weight-clock. Clockmakers in the Middle Ages for centuries tried with
more or less success to make clocks that would run by means of weights.
In 1370, Henry De Vick, a German, succeeded in solving the problem. De
Vick was brought to Paris to make a clock for the tower of the king's
palace, and he made one that has become famous. In a somewhat improved
form it can still be seen in Paris in the Palais de Justice. Let us
remove the face of this celebrated timepiece and take a look at its
works (Fig. 8). It had a striking part, and a timekeeping part, each
distinct from the other. The figure shows only the timekeeping part. The
weight (A), of 500 pounds, is wound up by a crank (the key) at _P_. _O_
is the hour-hand. If _A_ is allowed to descend, you can easily see how
the whole system of wheels will be moved--and that very rapidly. But if
something does not prevent, _A_ will descend faster and faster, the
hour-hand will run faster and faster and the clock will run down at
once. If the clock is to run at a uniform rate and for any length of
time, the power of the weight must escape gradually. In the clepsydra
(Fig. 1) the descent of the weight was controlled by the size of the
stream of flowing water. De Vick invented a substitute for the stream of
flowing water. Fasten your attention upon the workings of the
saw-toothed wheel _II_ and the upright post _K_, which moves on the
pivots _l_ and _k_, and you may learn what he did. Fixed to the upper
part of the post _K_ is a beam or balance _LL_, at the ends of which are
two small weights _m_ and _m_, and projecting from the post in different
directions are two pallets or lips _i_ and _h_. Now, as the top of the
wheel _II_ turns toward you, one of its teeth catches the pallet _i_ and
turns the post _K_ a part of the way round _toward_ you. Just as the
tooth _escapes_ from _i_ a tooth at the bottom of _II_ (moving from you)
catches the pallet _h_ and checks the revolving post and turns it _from_
you. Thus as _II_ turns, it gives a to-and-fro motion to the post _K_
and, consequently, a to-and-fro motion to the balance _LL_. _II_ is
called the _escapement_ because the power of the descending weight
gradually _escapes_ from its teeth. In the clepsydra the trickling of
_water_ regulated the descent of the weight; in De Vick's clock the
trickling of _power_ or _force_ from the escapement regulated the
descent of the weight. The invention of this escapement is the greatest
event in the history of the clock. The king was much pleased with De
Vick's invention. He gave the clockmaker three shillings a day, and
allowed him to sleep in the clock tower; a scanty reward indeed for one
who had done so much for the world, for De Vick's invention led rapidly
to the excellent timepieces of to-day, to both our watches and our
clocks. After the appearance of the weight-clock, the water-clock
gradually fell into disuse, and all the ingenuity of the clockmaker was
bestowed upon weights and wheels and escapements and balances. A century
of experimenting resulted in a clock without a weight (Fig. 9). In this
timekeeper you recognize the beginnings of the modern watch. The
uncoiling of a spring drove the machinery. Instead of the balancing beam
with its weights as in De Vick's clock, a _balance wheel_ is used. The
escapement is the same as in the first weight-clock. The busy and
delicately-hung little balance wheel in your watch is a growth from De
Vick's clumsy balance beam. The spring-clock would run in any position.
Because it could be carried about it led almost at once to the watch.
Many places claim the distinction of having made the first watch, but it
seems that the honor belongs to the city of Nürenburg. "Nürenburg eggs,"
as the first portable clocks were called, were made as early as 1470.
The first watches were large, uncouth affairs, resembling small table
clocks but by the end of the sixteenth century small watches with works
of brass and cases of gold or silver were manufactured (Fig. 10).
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--A CLOCK WITHOUT WEIGHTS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--A WATCH OF THE 16TH CENTURY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--GALILEO'S PENDULUM. (1650.)]
The last important step in the development of the clock was taken when
the _pendulum_ was brought into use. The history of the pendulum will
always include a story told by Galileo. This great astronomer, the story
runs, while worshiping in the cathedral at Pisa one day, found the
service dull, and began to observe the swinging of the lamps which were
suspended from the ceiling. Using his pulse as a timekeeper he learned
that where the chains were of the same length the lamp swayed to and fro
in equal length of time, whether they traveled through a short space or
a long space. This observation set the philosopher to experimenting with
pendulums of different lengths. Among the many things he learned one of
the most important was this: a pendulum thirty-nine inches in length
will make one vibration in just one second of time. Now, if the pendulum
could only be kept swinging and its vibrations counted it would serve
as a clock. Galileo, of course, saw this, and he caused to be made a
machine for keeping the pendulum in motion (Fig. 11), but he did not
make a clock; he did not connect his pendulum with the works of a clock.
This, however, was done about the middle of the seventeenth century,
although it is somewhat difficult to tell who was the first to do it.
The honor is claimed by an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Dutchman. The
truth is, clockmakers throughout Europe were trying at the same time to
make the best of the discoveries of Galileo, and several of them about
the same time constructed clocks with pendulums. The one who seems to
have succeeded first was Christian Huygens, a Dutch astronomer, who, in
1656, constructed a clock, the motions of which were regulated by the
swinging of a pendulum (Fig. 12). The weight was attached to a cord
passing over a pulley and gave motion to all the wheels, as in De Vick's
clock. Like De Vick's clock also Huygens's clock had its escapement
wheel acting upon two pallets. In the Dutchman's clock, however, the
escapement, instead of turning a balance beam to and fro, acted upon the
pendulum, giving it enough motion to keep it from stopping.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--THE FIRST PENDULUM CLOCK. (1656.)]
We need not carry our story further than the invention of Huygens.
Timepieces are cheaper and better made and more accurate than they were
two hundred years ago, but no really important discovery has been made
since the pendulum was introduced.
FOOTNOTE:
[19] Wood, "Curiosities of Clocks and Watches."
THE BOOK
What is a book? It is an invention by means of which _thought_ is
recorded, and carried about in the world, and handed down from one age
to another. Almost as soon as men began to think they began to make
books and they will probably continue to make them as long as they
continue to think. The story of the Book, therefore, takes us back to
the very beginning of human existence.
At first thought was recorded and preserved by _tradition_. An account
of a nation's deeds, its laws, the precepts of its religion were
stamped, printed, on the memory of persons specially trained to memorize
these things and hand them down by word of mouth from generation to
generation (Fig. 1). These persons were usually priests, who underwent
long years of daily and hourly training in memorizing what was to be
handed down. The Sanskrit Vedas, the sacred scripture of the Hindoos,
were for many centuries transmitted by tradition, and it is said it took
forty years to memorize them. It is a wonder it did not take longer, for
the Vedas make a volume as large as our Bible. It is believed that
primitive people everywhere first adopted the method of tradition to
record and preserve the thought which they did not wish to perish. We
may say, then, that the first book was written on the tablet of the
human memory.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--TRADITION.
A Mural Decoration in the Library of Congress.]
The first step in the growth of the book was taken when _memory aids_
were invented. Sometimes we tie a knot in a handkerchief to help us to
remember something. Now, it was just by tying knots that primitive man
first lent assistance to the memory. The first material book was
doubtless a series of _knots_ well represented by the _quipu_ (Fig. 2)
of the ancient Peruvians. This curious-looking book was written (tied)
by one known as the officer of the knots. It contains an account of the
strength of the Peruvian army, although it is confessed that its exact
meaning cannot be made out. It was not intended to be read by any one
who was not a keeper of the knots. Books made of knots were used by
nearly all the ancient peoples of South America and by some of those of
Asia. Akin to the knotted cord is the _notched stick_, which is still
used in Australia by the savages to assist the memory of one who has a
message to carry. Figure 3 shows a variety of such message-sticks. The
lowest one--a crooked branch of a tree--contains an invitation to a
dancing party. The notches are read by the messenger. The notched stick
as an aid to memory is not confined to savage races. Many a highly
civilized baker has kept his accounts by making notches in sticks and so
has many a modern dairyman, as he has delivered milk from door to door.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE QUIPU OF THE PERUVIANS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--MESSAGE-STICKS.]
Memory aids were followed by _picture-writing_. To express thought by
means of pictures is an instinct shared alike by the lowest savage and
the most enlightened people. All over the earth we find examples of
early picture-writing. A beloved chief had died, a fierce battle had
been fought, an exciting chase had occurred: promptly the event was
pictured on a stone or on the skin of some animal. Pages might be filled
with illustrations of these primitive picture-books, but we must be
content with a single specimen (Fig. 4). This was found painted on a
rock in California: "_We selected this as a camping place, but we have
found nothing_," say the human figures _f_, _g_, _h_, _i_. The upturned
palms say plainly, "nothing, nothing." "_One of our comrades_ (_d_) _has
died of starvation_," say the three lank figures at _c_ pointing to their
own lean bodies. "_We deeply mourn his loss_," says the sorrow-stricken
_a_. "_We have gone northward_," says _j_, his distinguished arm
extended to the north.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--PICTURE WRITING.]
Practice in picture-making was bound to lead to shorter methods of
expressing ideas. It was soon found that reduced pictures, or
_picture-signs_, would suffice to express ideas. Thus, if the idea of
sorrow was to be expressed it was not necessary to draw an elaborate
picture of a sorrowful looking man like _a_ in Figure 4; a weeping eye
would express the idea just as well. Instead of numerous figures (_e_,
_f_, _g_, _h_, _i_) weeping and saying, "nothing here," a single pair of
empty palms would say the same thing just as clearly. In this way a
pair of clasped hands came to mean "friendship"; two trees meant "a
forest"; a calf running toward water meant "thirst." These
picture-signs, of course, assumed the form in which they could be most
easily and rapidly drawn. The weeping eye became [symbol: eye]; the pair
of extended palms [symbol: palms]; the forest [symbol: trees]; thirst
[symbol: dog walking on water]. A simple picture of this kind became a
fixed conventional sign for certain ideas; it was always drawn in the
same way and it always stood for the same idea.
Picture-signs (ideographs) followed picture-writing in almost every
country where the people were progressive. China was writing its books
with picture-signs many thousands of years ago, and it is writing them
in the same clumsy way still. Even in highly civilized countries
picture-signs have not been entirely abandoned. Examine the advertising
page of a newspaper or observe the business signs on the street and you
will find picture-signs--pictures that are always made in the same way
and that always stand for the same thing.
Each of the great nations of antiquity had its own peculiar system of
writing, but the system that should interest us most is that of ancient
Egypt, for it is to ancient Egypt that you must look for the origin of
the book that is in your hands. The book in Egypt passed through the
stages of tradition, memory aids, picture-writing and picture-signs
(ideographs); then it passed into the _alphabetic_ stage. Since the
alphabet is certainly the most wonderful and perhaps the most useful of
all inventions, and since it is an Egyptian invention, it is well worth
your while to learn how the Egyptian picture-signs--hieroglyphics they
are called--grew into letters, but if you wish to understand the change
you will have to give the subject very close attention.
Well, here was the Egyptian system of picture-signs consisting of
several thousand pictures of birds, beasts, reptiles, insects, trees,
flowers, and objects of almost every description. Now suppose you were
employed in writing _English_ by means of several thousand picture-signs
and in the course of an hour would have to write the words _man_age,
_man_sion, _man_tle, _man_date, might it not occur to you that it would
be a good thing if that sound _man_ could be represented by the
picture-sign for man ([symbol: man])? And if you had to write _trea_cle,
_trea_son, _trea_ty, might you not feel like beginning these words with
a tree ([symbol: tree])? At some time in the remote past Egyptian
scribes--priests they usually were--noticing that syllables identical in
sound were constantly recurring in the different words, began to
represent these _syllable-sounds_ that occurred most frequently by
_picture-signs_.[20] The picture-sign substituted for a syllable-sound
was placed in the word not because it stood for an _idea_, but because
it stood for a _sound_, just as in the case supposed above you would use
the [symbol: man] or the [symbol: tree] not because it represented a
thought, but because it had a certain sound. So certain Egyptian
picture-signs began to be used to represent the sound of certain
syllables. The picture-signs thus chosen were called _phonograms_.
The phonogram led to the alphabet. The scribes in seeking a way to
shorten their work found that the syllable itself could be broken up
into separate sounds. For example, when they came to the syllable whose
sound is spelled by our three letters _pad_, they found that it had
three distinct sounds, namely: (1) one a lip sound which could be
represented by the first sound of the picture-sign [symbol: door] (a
door); (2) one an open-throat or vowel sound which could be represented
by the first sound of the picture-sign [symbol: eagle] (an eagle); (3)
one a dental sound which could be represented by the first sound in the
picture-sign [symbol: hand] (a hand). So the scribes wrote the syllable
(p-a-d) with the three characters [symbol: door] [symbol: eagle]
[symbol: hand]. And so with all the other sounds in the Egyptian
language; each was represented by one of the picture-signs already used.
Since there were only about twenty-five distinct elementary sounds in
the Egyptian language, twenty-five picture-signs were sufficient to
represent any sound or any word in the language. These twenty-five
picture-sounds were the letters of the Egyptian alphabet. Twenty-five
characters instead of thousands! Now the Egyptian youth could learn to
read in three or four years, whereas under the old system it took
fifteen or twenty years, just as it takes fifteen or twenty years for
the Chinese youth to learn to read well.
Now that its origin has been explained, the story of the alphabet may be
rapidly told. Indeed, its whole history can be learned from Figure 5. In
column (a) are the three Egyptian picture-signs referred to above.
Column (b) shows how the rapid writing of the priests reduced the old
hieroglyphics to script; [symbol: door] became [symbol: 3 c's]; [symbol:
eagle] became [symbol: odd a] and [symbol: hand] became [symbol:
squiggle]. The Phoenicians, who were great travelers, visited Egypt at a
very early date and borrowed not only the idea of the alphabet, but also
the forms of the Egyptian letters, as column _c_ shows. Column _d_
confirms the words of Herodotus, who tells us that the Greeks borrowed
their alphabet from the Phoenicians. Column _e_ shows that the Greeks
handed the alphabet on to the Romans, who handed it on to us. Thus the
three letters p, a, d come straight from the Egyptians and were
originally a _door_, an _eagle_, and a _hand_, respectively. As it is
with these three letters, so it is with nearly all the letters of our
alphabet. If the letters on the page before you could be suddenly
changed to their original form, you would behold a motley collection of
birds, serpents, animals, tools, and articles of household use.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--SHOWING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE THREE LETTERS, P,
A, AND D.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--AN ANCIENT VOLUME.]
We must look to Egypt for the origin of the material form of our book as
well as for the origin of our alphabetical characters. Before history
had dawned the Egyptians had covered over with their writing nearly all
the available surface on their pyramids and in their temples. At a time
too far back for a date necessity seems to have compelled them to seek
a substitute for stone. This they found in the _papyrus_ plant, which
grew in great luxuriance in the valley of the Nile. They placed side by
side strips of the pith of the papyrus, and across these at right angles
they placed another layer of strips. The two layers were then glued
together and pressed until a smooth surface was formed. This made one
sheet. To make a book a number of sheets were fastened together end to
end. When in book form the papyrus was wound around a stick and kept in
the form of a roll, a _volume_ (Fig. 6). The roll was usually eight or
ten inches wide, but its length might be upward of a hundred feet. This
papyrus roll was the parent of our modern paper book, as the word
papyrus is the original of our word paper. The pen used in writing upon
papyrus was a split reed (_calamus_), and the ink a mixture of soot and
gum.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE OLDEST BOOK IN THE WORLD. WRITTEN NEARLY
5,000 YEARS AGO.]
The most ancient volume in the world is an Egyptian papyrus (Fig. 7) now
in the National Library of France. It was written nearly 5,000 years ago
by an aged sage and contains precepts of right living. In this oldest of
volumes we find this priceless gem:
"If thou art become great, if after being in poverty thou hast amassed
riches and art become the first in the city, if thou art known for thy
wealth and art become a great lord, let not thy heart become proud, for
it is God who is the author of them for thee."
In Assyria and in other ancient countries of Central Asia letters were
engraved on cylinders and these were rolled upon slabs of soft clay,
making an impression of the raised letters, just as we make an
impression with the seal of a ring. In the ruins of the cities of
Assyria these old clay books may be found by the cart-load. The Assyrian
cylinder was really the first printing press. In ancient Greece and Rome
wooden tablets within which was spread a thin layer of wax were used as
a writing surface in schools and in the business world. The writing on
the wax was done with a sharp-pointed instrument of bone or iron called
the _stylus_. But next to papyrus the most important writing material of
antiquity was _parchment_, or the prepared skin of young calves and
kids. The invention of parchment is said to have been due to the
literary ambitions of two kings, the king of Persia and the king of
Egypt. The king of Pergamus (250 B.C.) wishing to have the finest and
largest library in the world was consuming enormous quantities of
papyrus. The king of Egypt, who also wished to have the finest library
in the world, in order to cripple the plans of his literary rival,
issued a command forbidding the exportation of papyrus from Egypt. The
king of Pergamus, being unable to get papyrus except from Egypt, caused
the skins of sheep to be prepared, and on these skins books for his
library continued to be written. The prepared skins received the name of
_pergamena_, because they were made in Pergamus, and from pergamena we
get the word parchment. This is the story that has come down to us to
explain the origin of parchment, but it cannot be accepted as wholly
true. We know very well that the Old Testament was written in gold on a
roll of skins long before there was a king of Pergamus. Indeed, writing
was done on skins as far back as the picture-writing period.
After the invention of the alphabet and of paper (papyrus) books
multiplied as never before. "Of making many books there is no end,"
exclaimed Solomon a thousand years before the Christian era. Greece in
her early day was slow to make books, but after she learned from the
Phoenicians (800 B.C.) how to use an alphabet she made up for lost time.
In 600 B.C. there was a public library at Athens, and 200 years later
the Greeks had written more good books than all the other countries in
the world combined.
But the most productive of ancient book-makers were the Romans. In Rome
publishing houses were flourishing in the time of Cicero (50 B.C.).
Atticus, one of Cicero's best friends, was a publisher. Let us see how a
book was made in his establishment. Of course, there were no
type-setters or printing-presses. Every book was a manuscript; every
word of every copy had to be written with a pen. The writing was
sometimes done by slaves trained to write neatly and rapidly. We may
imagine 50 or 100 slaves sitting at desks in a room writing to the
dictation of the reader. Now if Atticus had ten readers each of whom
dictated to 100 slaves it took only two or three days for the
publication of 1,000 copies of one of his friend Cicero's books. Of
course every copy would not be perfect. The slave would sometimes make
blunders and write what the reader did not dictate. But books in our own
time are not free of errors. An English poet recently wrote:
"Like dew-drops upon fresh blown roses."
In print the first letter of the last word in the line appeared as _n_
instead of _r_. This mistake disfigured thousands of copies. In the
Roman publishing house such a blunder marred only one copy.
You can readily see that by methods just described books could be made
in great numbers. And so they were. Slaves were cheap and numerous and
the cost of publication was small. It is estimated that a good sized
volume in Nero's time (50 A.D.) would sell for a shilling. Books were
cheaper in those days than they had ever been before and almost as cheap
as they are to-day, perhaps. The Roman world became satiated with
reading matter. The poet Martial exclaimed, "Every one has me in his
pocket, every one has me in his hand." Books became a drug on the market
and could be sold only to grocers for "wrapping up pastry and spices."
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--BOOK-MAKING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.]
But a time was to come when books would not be so plentiful and cheap.
With the overthrow of Rome (476 A.D.) culture received a blow from which
it did not recover for a thousand years. The barbarian invaders of
Southern Europe destroyed all the books they could find and caused the
writers of books to flee within the walls of the churches. Throughout
the Middle Ages nearly all the writing in Europe was done in the
religious houses of monks (Fig. 8), and nearly all the books written
were of a religious nature. The monks worked with the greatest patience
and care upon their manuscripts. They often wrote on vellum (calf-skin
parchment) and illuminated the page with beautiful colors and adorned it
with artistic figures.
The manuscript volumes of the dark ages were beautiful and magnificent,
but their cost was so great that only the most wealthy could buy. A
Bible would sometimes cost thousands of dollars. Along in the 14th and
15th centuries Europe began to thirst for knowledge and there arose a
demand for cheap books. How could the demand be met? There were now no
hordes of intelligent slaves who could be put to work with their pens,
and without slave labor the cost of the written book could not be
greatly reduced. Invention, as always, came to the rescue and gave the
world what it wanted.
In the first place, writing material was made cheaper by the invention
of paper-making. The wasp in making its nest had given a hint for
paper-making, but man was extremely slow to take the hint. The Chinese
had done something in the way of making paper from the bark of trees as
early as the first century, but it was not until the middle of the 13th
century that paper began to be manufactured in Europe from hemp, rags,
linen, and cotton.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]