ARCHIMEDES* 



and workmanship, exhibiting the motions 

 Df the heavenly bodies in a very pleasing 

 manner. 



Many wonderful stories are told of his 

 discoveries, and of his very powerful and 

 curious machines, Sec. Hiero once ad- 

 miring 1 them, Archimedes replied, these 

 effects are nothing, " but give me," said 

 he, " some other place to fix a machine 

 on, and I will move the earth." He fell 

 upor v curious device for discovering the 

 decei which had been practised by a 

 workman, employed by the said king 

 Hievo to make a golden crown H;ero 

 hav.ng a mind to make an ottlring to the 

 gods of a golden crown, agreed for one 

 of great value, and weighed out the gold 

 to the artificer. After some time he 

 brought the crown home, of the full 

 weight ; but it was afterwards discovered 

 or suspected that a part of. the gold had 

 been stolen, and the like weight of silver 

 substituted in its stead. Hiero, being 

 angry at this imposition, desired Archi- 

 medes to take it into consideration, how 

 such a fraud might be certainly discover- 

 ed. While engaged in the solution of this 

 difficulty, he happened to go into the 

 bath ; where observing that a quantity of 

 water overflowed, equal to the bulk of 

 his body, it presently occurred to him, 

 that Hiero's question might be answered 

 by a like method ; upon which he leap- 

 ed out, and ran homeward, crying out 

 svgjix.01 ! evgtwa '. I have found it out ! I 

 have found it out ! He then made two 

 masses, each of the same weight as the 

 crown, one of gold and the other of silver; 

 this being done, he filled a vessel to the 

 brim with water, and put the silver mass in- 

 to it, upon which a quantity ofwater over- 

 flowed equal to the bulk of the mass ; 

 then taking the mass of silver out, he fill- 

 ed up the vessel again, measuring the 

 water exactly which he put in ; this 

 -shewed him what measure of water an- 

 swered to a certain quantity of silver. 

 Then he tried the gold in like manner, 

 and found that it caused a less quantity 

 of water to overflow, the gold being less 

 in bulk than the silver, though of the same 

 weight. He then filled the vessel a third 

 time, and putting in the crown itself, he 

 found that it caused more water to over- 

 flow than the golden mass of the same 

 weight, but less than the silver one ; so 

 that, finding its bulk between the two 

 masses of gold and silver, and that in 

 certain known proportions, he was able 

 to compute the real quantities of gold 

 and silver in the crown, and so manifestly 

 'liscoveycd the fraud. 



Archimedes also contrived many ma- 

 chines for useful and beneficial purposes; 

 among these, engines for launching large 

 ships; screw pumps for exhausting the 

 water out of ships, marshes or overflow- 

 ed lands, as Egypt, &c. which they would 

 do from any depth. 



But he became most famous by his cu- 

 rious contrivances, by which the city of 

 Syracuse was so long defended, when be- 

 sieged by the Roman consul Marcellus ; 

 showering upon the enemy sometimes 

 long darts and stones of vast weight and 

 in great quantities; at other times lifting 

 their ships up into the air, that had come 

 near the walls, and dashing them to pieces 

 by letting them fall down again : nor 

 could they find their safety in removing 

 out of the reach of his cranes and levers, 

 for there he contrived to set fire to them 

 with the rays of the sun reflected from 

 burning glasses. 



However, notwithstanding all his art, 

 Syracuse was at length taken by storm, 

 and Archimedes was so very intent upon 

 some geometrical problem, that he neither 

 heard the noise, nor regarded any thing 

 else, till a soldier that found him tracing 

 lines asked his name, and upon his re- 

 quest to begone, and not disorder his 

 figures, slew him. " What gave Marcel- 

 lus the greatest concern, says Plutarch, 

 was the unhappy fate of Archimedes, who 

 was at that time in his museum ; and his 

 mind, as well as his eyes, so fixed and in- 

 tent upon some geometrical figures, that 

 he neither heard the noise and hurry of 

 the Romans, nor perceived the city to be 

 taken. In the depth of study and contem- 

 plation^ soldier came suddenly upon him, 

 and commanded him to fellow him to 

 Marcellus ; which he refusing to do, till 

 he had finished his problem, the soldier 

 in a rage drew his sword, and ran him 

 through." Livy says he was slain by a 

 soldier, not knowing who he was, while 

 he was drawing schemes in the dust ; that 

 Marcellus was grieved at his death, and 

 took care of his funeral ; and made his 

 name a protection and honour to those 

 who could claim a relationship to him. 

 His death it seems happened about the 

 142d or 143d Olympiad, or 210 years be- 

 fore the birth of Christ. 



When Cicero was quaestor for Sicily, 

 he discovered the tomb of Archimedes, 

 all overgrown with bushes and brambles; 

 which he caused to be cleared, and the 

 place set in order. There were a sphere 

 and cylinder cut upon it, with an inscrip- 

 tion, but the latter part of the verses were 

 quite worn out. 



Many of the works of this great man 



