One thing is certain with regard to the ancient organ of Greece—it was unprovided with a wind-chest. The air was generated in certain cylindrical vessels and supplied direct to the pipes, the number of vessels, depending, of course, upon the number of pipes and the size of the instrument. The supply of wind thus obtained must have been very unequal, but it was probably adequate to the small requirements of this early period.
A very interesting treatise on pneumatics by one Hero of Alexandria, supposed to have been a pupil of Ctesibius, has lately been translated from the original Greek, and published by Mr. Bennet Woodcroft.[1] Hitherto we have been content to rely on Vitruvius for our know-
- ↑ The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria, from the original Greek. 4to, 1851. It contains two separate descriptions of the organ, "An Altar Organ blown by the agency of a Windmill (noticed in the text), and "An Altar Organ blown by Manual Labour."
Roman Antiquities," for the best account of Ctesibius and his works.
