300 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



LETTER X. 



Mechanical inventions of the- ancients few in number Ancient and 

 modern feeds of strength Feats of Eckeberg particularly de- 

 scribed General explanation of them Heal feats of strength 

 performed by Thomas Topham Remarkable power of lifting 

 heavy persons when the lungs are inflated Belzoni's feat of 

 sustaining pyramids of men Deception of walking along the 

 ceiling in an inverted position Pneumatic apparatus in the foot 

 of the house-fly for enabling it to walk in opposition to gravity 

 Description of the analogous apparatus employed by the gecko 

 lizard for the same purpose Apparatus used by the Echineis 

 remora or sucking fish. 



THE mechanical knowledge of the ancients was principally 

 theoretical, and though they seem to have executed some 

 minor pieces of mechanism which were sufficient to delude 

 the ignorant, yet there is no reason for believing that 

 they have executed any machinery that was capable of 

 exciting much surprise, either by its ingenuity or its 

 magnitude. The properties of the mechanical powers, 

 however, seem to have been successfully employed in 

 performing feats of strength which were beyond the reach 

 even of strong men, and which could not fail to excite the 

 greatest wonder when exhibited by persons of ordinary 

 size. 



Firmus, a native of Seleucia, who was executed by the 

 Emperor Aurelian for espousing the cause of Zenobia, was 

 celebrated for his feats of strength. In his account of the 

 life of Firmus, who lived in the third century, Vopiscus 

 informs us, that he could suffer iron to be forged upon an 



