CHAPTER V

ANCIENT APPLIED SCIENCE AND MAGIC: VITRUVIUS^ HERO, AND THE GREEK ALCHEMISTS
The sources — Vitruvius depicts architecture as free from magic — But himself beheves in occult virtues and perfect numbers — Also in astrology — Divergence between theory and practice, learning and art — Evils in contemporary learning — Authorities and inventions — Machines and Ctesibius — Hero of Alexandria — Medieval working over of the texts — Hero's thaumaturgy — Instances of experimental proof — Magic jugs and drinking animals — Various automatons and devices — Magic mirrors — Astrology and occult virtue — Date of extant Greek alchemy ^Legend that Diocletian burned the books of the alchemists — Alchem- ists' own accounts of the history of their art — Close association of Greek alchemy with magic — Mystery and allegory — Experiment: rela- tion to science and philosophy.
"doctum ex omnibus solum neque in alienis locis peregri- num . . . sed in omni civitate esse civem."
— Vitruvius, VI, Introd. 2.
This chapter will examine what may be called ancient ap- plied science and its relations to magic, taking observations at three different points, the ten books of Vitruvius on ar- chitecture, the collection of writings which pass under the name of Hero of Alexandria, and the compositions of the Greek alchemists. The remains of Greek and Roman liter- ature in the field of applied science are scanty, not because they were not treasured, and even added to, by the periods following, but apparently because there had thus far been so little development in the way of machinery or of power other than manual and animal. So we must make the best of what we have. The writings to be considered are none of them earlier than the period of the Roman Empire but
182
CHAP. V ANCIENT APPLIED SCIENCE 183
like other writings of that time they more or less reflect the scientific achievements or the occult lore of the preceding Hellenistic period.
Vitruvius lived just at the beginning of the Empire Vitruvius under Julius and Augustus Caesar. He is not much of a chhecture writer, but architecture as set forth in his book appears as free
' , . . from
sane, straightforward, and solid. The architect is repre- magic, sented as going about his business with scarcely any admix- ture of magical procedure or striving after marvelous results. The combined guidance of practical utility and of high standards of art — Vitruvius stresses reality and propriety now and again, and has little patience with mere show — per- haps accounts for this high degree of freedom from super- stition. Perhaps permanent building is an honest, down- right, open, constructive art where error is at once apparent and superstition finds little hold. If so, one wonders how there came to be so much mystery enveloping Free-Masonry. At any rate, not only in his building directions, but even in his instructions for the preparation of lime, stucco, and bricks, or his discussion of colors, natural and artificial, Vitruvius seldom or never embodies anything that can be called magical.^
This is the more noteworthy because passages in the very Occult same work show him to have accepted some of the theories nuniber. which we have associated with magic. Thus he appears to believe in occult virtues and marvelous properties of things in nature, since he affirms that, while Africa in general abounds in serpents, no snake can live within the boundaries of the African city of Ismuc, and that this is a property of the soil of that locality which it retains when exported.^ Vitruvius also mentions some marvelous waters. One
^As much can hardly be said mind one forcibly and painfully
of our present day architects, of the deceits and levitations of
whose fantastic tin cornices pro- magicians.
jecting far out from the roofs of ^ De architectura, ed. F. Krohn,
high buildings and rows of stones Leipzig, Teubner, 1912, VIII, iii,
poised horizontally in midair, with 24. A recent English translation
no other visible support than a of Vitruvius is by M. H. Morgan,
elate glass window beneath, re- Harvard University Press, 1914.
i84 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
breaks every metallic receptacle and can be retained only in a mule's hoof. Some springs intoxicate; others take away the taste for wine. Others produce fine singing voices.-^ Vitruvius furthermore speaks of six and ten as perfect num- bers and contends that the human body is symmetrical in the sense that the distances between the different parts are exact fractions of the whole. ^ He also tells how the Py- thagoreans composed books on the analogy of the cube, al- lowing in any one treatise no more than three books of 216 lines each.^
Vitruvius also more than once implies his confidence in the art of astrology. In mapping out the ground-plan of his theater he advises inscribing four equilateral triangles with- in the circumference of a circle, "as the astrologers do in a figure of the twelve signs of the zodiac, when they are mak- ing computations from the musical harmony of the stars." * I cannot make out that there is any astrological significance or magical virtue in this so far as the arrangement of the theater is concerned, but it shows that Vitruvius and his readers are familiar with the technique of astrology and the trigona of the signs. In another passage, comparing the physical characteristics and temperaments of northern and southern races, which astrologers generally interpreted as evidence of the influence of the constellations upon mankind, Vitruvius patriotically contends that the inhabitants of Italy, and especially the Romans, represent a happy medium be- tween north and south, combining the greater courage of the northerners with the keener intellects of the southerners, just as the planet Jupiter is a golden mean between the ex- treme influences of Mars and Saturn. So the Romans are fitted for world rule, overcoming barbarian valor by their superior intelligence and the devices of the southerners by their valor.^ In a third passage Vitruvius says more ex- pressly of the art of astrology : "As for the branch of
^VIII, iii, 16, 20-21, 24-5. *V, vi, I. The wording is that
* III, i. of Morgan's translation.
•V, Introduction, 3-4. 'VI, i, 3-4. 9-io.
V ANCIENT APPLIED SCIENCE 185
astronomy which concerns the influences of the twelve signs, the five stars, the sun, and the moon upon human Hfe, we must leave all this to the calculations of the Chaldeans, to whom belongs the art of casting nativities, which enables them to declare the past and the future by means of calcula- tions based on the stars. These discoveries have been transmitted by men of genius and great acuteness who sprang directly from the nations of the Chaldeans ; first of all, by Berosus, who settled in the island state of Cos, and there opened a school. Afterwards Antipater pursued the sub- ject; then there was Archinapolus, who also left rules for casting nativities, based not on the moment of birth but on that of conception." After listing a number of natural philosophers and other astronomers and astrologers, Vitru- vius concludes : "Their learning deserves the admiration of mankind; for they were so solicitous as even to be able to predict, long beforehand, with divining mind, the signs of the weather which was to follow in the future."^
Such a passage demonstrates plainly enough Vitruvius' Diver- full confidence in the art of casting nativities and of weather 5e"^een prediction, but it has no integral connection with his prac- theory and
,•11- .... practice,
tical architecture or even any necessary connection with the learning construction of a sun-dial, which is what he is actually driv- ^"*^ ^^^' ing at. But Vitruvius believed that an architect should not be a mere craftsman but broadly educated in history, medi- cine, and philosophy, geometry, music, and astronomy, in order to understand the origin and significance of details inherited from the art of the past, to assure a healthy build- ing, proper acoustics, and the like. It is in an attempt to air his learning and in the theoretical portions of his work that he is prone to occult science. But the practical processes of architecture and military engineering are free from it.
The attitude of Vitruvius towards other architects of Evils in his own age, to past authorities, and to personal experimen- porlry ' tation is of interest to note, and roughly parallels the atti- learning. tude of Galen in the field of medicine. Like Galen he com- * IX, vi, 2-3, Morgan's translation.
i86
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Authori- ties and inventions.
plains that the artist must plunge into the social life of the day in order to gain professional success and recognition.^ "And since I observe that the unlearned rather than the learned are held in high favor, deeming it beneath me to struggle for honors with the unlearned, I will rather demon- strate the virtue of our science by this publication." ^ He also objects to the self-assertion and advertising of them- selves in which many architects of his time indulge.^ He recognizes, however, that the state of affairs was much the same in time past, since he tells a story how the Macedonian architect, Dinocrates, forced himself upon the attention of Alexander the Great solely by his handsome and stately ap- pearance,* and since he asserts that the most famous artists of the past owe their celebrity to their good fortune in work- ing for great states or men, while other artists of equal merit are seldom heard of.^ He also speaks of those who plagiarize the writings of others, especially of the men of the past.^ But all this does not lead him to despair of art and learning; rather it confirms him in the conviction that they alone are really worth while, and he quotes several philosophers to that effect, including the saying of Theo- phrastus that "the learned man alone of all others is no stranger even in foreign lands . . . but is a citizen in every city." '
In contradistinction to the plagiarists Vitruvius expresses his deep gratitude to the men of the past who have written books, and gives lists of his authorities,^ and declares that "the opinions of learned authors . . . gain strength as time
^III, Introduction, 3,". . . There should be the greatest indignation when, as often, good judges are flattered by the charm of social entertainments into an approba- tion which is a mere pretence."
^ Idem.
'VI, Introduction, 5.
* II, Introduction. Vitruvius continues, "But as for rtie. Em- peror, nature has not given me stature, age has marred my face, and my strength is impaired by
ill health. Therefore, since these advantages fail me, I shall win your approval, as I hope, by the help of my knowledge and my writings."
" III, Introduction, 2.
*VII, Introduction, i-io.
'VI, Introduction, 2. Also IX, Introduction, where authors are declared superior to the victorious athletes in the Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games.
"VII, Introd., 11-14; IX, Introd.
V ANCIENT APPLIED SCIENCE 187
goes on." * "Relying upon such authorities, we venture to produce new systems of instruction." ^ Or, as he says in discussing the properties of waters, "Some of these things I have seen for myself, others I have found written in Greek books." ^ But in describing sun-dials he frankly remarks, "I will state by whom the different classes and designs of dials have been invented. For I cannot invent new kinds myself at this late day, nor do I think that I ought to dis- play the inventions of others as my own." * He also gives an account of a number of notable miscellaneous discoveries and experiments by past mathematicians and physicists.^ Also he sometimes repeats the instruction which he had re- ceived from his teachers. Like Pliny a little later he thinks that in some respects artistic standards have been lowered in his own time, notably in fresco-painting.^ But also, like Galen, he once admits that there are still good men in his own profession besides himself, affirming that "our archi- tects in the old days, and a good many even in our own times, have been as great as those of the Greeks." '^ He de- scribes a basilica which he himself had built at Fano.^
Vitruvius's last book is devoted to machines and mili- Machines tary engines. Here he makes a feeble effort to introduce Qesibius the factor of astrological influence, asserting that "all ma- chinery is derived from nature, and is founded on the teach- ing and instruction of the revolution of the firmament." ^ Among the devices described is the pump of Ctesibius of Alexandria, the son of a barber.^° He had already been mentioned in the preceding book ^^ for the improvements which he introduced in water-clocks, especially regulating their flow according to the changing length of the hours of the day in summer and winter. Vitruvius also asserts that he constructed the first water organs, that he "discovered
'IX, Introd., 17. 'VII, Introd., 18.
;vn, Introd., 10. «V, i, 6-ia
'VIII, in, 27. »Y ;\, * IX, vii, 7. -^' '' 4-
''IX, Introd. "X, vii.
'VII, V. "IX, viii.
i88 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
the natural pressure of the air and pneumatic principles, . . . devised methods of raising water, automatic contrivances, and amusing things of many kinds, . . . blackbirds singing by means of vi^aterworks, and angohatae, and figures that drink and move, and other things that have been found to be pleasing to the eye and the ear." ^ Vitruvius states that of these he has selected those that seemed most useful and necessary and that the reader may turn to Ctesibius's own works for those which are merely amusing. Pliny more briefly mentions the invention of pneumatics and water or- gans by Ctesibius.^
This characterization by Vitruvius of the writings of Ctesibius also applies with astonishing fitness to some of the works current under the name of Hero of Alexandria," ^ who is indeed in a Vienna manuscript of the Belopoiika spoken of as the disciple or follower of Ctesibius.* Hero, however, is not mentioned either by Vitruvius or Pliny, and it is now generally agreed as a result of recent studies that he belongs to the second century of our era.^ His writings are objec- tive and impersonal and tell us much less about himself than Vitruvius's introductions to the ten books of De architectura.
nX, viii, 2 and 4; X, vii, 4. appeared, 1899, 1900, 1903, 1912,
'NH, VII, 38. 1914, including respectively, the
*The' work of Martin, Recher- Pneumatics and Automatic _ The-
ches sur la vie et les ouvrages ater, the Mechanics and Mirrors,
d'Heron d'Alexandrie, Paris, 1854, the Metrics and Dioptra, the
and the accounts of Hero in his- DeHnitions and geometrical re-
tories of physics and mathematics mains, Stereometrica and De
such as those of Heller and Cajori, mensuris and De geodaesia. For
must now be supplemented by the the Belopoiika or work on mili-
long article in Pauly and Wissowa, tary engines see C. Wescher,
Realencyclopddie der classischen Poliorcctique des Grecs, Paris,
Altertums-imssenschaft, (1912), 1867. In English we have The
cols. 992-1080. A recent briefer Pneumatics of Hero of Alex-
summary in English is the article andria, translated for Bennet
by T. L. Heath, EB, nth edition, Woodcroft by J. G. Greenwood,
XIII, 378. See also Hammer- London, 1851. A number of ar-
Jensen, Ptolemaios und Heron, in tides on Hero by Heiberg, Carra
Hermes, XLVIII (1913), p. 224, de Vaux, Schmidt, and others will
et seq. be found in Bibliotheca Mathe-
The writings ascribed to Hero, matica and Sudhoff's Archiv f. d.
hitherto scattered about in vari- Gesch. d. Naturiviss. u. d. Tech-
ous for the most part inacces- nik.
sible editions and MSS, are now * irapi 'HpajTOj KTT7cri/3foi;.
appearing in a single Teubner "Heath in EB, XIII, 378; Hei-
edition, of which five vols, have berg (1914). V, ix.
c ANCIENT APPLIED SCIENCE 189
The similarity in content of his writings to those of the much earher Ctesibius as well as the character of his ter- minology suggest that he stands at the end of a long develop- ment. He speaks of his own discoveries, but perhaps in the main simply continues and works over the previous prin- ciples and mechanisms of men like Ctesibius. As things stand, however, his works constitute our most important, and often our only, source for the history of exact science and of technology in antiquity.^
Not only does Hero seem to have been in large measure Medieval a compiler and continuer of previous science, his works also "^^^j. ^^^ have evidently been worked over and added to in subsequent ^^e texts, periods and bear marks of the Byzantine, Arabian, and medi- eval Latin periods as well as of the Hellenistic and Roman. Indeed Heiberg regards the Geometry and De stereometricis and De mensuris as later Byzantine collections which have perhaps made some use of the works of Hero, while the De geodaesia is an epitome of, or extract from, a pseudo- Heronic collection. The Catoptrica is known only from the Latin translation of 1269, probably by William of Moerbeke, and long known as Ptolemy on Mirrors. It appears, how- ever, to be directly translated from the Greek and not from the Arabic. The Mechanics, on the other hand, is known only from the Arabic translation by Costa ben Luca. Of the Pneumatics we have Greek, Arabic, and Latin versions. It was apparently known to the author of the thirteenth cen- tury Summa philosophiae ascribed to Robert Grosseteste, since he speaks of the investigations of vacuums made by "Hero, that eminent philosopher, with the aid of water- clocks, siphons, and other instruments." ^ Scholars are of the opinion that the Arabic adaptation, which is of popular character and limited to the entertaining side, comes closer to the original Greek version of Hero's time than does the Latin version which devotes more attention to experimental phys- ics. The Automatic Theater, for which there is the same * PW, Heron. * Baur (1912), p. 417.
ipo
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Hero's
thau-
maturgy.
Instances of experi- mental proof.
chief manuscript as for the Pneumatics, also seems to have been worked over and added to a great deal.
From Vitruvius's allusions to the works of Ctesibius and from a survey of those works current under Hero's name which are chiefly concerned with mechanical contrivances and devices, the modern reader gets the impression that, aside from military engines and lifting appliances, the science of antiquity was applied largely to purposes of entertainment rather than practical usefulness. However, in Hero's case at least there is something more than this. His apparatus and experiments are not intended so much to divert as to deceive the spectator, and not so much to amuse as to as- tound him. The mechanism is usually concealed ; the cause acts indirectly, intermediately, or from a distance to pro- duce an apparently marvelous result. It is a case of thau- maturgy, as Hero himself says,^ of apparent magic. In fine, the experimental and applied scientist is largely interested in vying with the feats of the magicians or supplying the temples and altars of religion with pseudo-miracles.
The introduction or proemium to the Pneumatics is rather more truly scientific and has been called an unusual instance in antiquity of the use as proof of purposive ob- servation of nature and experiment. Thus the existence of air is demonstrated by the experiment of pressing an in- verted vessel, kept carefully upright, into water, which will not enter the vessel because of the resistance offered by the air already within the vessel. Or the elasticity of air and the existence of empty spaces between its particles is shown by the experiment of blowing more air into a globe through a siphon, and then holding one's finger over the orifice. As soon as the finger is removed the surplus air rushes out with a loud report. Along with such admirable experimental proof, however, the introduction contains some astonishingly erroneous assertions, such as that "slime and mud are trans- formations of water into earth," and that air released from
^ In the first chapter of the structed such things thaumaturges Automatic Theater he says, "The because of the astounding charac- ancicnls called those who con- tcr of tlie spectacle."
V ANCIENT APPLIED SCIENCE 191
a vessel under water "is transformed so as to become water." Hero believes that heat and light rays are particles of matter which penetrate the interstices between the particles com- posing air and water.
The Pneumatics consist of some seventy-eight theorems Magic or experiments or tricks, call them what you will, which in ^j^fn^lng different manuscripts and editions are variously grouped in animals. a single book or two books. The same idea or method, however, is often repeated in the different chapters. Thus we encounter over half a dozen times the magic water-jar or drinking horn from which either wine or water or a mix- ture of both can be poured, or a choice of other liquids. And in all these cases the explanation of the trick is the same. When the air-hole in the top of the vessel is closed so that no air can enter, the liquid will not flow out through the narrow orifice in the bottom. Changes are rung on this principle by means of inner compartments and connecting tubes. Different kinds of siphons, the bent, the enclosed, and the uniform discharge, are described in the opening chap- ters and are utilized in working the ensuing wonders, such as statues of animals which drink water offered to them, inexhaustible goblets or those that will not overflow, and harmonious jars. By this last expression is meant pairs of vessels, secretly connected by tubes and so arranged that nothing will flow from one until the other is filled, when wine will pour from one jar and water from the other. Or when water is poured into one jar, wine or mixed wine and water flows from the other. Or, when water is drawn off from one jar, wine flows from the other. Other vessels are made to commence or cease to pour out wine or water, when a little water is poured in. Others will receive no more water once you have ceased pouring it in, no matter how little may have been poured in, or, when you cease for a moment to pour water in and then begin again, will not resume their outpour until half full. In another case the water will not flow out of a hole in the bottom of the ves- sel at all until the vessel is entirely filled. Others are made
192
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Various automa- tons and devices.
Magic mirrors.
to flow by dropping a coin in a slot or working a lever, or turning a wheel. In the last case the vessel of water is con- cealed behind the entrance column of a temple. In one magic drinking horn the flow of water from the bottom is checked by putting a cover over the open top. When another pitcher is tipped up, the same amount of liquid will always fk)w out.
In half a dozen chapters mechanical birds are made to sing by driving air through a pipe by the pressure of flowing water. In other chapters a dragon is made to hiss and a thyrsus to whistle by similar methods. By the force of compressed air water is made to spurt forth and automatons to sound trumpets. The heat of the sun's rays is used to warm air which expands and causes water to trickle out. In a number of cases as long as a fire burns on an altar the expansion of enclosed air caused thereby opens temple doors by the aid of pulleys, or causes statues to pour liba- tions, dancing figures to revolve, and a serpent to hiss. The force of steam is used to support a ball in mid-air, revolve a sphere, and make a bird sing or a statue blow a horn. In- exhaustible lamps are described as well as inexhaustible goblets, and a self -trimmed lamp in which a float resting on the oil turns a cog-wheel which pushes up the wick as it and the oil are consumed. Floats and cog-wheels are also used in some of the tricks already mentioned. In another the flow of a liquid from a vessel is regulated by a float and a lever. Cog-wheels are also employed in constructing the neck of an automaton so that it can be cut completely through with a knife and yet the head not be severed from the body. A cupping glass, a syringe, a fire engine pump with valves and pistons, a hydraulic organ and one worked by wind pretty much exhaust the contents of the Pneumatics. In its introduction Hero alludes to his treatise in four books on water-clocks, but this is not extant. Hero's water-organ is regarded as more primitive than that described by Vitruvius.*
If magic jugs and marvelous automatons make up most of the contents of the Pneumatics and Automatic Theater,
*PW, 1045.
V ANCIENT APPLIED SCIENCE 193
comic and magic mirrors play a prominent part m the Catoptrics. The spectator sees himself upside down, with three eyes, two noses, or an otherwise distorted counte- nance. By means of two rectangular mirrors which open and close on a common axis Pallas is made to spring from the head of Zeus. Instructions are given how to place mirrors so that the person approaching will see no reflection of him- self but only whatever apparition you select for him to see. Thus a divinity can be made suddenly to appear in a temple. Clocks are also described where figures appear to announce the hours.
Hero displays a slight tendency in the direction of as- Astrology trology, discussing the music of the spheres in the first ^?^ occult chapters of the Catoptrics, and in the Pneumatics describing an absurdly simple representation of the cosmos by means of a small sphere placed in a circular hole in the partition between two halves of a transparent sphere of glass. One hemisphere is to be filled with water, probably in order to support the ball in the center.^ The marvelous virtues of animals other than automatons are rather out of his line, but he alludes to the virtue of the marine torpedo which can penetrate bronze, iron, and other bodies.
Although we have seen some indications of its earlier ex- Date 01 istence in Egypt, alchemy seems to have made its appear- q^^^^^ ance in the ancient Greek-speaking and Latin world only at alchemy. a late date. There seems to be no allusion to the subject in classical literature before the Christian era, the first men- tion being Pliny's statement that Caligula made gold from orpiment.^ The papyri containing alchemistic texts are of
^But perhaps this is a medieval came the planets, then the sun"^
interpolation in the nature of a Orr (1913), P- 63 and Fig. 13.
crude Christian attempt to depict See also K. Tittel, "Das Weltbild
"the firmament in the midst of the bei Heron," in Bibl. Math. (1907-
waters" (Genesis, I, 6). However, 1908), pp. ii3-7-
it also somewhat resembles the ^ Berthelot (1885), pp. 68-9. For
universe of the Greek philosopher, the following account of Greek
Leucippus, who "made the earth a alchemy I have followed Berthe-
hemisphere with a hemisphere of lot's three works, Les Origines de.
air above, the whole surrounded I'Alchimie, 1885; Collection des
by the supporting crystal sphere ancicns Alchimistes Grecs, 3 vols.,
which held the moon. Above this 1887-1888; Introduction a I'Btude
194
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Legend that Dio- cletian burned the books of the alchemists.
the third century, and the manuscripts containing Greek works of alchemy, of which the oldest is one of the eleventh century in the Library of St. Mark's, seem to consist of works or remnants of works written in the third century and later, many being Byzantine compilations, excerpts, or additions. Also Syncellus, the polygraph of the eighth century, gives some extracts from the alchemists.
Syncellus and other late writers ^ are our only extant sources for the statement that Diocletian burned the books of the alchemists in Egypt, so that they might not finance future revolts against him. If the report be true, one would fancy that the imperial edict would be more effective as a testimonial to the truth of transmutation in encouraging the art than it would be in discouraging it by destroying a cer- tain amount of its literature. Thus the edict would resemble the occasional laws of earlier emperors banishing the astrologers — except their own — from Rome or Italy because they had been too free in predicting the death of the emperor, which only serve to show what a hold astrology had both on emperors and people. But the report concerning Diocletian sounds improbable on the face of it and must be doubted for want of contemporary evidence. Certainly we are not justi- fied in explaining the air of secrecy so often assumed by writers on alchemy as due to the fear of persecution which this action of Diocletian ^ or the fear of being accused of magic aroused in them. Persons who wish to keep matters secret do not rush into publication, and the air of secrecy of the alchemists is too often evidently assumed for purposes of
de la Chimie, 1889. Berthelot made a good many books from too few MSS; went over the same ground repeatedly ; and sometimes had to correct his previous state- ments ; but still remains the full- est account of the subject. E. O.