ARCHIMEDES AND HIS FULCRUM 173 



during which it would be necessary to make the crank of 

 the machine continually turn in order to move the earth 

 only one inch. We have omitted the fraction of a cen- 

 tury as being of little consequence in a calculation of this 

 kind. The machine is also supposed to be constantly in 

 action, but if it should be worked only eight hours each 

 day, the time required would be three times as long. 



So that while it is true that Archimedes could move the 

 world, the space through which he could have moved it, 

 during his whole life, from infancy to old age, is so small 

 that even if multiplied two hundred million times it could 

 not be measured by even the most delicate of our modern 

 measuring instruments. 



There is a modern saying which has become almost as 

 famous amongst English-speaking peoples as is that of Ar- 

 chimedes to the world at large. It is that which Bulwer 

 Lytton puts into the mouth of Richelieu, in his well-known 

 play of that name : 



" Beneath the rule of men entirely great 

 THE PEN is MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD." 



About thirty years ago it occurred to the writer that 

 these two epigrammatic sayings that of Archimedes and 

 that of Bulwer Lytton, might be symbolized in an allegori- 

 cal drawing which would forcibly express the ideas which 

 they contain, and the question immediately arose Where 

 will Archimedes get his fulcrum and what can he use as a 

 lever ? 



And the mental answer was : Let the pen be the lever 

 and the printing press the fulcrum, while the sword, used 

 for the same purpose but resting on glory, or in other 

 words, having no substantial fulcrum, breaks in the attempt. 



