the
precession
of the
equinoxes,
the
consequent
necessity
of the
reform of
the
calendar;measured
the length
of the
year,
invented
gunpowder;
and
announced,
(as if
looking
from his
lofty
cell, over
five
centuries,
into
ours,)
"that
machines
can be
constructed
to drive
ships more
rapidly
than a
whole
galley of
rowers
could do;
nor would
they need
any thing
but a
pilot to
steer
them.
Carriages
also might
be
constructed
