an instrument for ascertaining the relative strength of men and animals." Of an instrument of this kind, invented by Regnier, and of which a description is given in the Journal de l'Ecole Polytechnique, tom. ii., the author thus speaks: "Some important knowledge might be acquired, had we the easy means of ascertaining, in a comparative manner, our relative strength at the different periods of life, and in different states of health. Buffon and Guéneau, who had some excellent ideas on this subject, requested me to endeavour to invent a portable machine, which, by an easy and simple mechanism, might conduct to a solution of this question, on which they were then engaged. These philosophers were acquainted with that invented by Graham, and improved by Dr Desaguliers, at London; but this machine, constructed of wooden work, was too bulky and heavy to be portable; and, besides, to make experiments on the different parts of the body, several machines were necessary, each suited to the part required to be tried. They were acquainted also with the dynamometer of citizen Leroy of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. It consisted of a metal tube ten or twelve inches in length, placed vertically on a foot like that of a candlestick, and containing in the inside a spiral spring, having above it a graduated shank terminating in a globe. This shank, together with the spring, sunk into the tube in proportion to the weight acting upon it, and thus pointed out, in degrees, the strength of the person who pressed on the ball with his hand.

"This instrument, though ingenious, did not appear sufficient, however, to Buffon and Guéneau; for they wished not merely to ascertain the muscular force of a finger or hand, but to estimate that of each limb separately, and of all the parts of the body. I shall not here give an account of the attempts I made to fulfil the wishes of these two philosophers, but only observe, that in the course of my experiments I had reason to be convinced that the construction of the instrument was not so easy as might have been expected. Besides the use which an enlightened naturalist may make of this machine, it may be possible to apply it to many other purposes. For example, it may be employed with advantage to determine the strength of draught cattle; and, above all, to try that of horses, and compare it with the strength of other animals. It may serve to make known how far the assistance of well-constructed wheels may favour the movement of a carriage, and what is its vis inertiae in proportion to the load. We might appreciate by it, also, what resistance the slope of a mountain opposes to a carriage, and be able to judge whether a carriage is sufficiently loaded in proportion to the number of horses that are to be yoked to it. In the arts, it may be applied to machines of which we wish to ascertain the resistance, and when we are desirous to calculate the moving force that ought to be adapted to them. It may serve, also, as a Roman balance to weigh burdens. In short, nothing would be more easy than to convert it into an anemometer, to discover the absolute force of the wind, by fitting to it a frame of a determined size filled up with wax cloth; and it would not be impossible to ascertain by this machine the recoil of fire-arms, and consequently the strength of gunpowder.

"This dynamometer, in its form and size, has a near resemblance to a common graphometer. It consists of a spring twelve inches in length, bent into the form of an ellipsis; from the middle of which arises a semicircular piece of brass, having engraved upon it the different degrees that express a force of the power acting on the spring. The whole of this machine, which weighs only two pounds and a half, opposes, however, more resistance E, the second vowel, and fifth letter of the alphabet. This letter is most probably derived from the old character in the ancient Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets, reversed by the Greeks to this position, E, not from the Hebrew n, as some have supposed. From the same origin is also derived the Saxon e, which is the first letter in their alphabet that differs from the Latin one. It is formed by a narrower opening of the larynx than the letter A; but the other parts of the mouth are used nearly in the same manner as in that letter. E has a long and short sound in most languages. The short sound is audible in bed, fret, den, and other words ending in consonants; the long sound is produced by a final e, or an e at the end of words, as in glebe, here, hire, scene, sphere, interfere, revere, sincere, and the like, in most of which it sounds like ee. In some other cases, this letter, by coming after i, is long, as in believe, chief, grief, repreive; and sometimes the long sound is expressed by ee, as in bleed, beer, creet, and so on. Sometimes the final e is silent, and only serves to lengthen the sound of the preceding vowel, as in reg, rage, stag, stage, hug, huge. The sound of e, however, is obscure in the following words: oxen, heaven, bounden, fire, massacre, mangre, and other words. The Greeks have their long and short e; which they call epilom, and etas. The French have several kinds of e; the Latins have likewise a long and short e. In some instances the latter also write e instead of a, as dices for dicem; and this is no doubt the reason why a is so often changed into e in the preter-tense, as ago, egit; facio, feci, and the like.

As a numeral, E stands for 250, according to the verse,

E, quoque ducentos et quinquaginta tenet.

In music it denotes the tone e-la-me; in the calendar it is the fifth of the dominical letters; and in sea charts it distinguishes all the easterly points. In ancient contrac-

tions and abbreviations E represents Est, Ennius, Edilis; EB, Ejus Bona; ED, Ejus Domus; EE, Ejus Aetas; EF, Ejus Filius; and so on.