HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



with it. For instance, compare this hexagonal inkwell as you see 

 (fig. i). In the interior is a collar on a pivot a/3; in this collar is another 

 on a pivot yS; in this interior of the second chain is a cup on a pivot 4, 

 and this cup forms the inkwell. One might say this is the Jewish 

 style and the construction of the apparatus resembles that of the 

 censer which turns while remaining at equilibrium. Measure this con- 

 struction well and adjust it carefully, so that every time you place 

 the inkwell on any face, that which is presented for the entrance of 

 the pen is the top of the inkwell." The manuscript of Oxford adds to 

 the figure the following comment which must be a subsequent inter- 

 polation: "This movable apparatus is like the throne of Solomon, the 

 son of David. When somebody familiar with Solomon's throne makes 

 use of it and ascends it, he will remain there; a person unfamiliar with 



Fig. i. — Philo's Inkwell in Cardan's Suspension (after Baron Carra de Vaux). 



it, who will sit down in it, will fall to the ground. This is very nice." 1 

 Here we have a magical source like the one from which Cardan may 

 have derived his description of the suspended imperial chair. In his 

 introduction (p. 36) Carra de Vaux discusses the question of possible 

 interpolations in the Arabic version and makes this observation on 

 our passage: "The most curious article is that of the suspended ink- 

 well which is found both in the manuscript of St Sophia in Constan- 

 tinople and in the anonymous collection of Oxford. This inkwell is 

 based on a suspension a la Cardan. It is somewhat astounding that 



1 Baron Carra de Vaux, Le livre des appareils pneumatiques et des machines hydrauliques 

 par Philon de Byzance (tire des Notices et Extraits des manuscrils de la Bibl. Nat., vol. xxxviii, 

 Paris, 1902, p. 195). 



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