Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

suppose Avas to be metAvith in other Indian temples . In the " " Inedited Antiquities of Attica , " published by the Dilettante Society in 1817 , it is related that two English travellers visiting at Eleusis the remains of the Temple of Ceres , found the paving

of the sanctuary rough and unpolished and much lower than that of the adjacent portico . This leads to the supposition of a Avooden flooring to the sanctuary designed to conceal some machinery . This conjecture is supported by there being tAvo

deep groves or tracks in the bottom of an interior vestuble , which apparently received pullies for raising some heavy body—perhaps a moveable vestible floor , —there are also other grooves

further on , in Avhich the counterpoises might have been suspended , and eight large holes pierced in as many blocks of marble raised above the ground , in which pegs mig ht have been inserted to fix when necessary the Avood-Avork Avhen at its proper

level . Vulcan , according to Homer , had decorated Olympus with tripods , Avhich , Avithout any apparent moving cause , took their places at the banquet of the gods . Apollonius saAV and was astonished at similar tripods . Macrobius , who

speaks as au eye-witness , and on the faith of the author ofthe treatise on the Syrian goddess , mentions that at Antium , and in the Temple of Hierapolis , were statues which moved of their own accord . Aristotle has recorded similar machines .

The authenticated fact that automaton figures have been from time immemorial constructed in China , and the simplicity of the construction , brings the accounts , the " enclosed spirit , " or aura is to be regarded as ratified air , and the whole

machine as a sort of fire baloon , Ave should be tempted to class the wooden pigeon of Archytas , with the eagle and iron fly of Regiomontanus , in other ~ Avords , as purely chimerical . The desire to fly has been more or less developed in almost every

age of the world . Borelli , from a comparison of the muscles of man with those of birds , has clearly demonstrated that artificial Avings could not be employed for ' that purpose ; what may hereafter be effected by the rotation of vanes acted

upon by steam cannot be determined ; at the present time balloons are the only available appa ratus for the purpose . Compare these Avith flying chariot mentioned as a master-piece of art , and not of magic in the '' Arabian Nights"

Entertainments , and also with the vessel to Avhich a small boat is attached , a man being seated therein , " when the vessel shooting into the air , rapidly

Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

transports the traveller to the place of his destination . " What are Ave to conclude from the details ? Nothing , except that mechanical attempts of the kind probably go back to a more remote epoch than that of Archytas , about 400 B . C ., ancl that

the Tarentine , a disciple of Pythag * oras , himself the disciple of the sages of the East , perhaps , excited the astonishment of Italy , only by the secrets Avhich he had learned in the temples of Memphis or of Babylon . { To he continued . )

Summer Rambles.—A Corner Of Kent.

SUMMER RAMBLES . —A CORNER OF KENT .

A very curious chapter of early English history lies Avritten in stone at the eastern corner of Kent , along the flat shore facing the so-called Small DOAVUS . Though UOAV a dull and dreary shore , enlivened only by a feAv fishing-boats , and here and there a skiff carrying * venturesome

excursionists from Ramsgate to Deal and Wanner Castle , it Avasonce—full eighteen centuries ago—the most animated place on the English coast . Then , when the Isle of Thanefc Avas a real island , and ships could sail through Kent from the Channel into the mouth ofthe Thamesthe Romans justly considered

, this inlet of the sea the gate of fair Britannia , and Avere not SIOAV there to plant their sword . The Portus Rutupinus , so celebrated during the period of Roman domination , extended over all that tract of marsh land stretching from Waliner on one side to near the cliffs of Ramsgate on the other ,

forming a commodious harbour of about fives miles in width , styled by Ammianus "stationem Britannies tranqitillam . " To defend this magnificent harbour , large enough to accommodate the Avhole navy of Rome , the great conquerors erected about A . D . 50 a strong fortress on a hilly elevation , Avhich

like a promontory sprang forth in the middle of the Avaves . Around the fortress grew up a large Roman city , spoken of by Ptolemy , Antoninus , and Tacitus . Every vestige of this city has long since disappeared , but a goodly piece of the fort is still standing erect , under and amidst the graves

of sixty generations of men . The shrieking locomotive of the South-Eastern Railway rushes along at the very foot and almost through the mighty ruins , and dAvellers at Ramsgate and Deal can see them from their AvindoAvs , if they have leisure to lift their eyes from tea and shrimps . But there are feAv who seem to care for Avhat Avas once

known as Rutupium , and UOAV goes by the name of Richborongh Castle . As a rule , sea-side excursionists and Avatering-place visitors seem to prefer the sight of English shrimps to that of Roman ruins . Leaving the cliffs of Ramsgate in the direction of PegAvell Bay , the eye is at once attracted toAvards a confused mass of masonry , partly over-