Quote Originally Posted by CovertCarpenter
...but I think a gentleman by the name of Archimedes may have beat you to it... Him, or one o' his contemporaries... still trying to remember who 'discovered' the principle of the syphon/wick.

Interesting factoid: there are some Roman fountains still functioning, solely on the principles of 2000-year-old aquaducts. Some of these take water from springs (many!) miles away, and channel it to, well, Rome...
Actually I think it was Herotis(sp) who did a lot with water