Hydrostatic Apparatus

Unknown artist

The fact that a liquid poured into several communicating vases, whatever their shape, will seek the same level in each, was known in antiquity. It became scientific when the French savant, Blaise Pascal, discussed it in his <i>Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids</i> (1653). In time, simple hydrostatic instruments became popular for classroom demonstrations, and these instruments became known as Pascal vases. This example may date from the early nineteenth century.