TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the chapter. A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example und^r or 36^{th}. Corrigenda on page xiv have been applied to the etext except for illustration corrections. Illustrations without captions have had a description added. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. [Illustration: INVENTIONS OF THE ANCIENTS HERO OF ALEXANDRIA ] THE PNEUMATICS OF HERO OF ALEXANDRIA FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK TRANSLATED FOR AND EDITED BY BENNET WOODCROFT PROFESSOR OF MACHINERY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON [Illustration: Decorative divider] LONDON TAYLOR WALTON AND MABERLY UPPER GOWER STREET AND IVY LANE PATERNOSTER ROW 1851 TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS This Work IS BY SPECIAL PERMISSION MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S OBEDIENT AND VERY HUMBLE SERVANT, BENNET WOODCROFT. [Illustration: Decorative border with depictions of cheribs sailing, making pottery and sculpting stone] EDITOR’S PREFACE. While the Editor of the present work was engaged in writing an _Analytical History of the Steam-Engine_, it became necessary to consult the antient mechanicians to ascertain who were the inventors of the several parts composing that machine: the earliest writer on the subject appeared to be Hero of Alexandria; throughout whose work so many of the elementary parts of all Steam-Engines, and those also of most other machines are mentioned, that it was thought a translation of Hero’s Pneumatics would be acceptable not only to the Engineer but to the scientific world generally. Although at the commencement of his work, Hero states that he has added his own discoveries to those “handed down by former writers,” yet in no instance has he pointed out any thing which originated with himself; nor is there any statement in the text, except the one I have just quoted, which would lead the reader to any other conclusion than that the whole is a compilation from the works of those who at that period of time were styled the “antient philosophers and mechanicians.”