being filled with water, and thus exposed to the fire, produces a
vehement blast of wind.

This instrument, Des Cartes and others, have made use of, to account
for the natural cause and generation of wind; and hence its name,
Aeolipile, _pila Aeoli_, Aeolus's ball.

In Italy it is said that the Aeolipile is commonly made use of to cure
smoky chimneys; for being hung over the fire, the blast arising from
it carries up the loitering smoke along with it. This instrument was
known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Vitruvius.

Some late authors have discovered the extraordinary use to which the
frauds of the heathen priesthood applied the Aeolipile, viz. the
working of sham miracles. Besides _Jack of Hilton_, which had been
an ancient Saxon, image, or idol, Mr. Weber shows, that _Pluster_, a
celebrated German idol, is also of the Aeolipile kind, and in virtue
thereof, could do noble feats: being filled with a fluid, and then
set on the fire, it would be covered with sweat, and as the heat
increased, would at length burst out into flames.

An Aeolipile of great antiquity, made of brass, was some years since
dug up on the site of the Basingstoke Canal, and presented to the
Antiquarian Society of London. Instead of being globular, with a bent
tube, it is in the form of a grotesque human figure, and the blast
proceeds from its mouth.

P.T.W.

* * * * *