WITH NOTES. 527 



chines, 1578, many means delineated for raising vessels ; 

 for taking them bodily out of the water ; or, for laying 

 them high and dry on shore for repairs, as in plates 55, 

 56, and 58. All such methods are naturally, however, 

 not only very rude and imperfect, but are at best only 

 applicable for small craft. 



In 1636, Sir John Christopher Van Berg, Moravian 

 Knight, dispossessed of all his property &quot; by the devour 

 ing wars in Germany,&quot; patented eleven inventions ; 

 the fifth being &quot;An assured way how the very 

 greatest ship may be drawn up again, though it be 

 sunk 80 fathoms deep.&quot; 



94- 



A little Engine portable in ones 

 Pocket, which placed to any door, 

 without any noife, but one crack, 

 openeth any door or gate. 



[A Pocket Engine to open any door.~\ Doppelmayr 

 gives an account of the screw-jack invented by Leonard 

 Banner in 1550. It must have been well known in the 

 following century, and we can readily understand how 

 the principle of its action may have occurred to the 

 Marquis for application to a pocket instrument that 

 would exactly accord with his statement. 



Bishop Wilkins, in his &quot; Mathematical Magick,&quot; 

 1648, treating on the employment of multiplied wheels, 

 refers to Eamelli, Figure 160, observing: &quot;Hither 

 also should be referred the force of racks, which serve 

 for bending of the strongest bows, as also that little 

 pocket engine wherewith a man may break or wrench 

 open any door, together with divers the like instru 

 ments in common use.&quot; Chap. 13, pages 91, 92. 



