The Various and Ingenious Machines

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PREFACE.

Mechanics, which first began to reveal to the world the manner of cultivating the fields, and subjecting the horse and the ox to the yoke to plow the earth; afterwards it taught us how to hitch sometimes two, and sometimes four of them to carts; and by pulling, making them lead from our borders to the farthest shores of the earth; and from those countries to ours, bringing provisions, merchandise, and other immense weights, such as the stones, beams, trees, and similar things that Carpenters, Stonemasons, and Architects use in their practices. But why do I speak of the industry and great subtlety original: "sottigliezza" — referring to the ingenious precision and technical refinement of mechanical design. of this mechanical art, since it has taught us to propel great ships with the oar alone, and with the yardarm raised high and sails unfurled, to make them go very swiftly through the blowing of the winds? This effect arises simply from the lever; since the yardarm itself, or the mast original: "arbore" — literally "tree," a common Renaissance term for a ship's mast. of the ship, becomes a lever which is supported by the heel, or the place where it is stepped original: "piantato" — literally "planted." The "heel" is the bottom of the mast.. The weight to be moved is the ship itself, and the mover is the breath of the winds which inflate the sails. Finally, with a small rudder placed at the very stern, it makes even the great masses of the galleys bend and turn wherever we please; just as through mechanics, by means of a pump original: "tromba" — in this context, an early term for a water-lifting pump or siphon., Gardeners draw cold waters from deep wells to irrigate their plants. The merchant cannot trade his goods without Arithmetic, which is a species of Mathematics: which, being the science of discrete quantity discrete quantity: In classical mathematics, arithmetic deals with "discrete" units (individual numbers), while geometry deals with "continuous" quantity (lines and shapes). and known as if by itself, considers even or odd numbers without comparing them to anything else. Without Geodesy Geodesy: At this time, the term referred to the practical art of land surveying and measuring the earth's surface., which also depends on Mathematics, how could we measure the breadth of plains, the height of mountains, the depth of the earth, or the width and length of any created thing? Who can, without the help of pure Mathematics, understand and determine the size of celestial bodies along with their heights and distances? Who is capable of considering without it the centers, the axes, the poles, and the lines of each rotating Heaven? Or examine the relationship that the centers, axes, lines, and poles have to the supreme mobile original: "supremo mobile" — The "Primum Mobile," or "First Mover," which in the Ptolemaic system was the outermost sphere of the universe that moved all others.? Who knows how to contemplate the diameters of the stars, their longitudes, and the distances from one to another?