CHAP. XII. 



* 



Of Burning Glasses, 



1. X HE fertile genius of Archimedes illustriously 

 appears, not only in those works of his which have 

 been handed down to us, but also in the admirable 

 descriptions which the authors of his time have 

 given is of his discoveries in mathematics and mecha- 

 nics. Some of ihe inventions of this great men have 

 appeared so far to surpass human ability and imagi- 

 nation, that some celebrated philosophers have called 

 them in question, and even gone so fur as to pretend 

 to d -monsiiat" their impossib lity. 1 intend in this 

 chapter to examine into the subject of the burning 

 glassts, empl yrd by Archimedes to set fire to the 

 lloman tte t at the siege ot Syracuse. Kepler, Nau. 

 deus, and D-.^carres, nave treated it as a mere fable, 

 though thenality of it hath been attested by Dio- 

 dorus Sicnlus, Lucian. D.*n, Zonaras, Gal, n, An- 

 themius, Eiibtathius, Tzeizes, and others. .NaVjSome 

 have even preteuJed to demonstrate by the rules of 

 catoptics the impossibility pfit^ notwithstanding the 

 asseveration of such respectable autiuis, wno ought 

 to have prevented them from rejecting so lightly a 

 fact so wuil supported. 



2. Yef all have not been involved in this mistake. 

 Father Kircher, attentively observing the description 

 which Tzetzes gives oi the burning glasses of Ar- 



