Thorstein Veblen - "An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Peace And The Terms Of Its Perpetuation"

Grace S. Richmond - "Under the Country Sky"

Laura Lee Hope - "Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove"

Alexandre Dumas - "Bric à brac"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Ten Books on Architecture

V >> Vitruvius >> Ten Books on Architecture




2. Hence, wherever a sundial is to be constructed, we must take the
equinoctial shadow of the place. If it is found to be, as in Rome, equal
to eight ninths of the gnomon, let a line be drawn on a plane surface,
and in the middle thereof erect a perpendicular, plumb to the line,
which perpendicular is called the gnomon. Then, from the line in the
plane, let the line of the gnomon be divided off by the compasses into
nine parts, and take the point designating the ninth part as a centre,
to be marked by the letter A. Then, opening the compasses from that
centre to the line in the plane at the point B, describe a circle. This
circle is called the meridian.

3. Then, of the nine parts between the plane and the centre on the
gnomon, take eight, and mark them off on the line in the plane to the
point C. This will be the equinoctial shadow of the gnomon. From that
point, marked by C, let a line be drawn through the centre at the point
A, and this will represent a ray of the sun at the equinox. Then,
extending the compasses from the centre to the line in the plane, mark
off the equidistant points E on the left and I on the right, on the two
sides of the circumference, and let a line be drawn through the centre,
dividing the circle into two equal semicircles. This line is called by
mathematicians the horizon.

[Illustration]

4. Then, take a fifteenth part of the entire circumference, and, placing
the centre of the compasses on the circumference at the point where the
equinoctial ray cuts it at the letter F, mark off the points G and H on
the right and left. Then lines must be drawn from these (and the centre)
to the line of the plane at the points T and R, and thus, one will
represent the ray of the sun in winter, and the other the ray in summer.
Opposite E will be the point I, where the line drawn through the centre
at the point A cuts the circumference; opposite G and H will be the
points L and K; and opposite C, F, and A will be the point N.

5. Then, diameters are to be drawn from G to L and from H to K. The
upper will denote the summer and the lower the winter portion. These
diameters are to be divided equally in the middle at the points M and O,
and those centres marked; then, through these marks and the centre A,
draw a line extending to the two sides of the circumference at the
points P and Q. This will be a line perpendicular to the equinoctial
ray, and it is called in mathematical figures the axis. From these same
centres open the compasses to the ends of the diameters, and describe
semicircles, one of which will be for summer and the other for winter.

6. Then, at the points at which the parallel lines cut the line called
the horizon, the letter S is to be on the right and the letter V on the
left, and from the extremity of the semicircle, at the point G, draw a
line parallel to the axis, extending to the left-hand semicircle at the
point H. This parallel line is called the Logotomus. Then, centre the
compasses at the point where the equinoctial ray cuts that line, at the
letter D, and open them to the point where the summer ray cuts the
circumference at the letter H. From the equinoctial centre, with a
radius extending to the summer ray, describe the circumference of the
circle of the months, which is called Menaeus. Thus we shall have the
figure of the analemma.

7. This having been drawn and completed, the scheme of hours is next to
be drawn on the baseplates from the analemma, according to the winter
lines, or those of summer, or the equinoxes, or the months, and thus
many different kinds of dials may be laid down and drawn by this
ingenious method. But the result of all these shapes and designs is in
one respect the same: namely, the days of the equinoxes and of the
winter and summer solstices are always divided into twelve equal parts.
Omitting details, therefore,--not for fear of the trouble, but lest I
should prove tiresome by writing too much,--I will state by whom the
different classes and designs of dials have been invented. For I cannot
invent new kinds myself at this late day, nor do I think that I ought to
display the inventions of others as my own. Hence, I will mention those
that have come down to us, and by whom they were invented.




CHAPTER VIII

SUNDIALS AND WATER CLOCKS


1. The semicircular form, hollowed out of a square block, and cut under
to correspond to the polar altitude, is said to have been invented by
Berosus the Chaldean; the Scaphe or Hemisphere, by Aristarchus of Samos,
as well as the disc on a plane surface; the Arachne, by the astronomer
Eudoxus or, as some say, by Apollonius; the Plinthium or Lacunar, like
the one placed in the Circus Flaminius, by Scopinas of Syracuse; the
[Greek: pros ta historoumena], by Parmenio; the [Greek: pros pan klima],
by Theodosius and Andreas; the Pelecinum, by Patrocles; the Cone, by
Dionysodorus; the Quiver, by Apollonius. The men whose names are written
above, as well as many others, have invented and left us other kinds:
as, for instance, the Conarachne, the Conical Plinthium, and the
Antiborean. Many have also left us written directions for making dials
of these kinds for travellers, which can be hung up. Whoever wishes to
find their baseplates, can easily do so from the books of these writers,
provided only he understands the figure of the analemma.

2. Methods of making water clocks have been investigated by the same
writers, and first of all by Ctesibius the Alexandrian, who also
discovered the natural pressure of the air and pneumatic principles. It
is worth while for students to know how these discoveries came about.
Ctesibius, born at Alexandria, was the son of a barber. Preeminent for
natural ability and great industry, he is said to have amused himself
with ingenious devices. For example, wishing to hang a mirror in his
father's shop in such a way that, on being lowered and raised again, its
weight should be raised by means of a concealed cord, he employed the
following mechanical contrivance.

3. Under the roof-beam he fixed a wooden channel in which he arranged a
block of pulleys. He carried the cord along the channel to the corner,
where he set up some small piping. Into this a leaden ball, attached to
the cord, was made to descend. As the weight fell into the narrow limits
of the pipe, it naturally compressed the enclosed air, and, as its fall
was rapid, it forced the mass of compressed air through the outlet into
the open air, thus producing a distinct sound by the concussion.

4. Hence, Ctesibius, observing that sounds and tones were produced by
the contact between the free air and that which was forced from the
pipe, made use of this principle in the construction of the first water
organs. He also devised methods of raising water, automatic
contrivances, and amusing things of many kinds, including among them the
construction of water clocks. He began by making an orifice in a piece
of gold, or by perforating a gem, because these substances are not worn
by the action of water, and do not collect dirt so as to get stopped up.

5. A regular flow of water through the orifice raises an inverted bowl,
called by mechanicians the "cork" or "drum." To this are attached a rack
and a revolving drum, both fitted with teeth at regular intervals. These
teeth, acting upon one another, induce a measured revolution and
movement. Other racks and other drums, similarly toothed and subject to
the same motion, give rise by their revolution to various kinds of
motions, by which figures are moved, cones revolve, pebbles or eggs
fall, trumpets sound, and other incidental effects take place.

6. The hours are marked in these clocks on a column or a pilaster, and a
figure emerging from the bottom points to them with a rod throughout the
whole day. Their decrease or increase in length with the different days
and months, must be adjusted by inserting or withdrawing wedges. The
shutoffs for regulating the water are constructed as follows. Two cones
are made, one solid and the other hollow, turned on a lathe so that one
will go into the other and fit it perfectly. A rod is used to loosen or
to bring them together, thus causing the water to flow rapidly or slowly
into the vessels. According to these rules, and by this mechanism, water
clocks may be constructed for use in winter.

7. But if it proves that the shortening or lengthening of the day is
not in agreement with the insertion and removal of the wedges, because
the wedges may very often cause errors, the following arrangement will
have to be made. Let the hours be marked off transversely on the column
from the analemma, and let the lines of the months also be marked upon
the column. Then let the column be made to revolve, in such a way that,
as it turns continuously towards the figure and the rod with which the
emerging figure points to the hours, it may make the hours short or long
according to the respective months.

8. There is also another kind of winter dial, called the Anaphoric and
constructed in the following way. The hours, indicated by bronze rods in
accordance with the figure of the analemma, radiate from a centre on the
face. Circles are described upon it, marking the limits of the months.
Behind these rods there is a drum, on which is drawn and painted the
firmament with the circle of the signs. In drawing the figures of the
twelve celestial signs, one is represented larger and the next smaller,
proceeding from the centre. Into the back of the drum, in the middle, a
revolving axis is inserted, and round that axis is wound a flexible
bronze chain, at one end of which hangs the "cork" which is raised by
the water, and at the other a counterpoise of sand, equal in weight to
the "cork."

9. Hence, the sand sinks as the "cork" is raised by the water, and in
sinking turns the axis, and the axis the drum. The revolution of this
drum causes sometimes a larger and sometimes a smaller portion of the
circle of the signs to indicate, during the revolutions, the proper
length of the hours corresponding to their seasons. For in every one of
the signs there are as many holes as the corresponding month has days,
and a boss, which seems to be holding the representation of the sun on a
dial, designates the spaces for the hours. This, as it is carried from
hole to hole, completes the circuit of a full month.

10. Hence, just as the sun during his passage through the constellations
makes the days and hours longer or shorter, so the boss on a dial,
moving from point to point in a direction contrary to that of the
revolution of the drum in the middle, is carried day by day sometimes
over wider and sometimes over narrower spaces, giving a representation
of the hours and days within the limits of each month.

To manage the water so that it may flow regularly, we must proceed as
follows.

11. Inside, behind the face of the dial, place a reservoir, and let the
water run down into it through a pipe, and let it have a hole at the
bottom. Fastened to it is a bronze drum with an opening through which
the water flows into it from the reservoir. Enclosed in this drum there
is a smaller one, the two being perfectly jointed together by tenon and
socket, in such a way that the smaller drum revolves closely but easily
in the larger, like a stopcock.

12. On the lip of the larger drum there are three hundred and sixty-five
points, marked off at equal intervals. The rim of the smaller one has a
tongue fixed on its circumference, with the tip directed towards those
points; and also in this rim is a small opening, through which water
runs into the drum and keeps the works going. The figures of the
celestial signs being on the lip of the larger drum, and this drum being
motionless, let the sign Cancer be drawn at the top, with Capricornus
perpendicular to it at the bottom, Libra at the spectator's right, Aries
at his left, and let the other signs be given places between them as
they are seen in the heavens.

13. Hence, when the sun is in Capricornus, the tongue on the rim touches
every day one of the points in Capricornus on the lip of the larger
drum, and is perpendicular to the strong pressure of the running water.
So the water is quickly driven through the opening in the rim to the
inside of the vessel, which, receiving it and soon becoming full,
shortens and diminishes the length of the days and hours. But when,
owing to the daily revolution of the smaller drum, its tongue reaches
the points in Aquarius, the opening will no longer be perpendicular, and
the water must give up its vigorous flow and run in a slower stream.
Thus, the less the velocity with which the vessel receives the water,
the more the length of the days is increased.

14. Then the opening in the rim passes from point to point in Aquarius
and Pisces, as though going upstairs, and when it reaches the end of the
first eighth of Aries, the fall of the water is of medium strength,
indicating the equinoctial hours. From Aries the opening passes, with
the revolution of the drum, through Taurus and Gemini to the highest
point at the end of the first eighth of Cancer, and when it reaches that
point, the power diminishes, and hence, with the slower flow, its delay
lengthens the days in the sign Cancer, producing the hours of the summer
solstice. From Cancer it begins to decline, and during its return it
passes through Leo and Virgo to the points at the end of the first
eighth of Libra, gradually shortening and diminishing the length of the
hours, until it comes to the points in Libra, where it makes the hours
equinoctial once more.

15. Finally, the opening comes down more rapidly through Scorpio and
Sagittarius, and on its return from its revolution to the end of the
first eighth of Capricornus, the velocity of the stream renews once more
the short hours of the winter solstice.

The rules and forms of construction employed in designing dials have now
been described as well as I could. It remains to give an account of
machines and their principles. In order to make my treatise on
architecture complete, I will begin to write on this subject in the
following book.




BOOK X




INTRODUCTION


1. In the famous and important Greek city of Ephesus there is said to be
an ancient ancestral law, the terms of which are severe, but its justice
is not inequitable. When an architect accepts the charge of a public
work, he has to promise what the cost of it will be. His estimate is
handed to the magistrate, and his property is pledged as security until
the work is done. When it is finished, if the outlay agrees with his
statement, he is complimented by decrees and marks of honour. If no more
than a fourth has to be added to his estimate, it is furnished by the
treasury and no penalty is inflicted. But when more than one fourth has
to be spent in addition on the work, the money required to finish it is
taken from his property.

2. Would to God that this were also a law of the Roman people, not
merely for public, but also for private buildings. For the ignorant
would no longer run riot with impunity, but men who are well qualified
by an exact scientific training would unquestionably adopt the
profession of architecture. Gentlemen would not be misled into limitless
and prodigal expenditure, even to ejectments from their estates, and the
architects themselves could be forced, by fear of the penalty, to be
more careful in calculating and stating the limit of expense, so that
gentlemen would procure their buildings for that which they had
expected, or by adding only a little more. It is true that men who can
afford to devote four hundred thousand to a work may hold on, if they
have to add another hundred thousand, from the pleasure which the hope
of finishing it gives them; but if they are loaded with a fifty per cent
increase, or with an even greater expense, they lose hope, sacrifice
what they have already spent, and are compelled to leave off, broken in
fortune and in spirit.

3. This fault appears not only in the matter of buildings, but also in
the shows given by magistrates, whether of gladiators in the forum or of
plays on the stage. Here neither delay nor postponement is permissible,
but the necessities of the case require that everything should be ready
at a fixed time,--the seats for the audience, the awning drawn over
them, and whatever, in accordance with the customs of the stage, is
provided by machinery to please the eye of the people. These matters
require careful thought and planning by a well trained intellect; for
none of them can be accomplished without machinery, and without hard
study skilfully applied in various ways.

4. Therefore, since such are our traditions and established practices,
it is obviously fitting that the plans should be worked out carefully,
and with the greatest attention, before the structures are begun.
Consequently, as we have no law or customary practice to compel this,
and as every year both praetors and aediles have to provide machinery
for the festivals, I have thought it not out of place, Emperor, since I
have treated of buildings in the earlier books, to set forth and teach
in this, which forms the final conclusion of my treatise, the principles
which govern machines.




CHAPTER I

MACHINES AND IMPLEMENTS


1. A machine is a combination of timbers fastened together, chiefly
efficacious in moving great weights. Such a machine is set in motion on
scientific principles in circular rounds, which the Greeks call [Greek:
kyklike kineois]. There is, however, a class intended for climbing,
termed in Greek [Greek: akrobatikon], another worked by air, which with
them is called [Greek: pneumatikon], and a third for hoisting; this the
Greeks named [Greek: baroulkos]. In the climbing class are machines so
disposed that one can safely climb up high, by means of timbers set up
on end and connected by crossbeams, in order to view operations. In the
pneumatic class, air is forced by pressure to produce sounds and tones
as in an [Greek: organon].

2. In the hoisting class, heavy weights are removed by machines which
raise them up and set them in position. The climbing machine displays no
scientific principle, but merely a spirit of daring. It is held together
by dowels and crossbeams and twisted lashings and supporting props. A
machine that gets its motive power by pneumatic pressure will produce
pretty effects by scientific refinements. But the hoisting machine has
opportunities for usefulness which are greater and full of grandeur, and
it is of the highest efficacy when used with intelligence.

3. Some of these act on the principle of the [Greek: mechane], others on
that of the [Greek: organon]. The difference between "machines" and
"engines" is obviously this, that machines need more workmen and greater
power to make them take effect, as for instance ballistae and the beams
of presses. Engines, on the other hand, accomplish their purpose at the
intelligent touch of a single workman, as the scorpio or anisocycli when
they are turned. Therefore engines, as well as machines, are, in
principle, practical necessities, without which nothing can be
unattended with difficulties.

4. All machinery is derived from nature, and is founded on the teaching
and instruction of the revolution of the firmament. Let us but consider
the connected revolutions of the sun, the moon, and the five planets,
without the revolution of which, due to mechanism, we should not have
had the alternation of day and night, nor the ripening of fruits. Thus,
when our ancestors had seen that this was so, they took their models
from nature, and by imitating them were led on by divine facts, until
they perfected the contrivances which are so serviceable in our life.
Some things, with a view to greater convenience, they worked out by
means of machines and their revolutions, others by means of engines, and
so, whatever they found to be useful for investigations, for the arts,
and for established practices, they took care to improve step by step on
scientific principles.

5. Let us take first a necessary invention, such as clothing, and see
how the combination of warp and woof on the loom, which does its work on
the principle of an engine, not only protects the body by covering it,
but also gives it honourable apparel. We should not have had food in
abundance unless yokes and ploughs for oxen, and for all draught
animals, had been invented. If there had been no provision of
windlasses, pressbeams, and levers for presses, we could not have had
the shining oil, nor the fruit of the vine to give us pleasure, and
these things could not be transported on land without the invention of
the mechanism of carts or waggons, nor on the sea without that of ships.

6. The discovery of the method of testing weights by steelyards and
balances saves us from fraud, by introducing honest practices into life.
There are also innumerable ways of employing machinery about which it
seems unnecessary to speak, since they are at hand every day; such as
mills, blacksmiths' bellows, carriages, gigs, turning lathes, and other
things which are habitually used as general conveniences. Hence, we
shall begin by explaining those that rarely come to hand, so that they
may be understood.




CHAPTER II

HOISTING MACHINES


1. First we shall treat of those machines which are of necessity made
ready when temples and public buildings are to be constructed. Two
timbers are provided, strong enough for the weight of the load. They are
fastened together at the upper end by a bolt, then spread apart at the
bottom, and so set up, being kept upright by ropes attached at the upper
ends and fixed at intervals all round. At the top is fastened a block,
which some call a "rechamus." In the block two sheaves are enclosed,
turning on axles. The traction rope is carried over the sheave at the
top, then let fall and passed round a sheave in a block below. Then it
is brought back to a sheave at the bottom of the upper block, and so it
goes down to the lower block, where it is fastened through a hole in
that block. The other end of the rope is brought back and down between
the legs of the machine.

2. Socket-pieces are nailed to the hinder faces of the squared timbers
at the point where they are spread apart, and the ends of the windlass
are inserted into them so that the axles may turn freely. Close to each
end of the windlass are two holes, so adjusted that handspikes can be
fitted into them. To the bottom of the lower block are fastened shears
made of iron, whose prongs are brought to bear upon the stones, which
have holes bored in them. When one end of the rope is fastened to the
windlass, and the latter is turned round by working the handspikes, the
rope winds round the windlass, gets taut, and thus it raises the load to
the proper height and to its place in the work.

3. This kind of machinery, revolving with three sheaves, is called a
trispast. When there are two sheaves turning in the block beneath and
three in the upper, the machine is termed a pentaspast. But if we have
to furnish machines for heavier loads, we must use timbers of greater
length and thickness, providing them with correspondingly large bolts at
the top, and windlasses turning at the bottom. When these are ready,
let forestays be attached and left lying slack in front; let the
backstays be carried over the shoulders of the machine to some distance,
and, if there is nothing to which they can be fastened, sloping piles
should be driven, the ground rammed down all round to fix them firmly,
and the ropes made fast to them.

4. A block should then be attached by a stout cord to the top of the
machine, and from that point a rope should be carried to a pile, and to
a block tied to the pile. Let the rope be put in round the sheave of
this block, and brought back to the block that is fastened at the top of
the machine. Round its sheave the rope should be passed, and then should
go down from the top, and back to the windlass, which is at the bottom
of the machine, and there be fastened. The windlass is now to be turned
by means of the handspikes, and it will raise the machine of itself
without danger. Thus, a machine of the larger kind will be set in
position, with its ropes in their places about it, and its stays
attached to the piles. Its blocks and traction ropes are arranged as
described above.

5. But if the loads of material for the work are still more colossal in
size and weight, we shall not entrust them to a windlass, but set in an
axle-tree, held by sockets as the windlass was, and carrying on its
centre a large drum, which some term a wheel, but the Greeks call it
[Greek: amphiesis] or [Greek: perithekion].

6. And the blocks in such machines are not arranged in the same, but in
a different manner; for the rows of sheaves in them are doubled, both at
the bottom and at the top. The traction rope is passed through a hole in
the lower block, in such a way that the two ends of the rope are of
equal length when it is stretched out, and both portions are held there
at the lower block by a cord which is passed round them and lashed so
that they cannot come out either to the right or the left. Then the ends
of the rope are brought up into the block at the top from the outside,
and passed down over its lower sheaves, and so return to the bottom, and
are passed from the inside to the sheaves in the lowest block, and then
are brought up on the right and left, and return to the top and round
the highest set of sheaves.

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