WINDMILLS, PICTURESQUE AND HISTORIC: THE MOTORS OF THE PAST BY F. H. SHELTON Philadelphia. Member of the Institute REPRINTED FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE FEBRUARY, 1919 [Illustration: colophon] PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1919 (REPRINTED FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, FEBRUARY, 1919.) WINDMILLS, PICTURESQUE AND HISTORIC: THE MOTORS OF THE PAST.[A] BY F. H. SHELTON. Philadelphia. Member of the Institute. [Illustration] The pessimist says that man is a lazy animal and that he invents machines to save himself work. The optimist, that man is an industrious creature who invents machines that he may accomplish the more. Whichever doctrine is right, there is but little question that of all the ingenious contrivances evolved by man none is more picturesque, of more historic interest nor of greater usefulness in its day than the old-fashioned windmill, the world’s principal motor for some eight hundred years. And “motor” is the viewpoint to take of this old piece of mechanism, for just as the later devices of steam, electricity or gasoline are for the purposes of making power for the needs of man, so was this old appliance for the prime purpose of securing power from the wind, and by thus harnessing that most widely distributed of Nature’s forces, of enabling the accomplishment of work far beyond the limits of manual power.