A quotation from Agathias clearly establishes a knowledge of the
applicability of steam to mechanical purposes so early as the reign of the
emperor Justinian, when the philosopher Anthemius most unphilosophically
employed its powerful agency at Constantinople to shake the house of a
litigious neighbour. It is also recorded, that Pope Sylvester II.
constructed an organ, that was worked by steam. As compared with recent
ingenuity, however, these applications may fairly bring to mind the
Frenchman's boast of his countryman's invention of the frill and the
ruffle; while his English opponent claimed for his native land the honour
of suggesting the addition of the shirt.
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