Marie de Medicis, in 1613, the work was undertaken, and completed in 1624, occupying nearly 12 years. The architect was Jacques de Brasses, the same who furnished the design for the Louvre. The quantity of water, however, thus obtained, was so small as scarcely to compensate for the expense of the work. At subsequent periods, additional

64 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. this aqueduct, and the united streams led to the reservoir at supplies were connected with the Observatory in Paris, whence they were distributed to the fountains.

Two smaller aqueducts, that of the Pre St. Gervais, and that of Belleville, of ancient, but unascertained date, furnished a small additional supply of water, but it

became apparent, as the city grew, that resort must be had to other sources. The Seine was naturally looked to, and a Fleming, in Paris, as a Dutchman had in London, first provided the means of raising the waters of that river above its level. John LintlcBr* proposed to Henry IY., the construction of a pumping machine in the Seine, to be set in motion by the flow of its current, and, being engaged to perform the work, he succeeded in raising the water above the Pont Neuf, and thence, in distributing it to the Louvre, and the Tuilleries. This machine, or pump, was called the Samaritan, from the metal figures which decorated it. The success of this experiment led to the construction, in 1670, and 1671, of two similar machines at the Pont Neuf. It was not