552 



ANCIENT DESEMERS OR STEELYARDS. 



fouiiU'rpoi.sc, iiuikiiiji' three essentially separate pieees instead of the 

 two of the desemer. We are to distinj^uish earefull}', then, between 



(1) The desemer, with fixed wei^iit and shiftint;: fulcrum, not neces- 

 sarily having more than two separate pieces, and 



(2) The Roman balance, or common steel3'ard, witii shifting;" weij^ht 

 and fixed fulcrum, necessarily haxin^" three pieces at least. 



Alth()ui;li the desemer is the subject of the present comnuuiication, 

 yet in order to form some rational conjecture concernin*^ the course 

 of its evolution, to comprehend the relation between the three kinds 

 of historical balances (the modern spring- balances, aneroid ))alances, 

 torsion balances, hi^rizontal l)alances, hydrometer balances, etc., being 

 left out of account), and to decide whether or not the two-pan balance 

 can be considered as the first step toward the unecjual-armed l)alances, 

 it will be necessary to begin by studying the two-])an l)alanc(\ 



We shall be forced to rely, as I have said, almost exclusively upon 

 c )inparisons l)etw'een objects in the collections; and before going 

 further it behooves me to expres.s my grateful thanks to those who 



Fi<;s. 1 



From Krinim's Ku'.VT>t. 



have them in charge foi' the assistance wliicii they have geiuM-ously 

 extended to me, and without which I should have been uiial)lc to-day to 

 collect and exhil)it what 1 have to show you. 



We shall have to admit both the two-pan balance and tlu^ desemer 

 in its rudest form as the simi)lest and most primitive weighing appa- 

 ratus. Indeed, it is probable that l)oth inventions are primeval and 

 that they were made by ditierent peoples at diti'erent times. The 

 invention was easy to make. Many occupations had made it clear 

 that if a ))ar be in any way supported in the middle, both ends must 

 V)e equally loaded in order to bring it into the horizontal position. 

 The neck yoke or portage l)ar, so often seen on ancient Egyptian 

 walls (tigs. 1 and 2), or the plank resting on a narrow support, the 

 delightfid seesaw of children, called in America a "tilt," in Germanj' 

 a "wippe," constitutes a readj^-made equal-armed })alance as soon as 

 anybody thinks of putting it to that use. 



Wilkinson, in his Ancient Egyptians, gives a drawing of a goldsmith, 



