A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume 2 (of 2) by Beckmann
introduction of them at the mines of the Harz Forest, i. 67.
3628 words | Chapter 45
Bills of exchange, ii. 203;
account of the oldest, _ib._;
ordinance issued at Barcelona respecting them, ii. 204.
Black lead, ii. 388;
names by which it is known, _ib._;
ancient manuscripts ruled with lead, ii. 389;
plumbago, by whom first mentioned, ii. 390;
black lead pits in Cumberland, ii. 392;
in commerce, called _potloth_, ii. 393;
first pencils used for drawing, _ib._;
black and red chalk, ii. 394.
Bologna stone, ii. 429;
description of, ii. 429-430;
how rendered capable of shining in the dark, ii. 431;
discovery of this, by whom made, _ib._;
preparation of the stone concealed by the Italian chemists, ii. 432;
taught by Poterius, a French chemist, _ib._;
luminous stone from India mentioned by De Thou, ii. 433;
other kinds of pyrophori, ii. 434.
Book-censors, ii. 512;
reason of their being established, _ib._;
books forbidden and burnt before the invention of printing, ii. 513;
books of the Jews and Christians burnt, ii. 514;
works of Arius and Nestorius burnt, _ib._;
earliest instance of books published by permission of government,
_ib._;
mandate respecting book-censors, ii. 516;
bull of Alexander VI. prohibiting books unless previously examined,
ii. 517;
book-censors established in France, _ib._
Book-keeping, history of, i. 1.
Buckingham, duke of, the first person in England who used six horses
to his carriage, i. 76.
Buck-wheat, i. 425;
not known to the ancients, i. 426;
introduced into Europe the beginning of the 16th century, _ib._;
said to have been brought from Asia, _ib._;
conjectures respecting other names given to it, i. 428;
when cultivated in England, _ib._;
account of a new species, _ib._;
sows itself in Siberia, i. 429;
difficult to be cultivated, i. 430.
Butter, i. 499;
whether known to the Hebrews, i. 500;
passage in Proverbs respecting it wrongly translated, _ib._;
oldest mention of it in Greek writers, _ib._;
known to the Scythians, _ib._;
used by the Lusitanians instead of oil, _ib._;
elephants drank it, _ib._;
anecdote related by Plutarch, i. 503;
invention of butter ascribed by Pliny to the Germans, i. 504;
uses to which butter was applied by the ancients, i. 506, 507;
butter of the ancients was fluid, _ib._;
scarce in Norway during the ages of paganism, i. 508.
Camp-mills, ii. 55;
invention ascribed to the Germans, ii. 56.
Canary-birds, i. 32;
when known in Europe, _ib._;
flew from a ship wrecked on the roast of Italy to Elba, where they
multiplied, _ib._;
trade with them, i. 33;
Canary seed, where first cultivated, i. 34;
use of, might be extended, i. 35.
Carp, history of, ii. 46;
Cassiodorus the oldest author who uses the term _carpa_, ii. 51;
origin of the name, ii. 52;
carp supposed to have been first found in the southern parts of
Europe, _ib._;
known in England, ii. 53.
Catalogues of books, ii. 522;
first printers printed books at their own expense, _ib._;
when bookselling became a distinct business, _ib._;
catalogues first printed, ii. 523;
account of some of the earliest, ii. 524;
rapid increase of catalogues, ii. 527;
Bohn’s guinea catalogue, _ib._
Cauliflower, brought from the Levant to Italy, ii. 345.
Cheese known earlier than butter, i. 502.
Chemical names of metals, ii. 23;
given first to the heavenly bodies, _ib._;
nomination of metals after the heathen deities, ii. 24;
astrological nomination known to the Brahmans in India, ii. 26;
origin of the characters by which the planets are expressed, ii. 27;
those by which the metals are signified, ii. 28;
list of metals known at the present day, ii. 31.
Chimneys, i. 295;
no traces of at Herculaneum, i. 296;
principal writers on their antiquity, i. 296, 297;
passages in Greek authors supposed to allude to them, i. 297-299;
in Roman authors, i. 299-301;
houses of the ancients had no chimneys, _ib._;
in what manner they warmed their apartments, i. 305;
description of the stoves used in Persia, _ib._;
derivation of the word chimney, i. 308;
houses of the ancients kept warm by pipes, i. 309;
Winkelmann’s description of stoves found in a ruined villa, _ib._;
no chimneys in the 10th, 12th and 13th centuries, i. 312;
oldest account of chimneys in an inscription at Venice, i. 313;
first chimney-sweepers in Germany came from Savoy and Piedmont,
i. 314;
chimney-sweeps at Paris Savoyards, _ib._
Clocks and watches, history of, i. 340;
clocks known in the eleventh century, i. 346;
first public clock at Padua, i. 351;
when in use among private persons, i. 354;
first mention of watches, _ib._;
history of clocks and watches, by Barrington, i. 355;
Queen Mary’s watch, i. 362;
Sir Richard Burton’s, _ib._;
letter on the watch said to have belonged to Robert Bruce, i. 364;
Harrison’s invention, i. 368;
Arnold’s chronometer, i. 370.
Coaches, i. 68;
covered carriages at Rome, _ib._;
women only rode in carriages at the beginning of the 16th century,
i. 70;
use of covered carriages forbidden, _ib._;
order of Julius duke of Brunswick, forbidding his vassals to ride
in carriages, i. 72;
French monarchs rode on horseback in the 14th, 15th and 16th
centuries, i. 74;
citizens’ wives at Paris forbidden to use carriages, _ib._;
Henry IV. had only one coach, i. 75;
whirlicotes, the oldest carriages used by the English ladies, _ib._;
coaches first known in England, i. 76;
when introduced into Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Russia, _ib._;
origin of the word coach, i. 77;
berline, invention of, i. 78;
first coaches let out for hire at Paris, i. 79;
hackney-coaches first established at London, i. 81;
number of coaches in some of the principal cities of Europe, _ib._
Cobalt, i. 478;
is melted with siliceous earth and potashes to a blue glass called
smalt, _ib._;
ground smalt, or powder-blue, _ib._;
cobalt not known to the ancients, _ib._;
reason why Lehmann and others think that the ancients used smalt,
i. 481;
Gmelin’s experiments on the blue of the ancients, _ib._;
origin of the name cobalt, i. 483;
first colour-mills in Germany for grinding smalt, i. 484;
smalt not mentioned in books till a later period, i. 486;
the oldest description found in the works of Biringoccio, _ib._
Cock-fighting, ii. 473;
reflections on, _ib._;
antiquity of, _ib._;
quail-fighting among the Romans, ii. 474;
cock-fights and quail-fights mentioned by Solon, ii. 475;
Romans employed partridges for fighting, _ib._;
cock-fighting instituted by Themistocles, _ib._;
ascribed to Miltiades, ii. 476;
mentioned by ancient authors, ii. 477-479;
oldest information about cock-fighting in England, ii. 481;
this pastime forbidden, _ib._
Cork, i. 318;
properties of, _ib._;
account of the cork-tree, i. 319;
known to the Greeks and Romans, _ib._;
cork used by the ancient fishermen as floats to their nets, i. 321;
anchor-buoys made of it, _ib._;
Romans made soles of it, i. 322;
cork jackets, antiquity of, _ib._;
ancient methods of closing up wine-casks and other vessels, i. 323;
cork stoppers, i. 324;
various substitutes for corks, i. 325, 326.
Corn-mills, i. 147;
earliest methods of grinding corn, _ib._;
the oldest hand-mills, _ib._;
cattle-mills, i. 148;
water-mills, i. 151;
mills constructed at Rome by Belisarius, i. 154;
invention of floating-mills, i. 155;
of wind-mills, i. 158;
difference between German and Dutch wind-mills, i. 160;
bolting-machinery, when invented, i. 161;
bolting-cloth, i. 162;
invention of barley-mills, i. 168;
anecdote of a feudal lord, i. 170.
Cryptography, when invented, i. 106.
Diamond, when first used for writing on glass, ii. 87.
Diving-bell, i. 111;
ancient divers, _ib._;
principles explained, i. 113;
earliest use in Europe, _ib._;
described by Lord Bacon, i. 115;
cannon fished up by it from the wreck of the Spanish Armada, _ib._;
old inventions, i. 117;
Dr. Halley’s diving-bell, i. 118;
Triewald’s improvement, i. 119;
when employed in civil engineering, i. 121;
apparatus for walking at the bottom of the sea, i. 122.
Embroidery, antiquity of, i. 415.
Enamel, i. 132.
Etching on glass discovered by Henry Schwanhard, ii. 88;
process which he employed, ii. 89.
Etruscan vases, colours of, produced by calx of iron, ii. 239.
Exclusive privilege for printing books, ii. 518;
oldest privilege known, granted in 1490, _ib._;
account of some granted in different countries, ii. 519, 520;
privileges granted in England, ii. 520;
in Spain, ii. 521.
Falconry, i. 198;
not a modern invention, i. 199;
birds of prey used in India and Thrace, i. 201;
employed also in Italy, _ib._;
forbidden to the clergy in the sixth century, i. 203;
ancients bred other rapacious animals besides hawks, _ib._;
falconry common in the twelfth century, _ib._;
Frederick II. wrote a book upon it, _ib._;
ladies formerly fond of falconry, i. 204;
oldest writers on this art, _ib._
Fire-engines, ii. 245;
idea borrowed from the common pump, _ib._;
_sipho_ mentioned by Pliny, a fire-engine, ii. 246;
fire-engines at Rome, ii. 247;
in the East, engines employed to produce fires, ii. 249;
Greek fire, _ib._;
fire-engines introduced into Germany uncertain, ii. 250;
first mentioned in the building accounts of Augsburg, _ib._;
fire-engines at Nuremberg, ii. 251;
fire-engines very imperfect in the seventeenth century, ii. 252;
air-chamber, when added, _ib._;
improved engines made by Leupold, ii. 253;
Dutch improvements, ii. 255-256;
pipes for conveying water not unknown to the ancients, ii. 256;
fire-engines, when introduced at Constantinople, ii. 257.
Floating of wood, i. 454;
what gave rise to this invention, i. 455;
wood floated by Solomon for the temple at Jerusalem, i. 456;
wood transported on water by the Romans, _ib._;
earliest account of floating wood in Germany, i. 458;
in France, i. 459, 460.
Forks, ii. 407;
Greeks and Romans had no name for them, ii. 408;
Romans often used _ligulæ_ instead, ii. 409;
forks not employed by the ancients, _ib._;
meat cut by a carver, ii. 410;
forks not in use among the Chinese, _ib._;
forks supposed to be found among the ruins of a Roman town, ii. 411;
when first known in Italy, _ib._;
forks and spoons still rarities in some parts of Spain, ii. 413;
table knives, when introduced among the Highlanders, _ib._;
English, Dutch, and French have adopted the Italian names _forca_
and _forchetta_, _ib._;
German word _gabel_ of great antiquity, ii. 414.
Foundling hospitals, ii. 434;
reflections on child-murder, _ib._;
no law against it formerly in Christian states, ii. 436;
children exposed by the ancients, ii. 437;
permitted in Greece but not at Thebes, ii. 438;
when prohibited by the Romans, ii. 439;
humane decrees of Constantine the Great, ii. 440;
public orphan-houses at Athens and Rome, _ib._;
foundlings declared to be free by Justinian, ii. 441;
oldest establishments for orphans in Germany, ii. 442;
similar establishments in France, ii. 444, 445;
one of the same kind at Einbeck, ii. 445;
hospital at Nuremberg, ii. 446;
institution for foundlings at Venice, _ib._;
foundling hospital in England, _ib._;
inefficiency of such institutions, ii. 448.
Fowls said to thrive near smoke, i. 303.
Fur dresses, ii. 296;
raw skins first used for clothing, ii. 297;
fur clothing little used by the Romans, _ib._;
introduced by their northern invaders, ii. 301;
seal-skins, ii. 302;
rein-deer skins, used by the ancient Germans, _ib._;
furs, considered by the Getæ objects of magnificence, ii. 304;
forbidden by Honorius, _ib._;
Gothic breeches adopted by the Romans, ii. 305;
furs employed by the Persians instead of mattresses and bolsters,
ii. 308;
origin of the fur trade to the southern parts of Europe, ii. 309;
riches of the northern nations consisted in furs, ii. 310;
skins counted by _decuriæ_ or _decher_, ii. 311;
skins of the Pontic mouse, ii. 312;
ermine, various names of, ii. 315;
the sable, _ib._;
marten, ii. 316;
_grauwerk_, meaning of, ii. 317;
cats’ and rabbits’ skins, _ib._;
beaver skins, ii. 318;
furs, when they began to be dyed, ii. 319;
Charlemagne, anecdote respecting his dress of sheep’s skin, _ib._;
fur gloves, ii. 320;
use of furs forbidden, ii. 321, 322;
not used at the court of Byzantium, ii. 322;
fur trade in modern times, ii. 323.
Garden-flowers, history of, i. 512;
modern taste came from Persia and Constantinople, _ib._;
tuberose, when first brought to Europe, _ib._;
auricula carried to Brussels, i. 513;
ranunculus brought from the Levant, i. 516;
fondness of Mahomet IV. for this flower, _ib._;
favourite flowers of the present day, i. 517.
Gilding, ii. 290;
mentioned in the books of the Old Testament, _ib._;
art of gold-beating at Rome in the time of Pliny, ii. 291;
process of gold-beating in the twelfth century, _ib._;
pellicle first used by the German gold-beaters, ii. 292;
art of gilding facilitated by the invention of oil-painting,
ii. 294;
gold-leaf affixed to metals by quicksilver in the time of Pliny,
ii. 295;
false gilding, _ib._;
gilding leather, ii. 296.
Glass-cutting, ii. 84;
known to the ancients, _ib._;
revived by Caspar Lehmann, ii. 85;
figures engraved on glass with a diamond, ii. 86;
etching on glass, ii. 88;
history of sparry fluor, ii. 90;
its property of emitting light discovered, _ib._;
ornaments of, made in Derbyshire, ii. 92.
Guns, gun-locks, ii. 533;
first portable fire-arms discharged by a match, _ib._;
when flints were used, ii. 534;
pistols, when brought into use, ii. 535;
derivation of the word, _ib._;
muskets, whence they received their name, _ib._;
gun-lock, when invented, _ib._;
how gun-flints are prepared, ii. 538.
Honey used by the ancients for preserving natural curiosities, i. 286.
Hops, ii. 376;
whether known to the ancients, ii. 377;
known in the time of the Carolingian dynasty, ii. 380;
in Egypt bitter things added to beer, ii. 382;
when hops were used in the Netherlands, _ib._;
when in England, ii. 384;
sweet gale employed for beer in Sweden, ii. 385;
Chinese hops, how prepared, ii. 387;
cultivation of hops in England, _ib._
Horse, burnt as being possessed by the devil, ii. 118.
Horse-shoes, i. 442;
writers on their antiquity, i. 443;
methods employed by the ancients to preserve the feet of cattle,
_ib._;
mules shod with silver and gold, i. 444;
hoofs of the ancient cavalry soon worn out, i. 446;
ancients unacquainted with horse-shoes such as ours, _ib._;
horses not shod in Ethiopia, Japan and Tartary, i. 449;
horse-shoe said to have been found in the grave of Childeric,
i. 451;
first mentioned in the ninth century, i. 452;
mentioned by Italian, English and French writers of the same
century, i. 453;
shoeing horses, when introduced into England, i. 454.
Hungary water, i. 315;
method of preparing it, _ib._;
fabulous origin of the name, _ib._;
receipt for making it first mentioned in a small book by John
Prevot, i. 316;
copy of the receipt, _ib._
Hydrometer, ii. 161;
earliest mention of it occurs in the fifth century, _ib._;
description of the hydrometer by Synesius, ii. 163;
Hypatia not the inventress of the hydrometer, ii. 168;
revived in the sixteenth century, ii. 169;
improvements in, ii. 171.
Indigo, ii. 258;
brought first from the East Indies, _ib._;
medicinal properties of, ii. 261;
cultivated in Malta in the seventeenth century, ii. 262;
the _Indicum nigrum_ of the ancients was China ink, ii. 264;
authors in which this term occurs, ii. 267;
indigo, as well as Indian ink, procured from India, and named
_indicum_, ii. 270;
indigo mentioned by Arabian physicians, _ib._;
indigo substituted in dyeing for woad, ii. 273;
when introduced into Germany, ii. 274;
great importation into Holland, _ib._;
American indigo, _ib._;
indigo prohibited in Germany, ii. 277;
dyers obliged to take an oath not to use it, ii. 278;
first mention of it in the English laws, ii. 279.
Infirmaries, hospitals, lazarettos, ii. 454;
no hospitals for sick at Rome, _ib._;
pilgrimages gave rise to their erection, ii. 456;
brotherhoods established to provide for sick pilgrims, ii. 457;
first hospitals built close to cathedrals, ii. 458;
mad-houses, where first established, ii. 461;
attention paid by the Romans to their invalids, ii. 462;
first establishment for invalids at Constantinople, ii. 465;
_Hôtel des Invalides_, at Paris, _ib._;
regular surgeons, when appointed to armies, ii. 468-471;
establishment of field hospitals in Germany, ii. 471.
Ink, sympathetic, history of, i. 106.
Ink, in what manner it acquires a superior quality, ii. 266.
Insurance, i. 234;
not known to the Romans, _ib._;
Puffendorf and others endeavour to prove the contrary, _ib._;
does not occur in the Hanseatic maritime laws, _ib._;
policies drawn up in 1523, still used in Leghorn, i. 237;
insurance-laws of the 16th and 17th centuries, i. 238;
invention of insurance against fire, i. 240;
insurance companies in England, i. 242-244.
Jackets, cork, of the ancients, i. 322.
Jugglers, ii. 115;
who comprehended under that title, _ib._;
observations on their employment, ii. 115-119;
breathing out flames very ancient, ii. 119;
how performed, _ib._;
deceptions with naphtha, ii. 120;
feats of Richardson with burning coals and melted lead, ii. 121;
feat with melted copper, ii. 122;
ancient Hirpi could walk through burning coals, ii. 123;
ordeal, a juggling trick of the priests, _ib._;
secret of it disclosed, ii. 124;
exhibition with balls and cups mentioned by the ancients, _ib._;
Von Eckeberg suffered large stones to be broken on his breast,
ii. 126;
ancient rope-dancers, _ib._;
feats of horsemanship came from the East, ii. 128;
performers at the Byzantine court, _ib._;
Romans taught elephants to walk on a rope, ii. 129;
Sybarites taught horses to dance, ii. 130;
Wildman’s exhibition with bees, _ib._;
puppets, ii. 132;
antiquity of automata, ii. 133;
tripods of Vulcan, ii. 134;
moving statues of Dædalus, _ib._;
pigeon of Archytas, ii. 135;
wooden eagle and iron fly of Regiomontanus, _ib._;
automata of Vaucanson and Du Moulin, ii. 136, 137;
of De Gennes, ii. 137;
speaking machines, ii. 138-141;
Chinese shadows, ii. 141.
Kermes and cochineal, i. 385;
belong to the same genus, i. 386;
three kinds described, _ib._;
places where the ancients collected them, i. 387;
still found in the Levant, i. 388;
French and Spanish kermes, _ib._;
name given to them in the middle ages, i. 390;
how preserved at those periods, _ib._;
when this dye was known in Germany, i. 391;
origin of the name _kermes_, i. 392;
discovery of American cochineal, i. 396;
disputes whether cochineal was insects or berries, i. 398;
real cochineal brought to St. Domingo, i. 399;
kermes early employed in the East to dye red, _ib._;
derivation of the word _scarlet_, i. 400;
Drebbel discovered that a solution of tin produced with cochineal a
beautiful scarlet colour, i. 402;
Gobelin improved the art of dyeing scarlet in France, i. 403;
first dye-house for scarlet in England established by a Fleming,
_ib._;
three kinds of cochineal in the English market, i. 404.
Kitchen vegetables, ii. 336;
bulbous roots, favourite dishes among the ancients, ii. 338;
some vegetables, formerly cultivated, now little esteemed, _ib._;
borage not known to the ancients, ii. 339;
spinage, no traces of in the works of the ancients, ii. 340;
its native country unknown, _ib._;
broccoli, known to the ancients, ii. 342;
species of the cabbage according to Linnæan system, ii. 343-348;
whether the Greeks and Romans were acquainted with our carrots, ii.
349-351;
shallots brought from Ascalon in Palestine, ii. 353;
our shallots obtained only by the bulbs, _ib._;
potatoes, when introduced into Europe, ii. 354.
Kircher, whether the inventor of the speaking-trumpet, i. 97;
read the litany through one to a congregation from two to five
Italian miles off, i. 99.
Knitting, stocking-loom, ii. 355;
fishing and hunting-nets mentioned in the Scriptures, ii. 357;
nets, in modern times found among very rude nations, ii. 358;
mantles of the clergy in the middle ages covered with silk nets,
ii. 359;
stocking-knitting, when invented, ii. 360;
when known in England, ii. 361;
breeches and hose, when worn in Scotland, ii. 362;
stockings of cloth, in the time of Queen Mary, ii. 364;
knitting, when common throughout England, ii. 365;
art of knitting stockings in Germany, _ib._;
terms which relate to knitting older than the art itself, ii. 366;
wire-screens of curious workmanship, ii. 367;
stocking-loom, invention of, ii. 368-373;
stocking-looms at Venice, ii. 373;
invention claimed by the French, _ib._;
brought to Germany, ii. 375;
present state of the hosiery manufacture, _ib._
Lace, i. 463;
method of making it, _ib._;
not known to the ancients, i. 464;
lace among old church furniture, i. 465;
establishment of the lace manufacture in France, _ib._;
lace a German invention, _ib._;
application of machinery to the manufacture of lace, i. 466.
Lapidary’s wheel known to the ancients, ii. 84.
Lead, sugar of, when invented, i. 250;
whether used for secret poison, i. 60.
Leaf-skeletons, ii. 195;
first made by Severin, ii. 197;
also by Gabriel Clauder, _ib._;
insects employed for this purpose by Ruysch, ii. 198;
leaf-skeletons by Seligmann, ii. 200;
art of raising trees from leaves, ii. 201.
Lending-houses, history of, ii. 1;
ancient princes lent money to the poor without interest, ii. 2;
their example followed in modern Italy, ii. 3;
_Tabernæ argentariæ_ of the Romans different from lending-houses,
ii. 5;
public loans in the fourteenth century, _ib._;
lending-houses opposed by the Dominicans, ii. 7;
Tomitano preached in favour of them, ii. 9;
established in different parts of Italy, ii. 10-12;
dispute respecting their legality, ii. 12;
confirmed at the council of the Lateran, ii. 13;
_Banco de’ poveri_ at Naples, _ib._;
origin of the name _Mons pietatis_, ii. 15;
account of the oldest public loans, ii. 16;
first lending-house in Germany, ii. 17;
Lombards in the Netherlands, ii. 18;
_Mont de piété_ at Paris, ii. 20;
account of pawnbroking in England, ii. 21.
Lighting of streets, ii. 172;
Rome not lighted, _ib._;
contrary opinion of Meursius, _ib._;
streets of Antioch lighted, ii. 173;
Cæsarea not lighted, _ib._;
antiquity of illuminations, ii. 174;
Paris lighted, ii. 175;
reverberating lamps invented, ii. 177;
first account of lighting London, ii. 178;
Amsterdam, the Hague, and Copenhagen, ii. 180;
streets of Rome have no lights but those before the images of
saints, _ib._;
lighting at Philadelphia, Hamburg, Berlin, ii. 181;
at Vienna and other cities, ii. 181, 182;
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