Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/635

 PLOUGH 615 from meat altogether. In spite of their ob- scurity, his writings have exercised some in- fluence upon modern philosophy, having been diligently studied by Cudworth, Henry More, Norris, Gale, and others. There is a striking resemblance between the doctrines of Plotinus and the pantheistic ideas of Spinoza, evinced in the treatise of the former written to show that all being is one and the same. His life by Porphyry is the only authority upon his his- tory. The Enneads were first translated into Latin by Marsilius Ficinus (Florence, 1492). In 1835 the entire Greek text was first pub- lished by Creuzer (3 vols. 4to, Oxford). The " Select Works of Plotinus " have been trans- lated into English by Thomas Taylor (London, 1834) ; and a French version of the Enneads by M. Bouillet was completed in 1861 (3 vols. 8vo, Paris). PLOUGH, an instrument for breaking up, turning over, mixing, or loosening the soil, drawn by animal or steam power. The plough of the ancient Egyptians was of wood, a single crooked stick serving for the tail, which, ex- tending below the .place where the horizon- tal beam was secured to it, formed the point or share. This was stiffened by a rope which passed up from it to the beam, and the handle was divided so as to present a .hold for each hand of the ploughman. (See fig. 1.) Wilkin- FlG. 1. son thinks it probable that the point was shod with a metal sock, either of bronze or iron. In the Old Testament metallic ploughshares are alluded to more than seven centuries B. C. : u They shall beat their swords into plough- shares." (Isa. ii. 4; Micah iv. 3.) In the time of Hesiod two sorts of ploughs were in ^use among the Greeks. One was formed of a limb of a tree having two opposite branches diverg- ing like the arms of an anchor from its shank. The main stem served as the beam or pole by which the plough was drawn ; one arm, some- times shod with iron or bronze, entered the ground, and by the other the implement was pressed into the ground and guided. The other kind was constructed of three sticks secured together by nails ; one was the beam, which at its lower end was joined to the nearly horizon- tal share, and from this proceeded the tail or handle. Figs. 2 and 3 are wheel ploughs from FIG. 8. FIG. 4. Oaylus's collection of Greek antiquities, show- ing forms used in the 3d century B. C. Fig. 4 shows a Greek plough used in Sicily before Syracuse was taken by Marcellus, 212 B. 0. Fig. 5 shows a modern Assyrian plough. Fig. FIG. 5. 6 is the modern plough of Castile, and fig. Y that which is now used in Sicily. Among the aborigines of North and South America the plough appears to have been almost entirely unknown. The Peruvians, who were the most FIG. 6. FIG. 7. skilled in agriculture, employed, as described by Prescott, a rude substitute constructed of a strong, sharp-pointed stake, traversed by a horizontal piece 10 or 12 in. from the point, on which the ploughman might set his foot and force it into the ground. Six or eight strong men were attached by ropes to the stake and dragged it forcibly along, accompa- nied by women, who followed to break up the sods with their rakes. The modern plough originated in the Netherlands, whence Eng- land obtained most of her knowledge of field and kitchen gardening. In the early part of the 18th century many ploughs were im- ported from Holland. The mouldboards am shares of these ploughs were made of wrought iron or steel, but about 1Y84 James Small ^of Berwickshire, Scotland, who wrote a treatise