were first introduced, which occurs in the year 398, mention being
made of them in that year, which also clearly shows that they were
then newly-established; which establishment was found necessary to be
protected by laws made in their favour. The orders for that purpose
were renewed more than once, and made more secure by Zeno, towards
the end of the fifth century. It may be properly remarked, that in the
whole code of Justinian, the least mention of wooden pales or posts is
not made, which occurs in all the new laws,--and which, it appears,
when there were several mills on the same stream, occasioned so many
disputes then, as well as in after times. The mills at Rome were
erected on those canals which conveyed water to the city; and because
these were employed in several arts, and for many purposes, it was
ordered that, by dividing the water, the mills should always be kept
going; but as they were driven by so small a quantity of water, they
probably executed very little work; and for this reason, but probably
on account of the great number of slaves, and the cheap rate at which
they were maintained, these noble machines were not so much used,
nor were so soon brought to perfection, as under other circumstances
they might have been. It appears, however, that after the abolition
of slavery, they were much improved, and more employed, and to this a
particular incident seems, in some degree, to have contributed.
When Vitiges, King of the Goths, besieged Belisarius in Rome, in the
year 536, and caused the fourteen large expensive aqueducts to be
stopped, the city was reduced to great distress; not from want of
water, in general, because it was secured against that inconvenience
by the Tiber; but by the loss of that water which the baths required,
and, above all, of that necessary to drive the mills, which were all
situated on these canals. Horses and cattle, which might have been
employed upon grinding, were not to be found; but Belisarius fell upon
the ingenious contrivance of placing boats upon the Tiber, on which
he erected mills that were driven by the current. This experiment was
attended with complete success; and as many mills of this kind as were
necessary were constructed. To destroy these, the besiegers threw into
the stream logs of wood, dead bodies, &c., which floated down the river
into the city; but the besieged, by making use of booms to stop them,
were enabled to drag them out before they could do any mischief. This
seems to have been the origin of _floating-mills_, no record of them
appearing previously. By these means the use of water-mills became very
much extended; for floating-mills can be constructed almost upon any
stream, without forming an artificial fall; they may be stationed at
the most convenient places, and they rise and fall of themselves with
the water.--They are, however, attended with these inconveniences: they
require to be strongly secured; they often block up the stream too
much, and move slowly; and they often stop when the water is too high,
or when it is frozen.
After this improvement, the use of water-mills was never laid aside
or forgotten, but was soon made known all over Europe; and passages
innumerable might be quoted, in every century, to prove their continued
use. The Roman, Salic, and other laws, constantly provided for the
security of these mills, and defined a punishment for such as destroyed
the sluices, or stole the mill-irons. It is said, however, that there
were water-mills in France and Germany a hundred years before these
laws had existence.
At Venice, and other places, there were erected mills which regulated
themselves by the motion of the waters, and which were regulated by
the flowing and ebbing of the tide, and which every six hours changed
the motion of the wheels. Of this species of mills, a new invention,
or, perhaps, rather an improved one, was made in London, called a
tide-mill, an engraving of which may be seen in “The Advancement of
Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce,” London, 1772.
Zanetti is said to have shown, by some old charters, that such mills
existed about the year 1044; but with still more certainty in 1078,
1079, and 1107.
It appears, however, that hand and cattle mills were in most places
retained, after the use of proper watermills, particularly in convents.
They were used, because the otherwise lazy monks found the exercise
they afforded beneficial to their health. Likewise the legends of
popish mythology are full of the miracles which have been wrought at
these mills.
A modern author of credit impeaches the veracity of Pomponius Sabinus
after he had previously quoted his authority, and likewise after he
had said that he bore a good character, in a popular work, by charging
him with improbability, nay, positive falsehood, and alleging that
the Romans had no wind-mills. It should be noticed, without venturing
to decide upon the point, that he has adduced no authority for such
allegation, and that he only concludes so, by inference, as upon
the authority of Vitruvius; that mechanist, he says, in enumerating
all moving forces, does not mention wind-mills. But, for the sake
of candour, was not the one as liable to err as the other? He also
says, that neither Seneca nor St. Chrysostom mention wind-mills; and
is unmercifully severe upon an old Bohemian annalist who speaks of
wind-mills so early as 718. But he is all along bringing his forces
to prove, that wind-mills had first existence in his own district,
Germany; that they were then invented; and, perhaps, because he is of
that country. It is somewhat remarkable that scarcely any invention of
any consequence has occurred since that of printing, but the honour has
been claimed by the natives of Germany.
Mabillon mentions a diploma of the year 1105, in which a convent in
France is allowed to erect water and wind-mills, _molendina ad ventum_.
Bartolomeo Verde proposed to the Venetians in 1332, to build a
wind-mill. When his plan had been examined, he had a piece of ground
assigned him, which he was to retain if his undertaking succeeded
within a specified time. In 1373, the city of Spires caused a wind-mill
to be erected, and sent to the Netherlands for a person acquainted
with the method of grinding by it. A wind-mill was also constructed at
Frankfort, in 1442; but it does not appear to have been ascertained
whether there were any there before.
About the twelfth century, in the pontificate of Gregory, when both
wind and water-mills became more general, a dispute arose whether mills
were titheable or not. The dispute existed for some time between the
persons possessed of mills and the clergy; when neither would yield. At
length, upon the matter being referred to the pope and sacred college,
the question was, (as might have been expected when interested persons
were made the arbitrators,) determined in favour of the claims of the
church.
There was one inconvenience attending wind-mills, which might be
obviated in other mills: the mill was useless unless the wind was in
a particular direction. To remedy this, various modes were tried; at
first, the mill was fixed on a floating body in the water, which might
be turned to any wind. The next improvement consisted in turning the
body of the mill to meet the direction of the wind; this was effected
by two modes: first, the whole building is constructed in such a manner
as to turn on a pivot below; this method is said to have been invented
in Germany, and is called the German mode: second, the building is
formed so as to turn on the roof, with the shafts supporting the sails
only; this is called the Dutch mode, being invented by a Fleming about
the middle of the sixteenth century. This is the mode principally
adopted in England.
Although in the earliest ages of the world men might have been,
perhaps, satisfied with having their corn reduced to a mealable form
alone; yet after this had been with care effected, then they thought
of improving upon this conveniency, and separating the farinaceous
part from the bran and husks. This was certainly desirable; therefore
they bolted it in a sieve with a long handle attached to it, with
a hair, or fine lawn lining; this was common in this country till
within the last sixty or eighty years; but by degrees, opportunities
of improvement in the mechanism of mills suggested to some mechanic
the idea of constructing what is now called bolting mills, applied to
the mill for grinding, and wrought at the same time by appropriate
machinery.
It appears that sieves of horse-hair were first used by the Gauls, then
those of linen by the Spaniards. The mode of applying a sieve in the
form of an extending bag to catch the meal as it fell from the stones,
and of causing it to be turned and shaken, was first made known in the
beginning of the sixteenth century.
The best bolting cloths are universally allowed to be manufactured
in England; they are made of wool of the longest and the best kind,
peculiarly prepared; being first well washed and spun to a fine and
equal thread; which, before it be scoured, must be scalded in hot water
to prevent its shrinking. The web must be then stiffened; it is in this
we possess an advantage which others cannot attain. Our bolting cloth
is stiffer, as well as much smoother, than any foreign manufacture. So
jealous are our German neighbours of this, that they have established
manufactories in several places at a great expense, and under very
peculiar regulations, for its fabrication. After all, they are
compelled to confess, that theirs will not wear above three weeks in
a flour manufactory, whereas ours will continue well three months in
equal exposure to friction and ordinary wear.
For some years past, the French have been extolled for a mode of
grinding, called _mouture economique_; that were we not aware such
had been practised in ancient Rome, it might be conceived to form an
important epoch in the miller’s art. This process, however, is not
new; it consists in first grinding the wheat not so fine as might be
required for ordinary purposes; afterwards putting the meal several
times through the mill, and sifting it with various sieves. It should
seem this method was practised in ancient Rome; for Pliny, who took
care to inform himself of most things, tells us, that in his time they
had, at least, five different kinds of flour, all procured from the
same corn. It appears, that the ancient Romans had advanced very far in
this art, as well as in that of baking, &c., from what may be collected
from its economical polity preserved by Pliny and others. Whence it may
be fairly inferred, they knew how to prepare from corn more kinds of
meal, and from meal more kinds of bread, than the moderns even now are
acquainted with.
Pliny reckons that bread should be one-third heavier than the meal
used for baking it: this proportion it appears, was known in Germany
nearly a century and a half ago, and discovered from experiments on
bread made at different times. German bakers, although they may have
been occasionally mistaken, have always undoubtedly given more bread
than meal. It appears that in latter periods, the art of grinding,
as well as baking, has declined very much in Italy; and their bread,
although produced from the finest grain in the world, is altogether bad
when manufactured by Italians. On this account, bakers from Germany
it seems, are generally employed in public baking-houses, as well at
Rome as in Venice. Bakers of that people are generally settled at those
places, where they have been in the habit of manufacturing that article
for the principal inhabitants, for upwards of three hundred years.
From Beckmann’s History, it would appear that the _mouture economique_
of the French has been known to the Germans for more than two hundred
years. Many were the attempts, repeatedly enforced, to deter the
experiments made, from time to time, by the French experimentalists,
to perfect this article previous to its being accomplished. In this,
the French suffered themselves to be taught by prejudice and directed
by ignorance. Numerous and judicious were the experiments made by
the scientific and philosophic of that people to produce the most in
quantity and best in quality from a definite quantity of grain, at
which the ignorant of their species suffered their prejudice to revolt,
and the powerful readily come into the mode of thinking of the vulgar,
to whom they lent their aid, to effect what Heaven in revelation had
commanded, viz: “Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye
your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and
turn again and rend you.” Mat. vii. 6.
It will, from the succeeding statement, that in using the language
which has just appeared, circumstances sanctioned us. The clergy of the
chapel royal, and parish church at Versailles, sent their wheat in the
beginning of last century to be ground at an adjacent mill: according
to custom, it was put through the mill only once, and the bran, which
yet contained much flour, was sold for fattening cattle. This miller
having, however, in process of time learnt the process of the _mouture
economique_, purchased the bran from these ecclesiastics, and found
that it yielded him as good flour as they had procured from the whole
wheat. The miller, at length, is presumed, in a qualm of conscience,
to have regretted cheating those holy men; he accordingly discovered
to them the secret, and gave them afterwards fourteen bushels of flour
from their wheat, instead of eight, which he had only furnished them
before. This voluntary discovery of the miller was made in 1760; and it
is probable the same discovery was made at the same time by others.
A baker, named Malisset, proposed to the lieutenant-general of the
French police to teach a method by which people could grind their
corn with more advantage; and experiments were accordingly made and
succeeded. A mealman of Senlis, named Buquet, having the inspection
of the mill belonging to the large hospital at Paris, made the same
proposal: the result of his experiments, made under the direction
of the magistrates, was printed. The investigation of this art was
now taken up by men of learning and science, who gave it a suitable
denomination; explained it, made experiments and calculations upon
it, and at the same time recommended it so much, that the _mouture
economique_ engaged the attention of all magistrates throughout
France. Its government sent Buquet to Lyons in 1764, to Bourdeaux in
1766, to Dijon in 1767, and to Mondidier in 1768. The benefit which
France derived from that trouble, shows that it was not taken in vain.
Previous to that period, a Paris _setier_ yielded from eighty to
ninety pounds of meal, and from one hundred and fifty to one hundred
and sixty pounds of bran; but the same quantity now yields one hundred
and eighty-five pounds, and according to the latest improvements, one
hundred and ninety-five pounds of meal. In the time of St. Louis,
from four to five _setiers_ were reckoned necessary for the annual
maintenance of a man; these were scarcely sufficient; as many were
allowed to the patients in hospitals; and such were the calculations
made in the sixteenth century. When the miller’s art was everywhere
improved, the four _setiers_ were reduced to three and a half, and from
the latest improvements, they do not exceed two.
From mills which only force the farinaceous parts from the husk,
thereby rounding the grain, the common denomination of _barley mills_
comes, from such mills being used in the manufacture of pearl barley.
In their construction, these mills differ but little from wheat-mills,
and the machinery for the former is generally added to the latter.
The grand specific distinction is, that the millstone is rough hewn
round its circumference, and in the stead of a lower stone, there is
generally a wooden case; the middle lined with a plate of iron, pierced
like a grater with holes, the sharp edge of which turns upwards. The
barley is thrown upon the stone, which, as it turns round, frees it
from the husk, and rounds it; after which, it is put into sieves and
sifted.
So long as the policy of governments was blind to the interests of
men, and so long as the griping avarice of a few was permitted to lay
the free-born of their species under the most severe contributions,
so long were permitted to build mills only, who had obtained a regal
license for that purpose. But, thank heaven! that ray of light it has
lent generally to man, has, in some sort, illuminated even the minds
of ministers and their tyrannical masters, to curtail that spirit
which had cast the fetters of vassalage given by feudal tyranny to its
upstart dependants. Men were left, at length, to improve their property
according to their pleasure: since which period, more mills have been
erected for the convenience of the species. This privilege, it appears,
was not prohibited by the Roman laws; those irradiations of superior
intellect well appreciated human rights. It was not till the darkness
of the middle ages had obscured the mental hemisphere, that any person
was presumed to possess a superiority over others, and to abridge the
small portion of general happiness that the favoured of fortune might
add to his satiety. During those days of universal darkness, numberless
were the evils which men suffered, and among them the present object of
our consideration was not the least; frequently having to travel for
miles to a mill to procure the necessary manufacture of so essential
an article to human life as bread.
Let us not be decoyed, however, by the resentment produced by the
spirit of human oppression, beyond the bounds prescribed by reason, to
inveigh against such ordinance when public and general utility ever
was consulted; and certain public streams were by wise laws to be kept
free from individual encroachments with impunity. It is not against the
dictates of sober reason we declare hostility, but the gross abuse of
power.
A time there was, when human baseness in princes and potentates, their
vassals doubtless aping the manners of their masters, claimed as their
right not only the common element of water, but also that of air! A
curious incident related by Jargow, and detailed by Professor Beckmann,
as follows, establishes the insolence of upstart men:--“In the end of
the fourteenth century, the monks of the celebrated but long since
destroyed monastery of Augustines, at Windshiem, in the province of
Overyssel, were desirous of erecting a wind-mill not far from Zwoll;
but a neighouring lord endeavoured to prevent them, declaring that the
wind in that quarter belonged to him. The monks, unwilling to give
up their point, had recourse to the Bishop of Utrecht, under whose
jurisdiction the province had continued since the tenth century. The
bishop, highly incensed against the pretender, who wished to usurp his
authority, affirmed, that the wind of the whole province belonged only
to him; and, in 1391, gave the convent express permission to build a
wind-mill wherever they thought proper.”
Without the convenience of human ingenuity heaven had sent the blessing
of life in vain; we have, under this impression, therefore, bestowed
much time on this article, from a conviction of its vital importance to
the necessities of human existence.
SAW-MILLS.
The invention of the plumb-line and saw, with other useful articles in
mechanics, and handicrafts, are usually ascribed to that great--that
universal genius--Dædalus: although others give the merit to one
Talus, the nephew of Dædalus, and say, that the discovery was made
under the following circumstances:--Talus, they tell us, having found
the jaw-bone of a snake, cut a piece of wood in two with the teeth;
thence, they say, he invented the saw; his maternal uncle and master,
they add, was so jealous of this invention, that he murdered the young
man; and the mode of the discovery of the murder is accounted for in
this manner:--some persons saw Dædalus covering up the grave of his
victim, and asked what he was doing? “Oh,” says he, “I am only burying
a snake.” How much credit may be due to this relation, we do not take
upon ourselves to determine. Pliny, as well as Seneca, were of the
former opinion; whilst Diodorus Siculus, and others, hold the latter.
The youth is named by some Perdix. However, it appears to rest between
these two, no other claimant appearing. Ovid says, it was not the jaw
of a snake, but the back-bone of a fish. The former, however, appears
to be the most rational opinion as to its origin, as it is conjectured
that the vertebræ would not be sufficiently strong, and the joints are
too far apart, as well as too large.
The Grecian saw is said to have been much the same as that instrument
which the moderns now use. This idea is corroborated by an ancient
painting discovered in Herculaneum; likewise from an antique
representation of this instrument, given by the celebrated Montfaucon.
The preceding observations, however, have relation to the subject of
this article only, inasmuch as they are introductory to what follows.
The most beneficial and ingenious improvement that has been made in
saws was the invention and introduction of machinery, called saw-mills,
which, in woody countries, as well as for delicate and fine veneers,
are of the greatest utility; in the former case, wood forms the chief
article of commerce where labourers are scarce; in the latter, it may
be cut nearly as thin as a sheet of paper. These saw-mills also finish
flooring deals, grooved, dovetailed, and planed on both sides, at the
rate of two deals, of twenty feet each, in a minute! They are commonly
worked in this country by means of steam-engines; in woody countries
they are generally erected on the banks of rivers, the water of which
propels the machinery.
It is said they were invented in Germany, as far back as the fourth
century, upon the smaller river Roer; for, although Ansonius speaks of
water-mills, for cutting stone, he says nothing of mills to cut timber.
The art of cutting marble with a saw is very ancient; Pliny thinks
it was invented in Caria; at least, he knew of no place or building,
incrusted with marble, older than the palace of King Mausolus, at
Helicarnassus. Vitruvius also names the circumstances, although he uses
different terms for expressions of the same sense. He commends the
beauty of its marble, whilst Pliny speaks of its different kinds: the
former viewed it as an architect, whilst the latter inspected it as a
naturalist. It also does appear, from other writers, that the harder
and precious kinds of stones were cut in the same manner; as Pliny
speaks of a building adorned with agate, cornelian, lapis-lazuli, and
amethysts. Yet there is no mention made of mills for cutting wood; or,
admitting they had been invented, it is probable they shared the fate
of many other useful inventions,--had been forgotten, or else some
considerable modern improvement had been made in their construction.
Since the period of the first invention, they have been erected in
various parts of Europe and America. There appears to have been one
erected in the vicinity of Augsburg, as early as 1337; at Erlinger, in
1417.