362 BOOK IX. 



building there should be, besides the four long walls, seven transverse walls, 

 of which the first is constructed from the upper end of the first long wall to 

 the upper end of the second long wall ; the second proceeds from the end 

 of this to the end of the third long wall ; the third likewise from this end of 

 the last extends to the end of the fourth long wall ; the fourth leads from 

 the lower end of the first long wall to the lower end of the second long wall ; 

 the fifth extends from the end of this to the end of the third long wall ; the 

 sixth extends from this last end to the end of the fourth long wall ; the 

 seventh divides into two parts the space between the third and fourth long 

 walls. 



To return to the back part of the building, in which, as I said, are the 

 bellows 6 , their frames, the machinery for compressing them, and the instru- 

 ment for distending them. Each bellows consists of a body and a head. 

 The body is composed of two " boards," two bows, and two hides. The 

 upper board is a palm thick, five feet and three palms long, and two and a half 

 feet wide at the back part, where each of the sides is a little curved, and it is 

 a cubit wide at the front part near the head. The whole of the body of the 

 bellows tapers toward the head. That which we now call the " board " 

 consists of two pieces of pine, joined and glued together, and of two strips of 

 linden wood which bind the edges of the board, these being seven digits 

 wide at the back, and in front near the head of the bellows one and a half 

 digits wide. These strips are glued to the boards, so that there shall be less 

 damage from the iron nails driven through the hide. There are some people 

 who do not surround the boards with strips, but use boards only, which 

 are very thick. The upper board has an aperture and a handle ; the 

 aperture is in the middle of the board and is one foot three palms distant 

 from where the board joins the head of the bellows, and is six digits long and 

 four wide. The lid for this aperture is two palms and a digit long and' wide, 

 and three digits thick ; toward the back of the lid is a little notch cut 

 into the surface so that it may be caught by the hand ; a groove is cut out 

 of the top of the front and sides, so that it may engage in mouldings a palm 

 wide and three digits thick, which are also cut out in a similar manner under 

 the edges. Now, when the lid is drawn forward the hole is closed, and 

 when drawn back it is opened ; the smelter opens the aperture a little so that 

 the air may escape from the bellows through it, if he fears the hides might be 

 burst when the bellows are too vigorously and quickly inflated ; he, however, 

 closes the aperture if the hides are ruptured and the air escapes. Others 

 perforate the upper board with two or three round holes in the same place as 

 the rectangular one, and they insert plugs in them which they draw out 



Devices for creating an air current must be of very old invention, for it is impossible 

 to conceive of anything but the crudest melting of a few simple ores without some forced 

 draft. Wilkinson (The Ancient Egyptians, u, p. 316) gives a copy of an illustration of 

 a foot-bellows from a tomb of the time of Thothmes m. (1500 B.C.). The rest of the world 

 therefore, probably obtained them from the Egyptians. They are mentioned frequently in 

 the Bible, the most pointed reference to metallurgical purposes being Jeremiah (vi, 29) : 

 " The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed in the fire ; the founder melteth in vain ; for 

 " the wicked are not plucked away." Strabo (vn, 3) states that Ephorus ascribed the 

 invention of bellows to Anacharsis a Thracian prince of about 600 B.C. 



