First:
Did William Petty have any personal contact with Barbon? Did he ever
comment on Barbon's work?
I have never been able to find out anything about this.
Second: [Not exactly history of thought]
I have seen two early mentions about wind-driven saws in England.
In 1671, Robert Boyle mentioned "Timber is sawd by Windmills." I
assume he is referring to England.
In Schumpeter's Business Cycles, i, p. 243: "... violence ... made it
impossible in 1663 to operate the new sawing mills then being erected"
because of the fear of unemployment.
Where can I find information about the use of this technology in England? I
had been under the impression that nobody had been able to duplicate this
Dutch technology at the time.
Thank you.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA
95929
530 898 5321
fax 530 898 5901
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com
