Page 92 : ARCHIMEDES — ARCHITECTURE
Individual articles:
executive council as attorney general of Nova Scotia in 1856 and again in 1860. A delegate to England to arrange terms of settlement with the British government as to Nova Scotia mines, and to learn the views of the British government on the question of union of the provinces. Also attended the final conference in London to complete terms of union (1866-7). In 1867 Secretary of State for the provinces. Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba in 1870–3. From 1873 to 1883 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. A Director of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Styled one of the Fathers of Confederation.
Archimedes (är-kĭ-mē′dēz), a Grecian engineer, physicist, and mathematician, born at Syracuse, on the island of Sicily, about the year 287 B. C. What little is known concerning the details of his life is contained in the histories of Polybius, Plutarch and Livy and in the treatise on architecture by Vitruvius.
Like many men of science belonging to this period, he was educated at Alexandria.
His principal contributions to learning are (1) a large number of geometrical theorems; (2) a short treatise on arithmetic called Psammites, because grains of sand were used in the computations; (3) a determination of the centers of gravity in bodies of various shapes, a work which may be fairly called the foundation of modern statics; (4) a treatise on floating bodies; (5) in addition to the above, it is probable that he invented the screw which goes by his name and that he devised a hydrometer by which he could compare the densities of liquids.
Many stories have come down to us concerning his engineering feats at Syracuse while that city was besieged by the Romans during the second Punic War. Most of these stories are not well authenticated.
The best known perhaps is that told by Vitruvius. Having been assigned the problem of determining whether a certain crown supposed to be made of pure gold had been alloyed with silver, he devised the following method: First he measured the volume of a mass of gold just equal to the mass of the crown. This he did by putting the gold in a vessel of water and measuring the overflow. The second step was to measure, in the same way, the volume of a mass of silver just equal to the mass of the crown. Lastly he measured the volume of the crown which proved to be intermediate between that of the gold and that of the silver. From these data it was a simple matter to compute the percentage of silver in the crown. This method, it is said, suggested itself to him as he was getting into his bath, where he observed that the rise of water on the sides of the tub was apparently proportional to the volume of his body immersed.
The story goes on to relate that Archimedes announced this discovery by running through the streets, clothed principally with enthusiasm, and shouting "Eureka! Eureka!" (I have found it.)
Architecture (är′kĭ-tĕk′tūr), is the art of building. All the different styles of constructing and decorating buildings can be traced back to two early forms, used according as the material was either wood or stone. The form used for wooden buildings was two upright pillars and a crossbeam at the top. The arch with its strong abutments was the form generally used for stone buildings. The oldest architectural remains are those of the Egyptians. They are rough and stiff, and show that men had only begun to think about the rules of building and to ask what makes any structure beautiful. The most noticeable features in Egyptian buildings are their immense size and their simplicity and regular outline. How the immense blocks of stone used in them were moved and raised to their place is a cause of wonder today. Most of the temple remains are in Upper Egypt, though
EGYPTIAN—FRONT OF TEMPLE OF ISIS AT PHILÆ
the greater part of them were destroyed by the Persians in 500 B. C. The walls and pillars were usually ornamented with hieroglyphics and with outlines of different sorts; but they had little of the grace and elegance of the later Greek architects. Besides the temples, the most interesting structures are the pyramids, which are supposed to be the tombs of Egyptian kings. They are built of immense blocks of stone put together in regular form, gradually narrowing from the broad base to the small-pointed apex. The largest of them is 693 feet square at the base and 498 feet high. Herodottis states that it was built by Cheops, who kept one hundred thousand men working on it for twenty-years. The obelisks are single four-cornered shafts of great height, usually of red granite and commonly cut from the quarry in a single block. They were placed at the entrances of temples or palaces, covered with hieroglyphics and figures illustrating the victories and great deeds of their kings.
