"The application of clay to the making of vases probably soon caused the invention of the potter's-wheel, before which period only vessels fashioned by the hand, and of rude unsymmetrical shape, could have been made. But the application of a circular lathe, laid horizontally and revolving on a central pivot, on which the clay was placed, and to which it adhered, was in its day a truly wonderful advance in the art. As the wheel spun round, all combinations of oval, spherical, and cylindrical forms could be produced, and the vases became not only symmetrical in their proportions, but true in their capacity. The invention of the wheel has been ascribed to all the great nations of antiquity. It is represented in full activity in the Egyptian sculptures; it is mentioned in the Scriptures, and was certainly in use at an early period in Assyria. The Greeks and Romans have attributed it to a Scythian philosopher, and to the States of Athens, Corinth, and Sicyon, the three great rivals in the ceramic art. The very oldest vases of Greece, some of which are supposed to have been made in the heroic ages, bear marks of having been turned upon the wheel. Indeed, it is not possible to find any Greek vases except those made by the wheel or by moulds; which latter process was applied only at a late period to their production."