Now, after that brief, regrettable interruption in service, a tribute to the computer.
This illustration is from The Elements of Natural Philosophy; Or, An Introduction to the Study of the Physical Sciences, a book Charles Brooke wrote, expanding upon the work of Golding Bird. If Brooke did the illustrations or if someone else did, I’m not sure.
This is a machine used to make mathematics; it’s an ancestor of the computer, and a kind of difference engine. The machine was the size of a piano and created logarithmic tables. It was a big hit at the 1855 World’s Fair.
They got smaller and fancier after a while.