth century. He has
published in the _Artiste_, a notice of the life of Leonardo, to which
he adds a fac-simile of a page of one of his manuscripts, containing
five pen-and-ink sketches of details of the apparatus of a Steam Gun,
with an explanatory note on what he designates the "Architonnere." The
entry is as follows:--
Invention of Archimedes. The architonnere is a machine of fine copper,
which throws balls with a loud report and great force. It is used in the
following manner:--One-third of the instrument contains a large quantity
of charcoal fire. When the water is well heated, a screw at the top of
the vessel which contains the water must be made quite tight. On closing
the screw above, all the water will escape below, will descend into the
heated portion of the instrument, and be immediately converted into a
vapour so abundant and powerful, that it is wonderful to see its force,
and hear the noise it produces. This machine will carry a ball a talent
in weight."
It is worthy of remark that Leonardo da Vinci, far from claiming the
merit of this invention for himself or the men of his time, attributes
it to Archimedes. The Steam Gun of our time has been an exhibition-room
wonder; and the prediction of the Duke of Wellington that it would fail
in warfare, has never been, and is never likely to be, tested.
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