out cause?

Don Ramon
The very man.

Quinola
I am Fontanaresi, director of the arsenal of the Venetian Republic,
and grandfather of our inventor. My son, you may have full confidence
in Don Ramon; a man of his position can have no designs upon you; let
us tell him everything.

Don Ramon (aside)
Ah! I am going to learn everything about the machine.

Fontanares (aside to Quinola)
What is all this about?

Quinola (aside to Fontanares)
Let me give him a lesson in mathematics; it will do him no good, and
us no harm. (To Don Ramon) Will you come here? (He points out the
parts of the machine) All this is meaningless; for philosophers, the
great thing--

Don Ramon
The great thing?

Quinola
Is the problem itself! You know the reason why clouds mount upwards?

Don Ramon
I believe it is because they are lighter than the air.

Quinola
Not at all! They are heavy as well as light, for the water that is in
them ends by falling as flat as a fool. I don't like water, do you?

Don Ramon
I have a great respect for it.

Quinola
I see that we are made for each other. The clouds rise to such a
height, because they are vapor, and are also attracted by the force of
the cold upper air.

Don Ramon
That may be true. I will write a treatise on the subject.

Quinola
My grandson states this in the formula R plus O. And as there is much
water in the air, we simply say O plus O, which is a new binomial.

Don Ramon
A new binomial!

Quinola
Yes, an X, if you like it better.

Don Ramon
X, ah yes, I understand!

Fontanares (aside)
What a donkey!

Quinola
The rest is a mere trifle. The tube receives the water which by some
means or other, has been changed to cloud. This cloud is bound to rise
and the resulting force is immense.

Don Ramon
Immense, why immense?

Quinola
Immense--in that it is natural, since man--pay particular attention to
this--does not create force--

Don Ramon
Very good, then how--?

Quinola
He borrows it from nature; to invent, is to borrow. Then--by means of
certain pistons--for in mechanics--you know--

Don Ramon
Yes, senor, I know mechanics.

Quinola
Very good! The method of applying a force is child's play, a trifle, a
matter of detail, as in the turnspit--

Don Ramon
Ah! He employs the turnspit then?

Quinola
There are two here, and the force is such that it raises the
mountains, which skip like rams--as was predicted by King David.

Don Ramon
Senor, you are perfectly righ