. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 552 ANCIENT DESEMERS OR STEELYARDS. fouiiU', iiuikiiiji' three essentially separate pieees instead of the two of the desemer. We are to distinj^uish earefull}', then, between (1) The desemer, with fixed wei^iit and shiftint;: fulcrum, not neces- sarily having more than two separate pieces, and (2) The Roman balance, or common steel3'ard, witii shifting;" weij^ht and fixed fulcrum, necessarily haxin^" three pieces at least.
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 552 ANCIENT DESEMERS OR STEELYARDS. fouiiU', iiuikiiiji' three essentially separate pieees instead of the two of the desemer. We are to distinj^uish earefull}', then, between (1) The desemer, with fixed wei^iit and shiftint;: fulcrum, not neces- sarily having more than two separate pieces, and (2) The Roman balance, or common steel3'ard, witii shifting;" weij^ht and fixed fulcrum, necessarily haxin^" three pieces at least. Alth()ui;li the desemer is the subject of the present comnuuiication, yet in order to form some rational conjecture concernin*^ the course of its evolution, to comprehend the relation between the three kinds of historical balances (the modern spring- balances, aneroid ))alances, torsion balances, hi^rizontal l)alances, hydrometer balances, etc., being left out of account), and to decide whether or not the two-pan balance can be considered as the first step toward the unecjual-armed l)alances, it will be necessary to begin by studying the two-])an l)alanc(\ We shall be forced to rely, as I have said, almost exclusively upon c )inparisons l)etw'een objects in the collections; and before going further it behooves me to my grateful thanks to those who. Fit. have them in charge foi' the assistance wliicii they have geiuM-ously extended to me, and without which I should have been uiial)lc to-day to collect and exhil)it what 1 have to show you. We shall have to admit both the two-pan balance and tlu^ desemer in its rudest form as the simi)lest and most primitive weighing appa- ratus. Indeed, it is probable that l)oth inventions are primeval and that they were made by ditierent peoples at diti'erent times. The invention was easy to make. Many occupations had made it clear that if a ))ar be in any way supported in the middle, both ends must V)e equally loaded in order to bring
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