Parallel ladders
Date
20 September 1664
After
Walter Pope (1627 - 1714, British) , Astronomer
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p198
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 308mm
width (page): 194mm
width (page): 194mm
Subject
Description
A sketch of a series of parallel ladders leading down to a quicksilver mine in Friuli, Italy in a letter by Walter Pope to John Wilkins that was read to the Royal Society on 11 January 1665. The letter was printed, without this sketch of the ladder, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1665).
The sketch in the original letter is at EL/P1/46/002. Another copy is at MS/215/166.
The sketch in the original letter is at EL/P1/46/002. Another copy is at MS/215/166.
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 11 January 1665, ‘Dr. Wilkins produced a letter written to him from Dr. Pope, dated at Venice, September 2, 1664, about the mines of mercury in Friuli, viz. how the mines are ordered; how this mineral is digged, of what colour, hardness, and weight it is; how it is got out of the ore; what engines are used; and what accidents befall the labourers, &c. The same letter contained likewise a description of the contrivance of blowing the fire in the brass works of Tivoli, where the water blows the fire, not by moving the bellows, but by making wind. It was ordered, that this letter be entered in the letter-book; and that Mr. Hooke consider of the engine mentioned in it to produce air by the fall of water’ (Birch 2:6).
The paper, but not the sketch of the ladder, is printed in Walter Pope to John Wilkins, 'Mines of Mercury in Friuli, and a way of producing Wind by the fall of water', Phil. Trans. vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1665), pp. 21-26.
The paper, but not the sketch of the ladder, is printed in Walter Pope to John Wilkins, 'Mines of Mercury in Friuli, and a way of producing Wind by the fall of water', Phil. Trans. vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1665), pp. 21-26.
Related fellows
John Wilkins (1614 - 1672, British) , Natural philosopher
Walter Pope (1627 - 1714, British) , Astronomer
Walter Pope (1627 - 1714, British) , Astronomer
Associated place