TO THE CENTURY. 351 



there, might be well worthy a journey in this long vaca 

 tion for one of your experimentators.&quot; 



In the 21st volume of the Eoyal Society s Transac 

 tions, for 1685, Dr. Papin, describes the external appear 

 ance, and the performance, of a small hydro-pneumatic 

 fountain, which is represented in an engraving, as being 

 enclosed by a cylindrical glass, under a glass shade. 

 The Doctor states that it might be seen at his house, 

 in operation on his mantel-piece, where Dr. Hook had 

 watched it for half an hour, and other visitors for four 

 hours together. The secret had been communicated to 

 Mr. Boyle, but, with a view to excite the speculations 

 of the ingenious, was not made public ; for it was the 

 pleasure of the learned to puzzle each other with such 

 paradoxes. 



The Diaries of John Evelyn and of Samuel Pepys 

 offer numerous instances of the possession of similar 

 cabinets of mechanical curiosities. 



In the Life of Baron Guilford,* we have a fuller 

 notice of scientific society about the same period, of 

 which the following extracts will suffice to give a clear 

 idea. It is evident that, except as relates to the most 

 ancient, approved appliances, then in common use in 

 the mechanical arts, all mechanical improvement be 

 yond these was in its non-age ; so much indeed was 

 this the case, that no invention was too simple, and 

 scarcely any too outrageous or absurd, to be esteemed 

 unworthy of being submitted to the attention of the 

 learned. 



&quot; His Lordship was no concealed virtuoso ; for his 

 diffused acquaintance and manner of conversation, made 



* The Life of the Rt. Hon. Francis North, Baron of Guilford, Lord Keeper of the 

 Great Seal, under King Charles II, and King James II. By the Hon. Roger 

 North. 2nd ed. 2 vols. 8vo. 1808. Vol, 2, p. 251. 



