Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c23.s5.t3.19

c23.s5.t3.19

The above description is not founded on theoretical conclusions; the measurements given are derived from taking the mean of several and the results were proved in furnaces under my own superintendence; the coincidences of the several parts are very striking, thus for instance, the perpendicular and parallel lines of the geometrical outline are equal in quantity (Diagram I, fig 2); and the top, bulge and bottom being 3, 6, and 4½ parts respectively, show that the furnace is exactly constructed, and that it corresponds well enough with the most regular furnaces of Europe (Diagram I, fig 1); it is also curious, though perhaps of no importance to observe, that the mean of those numbers, being squared and multiplied by the terms of the perpendicular or axis, give the cubic area of the furnace, and show that it is twenty times larger than the cubic content, of the Akaira; the angle of the blast is also worthy of notice, as well as the simplicity by which both it and the obliquity of the furnace is obtained; all these serve to show that the original plan of this singular furnace must have been the work of advanced intelligence, and that its geometrical proportions have been preserved by simple measures; hence though its original form may be changed by caprice or ignorance, its principle never can be lost so long as hands and fingers remain.