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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40276 ***
+
+  STORIES OF INVENTION
+
+  _TOLD BY INVENTORS AND THEIR FRIENDS._
+
+
+  BY EDWARD E. HALE.
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+  BOSTON:
+  ROBERTS BROTHERS.
+  1889.
+
+
+
+  _Copyright, 1885_,
+  BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.
+
+  University Press:
+  JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This little book closes a series of five volumes which I undertook some
+years since, in the wish to teach boys and girls how to use for
+themselves the treasures which they have close at hand in the Public
+Libraries now so generally opened in the Northern States of America. The
+librarians of these institutions are, without an exception, so far as I
+know, eager to introduce to the young the books at their command. From
+these gentlemen and ladies I have received many suggestions as the
+series went forward, and I could name many of them who could have edited
+or prepared such a series far more completely than I have done. But it
+is not fair to expect them, in the rush of daily duty, to stop and tell
+boys or girls what will be "nice books" for them to read. If they issue
+frequent bulletins of information in this direction, as is done so
+admirably by the librarians at Providence and at Hartford, they do more
+than any one has a right to ask them for. Such bulletins must be
+confined principally to helping young people read about the current
+events of the day. In that case it will only be indirectly that they
+send the young readers back into older literature, and make them
+acquainted with the best work of earlier times.
+
+I remember well a legend of the old Public Library at Dorchester, which
+describes the messages sent to the hard-pressed librarian from the
+outlying parts of the town on the afternoon of Saturday, which was the
+only time when the Library was open.
+
+"Mother wants a sermon book and another book." This was the call almost
+regularly made by the messengers.
+
+I think that many of the most accomplished librarians of to-day have
+demands not very dissimilar, and that they will be glad of any
+assistance that will give to either mother or messenger any hint as to
+what this "other book" shall be.
+
+It is indeed, of course, almost the first thing to be asked that boys
+and girls shall learn to find out for themselves what they want, and to
+rummage in catalogues, indexes, and encyclopædias for the books which
+will best answer their necessities. Mr. Emerson's rule is, "Read in the
+line of your genius." And the young man or maiden who can find out, in
+early life, what the line of his or her genius is, has every reason to
+be grateful to the teacher, or the event, or the book that has
+discovered it. I have certainly hoped, in reading and writing for this
+series, that there might be others of my young friends as sensible and
+as bright as Fergus and Fanchon, who will be found to work out their own
+salvation in these matters, and order their own books without troubling
+too much that nice Miss Panizzi or that omniscient Mrs. Bodley who
+manages the Library so well, and knows so well what every one in the
+town has read, and what he has not read.
+
+I had at first proposed to publish with each book a little bibliography
+on the subjects referred to, telling particularly where were the
+available editions and the prices at which they could be bought by young
+collectors. But a little experiment showed that no such supplement could
+be made, which should be of real use for most readers for whom these
+books are made. The same list might be too full for those who have only
+small libraries at command, and too brief for those who are fortunate
+enough to use large ones. Indeed, I should like to say to such young
+readers of mine as have the pluck and the sense to read a preface, that
+the sooner they find out how to use the received guides in such
+matters,--the very indexes and bibliographies which I should use in
+making such a list for them,--why, the better will it be for them.
+
+Such books as Poole's Index, Watt's and Brunet's Bibliographies, and the
+New American Indexes, prepared with such care by the Librarians'
+Association, are at hand in almost all the Public Libraries; and the
+librarians will always be glad to encourage intelligent readers in the
+use of them.
+
+I should be sorry, in closing the series, not to bear my testimony to
+the value of the Public Library system, still so new to us, in raising
+the standard of thought and education. For thirty years I have had more
+or less to do with classes of intelligent young people who have met for
+study. I can say, therefore, that the habit of thought and the habit of
+work of such young people now is different from what it was thirty years
+ago. Of course it ought to be. You can say to a young learner now, "This
+book says thus and so, but you must learn for yourself whether this
+author is prejudiced or ill-informed, or not."
+
+You can send him to the proper authorities. On almost any detail in
+general history, if he live near one of the metropolitan libraries, you
+can say to him, "If you choose to study a fortnight on this thing, you
+will very likely know more about it than does any person in the world."
+It is encouraging to young people to know that they can thus take
+literature and history at first hand. It pleases them to know that "the
+book" is not absolute. With such resources that has resulted which such
+far-seeing men as Edward Everett and George Ticknor and Charles Coffin
+Jewett hoped for,--the growth, namely, of a race of students who do not
+take anything on trust. As Professor Agassiz was forever driving up his
+pupils to habits of original observation in natural history, the Public
+Library provokes and allures young students to like courage in original
+research in matters of history and literature.
+
+                                                         EDWARD E. HALE.
+
+ROXBURY, April 1, 1885.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                            PAGE
+    I. INTRODUCTION                                            9
+
+   II. ARCHIMEDES                                             20
+
+  III. FRIAR BACON                                            36
+
+         Of the Parents and Birth of Fryer Bacon, and
+           how he addicted himself to Learning, 39. How
+           Fryer Bacon made a Brazen Head to speak, by
+           the which he would have walled England about
+           with Brass, 41. How Fryer Bacon by his Art
+           took a Town, when the King had lain before it
+           three Months, without doing it any Hurt, 45.
+           How Fryer Bacon burnt his Books of Magic
+           and gave himself to the Study of Divinity
+           only; and how he turned Anchorite, 49. How
+           Virgilius was set to School, 53. Howe the
+           Emperor asked Counsel of Virgilius, how the
+           Night Runners and Ill Doers might be rid-out
+           of the Streets, 55. How Virgilius made a
+           Lamp that at all Times burned, 56.
+
+   IV. BENVENUTO CELLINI                                      58
+
+         Life of Benvenuto Cellini, 59. Benvenuto's
+           Autobiography, 60.
+
+    V. BERNARD PALISSY                                        82
+
+         Bernard Palissy the Potter, 83.
+
+    VI. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN                                     97
+
+         Franklin's Method of Growing Better, 100.
+           Musical Glasses, 112.
+
+   VII. THEORISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY                  119
+
+         Richard Lovell Edgeworth, 119. Edgeworth's
+           Telegraph, 124. Mr. Edgeworth's Telegraph
+           in Ireland, 127. Mr. Edgeworth's Machine,
+           136. More of Mr. Edgeworth's Fancies, 140.
+           Jack the Darter, 142. A One-wheeled Chaise,
+           144.
+
+  VIII. JAMES WATT                                           146
+
+         The Newcomen Engine, 150. James Watt and
+           the Steam-engine, 153. The Separate Condenser,
+           161. Completing the Invention, 164.
+           Watt makes his Model, 167.
+
+    IX. ROBERT FULTON                                        172
+
+     X. GEORGE STEPHENSON AND THE LOCOMOTIVE                 193
+
+         George Stephenson, 194.
+
+    XI. ELI WHITNEY                                          219
+
+         Eli Whitney, 222.
+
+   XII. JAMES NASMYTH                                        237
+
+         The Steam-hammer, 237. James Nasmyth, 239.
+
+
+  XIII. SIR HENRY BESSEMER                                   259
+
+         The Age of Steel, 259. Bessemer's Family, 261.
+           Henry Bessemer, 264. Stamped Paper, 265.
+           Gold Paint, 270. Bessemer Steel, 273.
+
+   XIV. THE LAST MEETING                                     284
+
+         Goodyear, 284.
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF INVENTION
+
+
+TOLD BY INVENTORS.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+There is, or is supposed to be, somewhere in Norfolk County in
+Massachusetts, in the neighborhood of the city of Boston, a rambling old
+house which in its day belonged to the Oliver family. I am afraid they
+were most of them sad Tories in their time; and I am not sure but these
+very windows could tell the story of one or another brick-bat thrown
+through them, as one or another committee of the people requested one or
+another Oliver, of the old times, to resign one or another royal
+commission. But a very peaceful Rowland has taken the place of those
+rebellious old Olivers.
+
+This comfortable old house is now known to many young people as the home
+of a somewhat garrulous old gentleman whom they call Uncle Fritz. His
+real name is Frederick Ingham. He has had a checkered life, but it has
+evidently been a happy one. Once he was in the regular United States
+Navy. For a long time he was a preacher in the Sandemanian connection,
+where they have no ordained ministers. In Garibaldi's time he was a
+colonel in the patriot service in Italy. In our civil war he held a
+command in the national volunteer navy; and his scientific skill and
+passion for adventure called him at one time across "the Great American
+Desert," and at another time across Siberia, in the business of
+constructing telegraphs. In point of fact, he is not the relation of any
+one of the five-and-twenty young people who call him Uncle Fritz. But he
+pets them, and they pet him. They like to make him a regular visit once
+a week, as the winter goes by. And the habit has grown up, of their
+reading with him, quite regularly, on some subject selected at their
+first meeting after they return from the country. Either at Lady
+Oliver's house, as his winter home is called, or at Little Crastis,
+where he spends his summers, those selections for reading have been
+made, which have been published in a form similar to that of the book
+which the reader holds in his hand.
+
+The reader may or may not have seen these books,--so much the worse for
+him if he have not,--but that omission of his may be easily repaired.
+There are four of them: STORIES OF WAR told by Soldiers; STORIES OF THE
+SEA told by Sailors; STORIES OF ADVENTURE told by Adventurers; STORIES
+OF DISCOVERY told by Discoverers.
+
+Since the regular meetings began, of which these books are the history,
+the circle of visitors has changed more or less, as most circles will,
+in five years. Some of those who met are now in another world. Some of
+the boys have grown to be so much like men, that they are "subduing the
+world," as Uncle Fritz would say, in their several places, and that they
+write home, from other latitudes and longitudes, of the Discoveries and
+Adventures in which they have themselves been leaders. But younger
+sisters and brothers take the places of older brothers and sisters. The
+club--for it really is one--is popular, Lady Oliver's house is large,
+and Uncle Fritz is hospitable. He says himself that there is always room
+for more; and Ellen Flaherty, or whoever else is the reigning queen in
+the kitchen, never complains that the demand is too great for her
+"waffles."
+
+Last fall, when the young people made their first appearance, the week
+before Thanksgiving day, after the new-comers had been presented to
+Uncle Fritz, and a chair or two had been brought in from the dining-room
+to make provision for the extra number of guests, it proved that, on the
+way out, John Coram, who is Tom Coram's nephew, had been talking with
+Helen, who is one of the old Boston Champernoons, about the change of
+Boston since his uncle's early days.
+
+"I told her," said he to Uncle Fritz, "that Mr. Allerton was called 'the
+last of the merchants,' and he is dead now."
+
+"That was a pet phrase of his," said Uncle Fritz. "He meant that his
+house, with its immense resources, simply bought and sold. He was away
+for many years once. When he returned, he found that the chief of his
+affairs had made an investment, from motives of public spirit, in a
+Western railroad. 'I thought we were merchants,' said the fine old man,
+disapproving. As he turned over page after page of the account, he found
+at last that the whole investment had been lost. 'I am glad of that,'
+said he; 'you will remember now that we are merchants.'"
+
+"But surely my father is a merchant," said Julius. "He calls himself a
+merchant, he is put down as a merchant in the Directory, and he buys and
+sells, if that makes a man a merchant."
+
+"All that is true," said Uncle Fritz. "But your father also invests
+money in railroads; so far he is engaged in transportation. He is a
+stockholder and a director in the Hecla Woollen Mills at Bromwich; so
+far he is a manufacturer. He told me, the other day, that he had been
+encouraging my little friend Griffiths, who is experimenting in the
+conservation of electric power; so far he is an inventor, or a patron of
+inventions.
+
+"In substance, what Mr. Allerton meant when he said 'I thought we were
+merchants,' was this: he meant that that firm simply bought from people
+who wished to sell, and sold to people who wished to buy.
+
+"The fact, that almost every man of enterprise in Massachusetts is now
+to a certain extent a manufacturer, shows that a great change has come
+over people here since the beginning of this century."
+
+"Those were the days of Mr. Cleveland's adventures, and Mr. Forbes's,"
+said Hugh.
+
+He alluded to the trade in the Pacific, in which these gentlemen shared,
+as may be read in STORIES OF ADVENTURE.
+
+Uncle Fritz said, "Yes." He said that the patient love of Great Britain
+for her colonies forbade us here from making so much as a hat or a
+hob-nail while we were colonies, as it would gladly do again now. He
+said that the New Englanders had a great deal of adventurous old Norse
+blood in their veins, that they had plenty of ship-timber and tar. If
+they could not make hob-nails they could make ships; and they made very
+good ships before they had been in New England ten years.
+
+Luckily for us, soon after the country became a country, near a hundred
+years ago, the quarrels of Europe were such, that if an English ship
+carried produce of the West Indies or China to Europe, France seized,
+if she could, ship and cargo; if a French ship carried them, English
+cruisers seized ship and cargo, if they could. So it happened that the
+American ships and the American sailors, who were not at war with
+England and were not at war with France, were able to carry the stores
+which were wanted by all the world. The wars of Napoleon were thus a
+steady bounty for the benefit of the commerce of America. When they were
+well over, we had become so well trained to commerce here, that we could
+build the best ships in the world; and we thought we had the best seamen
+in the world,--certainly there were no better. Under such a stimulus,
+and what followed it, our commerce, as measured by the tonnage of our
+ships, was as large as that of any nation, and, if measured by the miles
+sailed, was probably larger.
+
+All this prosperity to merchants was broken up by the War of 1812,
+between the United States and Great Britain. For two years and a half,
+then, our intercourse with Europe was almost cut off; for the English
+cruisers now captured our vessels whenever they could find them. At last
+we had to make our own hob-nails, our guns, our cannon, our cotton
+cloth, and our woollen cloth, if we meant to have any at all. The
+farmers' wives and daughters had always had the traditions of spinning
+and weaving.
+
+When Colonel Ingham said this, Blanche nodded to Mary and Mary to
+Blanche.
+
+"That means," said the Colonel, "that you have brought dear old mother
+Tucker's spinning-wheel downstairs, and have it in the corner behind
+your piano, does it not?"
+
+Blanche laughed, and said that was just what she meant.
+
+"It does very well in 'Martha,'" said the Colonel. "And can you spin,
+Blanche?"
+
+Blanche rather surprised him by saying that she could, and the Colonel
+went on with his lecture. Fergus, who is very proud of Blanche, slipped
+out of the room, but was back after a minute, and no one missed him.
+
+Here in Massachusetts some of the most skilful merchants--Appletons,
+Perkinses, and Lawrences--joined hand with brave inventors like Slater
+and Treadwell, and sent out to England for skilful manufacturers like
+Crompton and Boott; thus there sprung up the gigantic system of
+manufacture, which seems to you children a thing of course. Oddly
+enough, the Southern States, which had always hated New England and New
+England commerce, and had done their best to destroy it when they had a
+chance, were very eager to secure a home-market for Southern cotton; and
+thus, for many years after the war, they kept up such high protective
+duties that foreign goods were very dear in America, and the New England
+manufacturers had all the better prices.
+
+While Uncle Fritz was saying this in substance, Ransom, the old servant,
+appeared with a spinning-wheel from Colonel Ingham's music-room. The
+children had had it for some charades. Kate Fogarty, the seamstress of
+the Colonel's household, followed, laughing, with a great hank of flax;
+and when the Colonel stopped at the interruption, Fergus said,--
+
+"I thought, Uncle Fritz, they would all like to see how well Blanche
+spins; so I asked Ransom to bring in the wheel."
+
+And Blanche sat down without any coaxing, and made her wheel fly very
+prettily, and spun her linen thread as well as her great-grandmamma
+would have done. Colonel Ingham was delighted; and so were all the
+children, half of whom had never seen any hand-spinning before. All of
+them had seen cotton and wool spun in factories; in fact, half of them
+had eaten their daily bread that day, from the profit of the factories
+that for ten hours of every day do such spinning.
+
+"Now, you see," said the well-pleased Colonel, "Blanche spins that flax
+exactly as her grandmother nine generations back spun it. She spins it
+exactly as Mrs. Dudley spun it in the old house where Dr. Paterson's
+church stands. It is strange enough, but for one hundred and fifty years
+there seems to have been no passion for invention among the New
+Englanders. Now they are called a most _inventive_ people, and that bad
+word has been coined for them and such as they.
+
+"But all this is of the last century. It was as soon as they were thrown
+on their own resources that they began to invent. Eli Whitney, a
+Worcester County boy, graduated at Yale College in 1791. He went to
+Georgia at once, to be a tutor in a planter's family; but before he
+arrived, the planter had another tutor. This was a fortunate chance for
+the world; for poor Whitney, disappointed, went to spend the winter at
+the house of Mrs. General Greene. One day, at dinner, some guests of
+hers said that cotton could never be exported with profit unless a
+machine could be made to separate the seeds from the 'wool.' 'If you
+want anything invented,' said Mrs. Greene, 'ask my young friend Mr.
+Whitney; he will invent anything for you.' Whitney had then never seen
+cotton unmanufactured. But he went to work; and before he was one year
+out of college, he had invented the cotton-gin, which created an
+enormous product of cotton, and, in fact, changed the direction of the
+commerce of the world.
+
+"Well, you know about other inventions. Robert Fulton, who built the
+first effective steamboat, was born in Pennsylvania the same year
+Whitney was born in Massachusetts.
+
+"Hector, you are fond of imaginary conversations: write one in which
+Whitney and Fulton meet, when each is twenty-one; let Daniel Boone look
+in on them, and prophesy to them the future of the country, and how much
+it is to owe to them and to theirs."
+
+"I think Blanche had better write it--in a ballad," said Hector,
+laughing. "It shall be an old crone spinning; and as she turns her wheel
+she shall describe the Ætna Factory at Watertown."
+
+"There shall be a _refrain_," said Wallace,--
+
+  "'Turn my wheel gayly;
+  Spin, flax, spin.'"
+
+"No," said Hatty; "the refrain shall be
+
+  'Four per cent in six months,
+  Eight per cent in twelve.'
+
+We are to go to Europe if the Vesuvius Mills pay a dividend. But if they
+_pass_, I believe I am to scrub floors in my vacation."
+
+"Very well," said Uncle Fritz, recalling them to the subject they had
+started on. "All this is enough to show you how it is that you, who are
+all New Englanders, are no longer seafaring boys or girls, exclusively
+or even principally. Your great-grandmother, Alice, saved the lives of
+all the crew of a Bristol trader, by going out in her father's boat and
+taking her through the crooked passage between the Brewsters. You would
+be glad to do it, but I am afraid you cannot."
+
+"I should rather encourage those who go to do it," said Alice, demurely,
+repeating one of their familiar jokes.
+
+"And your great-grandfather, Seth, is the Hunt who discovered Hunt's
+Reef in the Philippines. I am afraid you cannot place it on the map."
+
+"I know I cannot," said Seth, bravely.
+
+"No," said the old gentleman. "But all the same the reef is there. I
+came to an anchor in the 'Calypso,' waiting for a southwest wind, in
+sight of the breakers over it. And I wish we had the pineapples the
+black people sold us there.
+
+"All the same the New Englanders are good for something. Ten years
+hence, you boys will be doing what your fathers are doing,--subduing the
+world, and making it to be more what God wants it to be. And you will
+not work at arms' length, as they did, nor with your own muscles."
+
+"We have Aladdin's lamp," said Mary, laughing.
+
+"And his ring," said Susie. "I always liked the ring one better than the
+lamp one, though he was not so strong."
+
+"He is prettier in the pictures," said George.
+
+"Yes," said the Colonel; "we have stronger Genii than Aladdin had, and
+better machinery than Prince Camaralzaman."
+
+"I heard some one say that Mr. Corliss had added twenty-seven per cent
+to the working power of the world by his _cut-off_," said Fergus.
+
+The Colonel said he believed that was true. And this was a good
+illustration of what one persevering and intelligent man can do in
+bringing in the larger life and nobler purpose of the Kingdom of Heaven.
+Such a man makes men cease from _labor_, which is always irksome, and
+_work_ with God. This is always ennobling.
+
+"I am ashamed to say that I do not know what a _cut-off_ is," said
+Alice, who, like Seth, had been trained to "confess ignorance."
+
+"I was going to say so," said John Rodman.
+
+"And I,--and I,--and I," said quite a little chorus.
+
+"We must make up a party, the first pleasant day, and go and see the
+stationary engine which pumps this water for us." So the Colonel met
+their confessions.
+
+"But does not all this indicate that we might spend a few days in
+looking up inventions?"
+
+"I think we ought to," said Hatty. "Certainly we ought, if the Vesuvius
+pays. Imagine me at Manchester. Imagine John Bright taking me through
+his own mill, and saying to me, 'This is the rover we like best, on the
+whole. Do you use this in America?' Imagine me forced to reply that I do
+not know a rover when I see one, and could not tell a 'slubber' from a
+'picker.'"
+
+The others laughed, and confessed equal ignorance. "Only, John Bright
+has no mills in Manchester, Hatty."
+
+"Well, they are somewhere; and I must not eat the bread of the Vesuvius
+slubbers, and not know something of the way in which slubbers came to
+be."
+
+"Very well," said Uncle Fritz, as usual recalling the conversation to
+sanity. "Whom shall we read about first?"
+
+"Tubal Cain first," said Fergus. "He seems to have been the first of the
+crew."
+
+"It was not he who found out witty inventions," said Fanchon, in a mock
+_aside_.
+
+"I should begin with Archimedes," said Uncle Fritz.
+
+"Excellent!" said Fergus; "and then may we not burn up old Fogarty's
+barn with burning-glasses?"
+
+The children dislike Fogarty, and his barn is an eyesore to them. It
+stands just beyond the hedge of the Lady Oliver garden.
+
+"I thank Archimedes every time I take a warm bath. Did he not invent hot
+baths?"
+
+"What nonsense! He was killed by Caligula in one."
+
+"You shall not talk such stuff.--Uncle Fritz, what books shall I bring
+you?"
+
+It would seem as if, perhaps, Uncle Fritz had led the conversation in
+the direction it had taken. At least it proved that, all together on the
+rolling book-rack which Mr. Perkins gave him, were the account of
+Archimedes in the Cyclopædia Britannica, the account in the French
+Universal Biography, the life in La Rousse's Cyclopædia, Plutarch's
+Lives, and a volume of Livy in the Latin. From these together, Uncle
+Fritz, and the boys and girls whom he selected, made out this little
+history of Archimedes.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+ARCHIMEDES.
+
+
+Archimedes was born in Syracuse in the year 287 B. C., and was killed
+there in the year 212 B. C. He is said to have been a relation of Hiero,
+King of Syracuse; but he seems to have held no formal office known to
+the politicians. Like many other such men, however, from his time down
+to Ericsson, he came to the front when he was needed, and served
+Syracuse better than her speech-makers. While he was yet a young man, he
+went to Alexandria to study; and he was there the pupil of Euclid, the
+same Euclid whose Geometry is the basis of all the geometry of to-day.
+
+While Archimedes is distinctly called, on very high authority, "the
+first mathematician of antiquity," and while we have nine books which
+are attributed to him, we do not have--and this is a great
+misfortune--any ancient biography of him. He lived seventy-five years,
+for most of that time probably in Syracuse itself; and it would be hard
+to say how much Syracuse owed to his science. At the end of his life he
+saved Syracuse from the Romans for three years, during a siege in which,
+by his ingenuity, he kept back Marcellus and his army. At the end of
+this siege he was killed by a Roman soldier when the Romans entered the
+city.
+
+The books of his which we have are on the "Sphere and Cylinder," "The
+Measure of the Circle," "Conoids and Spheroids," "On Spirals,"
+"Equiponderants and Centres of Gravity," "The Quadrature of the
+Parabola," "On Bodies floating in Liquids," "The Psammites," and "A
+Collection of Lemmas." The books which are lost are "On the Crown of
+Hiero;" "Cochleon, or Water-Screw;" "Helicon, or Endless Screw;"
+"Trispaston, or Combination of Wheels and Axles;" "Machines employed at
+the Siege of Syracuse;" "Burning Mirror;" "Machines moved by Air and
+Water;" and "Material Sphere."
+
+As to the story of the bath-tub, Uncle Fritz gave to Hector to read the
+account as abridged in the "Cyclopædia Britannica."
+
+"Hiero had set him to discover whether or not the gold which he had
+given to an artist to work into a crown for him had been mixed with a
+baser metal. Archimedes was puzzled by the problem, till one day, as he
+was stepping into a bath, and observed the water running over, it
+occurred to him that the excess of bulk occasioned by the introduction
+of alloy could be measured by putting the crown and an equal weight of
+gold separately into a vessel filled with water, and observing the
+difference of overflow. He was so overjoyed when this happy thought
+struck him that he ran home without his clothes, shouting, 'I have found
+it, I have found it,'--[Greek: Eurêka, Eurêka.]
+
+"This word has been chosen by the State of California for its motto."
+
+To make the story out, it must be supposed that the crown was irregular
+in shape, and that the precise object was to find how much metal, in
+measurement, was used in its manufacture. Suppose three cubic inches of
+gold were used, Archimedes knew how much this would cost. But if three
+cubic inches of alloy were used, the king had been cheated. What the
+overflow of the water taught was the precise cubic size of the various
+ornaments of the crown. A silver crown or a lead crown would displace as
+much water as a gold crown of the same shape and ornament. But neither
+silver nor lead would weigh so much as if pure gold were used, and at
+that time pure gold was by far the heaviest metal known.
+
+Fergus, who is perhaps our best mathematician, pricked up his ears when
+he heard there was a treatise on the relation of the Circle to the
+Square. Like most of the intelligent boys who will read this book,
+Fergus had tried his hand on the fascinating problem which deals with
+that proportion. Younger readers will remember that it is treated in
+"Swiss Family." Jack--or is it perhaps Ernest?--remembers there, that
+for the ribbon which was to go round a hat the hat-maker allowed three
+times the diameter of the hat, and a little more. This "little more" is
+the delicate fraction over which Archimedes studied; and Fergus, after
+him. Fergus knew the proportion as far as thirty-three figures in
+decimals. These are 3.141,592,653,589,793,238,462,643,383,279,502. When
+Uncle Fritz asked Fergus to repeat these, the boy did it promptly,
+somewhat to the astonishment of the others. He had committed it to
+memory by one of Mr. Gouraud's "analogies," which are always convenient
+for persons who have mathematical formulas to remember.
+
+When those of the young people who were interested in mathematics looked
+at Archimedes's solution of the problem, they found it was the same as
+that they had themselves tried at school. But he carried it so far as to
+inscribe a circle between two polygons, each of ninety-six sides; and
+his calculation is based on the relation between the two.
+
+Taking the "Swiss Family Robinson" statement again, Archimedes shows
+that the circumference of a circle exceeds three times its diameter by a
+small fraction, which is less than 10/70 and greater than 10/71 and that
+a circle is to its circumscribing square nearly as 11 to 14. Those who
+wish to carry his calculations farther may be pleased to know that he
+found the figures 7 to 22 expressed the relation more correctly than 1
+to 3 does. Metius, another ancient mathematician, used the proportion
+113 to 355. If you reduce that to decimals, you will find it correct to
+the sixth decimal. Remember that Archimedes and Metius had not the
+convenience of the Arabic or decimal notation. Imagine yourselves doing
+Metius's sum in division when you have to divide CCCLV by CXIII.
+Archimedes, in fact, used the Greek notation,--which was a little better
+than the Roman, but had none of the facility of ours. For every _ten_,
+from 20 to 90, they had a separate character, and for every _hundred_,
+and for every _thousand_. The _thousands_ were the units with a mark
+underneath. Thus [Greek: a] meant 1, and [Greek: ,a] meant 1,000. To
+express 113, Archimedes would have written [Greek: rig]. To express 355,
+he would have written [Greek: tne]; and the place which these signs had
+in the order would not have affected their value, as they do with us.
+
+We cannot tell how the greater part of Archimedes's life was spent. But
+whether he were nominally in public office or not, it is clear enough
+that he must have given great help to Syracuse and her rulers, as an
+engineer, long before the war in which the Romans captured that great
+city. At that time Syracuse was, according to Cicero, "the largest and
+noblest of the Greek cities." It was in Sicily; but, having been built
+by colonists from Greece, who still spoke the Greek language, Cicero
+speaks of it among Greek cities, as he would have spoken of Thurii, or
+Sybaris, or the cities of "Magna Græcia,"--"great Greece," as they
+called the Greek settlements in southern Italy. In the Second Punic War
+Syracuse took sides against Rome with the Carthaginians, though her old
+king, Hiero, had been a firm ally of the Romans. The most interesting
+accounts that we have of Archimedes are in Livy's account of this war,
+and in Plutarch's Life of Marcellus, who carried it on on the Roman
+side. Livy says of Archimedes that he was--
+
+"A man of unrivalled skill in observing the heavens and the stars, but
+more deserving of admiration as the inventor and constructor of warlike
+engines and works, by means of which, with a very slight effort, he
+turned to ridicule what the enemy effected with great difficulty.
+
+"The wall, which ran along unequal eminences, most of which were high
+and difficult of access, some low and open to approach along level
+vales, was furnished by him with every kind of warlike engine, as seemed
+suitable to each particular place. Marcellus attacked from the
+quinqueremes [his large ships] the wall of the Achradina, which was
+washed by the sea. From the other ships the archers and slingers and
+light infantry, whose weapon is difficult to be thrown back by the
+unskilful, allowed scarce any person to remain upon the wall unwounded.
+These soldiers, as they required some range in aiming their missiles
+upward, kept their ships at a distance from the wall. Eight more
+quinqueremes joined together in pairs, the oars on their inner sides
+being removed, so that side might be placed to side, and which thus
+formed ships [of double width], and were worked by the outer oars,
+carried turrets built up in stories, and other battering-engines.
+
+"Against this naval armament Archimedes placed, on different parts of
+the walls, engines of various dimensions. Against the ships which were
+at a distance he discharged stones of immense weight; those which were
+nearer he assailed with lighter and more numerous missiles. Lastly, in
+order that his own men might heap their weapons upon the enemy without
+receiving any wounds themselves, he perforated the wall from the top to
+the bottom with a great number of loop-holes, about a cubit in diameter,
+through which some with arrows, others with scorpions of moderate size,
+assailed the enemies without being seen. He threw upon their sterns some
+of the ships which came nearer to the walls, in order to get inside the
+range of the engines, raising up their prows by means of an iron grapple
+attached to a strong chain, by means of a _tolleno_ [or derrick], which
+projected from the wall and overhung them, having a heavy counterpoise
+of lead which forced the line to the ground. Then, the grapple being
+suddenly disengaged, the ship, falling from the wall, was by these
+means, to the utter consternation of the seamen, so dashed against the
+water that even if it came back to its true position it took in a great
+quantity of water."
+
+"Fancy," cried Bedford, "one of their double quinqueremes, when she had
+run bravely in under the shelter of the wall. Just as the men think they
+can begin to work, up goes the prow, and they all are tumbled down into
+the steerage. Up she goes, and fifty rowers are on each other in a pile;
+when the old pile-driver claw lets go again, and down she comes, splash
+into the sea. And then Archimedes pokes his head out through one of the
+holes, and says in Greek, 'How do you like that, my friends?' I do not
+wonder they were discouraged."
+
+The bold cliff of the water front of Syracuse gave Archimedes a
+particular advantage for defensive operations of this sort. They are
+described in more detail in Plutarch's Life of Marcellus, who was the
+Roman general employed against Syracuse, and who was held at bay by
+Archimedes for three years.
+
+Here is Plutarch's account:--
+
+
+Marcellus, with sixty galleys, each with five rows of oars, furnished
+with all sorts of arms and missiles, and a huge bridge of planks laid
+upon eight ships chained together,[1] upon which was carried the engine
+to cast stones and darts, assaulted the walls. He relied on the
+abundance and magnificence of his preparations, and on his own previous
+glory; all which, however, were, it would seem, but trifles for
+Archimedes and his machines.
+
+These machines he had designed and contrived, not as matters of any
+importance, but as mere amusements in geometry,--in compliance with King
+Hiero's desire and request, some little time before, that he should
+reduce to practice some part of his admirable speculations in science,
+and by accommodating the theoretic truth to sensation and ordinary use,
+bring it more within the appreciation of people in general. Eudoxus and
+Archytas had been the first originators of this far-famed and highly
+prized art of mechanics, which they employed as an elegant illustration
+of geometrical truths, and as a means of sustaining experimentally, to
+the satisfaction of the senses, conclusions too intricate for proof by
+words and diagrams. As, for example, to solve the problem so often
+required in constructing geometrical figures, "Given the two extremes to
+find the two mean lines of a proportion," both these mathematicians had
+recourse to the aid of instruments, adapting to their purpose certain
+curves and sections of lines. But what with Plato's indignation at it,
+and his invectives against it as the mere corruption and annihilation of
+the one good of geometry, which was thus shamefully turning its back
+upon the unembodied objects of pure intelligence, to recur to sensation,
+and to ask help (not to be obtained without base subservience and
+depravation) from matter; so it was that mechanics came to be separated
+from geometry, and when repudiated and neglected by philosophers, took
+its place as a military art.
+
+Archimedes, however, in writing to King Hiero, whose friend and near
+relative he was, had stated that, given the force, any given weight
+might be moved; and even boasted, we are told, relying on the strength
+of demonstration, that if there were another earth, by going into it he
+could move this.
+
+Hiero being struck with amazement at this, and entreating him to make
+good this assertion by actual experiment, and show some great weight
+moved by a small engine, he fixed upon a ship of burden out of the
+king's arsenal, which could not be drawn out of the dock without great
+labor by many men. Loading her with many passengers and a full freight,
+sitting himself the while far off, with no great endeavor, but only
+holding the head of the pulley in his hand and drawing the cord by
+degrees, he drew the ship in a straight line, as smoothly and evenly as
+if she had been in the sea.
+
+The king, astonished at this, and convinced of the power of the art,
+prevailed upon Archimedes to make him engines accommodated to all the
+purposes, offensive and defensive, of a siege. These the king himself
+never made use of, because he spent almost all his life in a profound
+quiet and the highest affluence. But the apparatus was, in a most
+opportune time, ready at hand for the Syracusans, and with it also the
+engineer himself.
+
+When, therefore, the Romans assaulted the walls in two places at once,
+fear and consternation stupefied the Syracusans, believing that nothing
+was able to resist that violence and those forces. But when Archimedes
+began to ply his engines, he at once shot against the land forces all
+sorts of missile weapons, with immense masses of stone that came down
+with incredible noise and violence, against which no man could stand;
+for they knocked down those upon whom they fell in heaps, breaking all
+their ranks and files. In the mean time huge poles thrust out from the
+walls over the ships [these were the derricks, or _tollenos_, of Livy]
+sunk some by the great weights which they let down from on high upon
+them; others they lifted up into the air by an iron hand or beak like a
+crane's beak, and when they had drawn them up by the prow, and set them
+on end upon the poop, they plunged them to the bottom of the sea. Or
+else the ships, drawn by engines within, and whirled about, were dashed
+against the steep rocks that stood jutting out under the walls, with
+great destruction of the soldiers that were aboard them. A ship was
+frequently lifted up to a great height in the air (a dreadful thing to
+behold), and was rolled to and fro and kept swinging, until the mariners
+were all thrown out, when at length it was dashed against the rocks, or
+let fall.
+
+At the engine that Marcellus brought upon the bridge of ships,--which
+was called _Sambuca_ from some resemblance it had to an instrument of
+music of that name,--while it was as yet approaching the wall, there was
+discharged a piece of a rock of ten talents' weight,[2] then a second
+and a third, which, striking upon it with immense force and with a noise
+like thunder, broke all its foundation to pieces, shook out all its
+fastenings, and completely dislodged it from the bridge. So Marcellus,
+doubtful what counsel to pursue, drew off his ships to a safer distance,
+and sounded a retreat to his forces on land. They then took a resolution
+of coming up under the walls, if it were possible, in the night;
+thinking that as Archimedes used ropes stretched at length in playing
+his engines, the soldiers would now be under the shot, and the darts
+would, for want of sufficient distance to throw them, fly over their
+heads without effect. But he, it appeared, had long before framed for
+such occasion engines accommodated to any distance, and shorter weapons;
+and had made numerous small openings in the walls, through which, with
+engines of a shorter range, unexpected blows were inflicted on the
+assailants. Thus, when they, who thought to deceive the defenders, came
+close up to the walls, instantly a shower of darts and other missile
+weapons was again cast upon them. And when stones came tumbling down
+perpendicularly upon their heads, and, as it were, the whole wall shot
+out arrows against them, they retired.
+
+And now, again, as they were going off, arrows and darts of a longer
+range inflicted a great slaughter among them, and their ships were
+driven one against another, while they themselves were not able to
+retaliate in any way. For Archimedes had provided and fixed most of his
+engines immediately under the wall; whence the Romans, seeing that
+infinite mischiefs overwhelmed them from no visible means, began to
+think they were fighting with the gods.
+
+Yet Marcellus escaped unhurt, and, deriding his own artificers and
+engineers, "What," said he, "must we give up fighting with this
+geometrical Briareus, who plays pitch and toss with our ships, and with
+the multitude of darts which he showers at a single moment upon us,
+really outdoes the hundred-handed giants of mythology?" And doubtless
+the rest of the Syracusans were but the body of Archimedes's designs,
+one soul moving and governing all; for, laying aside all other arms,
+with his alone they infested the Romans and protected themselves. In
+fine, when such terror had seized upon the Romans that if they did but
+see a little rope or a piece of wood from the wall, instantly crying out
+that there it was again, that Archimedes was about to let fly some
+engine at them, they turned their backs and fled, Marcellus desisted
+from conflicts and assaults, putting all his hope in a long siege. Yet
+Archimedes possessed so high a spirit, so profound a soul, and such
+treasures of scientific knowledge, that though these inventions had now
+obtained him the renown of more than human sagacity, he yet would not
+deign to leave behind him any commentary or writing on such subjects;
+but, repudiating as sordid and ignoble the whole trade of engineering,
+and every sort of art that lends itself to mere use and profit, he
+placed his whole affection and ambition in those purer speculations
+where there can be no reference to the vulgar needs of life,--studies
+the superiority of which to all others is unquestioned, and in which the
+only doubt can be whether the beauty and grandeur of the subjects
+examined or the precision and cogency of the methods and means of proof
+most deserve our admiration.
+
+It is not possible to find in all geometry more difficult and intricate
+questions, or more simple and lucid explanations. Some ascribe this to
+his natural genius; while others think that incredible toil produced
+these, to all appearance, easy and unlabored results. No amount of
+investigation of yours would succeed in attaining the proof; and yet,
+once seen, you immediately believe you would have discovered it,--by so
+smooth and so rapid a path he leads you to the conclusion required. And
+thus it ceases to be incredible that (as is commonly told of him) the
+charm of his familiar and domestic science made him forget his food and
+neglect his person to that degree that when he was occasionally carried
+by absolute violence to bathe, or have his body anointed, he used to
+trace geometrical figures in the ashes of the fire, and diagrams in the
+oil on his body, being in a state of entire preoccupation, and, in the
+truest sense, divine possession, with his love and delight in science.
+His discoveries were numerous and admirable; but he is said to have
+requested his friends and relations that when he was dead they would
+place over his tomb a sphere containing a cylinder, inscribing it with
+the ratio which the containing solid bears to the contained.
+
+
+The boys were highly edified by this statement of the difficulty which
+Archimedes's friends found in making him take a bath, and chaffed Jack,
+who had asked if he were not the inventor of bath-tubs.
+
+When the reading from Plutarch was over, Fergus asked if that were all,
+and was disappointed that there was nothing about the setting of ships
+on fire by mirrors. It is one of the old stories of the siege of
+Syracuse, that he set fire to the Roman ships by concentrating on them
+the heat of the sun from a number of mirrors. But this story is not in
+Livy, nor is it in Plutarch, though, as has been seen, they were well
+disposed to tell what they knew which was marvellous in his
+achievements. It is told at length and in detail by Zonaras and
+Tzetzes, two Greek writers of the twelfth century, who must have found
+it in some ancient writers whose works we do not now have.
+
+"Archimedes," says Zonaras,[3] "having received the rays of the sun on a
+mirror, by the thickness and polish of which they were reflected and
+united, kindled a flame in the air, and darted it with full violence
+upon the ships, which were anchored within a certain distance, in such a
+manner that they were burned to ashes."
+
+The same writer says that Proclus, a celebrated "mathematician" of
+Constantinople, in the sixth century, at the siege of Constantinople set
+fire to the Thracian fleet by means of brass mirrors. Tzetzes is yet
+more particular. He says that when the Roman galleys were within a
+bow-shot of the city walls, Archimedes brought together hexagonal
+specula (mirrors) with other smaller ones of twenty-four facets, and
+caused them to be placed each at a proper distance; that he moved these
+by means of hinges and plates of metal; that the hexagon was bisected by
+the meridian of summer and winter; that it was placed opposite the sun;
+and that a great fire was thus kindled, which consumed the ships.
+
+Now, it is to be remembered that these are the accounts of writers who
+were not so good mechanics as Archimedes. It should be remembered, also,
+that in the conditions of war then, the distance at which ships would be
+anchored in a little harbor like that of Syracuse was not great. By
+"bow-shot" would be meant the distance at which a bow would do serious
+damage. Doubtful as the story of Zonaras and Tzetzes seems, it received
+unexpected confirmation in the year 1747 from a celebrated experiment
+tried by the naturalist Buffon.
+
+After encountering many difficulties, which he had foreseen with great
+acuteness, and obviated with equal ingenuity, Buffon at length succeeded
+in repeating Archimedes's performance. In the spring of 1747 he laid
+before the French Academy a memoir which, in his collected works,
+extends over upwards of eighty pages. In this paper he described himself
+as in possession of an apparatus by means of which he could set fire to
+planks at the distance of 200 and even 210 feet, and melt metals and
+metallic minerals at distances varying from 25 to 40 feet. This
+apparatus he describes as composed of 168 plain glasses, silvered on the
+back, each six inches broad by eight inches long. These, he says, were
+ranged in a large wooden frame, at intervals not exceeding the third of
+an inch, so that, by means of an adjustment behind, each should be
+movable in all directions independent of the rest; the spaces between
+the glasses being further of use in allowing the operator to see from
+behind the point on which it behooved the various disks to be converged.
+
+In this last statement there is a parallel with that of Tzetzes, who
+speaks of the division of Archimedes's mirrors.
+
+At the present moment naturalists are paying great attention to plans
+for the using of the heat of the sun. It is said that on any county in
+the United States, twenty by thirty miles square, there is wasted as
+much heat of the sun as would drive, if we knew how to use it, all the
+steam-engines in the world.
+
+Fergus asked Uncle Fritz if he believed that Archimedes threw seven
+hundred pounds of stone from one of his machines. The largest modern
+guns throw shot of one thousand pounds, and it is only quite recently
+that any such shot have been used.
+
+Uncle Fritz told him that in the museum at St. Germain-en-Laye he would
+one day see a modern catapult, made by Colonel de Reffye from the design
+of a Roman catapult on Trajan's Column. This is supposed to be of the
+same pattern which is called an "Onager" in the Latin books. This
+catapult throws, when it is tested, a shot of twenty-four pounds, or it
+throws a sheaf of short arrows. In one catapult the power is gained by
+twisting ox-hide very tightly, and suddenly releasing it. Another is a
+very stout bow, worked with a small windlass. Of course this will give a
+great power.
+
+Seven hundred pounds, however, seems beyond the ability of any such
+machines as this; but from his higher walls Archimedes could, of course,
+have rolled such stones down on the decks of the ships below. And if he
+were throwing other stones or leaden balls to a greater distance with
+his _Onagers_, it may well be that Plutarch or Livy did not take very
+accurate account of the particular engine which threw one stone or
+another.
+
+Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier, to the great grief of
+Marcellus, when the Romans finally took Syracuse. The city fell through
+drunkenness, which was, and is, the cause of more failure in the world
+than anything else which can be named. Marcellus, in some conversations
+about the exchange or redemption of a prisoner, observed a tower
+somewhat detached from the wall, which was, as he thought, carelessly
+guarded. Choosing the night of a feast of Diana, when the Syracusans
+were wholly given up to wine and sport, he took the tower by surprise,
+and from the tower seized the wall and made his way into the city. In
+the sack of the city by the soldiers, which followed, Archimedes was
+killed. The story is told in different ways. Plutarch says that he was
+working out some problem by a diagram, and never noticed the incursion
+of the Romans, nor that the city was taken. A soldier, unexpectedly
+coming up to him in this transport of study and meditation, commanded
+him to follow him to Marcellus; which he declining to do before he had
+worked out his problem to a demonstration, the soldier, enraged, drew
+his sword, and ran him through. "Others write that a Roman soldier,
+running upon him with a drawn sword, offered to kill him, and that
+Archimedes, looking back, earnestly besought him to hold his hand a
+little while, that he might not leave what he was then at work upon
+inconsequent and imperfect; but the soldier, not moved by his entreaty,
+instantly killed him. Others, again, relate that as Archimedes was
+carrying to Marcellus mathematical instruments, dials, spheres, and
+angles by which the magnitude of the sun might be measured to the sight,
+some soldiers, seeing him, and thinking that he carried gold in a
+vessel, slew him.
+
+"Certain it is, that his death was very afflicting to Marcellus, and
+that Marcellus ever after regarded him that killed him as a murderer,
+and that he sought for the kindred of Archimedes and honored them with
+signal honors."
+
+Archimedes, as has been said, had asked that his monument might be a
+cylinder bearing a sphere, in commemoration of his discovery of the
+proportion between a cylinder and a sphere of the same diameter. A
+century and a half after, when Cicero was quæstor of Sicily, he found
+this monument, neglected, forgotten, and covered with a rank growth of
+thistles and other weeds.
+
+"It was left," he says, "for one who came from Arpinas, to show to the
+men of Syracuse where their greatest countryman lay buried."
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+FRIAR BACON.
+
+
+"All the world seems to have known of Columbus's discoveries as soon as
+he came home, but all the world did not know at once of Archimedes's
+inventions; indeed, I should think the world did not know now what all
+of them are."
+
+Hester Van Brunt was saying this in the hall, as the girls laid off
+their waterproofs, when they next met the Colonel.
+
+"I think that may often be said of what we call Inventions and what we
+call Discoveries," he said, "till quite recent times. When a man
+invented a new process, it was supposed that if he could keep the
+secret, it might be to him a very valuable secret. But when one
+discovered an island or a continent, it was almost impossible to keep
+the secret. They tried it sometimes, as you know. But there must be a
+whole ship's crew who know something of the new-found land, and from
+some of them the secret would leak out.
+
+"But there has been many a process in the arts lost, because the man who
+discovered the new quality in nature or invented the new method in
+manufacture kept it secret, so that he might do better work than his
+competitors. This went so far that boys were apprenticed to masters to
+learn 'the secrets of their trades.'"
+
+Fergus said that in old times inventors were not always treated very
+kindly. If people thought they were sorcerers, or in league with the
+Devil, they did not care much for the invention.
+
+Uncle Fritz said they would find plenty of instances of the persecution
+of inventors, even to quite a late date. It is impossible, of course, to
+say how many good things were lost to the world by the pig-headedness
+which discouraged new inventions. It is marvellous to think what
+progress single men made, who had to begin almost at the beginning, and
+learn for themselves what every intelligent boy or girl now finds ready
+for him in the Cyclopædia. It is very clear that the same beginnings
+were made again and again by some of the early inventors. Then, what
+they learned had been almost forgotten. There was no careful record of
+their experiments, or, if any, it was in one manuscript, and that was
+not accessible to people trying to follow in their steps.
+
+"I have laid out for you," said Uncle Fritz, "some of the early accounts
+of Friar Bacon,--Roger Bacon. He is one of the most distinguished of the
+early students of what we now call natural philosophy in England. It was
+in one of the darkest centuries of the Dark Ages.
+
+"But see what he did.
+
+"There are to be found in his writings new and ingenious views of
+Optics,--as, on the refraction of light, on the apparent magnitude of
+objects, on the magnified appearance of the sun and moon when on the
+horizon. He describes very exactly the nature and effects of concave and
+convex lenses, and speaks of their application to the purposes of
+reading and of viewing distant objects, both terrestrial and celestial;
+and it is easy to prove from his writings that he was either the
+inventor or the improver of the telescope. He also gives descriptions
+of the camera obscura and of the burning-glass. He made, too, several
+chemical discoveries. In one place he speaks of an inextinguishable
+fire, which was probably a kind of phosphorus. In another he says that
+an artificial fire could be prepared with saltpetre and other
+ingredients which would burn at the greatest distance, and by means of
+which thunder and lightning could be imitated. He says that a portion of
+this mixture of the size of an inch, properly prepared, would destroy a
+whole army, and even a city, with a tremendous explosion accompanied by
+a brilliant light. In another place he says distinctly that thunder and
+lightning could be imitated by means of saltpetre, sulphur, and
+charcoal. As these are the ingredients of gunpowder, it is clear that he
+had an adequate idea of its composition and its power. He was intimately
+acquainted with geography and astronomy. He had discovered the errors of
+the calendar and their causes, and in his proposals for correcting them
+he approached very nearly to the truth. He made a corrected calendar, of
+which there is a copy in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. In moral
+philosophy, also, Roger Bacon has laid down some excellent precepts for
+the conduct of life.[4]
+
+"Now, if you had such a biography of such a man now, you would know that
+without much difficulty you could find all his more important
+observations in print. So soon as he thought them important, he would
+communicate them to some society which would gladly publish them. In the
+first place, he would be glad to have the credit of an improvement, an
+invention, or a discovery. If the invention were likely to be
+profitable, the nation would secure the profit to him if he fully
+revealed the process. They would give him, by a 'patent,' the right to
+the exclusive profit for a series of years. The nation thus puts an end
+to the old temptation to secrecy, or tries to do so.
+
+"But if you will read some of the queer passages from the old lives of
+Bacon, you will see how very vague were the notions which the people of
+his own time had of what he was doing."
+
+Then Hester read some passages which Colonel Ingham had marked for her.
+
+OF THE PARENTS AND BIRTH OF FRYER BACON, AND HOW HE ADDICTED HIMSELF TO
+LEARNING.
+
+In most men's opinions he was born in the West part of _England_ and was
+son to a wealthy Farmer, who put him to School to the Parson of the Town
+where he was born: not with intent that he should turn Fryer (as he
+did), but to get so much understanding, that he might manage the better
+that wealth he was to leave him. But young _Bacon_ took his learning so
+fast, that the Priest could not teach him any more, which made him
+desire his Master that he would speak to his father to put him to
+_Oxford_, that he might not lose that little learning that he had
+gained: his Master was very willing so to do: and one day, meeting his
+father, told him, that he had received a great blessing of God, in that
+he had given him so wise and hopeful a Child as his son _Roger Bacon_
+was (for so was he named) and wished him withal to doe his duty, and to
+bring up so his Child, that he might shew his thankfulness to God, which
+could not better be done than in making him a Scholar; for he found by
+his sudden taking of his learning, that he was a child likely to prove a
+very great Clerk: hereat old _Bacon_ was not well pleased (for he
+desired to bring him up to Plough and to the Cart, as he himself was
+brought) yet he for reverence sake to the Priest, shewed not his anger,
+but kindly thanked him for his paines and counsel, yet desired him not
+to speak any more concerning that matter, for he knew best what best
+pleased himself, and that he would do: so broke they off their talk and
+parted.
+
+So soon as the old man came home, he called to his son for his books,
+which when he had, he locked them up, and gave the Boy a Cart Whip in
+place of them, saying to him: "Boy, I will have you no Priest, you shall
+not be better learned than I, you can tell by the Almanack when it is
+best sowing Wheat, when Barley, Peas and Beans: and when the best
+libbing is, when to sell Grain and Cattle I will teach thee; for I have
+all Fairs and Markets as perfect in my memory, as Sir _John_, our
+Priest, has Mass without Book: take me this Whip, I will teach the use
+of it. It will be more profitable to thee than this harsh Latin: make no
+reply, but follow my counsel, or else by the Mass thou shalt feel the
+smart hand of my anger." Young _Bacon_ thought this but hard dealing,
+yet he would not reply, but within six or eight days he gave his Father
+the slip, and went to a Cloister some twenty miles off, where he was
+entertained, and so continued his Learning, and in small time came to be
+so famous, that he was sent for to the University of Oxford, where he
+long time studied, and grew so excellent in the secrets of Art and
+Nature, that not England only, but all Christendom, admired him.
+
+
+HOW FRYER BACON MADE A BRAZEN HEAD TO SPEAK, BY THE WHICH HE WOULD HAVE
+WALLED ENGLAND ABOUT WITH BRASS.
+
+Fryer _Bacon_, reading one day of the many conquests of England,
+bethought himself how he might keep it hereafter from the like
+conquests, and so make himself famous hereafter to all posterity. This
+(after great study) he found could be no way so well done as one; which
+was to make a head of Brass, and if he could make this head to speak
+(and hear it when it speaks) then might he be able to wall all England
+about with Brass. To this purpose he got one Fryer _Bungy_ to assist
+him, who was a great Scholar and a Magician, (but not to be compared to
+Fryer _Bacon_), these two with great study and pains so framed a head of
+Brass, that in the inward parts thereof there was all things like as in
+a natural man's head: this being done, they were as far from perfection
+of the work as they were before, for they knew not how to give those
+parts that they had made motion, without which it was impossible that it
+should speak: many books they read, but yet could not find out any hope
+of what they sought, that at the last they concluded to raise a spirit,
+and to know of him that which they could not attain to by their own
+studies. To do this they prepared all things ready and went one Evening
+to a wood thereby, and after many ceremonies used, they spake the words
+of conjuration, which the Devil straight obeyed and appeared unto them,
+asking what they would? "Know," said Fryer _Bacon_, "that we have made
+an artificial head of Brass, which we would have to speak, to the
+furtherance of which we have raised thee, and being raised, we will keep
+thee here, unless thou tell to us the way and manner how to make this
+Head to speak." The Devil told him that he had not that power of
+himself: "Beginner of lies," said Fryer _Bacon_, "I know that thou
+wouldst dissemble, and therefore tell it us quickly, or else we will
+here bind thee to remain during our pleasures." At these threatenings
+the Devil consented to do it, and told them, that with a continual fume
+of the six hottest simples it should have motion, and in one month space
+speak, the Time of the month or day he knew not: also he told them, that
+if they heard it not before it had done speaking, all their labour
+should be lost: they being satisfied, licensed the Spirit for to depart.
+
+Then went these two learned Fryers home again, and prepared the Simples
+ready, and made the fume, and with continual watching attended when this
+Brazen-head would speak: thus watched they for three weeks without any
+rest, so that they were so weary and sleepy, that they could not any
+longer refrain from rest: then called Fryer _Bacon_ his man _Miles_, and
+told him, that it was not unknown to him what pains Fryer _Bungy_ and
+himself had taken for three weeks space, only to make, and to hear the
+Brazen-head speak, which if they did not, then had they lost all their
+labour, and all England had a great loss thereby: therefore he entreated
+Miles that he would watch whilst that they slept, and call them if the
+Head speake. "Fear not, good Master," said Miles, "I will not sleep, but
+hearken and attend upon the head, and if it do chance to speak, I will
+call you: therefore I pray take you both your rests and let me alone for
+watching this head." After Fryer _Bacon_ had given him a great charge
+the second time, Fryer _Bungy_ and he went to sleep, and _Miles_, alone
+to watch the Brazen-head. _Miles_ to keep himself from sleeping, got a
+Tabor and Pipe, and being merry disposed sang him many a merry Song;
+and thus with his own Music and his Songs spent he his time, and kept
+from sleeping at last. After some noise the Head spake these two words:
+"_Time is_." Miles hearing it to speak no more, thought his Master would
+be angry if he waked him for that, and therefore he let them both sleep,
+and began to mock the Head in this manner: "Thou Brazen-faced Head, hath
+my Master took all this pains about thee, and now dost thou requite him
+with two words, _Time is_? had he watched with a Lawyer so long as he
+hath watched with thee, he would have given him more, and better words
+than thou hast yet. If thou canst speak no wiser, they shall sleep till
+doom's day for me. _Time is_: I know _Time is_, and that thou shall
+hear, good man Brazen face." And with this he sang him a song to his own
+music as to times and seasons, and went on, "Do you tell us,
+Copper-nose, when Time is? I hope we Scholars know our Times, when to
+drink drunk, when to kiss our hostess, when to go on her score, and when
+to pay it, that time comes seldom." After half an hour had passed, the
+Head did speak again, two words, which were these: "_Time was_." _Miles_
+respected these words as little as he did the former, and would not wake
+them, but still scoffed at the Brazen head, that it had learned no
+better words, and have such a Tutor as his Master: and in scorn of it
+sung a Song to the tune of "A Rich Merchant man," beginning as follows:
+
+  Time was when thou a kettle
+    Wert filled with better matter:
+  But Fryer _Bacon_ did thee spoil,
+    When he thy sides did batter,
+
+with more to the same purpose. "_Time was_," said he, "I know that,
+Brazen face, without your telling, I know Time was, and I know what
+things there was when Time was, and if you speak no wiser, no Master
+shall be waked for me." Thus _Miles_ talked and sung till another half
+hour was gone, then the Brazen head spake again these words, "_Time is
+past_:" and therewith fell down, and presently followed a terrible
+noise, with strange flashes of fire, so that _Miles_ was half dead with
+fear. At this noise the two Fryers awaked, and wondered to see the whole
+room so full of smoke, but that being vanished they might perceive the
+Brazen head broken and lying on the ground: at this sight they grieved,
+and called _Miles_ to know how this came. Miles half dead with fear,
+said that it fell down of itself, and that with the noise and fire that
+followed he was almost frighted out of his wits: Fryer _Bacon_ asked him
+if he did not speak? "Yes," quoth _Miles_, "it spake, but to no purpose.
+I'll have a Parrot speak better in that time than you have been teaching
+this Brazen head." "Out on thee, villain," said Fryer _Bacon_, "thou
+hast undone us both, hadst thou but called us when it did speak, all
+England had been walled round about with Brass, to its glory, and our
+eternal fames: what were the words it spake?" "Very few," said _Miles_,
+"and those none of the wisest that I have heard neither: first he said,
+'_Time is_.'" "Hadst thou called us then," said Fryer _Bacon_, "we had
+been made for ever." "Then," said _Miles_, "half an hour after it spake
+again and said '_Time was_.'" "And wouldst thou not call us then?" said
+_Bungy_. "Alas!" said _Miles_, "I thought he would have told me some
+long Tale, and then I purposed to have called you: then half an hour
+after, he cried '_Time is past_,' and made such a noise, that he hath
+waked you himself, methinks." At this Fryer _Bacon_ was in such a rage,
+that he would have beaten his man, but he was restrained by _Bungy_:
+but nevertheless for his punishment, he with his Art struck him dumb for
+one whole month's space. Thus that great work of these learned Fryers
+was overthrown (to their great griefs) by this simple fellow.
+
+
+HOW FRYER BACON BY HIS ART TOOK A TOWN, WHEN THE KING HAD LAIN BEFORE IT
+THREE MONTHS, WITHOUT DOING IT ANY HURT.
+
+In those times when Fryer _Bacon_ did all his strange tricks, the Kings
+of _England_ had a great part of _France_ which they held a long time,
+till civil wars at home in this Land made them to lose it. It did chance
+that the King of England (for some cause best known to himself) went
+into _France_ with a great Army, where after many victories, he did
+besiege a strong Town, and lay before it full three months, without
+doing to the Town any great damage, but rather received the hurt
+himself. This did so vex the King, that he sought to take it in any way,
+either by policy or strength: to this intent he made Proclamation, that
+whosoever could deliver this Town into his hand, he should have for his
+pains ten thousand Crowns truly paid. This was proclaimed, but there was
+none found that would undertake it: at length the news did come into
+_England_ of this great reward that was promised. Fryer _Bacon_ hearing
+of it, went into _France_, and being admitted to the King's presence, he
+thus spake unto him: "Your Majesty I am sure hath not forgot your poor
+servant _Bacon_, the love that you showed to me being last in your
+presence, hath drawn me for to leave my Country and my Studies, to do
+your Majesty service: I beseech your Grace, to command me so far as my
+poor Art or life may do you pleasure." The King thanked him for his
+love, but told him that he had now more need of Arms than Art, and
+wanted brave Soldiers rather than learned Scholars. Fryer _Bacon_
+answered, "Your Grace saith well; but let me (under correction) tell
+you, that Art oftentimes doth these things that are impossible to Arms,
+which I will make good in few examples. I will speak only of things
+performed by Art and Nature, wherein there shall be nothing Magical: and
+first by the figuration of Art, there may be made Instruments of
+Navigation without men to row in them, as great ships, to brook the Sea,
+only with one man to steer them, and they shall sail far more swiftly
+than if they were full of men: Also Chariots that shall move with an
+unspeakable force, without any living creature to stir them. Likewise,
+an Instrument may be made to fly withal, if one sit in the midst of the
+Instrument, and do turn an engine, by which the wings being Artificially
+composed, may beat air after the manner of a flying Bird. By an
+Instrument of three fingers high, and three fingers broad, a man may rid
+himself and others from all Imprisonment: yea, such an Instrument may
+easily be made, whereby a man may violently draw unto him a thousand
+men, will they, nill they, or any other thing. By Art also an Instrument
+may be made, wherewith men may walk in the bottom of the Sea or Rivers
+without bodily danger: this _Alexander_ the Great used (as the Ethnic
+philosopher reporteth) to the end he might behold the Secrets of the
+Seas. But Physical Figurations are far more strange: for by that may be
+framed Perspects and Looking-glasses, that one thing shall appear to be
+many, as one man shall appear to be a whole Army, and one Sun or Moon
+shall seem divers. Also perspects may be so framed, that things far off
+shall seem most nigh unto us: with one of these did _Julius Cæsar_ from
+the Sea coasts in _France_ marke and observe the situation of the
+Castles in _England_. Bodies may also be so framed, that the greatest
+things shall appear to be the least, the highest lowest, the most secret
+to be the most manifest, and in such like sort the contrary. Thus did
+_Socrates_ perceive, that the Dragon which did destroy the City and
+Country adjoining with his noisome breath, and contagious influence, did
+lurk in the dens between the Mountains: and thus may all things that are
+done in Cities or Armies be discovered by the enemies. Again, in such
+wise may bodies be framed, that venemous and infectious influences may
+be brought whither a man will: In this did _Aristotle_ instruct
+_Alexander_; through which instruction the poyson of a Basiliske, being
+lifted up upon the wall of a City, the poyson was conveyed into the
+City, to the destruction thereof: Also perspects may be made to deceive
+the sight, as to make a man believe that he seeth great store of riches
+when there is not any. But it appertaineth to a higher power of
+Figuration, that beams should be brought and assembled by divers
+flections and reflections in any distance that we will, to burne
+anything that is opposite unto it, as is witnessed by those Perspects or
+Glasses that burn before and behind. But the greatest and chiefest of
+all figurations and things figured, is to describe the heavenly bodies,
+according to their length and breadth in a corporal figure, wherein they
+may corporally move with a daily motion. These things are worth a
+kingdom to a wise man. These may suffise, my royal Lord, to shew what
+Art can do: and these, with many things more, as strange, I am able by
+Art to perform. Then take no thought for winning this Town, for by my
+Art you shall (ere many days be past) have your desire."
+
+The King all this while heard him with admiration: but hearing him now,
+that he would undertake to win the Town, he burst out in these speeches:
+"Most learned _Bacon_, do but what thou hast said, and I will give thee
+what thou most desirest, either wealth or honour, choose what thou wilt,
+and I will be as ready to perform, as I have been to promise."
+
+"Your Majesty's love is all that I seek," said the Fryer, "let me have
+that, and I have honour enough, for wealth, I have content, the wise
+should seek no more: but to the purpose. Let your Pioneers raise up a
+mount so high, (or rather higher), than the wall, and then you shall see
+some probability of that which I have promised."
+
+This Mount in two days was raised: then Fryer _Bacon_ went with the King
+to the Top of it, and did with a perspect shew to him the Town, as
+plainly as if he had been in it: at this the King did wonder, but Fryer
+_Bacon_ told him, that he should wonder more, ere next day noon: against
+which Time, he desired him to have his whole Army in readiness, for to
+scale the wall upon a signal given by him, from the Mount. This the King
+promised to do, and so returned to his Tent full of Joy, that he should
+gain this strong Town. In the morning Fryer _Bacon_ went up to the Mount
+and set his Glasses, and other Instruments up: in the meantime the King
+ordered his Army, and stood in a readiness for to give the assaults:
+when the signal was given which was the waving of a flag. Ere nine of
+the clock Fryer _Bacon_ had burnt the State-house of the Town, with
+other houses only by his Mathematical Glasses, which made the whole Town
+in an uproar, for none did know how it came: whilst that they were
+quenching of the same, Fryer _Bacon_ did wave his flag: upon which
+signal given, the King set upon the Town, and took it with little or no
+resistance. Thus through the Art of this learned man the King got this
+strong Town, which he could not do with all his men without Fryer
+_Bacon's_ help.
+
+
+HOW FRYER BACON BURNT HIS BOOKS OF MAGIC AND GAVE HIMSELF TO THE STUDY
+OF DIVINITY ONLY; AND HOW HE TURNED ANCHORITE.
+
+Now in a time when Fryer _Bacon_ kept his Chamber (having some great
+grief) he fell into divers meditations: sometimes into the vanity of
+Arts and Sciences: then would he condemn himself for studying of those
+things that were so contrary to his Order and Soul's health; and would
+say that Magic made a Man a Devil; sometimes would he meditate on
+Divinity; then would he cry out upon himself for neglecting the study of
+it, and for studying Magic: sometime would he meditate on the shortness
+of man's life, then would he condemn himself for spending a time so
+short, so ill as he had done his: so would he go from one thing to
+another and in all condemn his former studies.
+
+And that the world should know how truly he did repent his wicked life,
+he caused to be made a great fire; and sending for many of his Friends,
+Scholars, and others, he spake to them after this manner: "My good
+Friends and fellow Students, it is not unknown unto you, how that
+through my Art I have attained to that credit, that few men living ever
+had. Of the wonders that I have done, all England can speak, both King
+and Commons: I have unlocked the secret of Art and Nature, and let the
+world see those things, that have layen hid since the death of Hermes,
+that rare and profound Philosopher: My Studies have found the secrets of
+the Stars; the Books that I have made of them, do serve for Precedents
+to our greatest Doctors, so excellent hath my Judgement been therein. I
+likewise have found out the secrets of Trees, Plants and Stones, with
+their several uses; yet all this knowledge of mine I esteem so lightly,
+that I wish that I were ignorant, and knew nothing: for the knowledge of
+these things, (as I have truly found) serveth not to better a man in
+goodness, but only to make him proud and think too well of himself. What
+hath all my knowledge of nature's secrets gained me? Only this, the loss
+of a better knowledge, the loss of divine Studies, which makes the
+immortal part of man (his Soul) blessed. I have found, that my knowledge
+has been a heavy burden, and has kept down my good thoughts: but I will
+remove the cause which are these Books: which I do purpose here before
+you all to burn." They all intreated him to spare the Books, because in
+them there were those things that after-ages might receive great benefit
+by. He would not hearken unto them but threw them all into the fire, and
+in that flame burnt the greatest learning in the world. Then did he
+dispose of all his goods; some part he gave to poor Scholars, and some
+he gave to other poor folks: nothing he left for himself: then caused he
+to be made in the Church-wall a Cell, where he locked himself in, and
+there remained till his death. His time he spent in Prayer, Meditation
+and such Divine Exercises, and did seek by all means to persuade men
+from the study of Magic. Thus lived he some two years space in that
+Cell, never coming forth: his meat and drink he received in at a window,
+and at that window he did discourse with those that came to him; His
+grave he digged with his own nails, and was laid there when he dyed.
+Thus was the Life and Death of this famous Fryer, who lived the most
+part of his life a Magician, and died a true penitent sinner and an
+Anchorite.
+
+When Hester had finished reading, one of the boys said that if people
+believed such things as that, he thought the wonder was that they made
+any progress at all. Uncle Fritz said that in matters which make up what
+we call science, they did not make much progress. The arts of the world
+do not seem to have advanced much between the days of Solomon and those
+of William the Conqueror.
+
+"As you see," said Uncle Fritz, "an inventor was set down as a magician.
+I think you can remember more instances."
+
+Yes. Almost all the young people remember that in Marco Polo's day there
+was a distinguished Venetian engineer with the armies of Genghis Khan,
+whose wonderful successes gave rise, perhaps, to the story of
+Aladdin.[5] The scene of his successes was Pekin; and it is to be
+remembered that the story of Aladdin is not properly one of the Arabian
+Nights, and that the scene is laid in China.
+
+This led them to trying to match the wonders of Aladdin and of the
+Arabian Nights by the wonders of modern invention; and they pleased
+themselves by thinking of marvels they could show to unlearned nations
+if they had the resources of Mr. Edison's laboratory.
+
+"Aladdin rubbed his lamp," said Blanche. "You see, the lamp was his
+electrical machine; and when he rubbed it, the lightnings went flying
+hither and thither, and said, 'Here we are.'"
+
+"That is all very fine," said Jack Withers; "but I stand by the Arabian
+Nights, after all, and I think I shall, till Mr. Edison or the Taunton
+locomotive shop will make for me some high-stepper on whose back I may
+rise above the clouds, pass over the length and breadth of
+Massachusetts, descend in the garden where Blanche is confined by the
+hated mistress of a boarding-school in Walpole, and then, winning her
+ready consent, can mount again with her, and before morning descend in
+the garden of a beautiful cottage at Newport. We will spend six weeks in
+playing tennis in the daytime, dancing in the Casino in the evenings,
+and in sailing in Frank Shattuck's yacht between whiles. Then, and not
+till then, would I admit that the Arabian Nights have been outdone by
+modern science."
+
+They all laughed at Jack's extravaganza, which is of a kind to which
+they are beginning to be accustomed. But Mabel stuck to her text, and
+said seriously, that Uncle Fred had said that what people now called
+science sprung from the workshops of these very magicians. "The
+magicians then had all the science there was. And if magic had not got a
+bad name, should we not call the men of science magicians now?"
+
+Uncle Fritz said yes to all her questions, but he said that they did not
+cover the whole matter. The difference between a magician and a man of
+science involves these habits: the magician keeps secret what he knows,
+while the man of science discloses all he learns. Then the magician
+affected to have spiritual power at command, while the man of science
+only affects to use what he calls physical powers. Till either of them
+tell us how to distinguish spiritual forces from physical forces, the
+second distinction is of the less importance. But the other has made all
+the difference in the world between the poor magic-men and the
+science-men. For, as they had seen with Friar Bacon, the magic-men have
+had their stories told by most ignorant people, seeing they did not
+generally leave any records behind them; but the men of modern science,
+having chosen to tell their own stories, have had them told, on the
+whole, reasonably well, though generally stupidly.
+
+"What a pity we have not Solomon's books of science!" said John Tolman.
+
+"It is one of the greatest of pities that such books as those were not
+kept. It seems as if people would have built on such foundations, and
+that Science would have marched from step to step, instead of beginning
+over and over again. But we do have Pliny's Natural History, as he chose
+to call it. Far from building on that as a foundation, the Dark Ages
+simply accepted it. And there are blunders or sheer lies in that book,
+and in Aristotle's books, and Theophrastus's, and other such, which have
+survived even to our day."
+
+The children were peeping into the collection from which the Friar Bacon
+stories had been read, and they lighted on these scraps about the
+supposed life of Virgil. To the people of the Dark Ages Virgil was much
+more a man of magic than a poet.
+
+
+HOW VIRGILIUS WAS SET TO SCHOOL.
+
+As Virgilius was born, then the town of Rome quaked and trembled: and in
+his youth he was wise and subtle, and was put to school at Tolentin,
+where he studied diligently, for he was of great understanding. Upon a
+time the scholars had licence to go to play and sport them in the fields
+after the usance of the old time; and there was also Virgilius thereby
+also walking among the hills all about: it fortuned he spied a great
+hole in the side of a great hill wherein he went so deep that he could
+not see no more light, and then he went a little further therein, and
+then he saw some light again, and then went he forth straight: and
+within a little while after, he heard a voice that called, "Virgilius,
+Virgilius;" and he looked about, and he could not see no body; then
+Virgilius spake and asked, "Who calleth me?" Then heard he the voice
+again, but he saw nobody: then said he, "Virgilius, see ye not that
+little board lying beside you there, marked with that word?" Then
+answered Virgilius, "I see that board well enough." The voice said, "Do
+away that board, and let me out thereat." Then answered Virgilius to the
+voice that was under the little board, and said, "Who art thou that
+talkest me so!" Then answered the devil: "I am a devil, conjured out of
+the body of a certain man, and banished till the day of judgement,
+without I be delivered by the hands of men. Thus, Virgilius, I pray you
+to deliver me out of this pain, and I shall shew unto thee many books of
+necromancy, and how thou shalt come by it lightly and know the practise
+therein, that no man in the science of necromancy shall pass thee; and
+moreover I shall shew and inform you so that thou shalt have all thy
+desire, whereby methinks it is a great gift for so little a doing, for
+ye may also thus all your friends helpen, and make your enemies
+unmighty." Through that great promise was Virgil tempted; he had the
+fiend shew the books to him that he might have and occupy them at his
+will. And so the fiend shewed him, and then Virgilius pulled open a
+board, and there was a little hole, and thereat crawled the devil out
+like an eel, and came and stood before Virgilius like a big man; thereat
+Virgilius was astonished and marvelled greatly thereof that so great a
+man might come out at so little a hole; then said Virgilius, "should ye
+well pass into the hole that ye came out of?" "Yea, I shall well," said
+the devil.--"I hold the best pledge that I have, ye shall not do it."
+"Well," said the devil, "thereto I consent." And then the devil crawled
+into the little hole again, and as he was therein, Virgilius covered the
+hole again, and so was the devil beguiled, and might not there come out
+again, but there abideth still therein. Then called the devil dreadfully
+to Virgilius and said, "What have ye done?" Virgilius answered, "Abide
+there still to your day appointed." And from thenceforth abideth he
+there. And so Virgilius became very cunning in the practise of the black
+science.
+
+
+HOWE THE EMPEROR ASKED COUNSEL OF VIRGILIUS, HOW THE NIGHT RUNNERS AND
+ILL DOERS MIGHT BE RID-OUT OF THE STREETS.
+
+The emperor had many complaints of the night runners and thieves, and
+also of the great murdering of people in the night, in so much that the
+emperor asked counsel of Virgilius, and said: "That he hath great
+complaints of the thieves that runneth by night for they kill many men;
+what counsel, Virgilius, is best to be done?" Then answered Virgilius to
+the emperor, "Ye shall make a horse of copper and a copper man upon his
+back, having in his hands a flail of iron, and that horse, ye shall so
+bring afore the towne house, and ye shall let cry that a man from
+henceforth at ten of the clock should ring a bell, and he that after the
+bell was rung in the streets should be slain, no work thereof should be
+done." And when this cry was made the ruffians set not a point, but kept
+the streets as they did afore and would not let therefor; and as soon as
+the bell was rung at ten of the clock, then leaped the horse of copper
+with the copper man through the streets of Rome, insomuch that he left
+not one street in Rome unsought; and as soon as he found any man or
+woman in the street he slew them stalk dead, insomuch that he slew above
+two hundred persons or more. And this seeing, the thieves and
+night-runners how they might find a remedy therefor, thought in their
+minds to make a drag with a ladder thereon; and as they would go out by
+night they took their ladders with them, and when they heard the horse
+come, then cast they the drag upon the houses, and so went up upon their
+ladders to the top of the houses, so that the copper man might not touch
+them; and so abide they still in their wicked doing. Then came they
+again to the emperor and complained, and then the emperor asked counsel
+of Virgilius; and Virgilius answered and said, "that then he must get
+two copper hounds and set them of either side of the copper horse, and
+let cry again that no body after the bell is rung should depart out of
+their house that would live." But the night walkers cared not a point
+for that cry; but when they heard the horse coming, with their ladders
+climbed upon the houses, but the dogs leaped after and tore them all in
+pieces; and thus the noise went through Rome, in so much that nobody
+durst in the night go in the street, and thus all the night-walkers were
+destroyed.
+
+
+HOW VIRGILIUS MADE A LAMP THAT AT ALL TIMES BURNED.
+
+For profit of the common people, Virgilius on a great mighty marble
+pillar, did make a bridge that came up to the palace, and so went
+Virgilius well up the pillar out of the palace; that palace and pillar
+stood in the midst of Rome; and upon this pillar made he a lamp of
+glass that always burned without going out, and nobody might put it out;
+and this lamp lightened over all the city of Rome from the one corner to
+the other, and there was not so little a street but it gave such light
+that it seemed two torches there had stand; and upon the walls of the
+palace made he a metal man that held in his hand a metal bow that
+pointed ever upon the lamp for to shoot it out; but always burned the
+lamp and gave light over all Rome. And upon a time went the burgesses'
+daughters to play in the palace and beheld the metal man; and one of
+them asked in sport, why he shot not? And then she came to the man and
+with her hand touched the bow, and then the bolt flew out, and brake the
+lamp that Virgilius made; and it was wonder that the maiden went not out
+of her mind for the great fear she had, and also the other burgesses'
+daughters that were in her company, of the great stroke that it gave
+when it hit the lamp, and when they saw the metal man so swiftly run his
+way; and never after was he no more seen; and this foresaid lamp was
+abiding burning after the death of Virgilius by the space of three
+hundred years or more.
+
+
+It is on the wrecks and ruins recorded in such fables as these that
+modern science is builded.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+BENVENUTO CELLINI.
+
+
+"Now we will leave the fairy tales," said Uncle Fritz, "and begin on
+modern times."
+
+"Modern times means since 1492," said Alice,--"the only date in history
+I am quite sure of, excepting 1866."
+
+"Eighteen-hundred and sixty-six," said John Goodrich,--"the _Annus
+Mirabilis_, celebrated for the birth of Miss Alice Francis and Mr. J.
+G."
+
+"Hush, hush! Uncle Fritz wants to say something."
+
+"We will leave the fairy tales," said poor chicken-pecked Uncle Fritz,
+"and begin with Benvenuto Cellini. Who has seen any of his work?"
+
+Several of the girls who had been in Europe remembered seeing gold and
+silver work of Benvenuto Cellini's in the museums. Uncle Fritz told them
+that the little hand-bell used on his own tea-table was modelled at
+Chicopee, in Massachusetts, from a bell which was the design of
+Benvenuto Cellini; and he sent for the bell that the children might see
+how ingenious was the ornamentation, and how simply the different
+designs were connected together.
+
+He told Alice she might read first from Vasari's account of him.
+Vasari's book, which the children now saw for the first time, is a very
+entertaining one. Vasari was himself an artist, of the generation just
+following Michael Angelo. He was, indeed, the contemporary of Raphael.
+But he is remembered now, not for his pictures, nor for his work in
+architecture, both of which were noted in his time, but for his lives of
+the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects, which was first
+published in 1550. Benvenuto Cellini was born ten years before Vasari,
+and here is a part of Vasari's life of him.
+
+
+LIFE OF BENVENUTO CELLINI.
+
+Benvenuto Cellini, citizen of Florence, born in 1500, at present a
+sculptor, in his youth cultivated the goldsmith's business, and had no
+equal in that branch. He set jewels, and adorned them with diminutive
+figures, exquisitely formed, and some of them so curious and fanciful
+that nothing finer or more beautiful can be conceived. At Rome he made
+for Pope Clement VII. a button to be worn upon his pontifical habit,
+fixing a diamond to it with the most exquisite art. He was employed to
+make the stamps for the Roman mint, and there never have been seen finer
+coins than those that were struck in Rome at that period.
+
+After the death of Pope Clement, Benvenuto returned to Florence, where
+he made stamps with the head of Duke Alessandro, for the mint,
+wonderfully beautiful. Benvenuto, having at last devoted himself to
+sculpture and casting statues, made in France many works, while he was
+employed at the Court of King Francis I. He afterwards came back to his
+native country, where he executed in metal the statue of Perseus, who
+cut off Medusa's head. This work was brought to perfection with the
+greatest art and diligence imaginable.
+
+Though I might here enlarge on the productions of Benvenuto, who always
+shewed himself a man of great spirit and vivacity, bold, active,
+enterprising, and formidable to his enemies,--a man, in short, who knew
+as well how to speak to princes as to exert himself in his art,--I shall
+add nothing further, since he has written an account of his life and
+works, and a treatise on goldsmith's work as well as on casting statues
+and many other subjects, with more art and eloquence than it is possible
+for me to imitate. I shall therefore content myself with this account of
+his chief performances.
+
+
+Benvenuto was quite proud of his own abilities as a writer. Very
+fortunately for us he has left his own memoirs. Here is the
+introduction.
+
+
+BENVENUTO'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
+
+"It is a duty incumbent on upright and credible men of all ranks, who
+have performed anything noble or praiseworthy, to record, in their own
+writing, the events of their lives; yet they should not commence this
+honorable task before they have passed their fortieth year. Such at
+least is my opinion, now that I have completed my fifty-eighth year, and
+am settled in Florence.
+
+"Looking back on some delightful and happy events of my life, and on
+many misfortunes so truly overwhelming that the appalling retrospect
+makes me wonder how I reached this age, in vigor and prosperity, through
+God's goodness, I have resolved to publish an account of my life.
+
+"My grandfather, Andrea Cellini, was still living when I was about
+three years of age, and he was then above a hundred. As they were one
+day removing a water-pipe, a large scorpion, which they had not
+perceived, came out of it. The scorpion descended upon the ground and
+had got under a great bench, when I, seeing it, ran and caught it in my
+hand. This scorpion was of such a size that whilst I held it in my
+little hand, it put out its tail on one side, and on the other darted
+its two mouths. I ran overjoyed to my grandfather, crying out,
+'Grandfather, look at my pretty little crab!' The good old man, who knew
+it to be a scorpion, was so frightened, and so apprehensive for my
+safety, that he seemed ready to drop down dead, and begged me with great
+eagerness to give the creature to him; but I grasped it the harder and
+cried, for I did not choose to part with it. My father, who was in the
+house, ran to us upon hearing the noise, and, happening just at that
+instant to espy a pair of scissors, he laid hold of them, and, by
+caressing and playing with me, he contrived to cut off the head and tail
+of the scorpion. Then, finding I had received no harm from the venomous
+reptile, he pronounced it a happy omen."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+His father taught him to play upon the flute, and wished him to devote
+himself to music; but his own inclinations were different.
+
+"Having attained the age of fifteen, I engaged myself, against my
+father's inclinations, with a goldsmith named Antonio di Sandro, an
+excellent artist and a very worthy man. My father would not have him
+allow me any wages; for this reason, that since I voluntarily applied
+myself to this art, I might have an opportunity to withdraw whenever I
+thought proper. So great was my inclination to improve, that in a few
+months I rivalled the most skilful journeyman in the business, and began
+to reap some fruits from my labor. I continued, however, to play
+sometimes, through complaisance to my father, either upon the flute or
+the horn; and I constantly drew tears and deep sighs from him every time
+he heard me. From a feeling of filial piety, I often gave him that
+satisfaction, endeavoring to persuade him that it gave me also
+particular pleasure.
+
+"Once when I was staying at Pisa, my father wrote to me in every letter
+exhorting me not to neglect my flute, in which he had taken so much
+pains to instruct me. Upon this, I entirely lost all inclination to
+return to him; and to such a degree did I hate that abominable flute,
+that I thought myself in a sort of paradise in Pisa, where I never once
+played upon that instrument."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the age of twenty-three (in 1523), Cellini went to Rome, where he did
+much work for the Pope, Clement VII.
+
+"About this time so dreadful an epidemic disease prevailed in Rome, that
+several thousands died every day. Somewhat terrified at this calamity, I
+began to indulge myself in certain recreations, as the fancy took me. On
+holidays I amused myself with visiting the antiquities of that city, and
+sometimes took their figures in wax; at other times, I made drawings of
+them. As these antiquities are all ruinous edifices, where a number of
+pigeons build their nests, I had a mind to divert myself among them with
+my fowling-piece, and often returned home laden with pigeons of the
+largest size. But I never chose to put more than a single ball into my
+piece, and in this manner, being a good marksman, I procured a
+considerable quantity of game. The fowling-piece was, both on the inside
+and the outside, as bright as a looking-glass. I likewise made the
+powder as fine as the minutest dust, and in the use of it I discovered
+some of the most admirable secrets that ever were known till this time.
+When I had charged my piece with a quantity of powder equal in weight to
+the fifth part of the ball, it carried two hundred paces, point blank.
+
+"While I was enjoying these pleasures, my spirits suddenly revived. I no
+longer had my usual gloom, and I worked to more purpose than when my
+attention was wholly engrossed by business; on the whole, my gun turned
+rather to my advantage than the contrary.
+
+"All Italy was now up in arms, and the Constable Bourbon, finding there
+were no troops in Rome, eagerly advanced with his army towards that
+capital. Upon the news of his approach, all the inhabitants took up
+arms. I engaged fifty brave young men to serve under me, and we were
+well paid and kindly treated.
+
+"The army of the Duke of Bourbon having already appeared before the
+walls of Rome, Alessandro del Bene requested that I would go with him to
+oppose the enemy. I complied, and, taking one of the stoutest youths
+with us,--we were afterwards joined by another,--we came up to the walls
+of Campo Santo, and there descried that great army which was employing
+every effort to enter the town at that part of the wall to which we had
+approached. Many young men were slain without the walls, where they
+fought with the utmost fury; there was a remarkably thick mist.
+
+"Levelling my arquebuse where I saw the thickest crowd of the enemy, I
+discharged it with a deliberate aim at a person who seemed to be lifted
+above the rest; but the mist prevented me from distinguishing whether he
+were on horseback or on foot. I then cautiously approached the walls,
+and perceived that there was an extraordinary confusion among the
+assailants, occasioned by our having shot the Duke of Bourbon; he was,
+as I understood afterwards, that chief personage whom I saw raised above
+the rest."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Pope was induced by an enemy of Benvenuto, the Cardinal Salviati, to
+send for a rival goldsmith, Tobbia, to come to Rome. On his arrival both
+were summoned into the Pope's presence.
+
+"He then commanded each of us to draw a design for setting a unicorn's
+horn, the most beautiful that ever was seen, which had cost 17,000
+ducats. As the Pope proposed making a present of it to King Francis, he
+chose to have it first richly adorned with gold; so he employed us to
+draw the designs. When we had finished them we carried them to the Pope.
+Tobbia's design was in the form of a candlestick; the horn was to enter
+it like a candle, and at the bottom of the candlestick he had
+represented four little unicorns' heads,--a most simple invention. As
+soon as I saw it, I could not contain myself so as to avoid smiling at
+the oddity of the conceit. The Pope, perceiving this, said, 'Let me see
+that design of yours.' It was the single head of a unicorn, fitted to
+receive the horn. I had made the most beautiful sort of head
+conceivable, for I drew it partly in the form of a horse's head, and
+partly in that of a hart's, adorned with the finest sort of wreaths and
+other devices; so that no sooner was my design seen but the whole Court
+gave it the preference."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Benvenuto continued to make many beautiful things for Pope Clement VII.
+up to the time of his death. That Pope was succeeded in the papal chair
+by Cardinal Farnese (Paul III.), on the 13th of October, 1534.
+
+"I had formed a resolution to set out for France, as well because I
+perceived that the Pope's favor was withdrawn from me by means of
+slanderers who misrepresented my services, as for fear that those of my
+enemies who had most influence might still do me some greater injury.
+For these reasons I was desirous to remove to some other country, and
+see whether fortune would there prove more favorable to me. Leaving
+Rome, I bent my course to Florence, whence I travelled on to Bologna,
+Venice, and Padua."
+
+He reached Paris, with two workmen whom he took with him from Rome,
+"without meeting any ill accident, and travelling on in uninterrupted
+mirth." But being dissatisfied with his reception there, he returned
+instantly to Rome, where his fears were realized; for he was arrested by
+order of the Pope, and made a prisoner in the Castle of St. Angelo.
+
+"This was the first time I ever knew the inside of a prison, and I was
+then in my thirty-seventh year. The constable of the Castle of St.
+Angelo was a countryman of mine, a Florentine, named Signor Giorgio
+Ugolini. This worthy gentleman behaved to me with the greatest
+politeness, permitting me to walk freely about the castle on my parole
+of honor, and for no other reason but because he saw the severity and
+injustice of my treatment.
+
+"Finding I had been treated with so much rigor in the affair, I began to
+think seriously about my escape. I got my servants to bring me new thick
+sheets, and did not send back the dirty ones. Upon their asking me for
+them, I answered that I had given them away to some of the poor
+soldiers. I pulled all the straw out of the tick of my bed, and burned
+it; for I had a chimney in the room where I lay. I then cut those sheets
+into a number of slips each about one third of a cubit in width; and
+when I thought I had made a sufficient quantity to reach from the top to
+the bottom of the lofty tower of the Castle of St. Angelo, I told my
+servants that I had given away as much of my linen as I thought proper,
+and desired they would take care to bring me clean sheets, adding that I
+would constantly return the dirty ones.
+
+"The constable of the castle had annually a certain disorder which
+totally deprived him of his senses; and when the fit came upon him, he
+was talkative to excess. Every year he had some different whim: one time
+he fancied himself metamorphosed into a pitcher of oil; another time he
+thought himself a frog, and began to leap as such; another time he
+imagined he was dead, and it was found necessary to humor his conceit by
+making a show of burying him; thus he had every year some new frenzy.
+This year he fancied himself a bat, and when he went to take a walk, he
+sometimes made just such a noise as bats do; he likewise used gestures
+with his hands and body, as if he were going to fly. His physicians and
+his old servants, who knew his disorder, procured him all the pleasures
+and amusements they could think of, and as they found he delighted
+greatly in my conversation, they frequently came to me to conduct me to
+his apartment, where the poor man often detained me three or four hours
+chatting with him.
+
+"He asked me whether I had ever had a fancy to fly. I answered that I
+had always been very ready to attempt such things as men found most
+difficult; and that with regard to flying, as God had given me a body
+admirably well calculated for running, I had even resolution enough to
+attempt to fly. He then proposed to me to explain how I could contrive
+it. I replied that when I attentively considered the several creatures
+that fly, and thought of effecting by art what they do by the force of
+nature, I did not find one so fit to imitate as the bat. As soon as the
+poor man heard mention made of a bat, he cried out aloud, 'It is very
+true! a bat is the thing.' He then addressed himself to me, and said,
+'Benvenuto, if you had the opportunity, would you have the heart to make
+an attempt to fly?' I answered that if he would give me leave, I had
+courage enough to attempt to fly by means of a pair of wings waxed over.
+He said thereupon, 'I should like to see you fly; but as the Pope has
+enjoined me to watch over you with the utmost care, I am resolved to
+keep you locked up with a hundred keys, that you may not slip out of my
+hands.' I said, before all present, 'Confine me as close as you please,
+I will contrive to make my escape, notwithstanding.'"
+
+At night, with a pair of pincers which he had secured, he removed the
+nails which fastened the plates of iron fixed upon the door, imitating
+with wax the heads of the nails he took out, so that their absence need
+not be seen.
+
+"One holiday evening, the constable being very much disordered, he
+scarce said anything else but that he was become a bat, and desired his
+people that if Benvenuto should happen to escape, they should take no
+notice of it, for he must soon catch me, as he should doubtless be
+better able to fly by night than I; adding, 'Benvenuto is only a
+counterfeit bat, but I am a bat in real earnest.'
+
+"As I had formed a resolution to attempt my escape that night, I began
+by praying fervently to Almighty God that it would please him to assist
+me in the enterprise. Two hours before daybreak, I took the iron plates
+from the door with great trouble. I at last forced the door, and having
+taken with me my slips of linen, which I had rolled up in bundles with
+the utmost care, I went out and got upon the right side of the tower,
+and leaped upon two tiles of the roof with the greatest ease. I was in a
+white doublet, and had on a pair of white half-hose, over which I wore a
+pair of little light boots, that reached half-way up my legs, and in one
+of these I put my dagger. I then took the end of one of my bundles of
+long slips, which I had made out of the sheets of my bed, and fastened
+it to one of the tiles of the roof that happened to jut out. Then
+letting myself down gently, the whole weight of my body being sustained
+by my arm, I reached the ground. It was not a moonlight night, but the
+stars shone with resplendent lustre. When I had touched the ground, I
+first contemplated the great height which I had descended with so much
+courage, and then walked away in high joy, thinking I had recovered my
+liberty. But I soon found myself mistaken, for the constable had caused
+two pretty high walls to be erected on that side. I managed to fix a
+long pole against the first wall, and by the strength of my arms to
+climb to the top of it. I then fastened my other string of slips, and
+descended down the steep wall.
+
+"There was still another one; and in letting myself down, being unable
+to hold out any longer, I fell, and, striking my head, became quite
+insensible. I continued in that state about an hour and a half, as
+nearly as I can guess. The day beginning to break, the cool breeze that
+precedes the rising of the sun brought me to my senses; but I conceived
+a strange notion that I had been beheaded, and was then in purgatory. I
+recovered by degrees my strength and powers, and, perceiving that I had
+got out of the castle, I soon recollected all that had befallen me. Upon
+attempting to rise from the ground, I found that my right leg was
+broken, three inches above the heel, which threw me into a terrible
+consternation. Cutting with my dagger the part of my string of slips I
+had left, I bandaged my leg as well as I could. I then crept on my hands
+and knees towards the gate with my dagger in my hand, and effected my
+egress. It was about five hundred paces from the place where I had had
+my fall to the gate by which I entered the city. It was then broad
+daylight. As I happened to meet with a water-carrier, who had loaded his
+ass, and filled his vessels with water, I called to him, and begged he
+would put me upon the beast's back, and carry me to the landing-place of
+the steps of St. Peter's Church. I offered to give him a gold crown,
+and, so saying, I clapped my hand upon my purse, which was very well
+lined. The honest waterman instantly took me upon his back, and carried
+me to the steps before St. Peter's Church, where I desired him to leave
+me and run back to his ass.
+
+"Whilst I was crawling along upon all four, one of the servants of
+Cardinal Cornaro knew me, and, running immediately to his master's
+apartment, awakened him out of his sleep, saying to him, 'My most
+reverend Lord, here is your jeweller, Benvenuto, who has made his escape
+out of the castle, and is crawling along upon all four, quite besmeared
+with blood.' The cardinal, the moment he heard this, said to his
+servants, 'Run, and bring him hither to my apartment upon your backs.'
+When I came into his presence the good cardinal bade me fear nothing,
+and immediately sent for an excellent surgeon, who set the bone,
+bandaged my leg, and bled me. The cardinal then caused me to be put into
+a private apartment, and went directly to the Vatican, in order to
+intercede in my behalf with the Pope.
+
+"Meanwhile the report of my escape made a great noise all over Rome; for
+the long string of sheeting fastened to the top of the lofty tower of
+the castle had excited attention, and the inhabitants ran in crowds to
+behold the sight. By this time the frenzy of the constable had reached
+its highest pitch; he wanted, in spite of all his servants, to fly from
+the same tower himself, declaring there was but one way to retake me,
+and that was to fly after me. He caused himself to be carried into the
+presence of his Holiness, and began a terrible outcry, saying that I had
+promised him, upon my honor, that I would not fly away, and had flown
+away notwithstanding."
+
+The Cardinal Cornaro, however, and others interceded for Benvenuto with
+the Pope, on account of his courage, and the extraordinary efforts of
+his ingenuity, which seemed to surpass human capacity. The Pope said he
+had intended to keep him near his person, and to prevent him from
+returning to France, adding, "I am concerned to hear of his sufferings,
+however. Bid him take care of his health; and when he is thoroughly
+recovered, it shall be my study to make him some amends for his past
+troubles." He was visited by young and old, persons of all ranks.
+
+After this, Benvenuto went once more to France, where he was received
+with high consideration by Francis I., who gave him, for his home and
+workshop in Paris, a large old castle called the Nesle, of a triangular
+form, close to the walls of the city. Here, with workmen brought with
+him from Italy, he began many great works.
+
+"Being thus become a favorite of the king, I was universally admired. As
+soon as I had received silver to make it of, I began to work on the
+statue of Jupiter, and took into my service several journeymen. We
+worked day and night with the utmost assiduity, insomuch that, having
+finished Jupiter, Vulcan, and Mars in earth, and Jupiter being pretty
+forward in silver, my shop began to make a grand show. Just about this
+time the king made his appearance at Paris, and I went to pay my
+respects to him. When his Majesty saw me, he called to me in high
+spirits, and asked me whether I had anything curious to show him at my
+shop, for he intended to call there. I told him of all I had done, and
+he expressed an earnest desire to see my performances; and after dinner
+that day, all the nobility belonging to the Court of France repaired to
+my shop.
+
+"I had just come home, and was beginning to work, when the king made his
+appearance at my castle gate. Upon hearing the sound of so many hammers,
+he commanded his retinue to be silent. All my people were at work, so
+that the king came upon us quite unexpectedly. As he entered the saloon,
+the first object he perceived was myself with a large piece of plate in
+my hand, which was to make the body of Jupiter; another was employed on
+the head, another again on the legs, so that the shop resounded with the
+beating of hammers. His Majesty was highly pleased, and returned to his
+palace, after having conferred so many favors on me that it would be
+tedious to enumerate them.
+
+"Having with the utmost diligence finished the beautiful statue of
+Jupiter, with its gilt pedestal, I placed it upon a wooden socle, which
+scarce made any appearance, and within that socle I fixed four little
+globes of wood, which were more than half hidden in their sockets, and
+so contrived that a little child could with the utmost ease move this
+statue of Jupiter backwards and forwards, and turn it about. I took it
+with me to Fontainebleau, where the King then resided. I was told to put
+it in the gallery,--a place which might be called a corridor, about two
+hundred paces long, adorned and enriched with pictures and pieces of
+sculpture, amongst them some of the finest imitations of the antique
+statues of Rome. Here also I introduced my Jupiter; and when I saw this
+great display of the wonders of art, I said to myself, 'This is like
+passing between the pikes of the enemy; Heaven protect me from all
+danger!'
+
+"This figure of Jupiter had a thunderbolt in his right hand, and by his
+attitude seemed to be just going to throw it; in his left I had placed a
+globe, and amongst the flames I had with great dexterity put a piece of
+white torch. On the approach of night I lighted the torch in the hand of
+Jupiter; and as it was raised somewhat above his head, the light fell
+upon the statue, and caused it to appear to much greater advantage than
+it would otherwise have done. When I saw his Majesty enter with several
+great lords and noblemen, I ordered my boy to push the statue before
+him, and this motion, being made with admirable contrivance, caused it
+to appear alive; thus the other figures in the gallery were left
+somewhat behind, and the eyes of all the beholders were first struck
+with my performance.
+
+"The king immediately cried out: 'This is one of the finest productions
+of art that ever was beheld. I, who take pleasure in such things and
+understand them, could never have conceived a piece of work the
+hundredth part so beautiful!'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cellini, however, who was exacting and sensitive, became dissatisfied
+with the treatment of the King of France; and, leaving his workmen at
+his tower of the Nesle, he returned to Italy, and engaged in the service
+of Cosmo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who assigned him a house to
+work in.
+
+His chief performance here was a bronze statue of Perseus for the fine
+square before the Palazzo Vecchio. After many drawbacks, doubts, and
+difficulties,--
+
+"I now took courage, resolving to depend on myself, and banished all
+those thoughts which from time to time occasioned me great inquietude,
+and made me sorely repent my ever having quitted France. I still
+flattered myself that if I could but finish my statue of Perseus, all my
+labors would be converted to delight, and meet with a glorious and happy
+reward.
+
+"This statue was intended to be of bronze, five ells in height, of one
+piece, and hollow. I first formed my model of clay, more slender than
+the statue was intended to be. I then baked it, and covered it with wax
+of the thickness of a finger, which I modelled into the perfect form of
+the statue. In order to effect in concave what the wax represented in
+convex, I covered the wax with clay, and baked this second covering.
+Thus, the wax dissolving, and escaping by fissures left open for the
+purpose, I obtained, between the first model and the second covering, a
+space for the introduction of the metal. In order to introduce the
+bronze without moving the first model, I placed the model in a pit dug
+under the furnace, and by means of pipes and apertures in the model
+itself, I meant to introduce the liquid metal.
+
+"After I had made its coat of earth, covered it well, and bound it
+properly with irons, I began by means of a slow fire to draw off the
+wax, which melted away by many vent-holes,--for the more of these are
+made, the better the moulds are filled; and when I had entirely stripped
+off the wax, I made a sort of fence round my Perseus, that is, round the
+mould, of bricks, piling them one upon another, and leaving several
+vacuities for the fire to exhale at. I next began gradually to put on
+the wood, and kept a constant fire for two days and two nights, till,
+the wax being quite off and the mould well baked, I began to dig a hole
+to bury my mould in, and observed all those fine methods of proceeding
+that are proscribed by our art. When I had completely dug my hole, I
+took my mould, and by means of levers and strong cables directed it with
+care, and suspended it a cubit above the level of the furnace, so that
+it hung exactly in the middle of the hole. I then let it gently down to
+the very bottom of the furnace, and placed it with all the care and
+exactness I possibly could. After I had finished this part of my task I
+began to make a covering of the very earth I had taken off; and in
+proportion as I raised the earth, I made vents for it, of a sort of
+tubes of baked earth, generally used for conduits, and other things of a
+similar nature.
+
+"I had caused my furnace to be filled with several pieces of brass and
+bronze, and heaped them upon one another in the manner taught us by our
+art, taking particular care to leave a passage for the flames, that the
+metal might the sooner assume its color, and dissolve into a fluid.
+Thus, with great alacrity, I excited my men to lay on the pine-wood,
+which, because of the oiliness of the resinous matter that oozes from
+the pine-tree and that my furnace was admirably well made, burned at
+such a rate that I was continually obliged to run to and fro, which
+greatly fatigued me. I, however, bore the hardship; but, to add to my
+misfortune, the shop took fire, and we were all very much afraid that
+the roof would fall in and crush us. From another quarter, that is, from
+the garden, the sky poured in so much rain and wind that it cooled my
+furnace.
+
+"Thus did I continue to struggle with these cross accidents for several
+hours, and exerted myself to such a degree that my constitution, though
+robust, could no longer bear such severe hardship, and I was suddenly
+attacked by a most violent intermitting fever; in short, I was so ill
+that I found myself under a necessity of lying down upon my bed. This
+gave me great concern, but it was unavoidable. I thereupon addressed
+myself to my assistants, who were about ten in number, saying to them:
+'Be careful to observe the method which I have shown you, and use all
+possible expedition; for the metal will soon be ready. You cannot
+mistake; these two worthy men here will quickly make the orifices. With
+two such directors you can certainly contrive to pour out the hot metal,
+and I have no doubt but my mould will be filled completely. I find
+myself extremely ill, and really believe that in a few hours this severe
+disorder will put an end to my life.' Thus I left them in great sorrow,
+and went to bed. I then ordered the maids to carry victuals and drink
+into the shop for all the men, and told them I did not expect to live
+till the next morning. In this manner did I continue for two hours in a
+violent fever, which I every moment perceived to increase, and I was
+incessantly crying out, 'I am dying, I am dying.'
+
+"My housekeeper was one of the most sensible and affectionate women in
+the world. She rebuked me for giving way to vain fears, and at the same
+time attended me with the greatest kindness and care imaginable;
+however, seeing me so very ill, and terrified to such a degree, she
+could not contain herself, but shed a flood of tears, which she
+endeavored to conceal from me. Whilst we were both in this deep
+affliction, I perceived a man enter the room, who in his person appeared
+to be as crooked and distorted as a great S, and began to express
+himself in these terms, in a dismal and melancholy voice: 'Alas, poor
+Benvenuto, your work is spoiled, and the misfortune admits of no
+remedy.'
+
+"No sooner had I heard the words uttered by this messenger of evil, but
+I cried out so loud that my voice might be heard to the skies, and got
+out of bed. I began immediately to dress, and, giving plenty of kicks
+and cuffs to the maidservants and the boy as they offered to help me on
+with my clothes, I complained bitterly in these terms: 'Oh, you envious
+and treacherous wretches, this is a piece of villany contrived on
+purpose; but I will sift it to the bottom, and before I die give such
+proofs who I am as shall not fail to astonish the whole world.' Having
+huddled on my clothes, I went, with a mind boding evil, to the shop,
+where I found all those whom I had left so alert and in such high
+spirits, standing in the utmost confusion and astonishment. I thereupon
+addressed them thus: 'Listen, all of you, to what I am going to say; and
+since you either would not or could not follow the method I pointed out,
+obey me now that I am present. My work is before us; and let none of
+you offer to oppose or contradict me, for such cases as this require
+activity and not counsel.' Hereupon one of them had the assurance to say
+to me, 'Look you, Benvenuto, you have undertaken a work which our art
+cannot compass, and which is not to be effected by human power.'
+
+"Hearing these words, I turned round in such a passion, and seemed so
+bent upon mischief, that both he and all the rest unanimously cried out
+to me, 'Give your orders, and we will all second you in whatever you
+command; we will assist you as long as we have breath in our bodies.'
+These kind and affectionate words they uttered, as I firmly believe, in
+a persuasion that I was upon the point of expiring. I went directly to
+examine the furnace, and saw all the metal in it concreted. I thereupon
+ordered two of the helpers to step over the way to a butcher for a load
+of young oak which had been above a year drying, which had been already
+offered to me.
+
+"Upon his bringing me the first bundles of it, I began to fill the
+grate. This sort of oak makes a brisker fire than any other wood
+whatever; but the wood of elder-trees and pine-trees is used in casting
+artillery, because it makes a mild and gentle fire. As soon as the
+concreted metal felt the power of this violent fire, it began to
+brighten and glitter. In another quarter I made them hurry the tubes
+with all possible expedition, and sent some of them to the roof of the
+house to take care of the fire, which through the great violence of the
+wind had acquired new force; and towards the garden I had caused some
+tables with pieces of tapestry and old clothes to be placed in order to
+shelter me from the rain. As soon as I had applied the proper remedy to
+each evil, I with a loud voice cried out to my men to bestir themselves
+and lend a helping hand; so that when they saw that the concreted metal
+began to melt again, the whole body obeyed me with such zeal and
+alacrity that every man did the work of three. Then I caused a mass of
+pewter weighing about sixty pounds to be thrown upon the metal in the
+furnace, which, with the other helps, as the brisk wood-fire, and
+stirring it sometimes with iron and sometimes with long poles, soon
+became completely dissolved. Finding that, contrary to the opinion of my
+ignorant assistants, I had effected what seemed as difficult to raise as
+the dead, I recovered my vigor to such a degree that I no longer
+perceived whether I had any fever, nor had I the least apprehension of
+death.
+
+"Suddenly a loud noise was heard, and a glittering of fire flashed
+before our eyes, as if it had been the darting of a thunderbolt. Upon
+the appearance of this extraordinary phenomenon terror seized upon all
+present, and none more than myself. This tremendous noise being over, we
+began to stare at each other, and perceived that the cover of the
+furnace had burst and flown off, so that the bronze began to run.
+
+"I immediately caused the mouths of my mould to be opened; but, finding
+that the metal did not run with its usual velocity, and apprehending
+that the cause of it was that the fusibility of the metal was injured by
+the violence of the fire, I ordered all my dishes and porringers, which
+were in number about two hundred, to be placed one by one before my
+tubes, and part of them to be thrown into the furnace; upon which all
+present perceived that my mould was filling: they now with joy and
+alacrity assisted and obeyed me. I, for my part, was sometimes in one
+place, sometimes in another, giving my directions and assisting my men,
+before whom I offered up this prayer: 'O God, I address myself to thee.
+I acknowledge in gratitude this mercy, that my mould has been filled. I
+fall prostrate before thee, and with my whole heart return thanks to thy
+divine majesty.'
+
+"My prayer being over, I took a plate of meat which stood upon a little
+bench, and ate with a great appetite. I then drank with all my
+journeymen and assistants, and went joyful and in good health to bed;
+for there were still two hours of night, and I rested as well as if I
+had been troubled with no disorder.
+
+"My good housekeeper, without my having given any orders, had provided a
+good capon for my dinner. When I arose, which was not till about noon,
+she accosted me in high spirits, and said merrily, 'Is this the man that
+thought himself dying? It is my firm belief that the cuffs and kicks you
+gave us last night when you were quite frantic and possessed, frightened
+away your fever, which, apprehending you should fall upon it in the same
+manner, took to flight.' So my whole poor family, having got over such
+panics and hardships, without delay procured earthen vessels to supply
+the place of the pewter dishes and porringers, and we all dined together
+very cheerfully; indeed, I do not remember having ever in my life eaten
+a meal with greater satisfaction or a better appetite. After dinner, all
+those who had assisted me in my work came and congratulated me upon what
+had happened, returned thanks to the Divine Being for having interposed
+so mercifully in our behalf, and declared that they had in theory and
+practice learnt such things as were judged impossible by other masters.
+I thereupon thought it allowable to boast a little of my knowledge and
+skill in this fine art, and, pulling out my purse, satisfied all my
+workmen for their labor.
+
+"Having left my work to cool during two days after it was cast, I began
+gradually to uncover it. I first of all found the Medusa's head, which
+had come out admirably by the assistance of the vents. I proceeded to
+uncover the rest, and found that the other head--I mean that of
+Perseus--was likewise come out perfectly well. I went on uncovering it
+with great success, and found every part turn out to admiration, till I
+reached the foot of the right leg, which supports the figure. I found
+that not only the toes were wanting, but part of the foot itself, so
+that there was almost one half deficient. This occasioned me some new
+trouble; but I was not displeased at it, as I had expected this very
+thing.
+
+"It pleased God that as soon as ever my work, although still unfinished,
+was seen by the populace, they set up so loud a shout of applause, that
+I began to be somewhat comforted for the mortifications I had undergone;
+and there were sonnets in my praise every day upon the gate, the
+language of which was extremely elegant and poetical. The very day on
+which I exhibited my work, there were above twenty sonnets set up,
+containing the most hyperbolical praises of it. Even after I had covered
+it again, every day a number of verses, with Latin odes and Greek poems,
+were published on the occasion,--for it was then vacation at the
+University of Pisa, and all the learned men and scholars belonging to
+that place vied with each other in writing encomiums on my performance.
+But what gave me the highest satisfaction was that even those of the
+profession--I mean statuaries and painters--emulated each other in
+commending me. In fact, I was so highly praised, and in so elegant a
+style, that it afforded me some alleviation for my past mortification
+and troubles, and I made all the haste I could to put the last hand to
+my statue.
+
+"At last, as it pleased the Almighty, I completely finished my work, and
+on a Thursday morning exhibited it fully. Just before the break of day
+so great a crowd gathered about it, that it is almost impossible for me
+to give the reader an idea of their number; and they all seemed to vie
+with each other who should praise it most. The duke stood at a lower
+window of the palace, just over the gate, and, being half concealed
+within side, heard all that was said concerning the work. After he had
+listened several hours, he left the window highly pleased, and sent me
+this message: 'Go to Benvenuto, and tell him from me that he has given
+me higher satisfaction than I ever expected. Let him know at the same
+time that I shall reward him in such a manner as will excite his
+surprise.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The manuscript of Benvenuto's Life is not carried much farther. The
+narrative breaks off abruptly in 1562, when Cellini was in the
+sixty-second year of his age. He does not appear from this time to have
+been engaged in any work of much importance. After the execution of his
+grand achievement of the Perseus, the narrative of his life seems to
+have been the most successful of all the labors of his declining years.
+
+On the 15th day of February, 1570, this extraordinary man died. He was
+buried, by his own direction, with great funeral pomp. A monk who had
+been charged to compose the funeral sermon, in praise both of his life
+and works and of his excellent moral qualities, mounted the pulpit and
+delivered a discourse which was highly approved by the whole academy and
+by the people. They struggled to enter the chapter, as well to see the
+body of Benvenuto as to hear the commendation of his good qualities.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+BERNARD PALISSY.
+
+
+Two or three of the girls had dabbled a little in painting on porcelain,
+and several of them had become interested in various sorts of pottery.
+Mabel had been at Newburyport, on a visit with some friends who had a
+potter's wheel of their own; and she had turned for herself, and had had
+baked, some vases and dishes which she had brought home with her.
+
+This tempted them all to make a party, in which several of the boys
+joined, to go to the Art Museum and see the exquisite pottery there, of
+different sorts, ancient and modern. There they met one of the gentlemen
+of a large firm of dealers in keramics; and he asked them to go through
+their magnificent establishment, and see the collection, which is one of
+great beauty. It shows several of the finest styles of manufacture in
+very choice specimens.
+
+This prepared them to see Japanese work. And when Uncle Fritz heard of
+this, he asked Professor Morse, of Salem, if he would show them his
+marvellous collection of Japanese pottery. Professor Morse lived in
+Japan under very favorable auspices, and he made there a wonderful
+collection of the work of the very best artists. So five or six of the
+young people went down to Salem, at his very kind invitation, and saw
+there what is one of the finest collections in the world.
+
+All this interested them in what now receives a great deal of attention,
+the manufacture and ornament of pottery. The word _keramics_ is a word
+recently added to the English language to express the art of making
+pottery and of ornamenting it.
+
+When Uncle Fritz found that they really wanted to know about such
+things, he arranged that for one afternoon they should read about
+
+
+BERNARD PALISSY THE POTTER.
+
+Bernard Palissy was born, about 1510, in the little town of Biron, in
+Périgord, France. He became not only a great artist, but a learned
+physician, and a writer of merit.
+
+Born of poor parents of the working-class, he had to learn some trade,
+and early applied himself to working glass, not as a glazier, but
+staining it and cutting it up in little bits, to be joined together with
+lead for the colored windows so much used in churches. This was purely
+mechanical work; but Bernard's ambition led him to study drawing and
+color, that he might himself design and execute, in glass, scenes from
+the Bible and lives of the saints, such as he saw done by his superiors.
+
+When he was old enough, curious to see the world and learn new things,
+he took a journey on foot through several provinces of France, by
+observation thus supplying the defects of his early education, and
+reaping a rich harvest of facts and ideas, which developed the qualities
+of his intelligence.
+
+It was at this time that the Renaissance in Art was making itself felt
+throughout Europe. Francis I. of France encouraged all forms of good
+work by his patronage; and wherever he went the young Palissy was
+animated and inspired by the sight of beautiful things.
+
+_Faience_, an elegant kind of pottery, attracted his attention. This
+appeared first in the fourteenth century. The Arabs had long known the
+art of making tiles of clay, enamelled and richly ornamented. They
+brought it into Spain, as is shown in the decorations of the Alhambra at
+Seville and elsewhere. Lucca della Robbia in Italy first brought the art
+to perfection, by making figures and groups of figures in high relief,
+of baked clay covered with shining enamel, white, tinted with various
+colors. The kind of work called _majolica_ differed from the earlier
+faience by some changes in the material used for the enamel. In the
+middle of the sixteenth century remarkable historical paintings were
+executed in faience, upon huge _plaques_. All the cities of Italy vied
+with each other in producing wonders in this sort of work; it is from
+one of them, Faenza, that it takes its name. The method of making the
+enamel was a deep secret; but Bernard Palissy, with long patience and
+after many failures, succeeded in discovering it,--or, rather, in
+inventing for himself a new method, which in some respects excelled the
+old.
+
+Palissy was the author of several essays, or "Discourses;" and from one
+of these, written in quaint old French, we have his own account of his
+invention.
+
+He married and settled down in the year 1539 with a good income from his
+intelligent industry. He had a pleasant little house in the country,
+where, as he says, "I could rejoice in the sight of green hills, where
+were feeding and gambolling lambs, sheep, and goats."
+
+An incident, apparently slight, disturbed this placid domestic
+happiness. He came across a cup of enamelled pottery, doubtless from
+Italy. "This cup," he says, "was of such beauty, that, from the moment I
+saw it, I entered into a dispute with myself as to how it could have
+been made."
+
+Enamel is nothing more than a kind of glaze colored with metallic acids,
+and rendered opaque by the mixture of a certain quantity of tin. It is
+usually spread upon metal, when only it is properly called enamel; but
+this glaze can also be put upon earthenware. It makes vessels
+water-tight, and gives them brilliancy of surface. To find out how to do
+this was to make a revolution in the keramic art.
+
+In France, in the sixteenth century, the only vessels, such as jugs or
+vases, were made either of metal, wood, or coarse porous pottery,
+through which water could penetrate; like the goulehs of the Arabs, or
+the cantaras of the Moors, which are still used for fresh water to
+advantage, since the evaporation of the drops keeps the water cold.
+
+Many attempts had been made to imitate the beautiful and costly vases of
+China; but no one succeeded until the potters of Italy found out how to
+make faience. The discovery was hailed as a most valuable one. The
+princes who owned the works guarded their secret with jealous care,--to
+betray it would have been punished by death; so that Bernard Palissy had
+no hope of being taught how it was done, even if he should go to the
+places in Italy where the work was carried on.
+
+"But," he says, "what others had found out, I might also discover; and
+if I could once make myself master of the art of glazing, I felt sure I
+could elevate pottery to a degree of perfection as yet unknown. What a
+glory for my name, what a benefit to France, if I could establish this
+industry here in my own land!"
+
+He turned and turned the cup in his fingers, admiring the brilliant
+surface. "Yes," he said at last; "it shall be so, for I choose! I have
+already studied the subject. I will work still harder, and reach my aim
+at last."
+
+Exceptional determination of character was needed for such an object.
+Palissy knew nothing about the component parts of enamels; he had never
+even seen the process of baking clay, and he had to begin with the very
+simplest investigations. To study the different kinds of earth and clay,
+to acquire the arts of moulding and turning, and to gain some knowledge
+of chemistry, all these were necessary. But he did not flinch, and
+pursued his idea with indomitable perseverance.
+
+"Moving only by chance," he says, "like a man groping in the dark, I
+made a collection of all the different substances which seemed at all
+likely to make enamel, and I pounded them up fine; then I bought earthen
+pots, broke them into small bits, numbered these pieces, and spread over
+each of them a different combination of materials. Now I had to have a
+furnace in which to bake my experiments. I had no idea how furnaces were
+usually made; so I invented one of my own, and set it up. But I had no
+idea how much heat was required to melt enamels,--perhaps I heated my
+furnace too much, perhaps not enough; sometimes my ingredients were all
+burned up, sometimes they melted not at all; or else some were turned to
+coal, while others remained undisturbed by the action of the fire."
+
+Meanwhile the resources of the unlucky workman were fast diminishing;
+for he had abandoned his usual work, by which he earned his living, and
+kept making new furnaces, "with great expense and trouble, and a great
+consumption of time and firewood."
+
+This state of affairs much displeased his wife, who complained bitterly,
+and tried to divert her husband from an occupation which earned for him
+nothing but disappointment. The cheerful little household changed its
+aspect; the children were no longer well-dressed, and the shabby
+furniture and empty cupboards betrayed the decay which was falling upon
+the family. The father saw with profound grief the wants of his
+household; but success seemed ever so near to him, that he could not
+bear to give it up. His hope at that time was but a mirage; and for long
+afterwards, in this struggle between intelligence and the antagonism of
+material things, ill fortune kept the upper hand.
+
+One day, tired out by his failures, it occurred to him that a man
+brought up to baking pottery would know how to bake his specimens better
+than he could.
+
+"I covered three or four hundred bits of broken vase with different
+compounds, and sent them to a _fabrique_ about a mile and a half from my
+house. The potters consented to put my patterns with their batch for the
+oven. Full of impatience, I awaited the result of this experiment. I was
+on hand when my specimens came out. I looked them anxiously all over;
+not one was successful!
+
+"The heat had not been strong enough, but I did not know this; I saw
+only one more useless expense of money. One of the workmen came to me
+and said, 'You will never make anything out of this; you had better go
+back to your own business.'"
+
+Palissy shook his head; he had still in his possession some few valuable
+articles, souvenirs of happier days, which he could sell to renew his
+experiments. In spite of the reproaches of his wife, he bought more
+ingredients and more earthenware, and made new combinations.
+
+Failure again! However, he would not be beaten. Some friends lent him a
+little money; he sat up at night to make new mixtures of different
+substances, all prepared with such care that he felt sure some of them
+must be good. Then he carried them again to the potters, whom he urged
+to the greatest care. They only shrugged their shoulders, and called him
+"crack brain;" and when the batch was done, they brought the results to
+Palissy with jeers. Some of the pieces were dirty white; others green,
+red, or smoked by the fire; but all alike in being dull and worthless.
+
+It was over. Discouragement took possession of Palissy. "I returned
+home," he says, "full of confusion and sadness. Others might seek the
+secret of enamels. I must set to work and earn money to pay my debts and
+get bread for the family."
+
+Most luckily for him at this time, a task was given him by government,
+for which he was well suited, and which brought him good pay. The king,
+Francis I., having had, like many another sovereign, some difficulty
+with his faithful subjects in the matter of imposts, now found it
+necessary to make a new regulation of taxes; and for this, among other
+things, an inspection of the salt marshes on the coasts of France was
+needed, in order to name the right sums for taxation, and a knowledge of
+arithmetic was required as well. Palissy was appointed; and to the great
+delight of his family, who thought that his mind would now be forever
+diverted from the search for enamel, he set forth to explore the islands
+and the shores of France. He drew admirable outlines of the forms of the
+salt marshes, and wrote with eloquence upon the sublimity of the sea.
+
+Ease and comfort came back. His task was ended; but debts were paid, and
+plenty of money remained.
+
+The first thing he saw on returning home, alas! was the cup,--his joy
+and despair. "How beautiful it is! how brilliant!" he exclaimed; and
+once more he threw himself into the pursuit of the elusive enamel.
+
+It was easy to see that the so much admired faience of Italy was simply
+common baked clay, covered with some substance glazed by heat, but so
+composed as to adhere to the surface after it had cooled. But what
+substance? He had tried all sorts of materials; why had none of them
+melted? Palissy at length decided that the fault had been in using the
+common potter's furnace. Since the materials were to be vitrified by the
+process, they should be baked like glass. He broke up three dozen pots,
+pounded up a great quantity of different ingredients, and spread them
+with a brush on the fragments; then he carried them to the nearest
+glass-works. He was allowed to superintend the baking himself; he put
+the specimens in the oven, and passed the night attending the fire. In
+the morning he took them out. "Oh, joy! Some of the compounds had begun
+to melt; there was no perfect glaze, only a sign that I was on the right
+road."
+
+It was, however, still a long and weary one. After two more years,
+Palissy was still far from the discovery of enamelling, but during this
+time he was acquiring much knowledge. From a simple workman he had
+become a learned chemist. He says himself, "The mistakes I made in
+combining my enamels taught me more than the things which came right of
+themselves."
+
+There came a time, which he had once more resolved should be the last,
+when he repaired to the glass-works, accompanied by a man loaded with
+more than three hundred different patterns on bits of pottery. For four
+hours Bernard gloomily watched the progress of baking. Suddenly he
+started in surprise. Did his eyes deceive him? No! it was no illusion.
+One of the pieces in the furnace was covered with a brilliant glazing,
+white, polished, excellent. Palissy's joy was immense. "I thought I had
+become a new creature," he says. "The enamel was found; France enriched
+by a new discovery."
+
+Palissy now hastened to undertake a whole vase. For many and large
+pieces there was not room enough at his disposition in the ovens of the
+glass-works. He did not worry about that, for he was quite sure he could
+construct one of his own. He decided, too, at once to model and fashion
+his own vases; for those which he bought of the potters, made of coarse
+and heavy forms, no longer suited his ambition. He now designed forms,
+turned and modelled them himself. Thus passed seven or eight months. At
+last his vases were done, and he admired with pride the pure forms given
+to the clay by his hands. But his money was giving out again, and his
+furnace was not yet built. As he had nothing to pay for the work, he did
+all the work himself,--went after bricks and brought them himself on his
+back, and then built and plastered with his own hands. The neighbors
+looked on in pity and ridicule. "Look," they said, "at Master Bernard!
+He might live at his ease, and yet he makes a beast of burden of
+himself!"
+
+Palissy minded their sarcasms not at all. His furnace was finished in
+good time, and the first baking of the clay succeeded perfectly. Now the
+pottery was to be covered with his new enamel. Time pressed, for in a
+few days there would be no more bread in the house for his children. For
+a long time he had been living on credit, but now the butcher and baker
+refused to furnish anything more. All about him he saw only unfriendly
+faces; every one treated him as a fool. "Let him die of hunger," they
+said, "since he will not listen to reason."
+
+His wife was the worst of all. She failed to see any heroism in the
+obstinacy or perseverance of her husband,--no wonder, perhaps, with the
+sight of her suffering children before her eyes. She went about reciting
+her misfortunes to all the neighborhood, very unwisely, as she thus
+ruined the credit of her husband, his last and only resource.
+
+Palissy was already worn out by so much manual labor, to which he was
+little accustomed; nevertheless, he worked by night, and all night long,
+to pound up and prepare the materials for his white enamel, and to
+spread it upon his vases. A report went abroad, caused by the sight of
+his lamp constantly burning, that he was trying to coin counterfeit
+money. He was suspected, despised, and avoided, and went about the
+streets hanging his head because he had no answer to make to his
+accusers.
+
+The moment which was to decide his life arrived. The vases were placed
+in the furnace, and for six continuous days and nights he plied the
+glowing fire with fuel. The heat was intolerable; but the enamel
+resisted, nothing would melt, and he was forced to recognize that there
+was too little of the glazing substance in the combination to vitrify
+the others. He set to work to mix another compound, but his vases were
+spoiled; he borrowed a few common ones from the pottery. During all this
+delay he did not dare to let the fire go out, it would take so much wood
+to start it again. Once more the newly covered pots were placed in the
+intense furnace; in three or four hours the test would be completed.
+Palissy perceived with terror that his fuel was giving out. He ran to
+his garden, tore up fences, and cut down trees which he had planted
+himself, and threw all these into the two yawning mouths of the furnace.
+Not enough! He went into the house, and seized tables, chairs, and
+bureaus; but the house was but poorly furnished, and contained but
+little to feed the flames. Palissy returned. The rooms were empty, there
+was absolutely nothing more to take; then he fell to pulling up the
+planks of the floor. His wife, frightened to death, stood still and let
+him go on. The neighbors ran in, at the sound of the axe, and said, "He
+must be a fool!"
+
+But soon pity changed to admiration. When Palissy took the vases from
+the furnace, the common pots which all had seen before dull and coarse,
+were of a clear pearly white, covered with brilliant polish.
+
+So much emotion and fatigue had told upon the robust constitution of
+Palissy. "I was," he says, "all used up and dried up on account of such
+toil, and the heat of the furnace. It was more than a month since I had
+had a dry shirt on my body, and I felt as if I had reached the door of
+the sepulchre."
+
+In spite of the success which he had now attained, our potter had by no
+means reached the end of his misfortunes. He sold his vases, but could
+not get much for them, as there were but a few, of poor shapes; for
+those which he had modelled himself had all failed to take the enamel,
+and the successful ones were only common things, bought on credit. The
+small sum which he got by selling them was not enough by any means to
+cover his expenses, pay his debts, and restore order to the house from
+which pretty much everything was burned up for firewood in his furnace.
+
+However, he was supported and happy in the thought of his success. He
+said to himself: "Why be sad, when you have found what you were seeking
+for? Go on working, and you will put your enemies to shame."
+
+Once more he succeeded in borrowing a little money. He hired a man to
+help him; and for want of funds, he paid this man by giving him all his
+own good clothes, while he went himself in rags. The furnace he had made
+was coming to pieces on account of the intense heat he had maintained in
+it for six days and nights during his last experiment. He pulled it to
+pieces with his own hands, working with fingers bleeding and bound up in
+bandages. Then he fetched water, sand, lime, and stone, and built by
+himself a new furnace, "without any help or any repose. A feverish
+resolution doubled my strength, and made me capable of doing things
+which I should have imagined impossible."
+
+This time the oven heats admirably, the enamels appear to be melting.
+Palissy goes to rest, and dreams of his new vases, which must bring
+enough to pay all his debts; his impatient creditors come in the morning
+to see the things taken from the furnace. Palissy receives them
+joyfully; he would like to invite the whole town.
+
+When the pieces came out of the oven, they were shining and beautiful;
+but--always but!--an accident had deprived them of all value. Little
+stones, which formed a part of the mortar with which the furnace was
+built, had burst with the heat, and spattered the enamel all over with
+sharp fragments cutting like a razor, entirely spoiling it of course.
+Still, the vases were so lovely in form, and the glaze was so beautiful,
+that several people offered to buy them if they could have them cheap.
+This the proud potter would not bear. Seizing the vases, he dashed them
+to the ground; then utterly worn out, he went into the house and threw
+himself on the bed. His wife followed him, and covered him with
+reproaches for thus wasting the chance of making a few francs for the
+family. Soon he recovered his elasticity, reflecting "that a man who has
+tumbled into a ditch has but one duty, and that is to try to get out of
+it."
+
+He now set to work at his old business of painting upon glass, and after
+several months had earned enough to start another batch of vases. Of
+these, two or three were successful and sold to advantage; the rest were
+spoiled by ashes which fell upon the enamel in the furnace while it was
+soft. He therefore invented what he called a "lantern" of baked clay, to
+put over the vases to protect them in baking. This expedient proved so
+good that it is still used.
+
+The enamel once discovered, it would be supposed that all trouble was
+over; but it is not enough to invent a process,--to carry it out, all
+sorts of little things have to be considered, the least of which, if not
+attended to, may spoil all the rest. These multiplied accidents, with
+all the privations and sufferings he had undergone, were attacking the
+health of Palissy. He says in his simple style,--
+
+"I was so used up in my person, that there was no shape or appearance of
+curve on my arms or legs; my so-called legs, indeed, were but a straight
+line, so that when I had gartered my stockings, as soon as I began to
+walk, they were down on my heels."
+
+His enamelled pottery now began to make a living for its inventor, but
+so poor a living that many things were wanting,--for instance, a
+suitable workshop. For five or six years he carried on the work in the
+open air; either heat, rain, or cold spoiled many of his vases, while he
+himself, exposed to the weather, "passed whole nights at the mercy of
+rain and cold, without any aid, comfort, or companionship except that
+of owls screeching on one side and dogs howling on the other.
+Sometimes," he continues, "winds and tempests blew with such violence
+inside and outside of my ovens, that I was obliged to leave, with a
+total loss of all they contained. Several times when I had thus left
+everything, without a dry rag upon me, on account of the rain, I came in
+at midnight or daybreak without any light, staggering like a drunken
+man, all broken down at the thought of my wasted toil; and then, all wet
+and dirty as I was, I found in my bedroom the worst affliction of all,
+which makes me wonder now why I was not consumed by grief." He means the
+scolding and reproaches of his wife.
+
+But the time came when his perseverance was rewarded, and his pottery
+brought him the fame and money he deserved. He was able to make new
+experiments, and add to the value of his discovery. Having obtained the
+white enamel, he had the idea of tinting it with all sorts of colors,
+which he did successfully. He then began to decorate his faience with
+objects modelled from nature, such as animals, shells, leaves, and
+branches. Lizards of a bright emerald color, with pointed heads and
+slender tails, and snakes gliding between stones or curled upon a bank
+of moss, crabs, frogs, and spiders, all of their natural colors, and
+disposed in the midst of plants equally well imitated, are the
+characteristic details of the work of Palissy.
+
+These perfect imitations of Nature were taken actually from Nature
+herself. Palissy prepared a group of real leaves and stones, putting the
+little insects or animals he wished to represent in natural attitudes
+amongst them. He fastened these reptiles, fishes, or insects in their
+places by fine threads, and then made a mould of the whole in plaster of
+Paris. When it was done, he removed the little animals from the mould
+so carefully that he could use them over and over again.
+
+Thus, after sixteen years passed in untiring energy, sixteen years of
+anxiety and privation, the artist triumphed over all the obstacles
+opposed to his genius. The humble potter, despised of all, became the
+most important man in his town. His productions were sought for eagerly,
+and his reputation established forever.
+
+His life henceforth was not free from events, but these were not
+connected with his invention. His fame came to the knowledge of the
+queen mother Catherine de Médicis; for Francis I. was no longer living,
+and Charles IX. had succeeded Francis II. upon the throne. He was
+summoned to Court, and employed to build grottos, decorated with his
+designs, by personages of distinction,--one especially for the queen
+herself, which he describes in his Discourse of the "Jardin Delectable."
+
+He was in Paris at the time of the terrible massacre of St. Bartholomew,
+where, as he was a Huguenot, he would doubtless have perished but for
+the protection of the queen, who helped him to escape with his family.
+
+Later, however, in the midst of the troubles and terrors of the time, he
+was thrown into the Bastille; and there he died, an old man of eighty
+years.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
+
+
+"We call the Americans a nation of inventors," said Fergus. "How long
+has this been true?"
+
+"That is a very curious question," said Uncle Fritz. "You remember we
+were talking of it before. When I go back to think of the hundred and
+fifty years before Bunker Hill, I think there must have been a great
+many inglorious Miltons hidden away in the New England towns. Really,
+the arts advanced very little between 1630 and 1775. Flint-locks had
+come in, instead of match-locks. But, actually, the men at Bunker Hill
+rested over the rail-fence old muskets which had been used in Queen
+Anne's time; and to this day a 'Queen's arm' is a provincial phrase, in
+New England, for one of these old weapons, not yet forgotten. That
+inability to improve its own condition comes to a people which lets
+another nation do its manufacturing for it. You see much the same thing
+in Turkey and French Canada. Just as soon as they were thrown on their
+own resources here, they began to invent."
+
+"But," said Fergus, "there was certainly one great American inventor
+before that time."
+
+"You mean Franklin,--the greatest American yet, I suppose, if you mean
+to measure greatness by intellectual power and intellectual achievement.
+Yes; Franklin's great discovery, and the inventions which followed on
+it, were made twenty-five years and more before Bunker Hill."
+
+"What is the association between Franklin and Robinson Crusoe?" asked
+Alice. "I never read of one but I think of the other."
+
+Uncle Fritz's whole face beamed with approbation.
+
+"You have started me upon one of my hobbies," said he; "but I must not
+ride it too far. Franklin says himself that De Foe's 'Essay on Projects'
+and Cotton Mather's 'Essay to do Good' were two books which perhaps gave
+him a turn of thinking which had an influence on some of the events in
+his after life. And you may notice how an 'Essay on Projects' might
+start his passion for having things done better than in the ways he saw.
+The books that he was brought up on and with were books of De Foe's own
+time,--none of them more popular among reading people of Boston than De
+Foe's own books, for De Foe was a great light among their friends in
+England.
+
+"If Robinson Crusoe, on his second voyage, which was in the year 1718,
+had run into Boston for supplies, as he thought of doing; and if old
+Judge Sewall had asked him to dinner,--as he would have been likely to
+do, for Robinson was a godly old gentleman then, of intelligence and
+fortune,--if there had been by accident a vacant place at the table at
+the last moment, Judge Sewall might have sent round to Franklin's father
+to ask him to come in. For the elder Franklin, though only a
+tallow-chandler,--and only Goodman Franklin, not _Mr._ Franklin,--was a
+member of the church, well esteemed. He led the singing at the Old South
+after Judge Sewall's voice broke down.
+
+"Nay, when one remembers how much Sewall had to do with printing, one
+might imagine that the boy Ben Franklin should wait at the door with a
+proof-sheet, and even take off his boy's hat as Robinson Crusoe came
+in."
+
+Here Bedford Long put in a remark:--
+
+"There are things in Robinson Crusoe's accounts of his experiments in
+making his pipkins, which ought to bring him into any book of American
+inventors."
+
+"I never thought before," said Fergus, "that De Foe's experiences in
+making tiles and tobacco-pipes and drain-pipes fitted him for all that
+learned discussion of glazing, when Robinson Crusoe makes his pots and
+pans."
+
+"Good!" said Uncle Fritz; "that must be so.--Well, as you say, Alice,
+there are whole sentences in that narrative which you could suppose
+Franklin wrote, and in his works whole sentences which would fit in
+closely with De Foe's writing. The style of the younger man very closely
+resembles that of the older."
+
+"And Franklin would have been very much pleased to hear you say so."
+
+"He was forever inventing," said Uncle Fritz. "As I said, he was worried
+unless things could be better done. If he was in a storm, he wanted to
+still the waves. If the chimney smoked, he wanted to make a better
+fireplace. If he heard a girl play the musical-glasses, he must have and
+make a better set."
+
+"And if the house was struck by lightning, he went out and put up a
+lightning-rod."
+
+"He had a little book by which people should make themselves better; for
+he rightly considered that unless a man could do this, he could make no
+other improvement of much account."
+
+And when Uncle Fritz had said this, he found the passage, which he bade
+John read to them.
+
+
+FRANKLIN'S METHOD OF GROWING BETTER.
+
+"I made a little book in which I allotted a page for each of the
+virtues. [He had classified the virtues and made a list of thirteen,
+which will be named below.] I ruled each page with red ink, so as to
+have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column
+with a letter for the day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red
+lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one
+of the virtues, on which line and in its proper column I might mark, by
+a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been
+committed respecting that virtue upon that day. The thirteen virtues
+were: 1. TEMPERANCE; 2. SILENCE; 3. ORDER; 4. RESOLUTION; 5. FRUGALITY;
+6. INDUSTRY; 7. SINCERITY; 8. JUSTICE; 9. MODERATION; 10. CLEANLINESS;
+11. TRANQUILLITY; 12. CHASTITY; 13. HUMILITY. Each of these appears, by
+its full name or its initial, on every page of the book. But the full
+name of one only appears on each page.
+
+"My intention being to acquire the habitude of these virtues, I judged
+it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at
+once, but to fix it on one of them at a time, and when I should be
+master of that, then to proceed to another,--and so on, till I should
+have gone through the thirteen; and as the previous acquisition might
+facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged them with that
+view. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and
+clearness of head which is so necessary where constant vigilance has to
+be kept up, and a guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of
+ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations."[6] And so he
+goes on to show how Temperance would prepare for Silence, Silence for
+Order, Order for Resolution, and thus to the end.
+
+Here is the first page of the book, with the marks for the first six of
+the virtues.
+
+  +--------------------------------+
+  |           TEMPERANCE.          |
+  +--------------------------------+
+  |       EAT NOT TO DULNESS.      |
+  |                                |
+  |     DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION.    |
+  +----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
+  |    | S.| M.| T.| W.|Th.| F.| S.|
+  | T. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  | S. | * | * |   | * |   | * |   |
+  | O. | * | * | * |   | * | * | * |
+  | R. |   |   | * |   |   | * |   |
+  | F. |   | * |   |   | * |   |   |
+  | I. |   |   | * |   |   |   |   |
+  | S. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  | J. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  | M. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  | C. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  | T. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  | C. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  | H. |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+  +----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
+
+"I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues
+successively. Thus, in the first week my great guard was to avoid every
+the least offence against _Temperance_, leaving the other virtues to
+their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the
+day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T,
+clear of spots, I supposed the habit of that virtue so much
+strengthened, and its opposite weakened, that I might venture extending
+my attention to include the next, and for the following week keep both
+lines clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could go through a
+course complete in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like
+him who having a garden to weed does not attempt to eradicate all the
+bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but
+works on one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplished the first,
+proceeds to the second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging
+pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I made in virtue, by
+clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a
+number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a clean book, after a
+thirteen weeks' daily examination."
+
+
+Uncle Fritz said that this plan of Franklin's had been quite a favorite
+plan of different people at the end of the last century. Richard Lovell
+Edgeworth, and Mr. Day, and a good many of the other reformers in
+England, and many in France, really thought that if people only knew
+what was right they would all begin and do it. They had to learn, by
+their own experience or somebody's, that the difficulty was generally
+deeper down.
+
+There was a man, named Droz, who published a little book called "The Art
+of being Happy," with tables on which every night you were to mark
+yourself, as a school-mistress marks scholars at school, 10 for truth, 3
+for temper, 5 for industry, 9 for frugality, and so on.[7]
+
+"But in the long run," said Uncle Fritz, "there may be too much
+self-examination. If you really look up and not down, and look forward
+and not back, and loyally lend a hand, why, you can afford to look out
+and not in, in general."
+
+Fergus brought the talk back to the lightning-rod, and asked where was
+the earliest hint of it.
+
+The history seems to be this. In the year 1747 a gentleman named
+Collinson sent to Franklin, from England or Scotland, one of the glass
+tubes with which people were then trying electrical experiments.
+Franklin was very much interested. He went on repeating the experiments
+which had been made in England and on the Continent of Europe. With his
+general love of society in such things, he had other glass tubes made,
+and gave them to his friends.
+
+He had one immense advantage over the wise men of England and France, in
+the superior dryness of our air, which greatly favors such experiments.
+Almost any one of the young Americans who will read this book has tried
+the experiment of exciting electricity by shuffling across a Brussels
+carpet on a dry floor, and then lighting the gas from a gas-jet by the
+spark. But when you tell an Englishman in London that you have done
+this, he thinks at first that you are making fun of him. For it is very
+seldom that the air and the carpet and the floor are all dry enough for
+the experiment to succeed in England. This difference of climate
+accounts for the difficulty which the philosophers in England sometimes
+found in repeating Dr. Franklin's experiments.
+
+When it came to lightning and experiments about that, he had another
+very great advantage; for we have many more thunder-storms than they
+have. In the year 1752, when Mr. Watson was very eager to try the
+lightning experiments in England, he seems to have had, in all the
+summer, but two storms of thunder and lightning.
+
+Franklin made his apparatus on a scale which now seems almost gigantic.
+The "conductor" of an electrical machine such as you will generally see
+in a college laboratory is seldom more than two feet long. Franklin's
+conductor, which was hung by silk from the top of his room, was a
+cylinder ten feet long and one foot in diameter, covered with gilt
+paper. In his "Leyden battery" he used five glass jars, as big as large
+water-pails,--they held nine gallons each. One night he had arranged to
+kill a turkey by a shock from two of these. He received the shock
+himself, by accident, and it almost killed him. He had a theory that if
+turkeys were killed by electricity, the meat would perhaps be more
+tender.
+
+He acknowledges Mr. Collinson's present of the glass tube as early as
+March 28, 1747. On the 11th of July he writes to Collinson that they
+("we") had discovered the power of points to withdraw electricity
+silently and continuously. On this discovery the lightning-rod is based.
+He describes this quality, first observed by Mr. Hopkinson, in the
+following letter:--
+
+"The first is the wonderful effect of pointed bodies, both in _drawing
+off_ and _throwing off_ the electrical fire.
+
+"For example, place an iron shot, of three or four inches diameter, on
+the mouth of a clean, dry glass bottle. By a fine silken thread from the
+ceiling, right over the mouth of the bottle, suspend a small cork ball
+about the bigness of a marble; the thread of such a length, as that the
+cork ball may rest against the side of the shot. Electrify the shot, and
+the ball will be repelled to the distance of four or five inches, more
+or less, according to the quantity of electricity. When in this state,
+if you present to the shot the point of a long, slender, sharp bodkin,
+at six or eight inches distance, the repellency is instantly destroyed,
+and the cork flies to the shot. A blunt body must be brought within an
+inch and draw a spark, to produce the same effect. To prove that the
+electrical fire is _drawn off_ by the point, if you take the blade of
+the bodkin out of the wooden handle, and fix it in a stick of
+sealing-wax, and then present it at the distance aforesaid, or if you
+bring it very near, no such effect follows; but sliding one finger along
+the wax till you touch the blade, the ball flies to the shot
+immediately. If you present the point in the dark, you will see,
+sometimes at a foot distance and more, a light gather upon it, like that
+of a firefly or glow-worm; the less sharp the point, the nearer you must
+bring it to observe the light; and at whatever distance you see the
+light, you may draw off the electrical fire, and destroy the repellency.
+If a cork ball so suspended be repelled by the tube, and a point be
+presented quick to it, though at a considerable distance, it is
+surprising to see how suddenly it flies back to the tube. Points of wood
+will do near as well as those of iron, provided the wood is not dry; for
+perfectly dry wood will no more conduct electricity than sealing-wax.
+
+"To show that points will _throw off_ as well as _draw off_ the
+electrical fire, lay a long, sharp needle upon the shot, and you cannot
+electrize the shot so as to make it repel the cork ball. Or fix a needle
+to the end of a suspended gun-barrel or iron rod, so as to point beyond
+it like a little bayonet; and while it remains there, the gun-barrel or
+rod cannot, by applying the tube to the other end, be electrized so as
+to give a spark, the fire continually running out silently at the point.
+In the dark you may see it make the same appearance as it does in the
+case before mentioned."
+
+The next summer, that of 1748, the experiments went so far, that in a
+letter of Franklin's to Collinson he proposed the electrical
+dinner-party, which was such a delight to Harry and Lucy:--
+
+"Chagrined a little that we have been hitherto able to produce nothing
+in this way of use to mankind, and the hot weather coming on when
+electrical experiments are not so agreeable, it is proposed to put an
+end to them for this season, somewhat humorously, in a party of pleasure
+on the banks of the _Skuylkill_. Spirits, at the same time, are to be
+fired by a spark sent from side to side through the river, without any
+other conductor than the water; an experiment which we some time since
+performed, to the amazement of many. A turkey is to be killed for our
+dinner by the _electrical shock_, and roasted by the _electrical jack_,
+before a fire kindled by the _electrified bottle_; when the healths of
+all the famous electricians in England, Holland, France, and Germany are
+to be drank in _electrified bumpers_, under the discharge of guns from
+the _electrical battery_."
+
+It was in a letter to Collinson of the next year, 1749,--as I suppose,
+though it is not dated,--that the project of the lightning-rod first
+appears. It is too long to copy. The paragraphs most important in this
+view are the following:--
+
+"42. An electrical spark, drawn from an irregular body at some distance,
+is scarcely ever straight, but shows crooked and waving in the air. So
+do the flashes of lightning, the clouds being very irregular bodies.
+
+"43. As electrified clouds pass over a country, high hills and high
+trees, lofty towers, spires, masts of ships, chimneys, &c., as so many
+prominences and points, draw the electrical fire, and the whole cloud
+discharges there.
+
+"44. Dangerous, therefore, is it to take shelter under a tree during a
+thunder-gust. It has been fatal to many, both men and beasts.
+
+"45. It is safer to be in the open field for another reason. When the
+clothes are wet, if a flash in its way to the ground should strike your
+head, it may run in the water over the surface of your body; whereas, if
+your clothes were dry, it would go through the body, because the blood
+and other humors, containing so much water, are more ready conductors.
+
+"Hence a wet rat cannot be killed by the exploding electrical bottle,
+when a dry rat may."
+
+In a letter of 1750, based upon observations made in 1749, Franklin said
+distinctly, after describing some artificial lightning which he had
+made:--
+
+"If these things are so, may not the knowledge of this power of points
+be of use to mankind, in preserving houses, churches, ships, &c., from
+the stroke of lightning, by directing us to fix, on the highest parts of
+these edifices, upright rods of iron made sharp as a needle, and gilded
+to prevent rusting, and from the foot of those rods a wire down the
+outside of the building into the ground, or down round one of the
+shrouds of a ship, and down her side till it reaches the water? Would
+not these pointed rods probably draw the electrical fire silently out of
+a cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from
+that most sudden and terrible mischief?
+
+"To determine the question whether the clouds that contain lightning are
+electrified or not, I would propose an experiment to be tried where it
+may be done conveniently. On the top of some high tower or steeple,
+place a kind of sentry-box, big enough to contain a man and an
+electrical stand. From the middle of the stand let an iron rod rise and
+pass bending out of the door and then upright twenty or thirty feet,
+pointed very sharp at the end. If the electrical stand be kept clean and
+dry, a man standing on it, when such clouds are passing low, might be
+electrified and afford sparks, the rod drawing fire to him from a cloud.
+If any danger to the man should be apprehended (though I think there
+would be none), let him stand on the floor of his box, and now and then
+bring near to the rod the loop of a wire that has one end fastened to
+the leads, he holding it by a wax handle; so the sparks, if the rod is
+electrified, will strike from the rod to the wire, and not affect him."
+
+The Royal Society "did not think these papers worth printing"!
+
+But, happily, Collinson printed them, and they went all over Europe. The
+demonstration of the lightning theory, which he had wrought out by his
+own experiments, was made in France, May 10, 1752; and in Philadelphia
+by Franklin with the kite in the next month, before he had heard of the
+success in France. Franklin's friend Dalibard tried the French
+experiment. Here is his account of it, as he sent it to the French
+Academy, as Roxana translated it for the young people:--
+
+
+I have had perfect success in following out the course indicated by Mr.
+Franklin.
+
+I had set up at Marly-la-ville, situated six leagues from Paris, in a
+fine plain at a very elevated level, a round rod of iron, about an inch
+in diameter, forty feet long, and sharply pointed at its upper
+extremity. To secure greater fineness at the point, I had it armed with
+tempered steel, and then burnished, for want of gilding, so as to keep
+it from rusting; beside that, this iron rod is bent near its lower end
+into two acute but rounded angles; the first angle is two feet from the
+lower end, and the second takes a contrary direction at three feet from
+the first.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wednesday, the 10th of May, 1752, between two and three in the
+afternoon, a man named Coiffier, an old dragoon, whom I had intrusted
+with making the observations in my absence, having heard rather a loud
+clap of thunder, hastened at once to the machine, took the phial with
+the wire, presented the loop of the wire to the rod, saw a small bright
+spark come from it, and heard it crackle. He then drew a second spark,
+brighter than the first and with a louder sound! He called his
+neighbors, and sent for the Prior. This gentleman hastened to the spot
+as fast as he could: the parishioners, seeing the haste of their priest,
+imagined that poor Coiffier had been killed by the thunder; the alarm
+was spread in the village; the hail-storm which began did not prevent
+the flock from following its shepherd. This honest priest approached the
+machine, and, seeing that there was no danger, went to work himself and
+drew strong sparks. The cloud from which the storm and hail came was no
+more than a quarter of an hour in passing directly over our machine, and
+only this one thunder-clap was heard. As soon as the cloud had passed,
+and no more sparks were drawn from the iron rod, the Prior of Marly sent
+off Monsieur Coiffier himself, to bring me the following letter, which
+he wrote in haste:--
+
+
+I can now inform you, Sir, of what you are looking for. The experiment
+is completely successful. To-day, at twenty minutes past two, P. M., the
+thunder rolled directly over Marly; the clap was rather loud. The
+desire to oblige you, and my own curiosity, made me leave my arm-chair,
+where I was occupied in reading. I went to Coiffier's, who had already
+sent a child to me, whom I met on the way, to beg me to come. I
+redoubled my speed through a torrent of hail. When I arrived at the
+place where the bent rod was set up, I presented the wire, approaching
+it several times toward the rod. At the distance of an inch and a half,
+or about that, there came out of the rod a little column of bluish fire
+smelling of sulphur, which struck the loop of the wire with an extreme
+and rapid energy, and occasioned a sound like that which might be made
+by striking on the rod with a key. I repeated the experiment at least
+six times, in the space of about four minutes, in the presence of
+several persons; and each experiment which I made lasted the space of a
+_Pater_ and an _Ave_. I tried to go on; the action of the fire slackened
+little by little. I went nearer, and drew nothing more but a few sparks,
+and at last nothing appeared.
+
+The thunder-clap which caused this event was followed by no other; it
+all ended in a great quantity of hail. I was so occupied with what I saw
+at the moment of the experiment, that, having been struck on the arm a
+little above my elbow, I cannot say whether it was in touching the wire
+or the rod, I was not even aware of the injury which the blow had given
+me at the moment when I received it; but as the pain continued, on my
+return home I uncovered my arm before Coiffier, and we perceived a
+bruised mark winding round the arm, like what a wire would have made if
+my bare flesh had been struck by it. As I was going back from Coiffier's
+house, I met Monsieur le Vicaire, Monsieur de Milly, and the
+schoolmaster, to whom I related what had just happened. They all three
+declared that they smelt an odor of sulphur, which struck them more as
+they approached me. I carried the same odor home with me, and my
+servants noticed it without my having said anything to them about it.
+
+This, Monsieur, is an account given in haste, but simple and true, which
+I attest, and you may depend on my being ready to give evidence of this
+event on every opportunity. Coiffier was the first who made the
+experiment, and repeated it several times; it was only on account of
+what he had seen that he sent to ask me to come. If other witnesses than
+he and I are necessary, you will find them. Coiffier is in haste to set
+out.
+
+I am, with respectful consideration, Monsieur,
+
+                           Yours, &c.,
+           [Signed]                            RAULET, _Prior of Marly_.
+
+  MAY 10, 1752.
+
+
+"I do not understand," said Uncle Fritz, "how it happened that no one
+attempted the experiment before. Franklin had proposed it, very
+distinctly, in 1750. His friend Dr. Stuber says that he was waiting for
+the erection of a steeple in Philadelphia. You see, the Quakers, who had
+founded this city, would have none; they derided what they called
+'steeple-houses,' little foreseeing what advantage could be drawn from a
+steeple.
+
+"Meanwhile, in 1750, in October, he did take a view of New York from the
+'Dutch Church steeple,' which had been struck by lightning in the spring
+of that year. And here he was able to confirm his theory, by seeing that
+'wire is a good conductor of lightning, as it is of electricity.'"
+
+
+MUSICAL GLASSES.
+
+While some of the children were reading these electrical passages,
+others were turning over the next volume; and to their great delight,
+they found a picture of the "Musical Glasses."
+
+"I never had the slightest idea what musical glasses were," said Jack;
+and he spouted from Goldsmith the passage from "The Vicar of Wakefield,"
+where the fashionable ladies from London talked about "Shakspeare and
+the musical glasses."
+
+"Were they Dr. Franklin's musical glasses?"
+
+"I never thought of that," said Uncle Fritz, well pleased; "but I think
+it is so. John, look and see what year 'The Vicar of Wakefield' was
+written in."
+
+John turned to the Cyclopædia, and it proved that Goldsmith wrote that
+book in 1766.
+
+"And you see," said Uncle Fritz, "that it was in 1762 that Franklin made
+his improvement, and that Mr. Puckeridge, the Irish gentleman, had
+arranged his glasses before. I think you would find that the instrument
+gradually worked its way into fashion,--slowly, as such things then did
+in England,--and that Goldsmith knew about Dr. Franklin's modification.
+
+"I do not now remember any other place where Goldsmith's life and his
+touched. But they must have known a great many of the same people.
+Franklin was all mixed up with the Grub Street people."
+
+Meanwhile John was following up the matter in the Cyclopædia. But he did
+not find "Armonica." Uncle Fritz bade him try in the "H" volume; and
+there, sure enough, was "Harmonica," with quite a little history of the
+invention. Mr. Puckeridge's fascinating name is there tamed down to
+Pochrich, probably by some German translator. Dr. Franklin's instrument
+is described, and the Cyclopædia man adds:--
+
+"From the effect which it was supposed to have upon the nervous system,
+it has been suggested that the fingers should not be allowed to come in
+immediate contact with the glasses, but that the tones should be
+produced by means of keys, as with a harpsichord. Such an instrument has
+been made, and called the '_harpsichord harmonica_.' But these
+experiments have not produced anything of much value. It is impossible
+that the delicacy, the swell, and the continuation of the tone should be
+carried to such perfection as in the simpler method. The harmonica,
+however much it excels all other instruments in the delicacy and
+duration of its tones, yet is confined to those of a soft and melancholy
+character and to slow, solemn movements, and can hardly be combined to
+advantage with other instruments. In accompanying the human voice it
+throws it into the shade; and in concerts the other instruments lose in
+effect, because so far inferior to it in tone. It is therefore best
+enjoyed by itself, and may produce a charming effect in certain romantic
+situations."
+
+"'Romantic situations'! I should think so," said Mabel, laughing. "Is
+not that like the dear German man that wrote this? I see myself lugging
+my harmonica to the edge of the Kauterskill Falls."
+
+"How do you know he was a German?" said Alice.
+
+"Because, where John read 'the simpler method,' it says 'the
+before-mentioned method.' No Englishman or American in his senses ever
+said 'before-mentioned' if he could help himself."
+
+"Do let us see how dear Dr. Franklin made his machine."
+
+And the girls unfolded the old-fashioned picture, which is in the sixth
+volume of Sparks's Franklin, and read his description of it as he wrote
+it to Beccaria.
+
+"Is it the Beccaria who did about capital punishment?" asked Fergus.
+
+"No," Uncle Fritz said, "though they lived at the same time. They were
+not brothers. The capital-punishment man was the Marquis _of_ Beccaria,
+and that _of_ makes a great difference in Europe. This man 'did'
+electricity, as you would say; and his name is plain Beccaria without
+any _of_."
+
+Then Mabel, commanding silence, at last read the letter to Beccaria. And
+when she had done, Uncle Fritz said that he should think there might be
+many a boy or girl who could not buy a piano or what he profanely called
+a Yang-Yang,--by which he meant a reed organ,--who would like to make a
+harmonica. The letter, in a part not copied here, tells how to tune the
+glasses. And any one who lived near a glass-factory, and was on the
+good-natured side of a good workman, could have the glasses made without
+much expense.
+
+
+_Letter of Franklin to J. B. Beccaria._
+
+                                                  LONDON, July 13, 1762.
+
+REVEREND SIR,--... Perhaps, however, it may be agreeable to you, as you
+live in a musical country, to have an account of the new instrument
+lately added here to the great number that charming science was already
+possessed of. As it is an instrument that seems peculiarly adapted to
+Italian music, especially that of the soft and plaintive kind, I will
+endeavor to give you such a description of it, and of the manner of
+constructing it, that you or any of your friends may be enabled to
+imitate it, if you incline so to do, without being at the expense and
+trouble I have been to bring it to its present perfection.
+
+You have doubtless heard of the sweet tone that is drawn from a
+drinking-glass by passing a wet finger round its brim. One Mr.
+Puckeridge, a gentleman from Ireland, was the first who thought of
+playing tunes formed of these tones. He collected a number of glasses of
+different sizes, fixed them near each other on a table, tuned them by
+putting into them water more or less, as each note required. The tones
+were brought out by passing his finger round their brims. He was
+unfortunately burned here, with his instrument, in a fire which consumed
+the house he lived in. Mr. E. Delaval, a most ingenious member of our
+Royal Society, made one in imitation of it, with a better form and
+choice of glasses, which was the first I saw or heard. Being charmed by
+the sweetness of its tones, and the music he produced from it, I wished
+only to see the glasses disposed in a more convenient form, and brought
+together in a narrower compass, so as to admit of a greater number of
+tones, and all within reach of hand to a person sitting before the
+instrument, which I accomplished, after various intermediate trials, and
+less commodious forms, both of glasses and construction, in the
+following manner.
+
+The glasses are blown as nearly as possible in the form of hemispheres,
+having each an open neck or socket in the middle. The thickness of the
+glass near the brim about a tenth of an inch, or hardly quite so much,
+but thicker as it comes nearer the neck, which in the largest glasses is
+about an inch deep, and an inch and a half wide within, these dimensions
+lessening as the glasses themselves diminish in size, except that the
+neck of the smallest ought not to be shorter than half an inch. The
+largest glass is nine inches diameter, and the smallest three inches.
+Between these two are twenty-three different sizes, differing from each
+other a quarter of an inch in diameter. To make a single instrument
+there should be at least six glasses blown of each size; and out of this
+number one may probably pick thirty-seven glasses (which are sufficient
+for three octaves with all the semitones) that will be each either the
+note one wants or a little sharper than that note, and all fitting so
+well into each other as to taper pretty regularly from the largest to
+the smallest. It is true there are not thirty-seven sizes, but it often
+happens that two of the same size differ a note or half-note in tone, by
+reason of a difference in thickness, and these may be placed one in the
+other without sensibly hurting the regularity of the taper form.
+
+The glasses being thus turned, you are to be provided with a case for
+them, and a spindle on which they are to be fixed. My case is about
+three feet long, eleven inches every way wide at the biggest end; for it
+tapers all the way, to adapt it better to the conical figure of the set
+of glasses. This case opens in the middle of its height, and the upper
+part turns up by hinges fixed behind. The spindle, which is of hard
+iron, lies horizontally from end to end of the box within, exactly in
+the middle, and is made to turn on brass gudgeons at each end. It is
+round, an inch in diameter at the thickest end, and tapering to a
+quarter of an inch at the smallest. A square shank comes from its
+thickest end through the box, on which shank a wheel is fixed by a
+screw. This wheel serves as a fly to make the motion equable, when the
+spindle with the glasses is turned by the foot like a spinning-wheel.
+My wheel is of mahogany, eighteen inches diameter, and pretty thick, so
+as to conceal near its circumference about twenty-five pounds of lead.
+An ivory pin is fixed in the face of this wheel, and about four inches
+from the axis. Over the neck of this pin is put the loop of the string
+that comes up from the movable step to give it motion. The case stands
+on a neat frame with four legs.
+
+To fix the glasses on the spindle, a cork is first to be fitted in each
+neck pretty tight, and projecting a little without the neck, that the
+neck of one may not touch the inside of another when put together, for
+that would make a jarring. These corks are to be perforated with holes
+of different diameters, so as to suit that part of the spindle on which
+they are to be fixed. When a glass is put on, by holding it stiffly
+between both hands, while another turns the spindle, it may be gradually
+brought to its place. But care must be taken that the hole be not too
+small, lest, in forcing it up, the neck should split; nor too large,
+lest the glass, not being firmly fixed, should turn or move on the
+spindle, so as to touch or jar against its neighboring glass. The
+glasses are thus placed one in another, the largest on the biggest end
+of the spindle, which is to the left hand; the neck of this glass is
+towards the wheel, and the next goes into it in the same position, only
+about an inch of its brim appearing beyond the brim of the first; thus
+proceeding, every glass when fixed shows about an inch of its brim (or
+three quarters of an inch, or half an inch, as they grow smaller) beyond
+the brim of the glass that contains it; and it is from these exposed
+parts of each glass that the tone is drawn, by laying a finger upon one
+of them as the spindle and glasses turn round.
+
+My largest glass is G, a little below the reach of a common voice, and
+my highest G, including three complete octaves. To distinguish the
+glasses the more readily to the eye, I have painted the apparent parts
+of the glasses withinside, every semitone white, and the other notes of
+the octave with the seven prismatic colors,--viz., C, red; D, orange; E,
+yellow; F, green; G, blue; A, indigo; B, purple; and C, red again,--so
+that glasses of the same color (the white excepted) are always octaves
+to each other.
+
+This instrument is played upon by sitting before the middle of the set
+of glasses, as before the keys of a harpsichord, turning them with the
+foot, and wetting them now and then with a sponge and clean water. The
+fingers should be first a little soaked in water, and quite free from
+all greasiness; a little fine chalk upon them is sometimes useful, to
+make them catch the glass and bring out the tone more readily. Both
+hands are used, by which means different parts are played together.
+Observe that the tones are best brought out when the glasses turn _from_
+the ends of the fingers, not when they turn _to_ them.
+
+The advantages of this instrument are, that its tones are incomparably
+sweet, beyond those of any other; that they may be swelled and softened
+at pleasure by stronger or weaker pressure of the finger, and continued
+to any length; and that the instrument, being once well tuned, never
+again wants tuning.
+
+In honor of your musical language, I have borrowed from it the name of
+this instrument, calling it the Armonica.
+
+With great respect and esteem, I am, &c.,
+
+                                                            B. FRANKLIN.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+THEORISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+
+RICHARD LOVELL EDGEWORTH.
+
+At the next meeting there was a slight deviation from the absolutely
+expected. Bedford and Mabel desired to dispense with the regular order
+of the day, and moved for permission to bring in a new inventor,
+"invented by myself," said Mabel,--"entirely by myself, assisted by
+Bedford. Nobody that I know of ever heard of him before. He is a new
+discovery."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Horace, somewhat piqued that there should be any one
+interesting of whom he had not heard even the name.
+
+"What did he invent?" asked Emma.
+
+"Did he write memoirs?" asked Fergus.
+
+"Did you ever read 'Frank'?" asked Mabel, in what is known as the
+Socratic method.
+
+There was a slight stir at the mention of this little classic. Few
+seemed to be able to answer in the affirmative.
+
+"I have read 'Rollo,'" said Horace.
+
+"I have read 'Frank,'" said Will Withers, "and 'Harry and Lucy,' and the
+'Parents' Assistant,' and 'Sandford and Merton,' and 'Henry Milner.' In
+fact, there are few of those books, all kindred volumes, which I have
+not read. They have had an important effect upon my later life."
+
+"Hinc illae lachrymae," in a low tone from Clem Waters.
+
+For Colonel Ingham, the turn taken by the conversation had a peculiar
+charm. He was of the generation before the rest, and what were to them
+but ghostly ideals were to him glad memories of a happy past.
+
+"Good!" said he. "'Frank' was, in a sense, the greatest book ever
+written. Do you remember that part where Frank lifted up the skirts of
+his coat when passing through the greenhouse?" he asked of Mabel.
+
+"I should think I did," said Mabel and Will. As for Bedford, he had only
+a vague recollection of it. The others considered the conversation to be
+trembling upon the verge of insanity.
+
+"Perhaps," said Florence, gently, "I might be allowed to suggest that
+although you have heard of 'Frank' and those other persons mentioned, we
+have not. I do not think that I ever heard of an inventor named
+Frank,--did he have any other name?--and I am usually considered," she
+went on modestly, "tolerably well informed. Therefore the present
+conversation, though probably edifying in a high degree to those who
+have read 'Frank,' or who have some interest in horticulture and
+greenhouses, can hardly fail to be very stupid to those of us who have
+not."
+
+"My dear child," said the Colonel, "you are right. Mabel and I, and Will
+and Bedford here, are of the generation that is passing off the stage.
+We look back to the things of our youth, hardly considering that there
+are those to whom that period suggests Noah and his ark."
+
+"But who is the inventor?" asked some one who thought that the
+conversation was gradually leaving the trodden path.
+
+"Oh, we had almost forgotten him," said Bedford.
+
+"The inventor," said Mabel, producing two volumes from under her arm,
+"is Mr. Richard Lovell Edgeworth, the father of Maria Edgeworth."
+
+"What did he invent?" asked many of the company.
+
+"He invented the telegraph."
+
+"Well, I never knew that before."
+
+"I thought Morse invented the telegraph."
+
+"Didn't Dr. Franklin invent the telegraph?"
+
+"I thought Edison--"
+
+Other remarks were also made, showing a certain amount of incredulity.
+
+"You mistake," said Bedford, placidly; "you are all of you under a
+misapprehension. I think that you all of you allude to the electric
+telegraph,--an invention of a later date than that of Mr. Edgeworth, and
+one of more value, as far as practical affairs are concerned. No; Mr.
+Edgeworth invented, or thinks he invented, the telegraph as it was used
+in the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth,
+sometimes named the Semaphore. It wasn't a difficult invention, and I
+don't believe it ever came to any very practical use as constructed by
+Edgeworth, though French telegraphs were very useful."
+
+"What kind of a telegraph was it?"
+
+"Well, it was just the kind of a telegraph that the conductor of a
+railroad train is when he waves his arms to the engineer to go ahead.
+There's an account of it by Edgeworth in one of these books, with
+pictures to it."
+
+"But my chief interest about Edgeworth," said Mabel, "is in his memoirs,
+which are written partly by himself and partly by his daughter. They are
+really very amusing. He was married five times,--once with a door-key
+when he was only fourteen."
+
+This startling intelligence roused even Colonel Ingham to demand
+particulars. Was he married to all five at once? to all of them when he
+was only fourteen?
+
+"No," admitted Mabel, with some regret; "he was married to them, all at
+different times, and he was divorced from the one he married at fourteen
+with the door-key."
+
+"They were only married for fun," said Bedford. "It was all a joke. They
+were at a wedding, and they thought it would be funny after the real
+marriage to have a mock one. So they did, and married Edgeworth to a
+girl who was there. It was a real marriage, for they were afterwards
+divorced."
+
+"Well," said Sam Edmeston, "I shall be glad to hear about this
+gentleman, I'm sure, though I never did hear of him before. But may I
+ask why it was necessary to introduce him by means of an allusion to
+'Frank' and other works which we have few of us ever read, though it is
+very possible that we may some of us have heard of them?"
+
+"I see why Mabel spoke first of 'Frank,'" said Colonel Ingham. "And I
+think that she did very well to bring Edgeworth in as she has done. And
+Edgeworth, though I had not thought of him before, is very fit to be one
+of our inventors, not so much for his individual accomplishments, which
+were little more than curious,--telegraph and all,--as for being a good
+representative of his age. Those of you who know a little of the century
+between 1750 and 1850 know that it was an age to which many of the
+secrets of physical science were being opened for the first time.
+Everybody was going back to Nature to see what he could learn from her.
+This movement swept all over France and England. Every gentleman
+dabbled in the sciences, and made his experiments and inventions.
+Voltaire in France had a great laboratory made for him in which he
+passed some years in chemical experiments. It was the age, too, of great
+inventions,--of the application of physical forces to the life of man.
+The invention of the steam-engine by Watt, and the applications of it to
+the locomotive and the steamboat, came along toward the end of this
+period, and marked the work of the greatest men. But every one could not
+invent a steam-engine. So, by the hundreds of country gentlemen who
+studied science, chemistry, and astronomy, and the rest, there were
+constructed hundreds of orreries, globes, carriages, model-telegraphs,
+and such things; and it is of these men that Edgeworth is the best, or
+at least the most available, representative, on account of his very
+interesting memoirs.
+
+"Such books as 'Harry and Lucy' and 'Frank' are the mirror of this
+movement. But to this is joined something more, which John Morley speaks
+of in saying, 'An age touched by the spirit of hope turns naturally to
+the education of the young.' Then people knew that their own times were
+about as worthless as times could well be; but as they learned more,
+they began to hope that things were improving, and that the children
+might see better times than those in which the fathers lived. And as
+physical science was to them an all-important factor in this approaching
+millennium, they took pains to teach these things to the young. Any of
+you who have read 'Frank' or 'Sandford and Merton' will see what I mean.
+It was the hope that the children might be able to take the work where
+the fathers left it, and carry it on. And the children did. But I do not
+believe that any one of these eighteenth-century theorists had the first
+or vaguest idea of the point to which his children and grandchildren
+would carry his work.
+
+"So much for Mr. Edgeworth from my point of view," concluded the
+Colonel. "You will hear what he thought of himself from Bedford."
+
+
+EDGEWORTH'S TELEGRAPH.
+
+[DESCRIBED BY HIMSELF.]
+
+Bets of a rash or ingenious sort were in fashion in those days, and one
+proposal of what was difficult and uncommon led to another. A famous
+match was at that time pending at Newmarket between two horses that were
+in every respect as nearly equal as possible. Lord March, one evening at
+Ranelagh, expressed his regret to Sir Francis Delaval that he was not
+able to attend Newmarket at the next meeting. "I am obliged," said he,
+"to stay in London. I shall, however, be at the Turf Coffee House. I
+shall station fleet horses on the road to bring me the earliest
+intelligence of the event of the race, and shall manage my bets
+accordingly."
+
+I asked at what time in the evening he expected to know who was winner.
+He said about nine in the evening. I asserted that I should be able to
+name the winning horse at four o'clock in the afternoon. Lord March
+heard my assertion with so much incredulity as to urge me to defend
+myself; and at length I offered to lay five hundred pounds, that I would
+in London name the winning horse at Newmarket at five o'clock in the
+evening of the day when the great match in question was to be run. Sir
+Francis, having looked at me for encouragement, offered to lay five
+hundred pounds on my side; Lord Eglintoun did the same; Shaftoe and
+somebody else took up their bets; and the next day we were to meet at
+the Turf Coffee House, to put our bets in writing. After we went home, I
+explained to Sir Francis Delaval the means that I proposed to use. I had
+early been acquainted with Wilkins's "Secret and Swift Messenger;" I had
+also read in Hooke's Works of a scheme of this sort, and I had
+determined to employ a telegraph nearly resembling that which I have
+since published. The machinery I knew could be prepared in a few days.
+
+Sir Francis immediately perceived the feasibility of my scheme, and
+indeed its certainty of success. It was summer-time; and by employing a
+sufficient number of persons, we could place our machines so near as to
+be almost out of the power of the weather. When we all met at the Turf
+Coffee House, I offered to double my bet; so did Sir Francis. The
+gentlemen on the opposite side were willing to accept my offer; but
+before I would conclude my wager, I thought it fair to state to Lord
+March that I did not depend upon the fleetness or strength of horses to
+carry the desired intelligence, but upon other means, which I had, of
+being informed in London which horse had actually won at Newmarket,
+between the time when the race should be concluded and five o 'clock in
+the evening. My opponents thanked me for my candor and declined the bet.
+My friends blamed me extremely for giving up such an advantageous
+speculation. None of them, except Sir Francis, knew the means which I
+had intended to employ; and he kept them a profound secret, with a view
+to use them afterwards for his own purposes. With that energy which
+characterized everything in which he engaged, he immediately erected,
+under my directions, an apparatus between his house and part of
+Piccadilly,--an apparatus which was never suspected to be telegraphic.
+I also set up a night telegraph between a house which Sir F. Delaval
+occupied at Hampstead, and one to which I had access in Great Russell
+Street, Bloomsbury. This nocturnal telegraph answered well, but was too
+expensive for common use.
+
+Upon my return home to Hare Hatch, I tried many experiments on different
+modes of telegraphic communication. My object was to combine secrecy
+with expedition. For this purpose I intended to employ windmills, which
+might be erected for common economical uses, and which might at the same
+time afford easy means of communication from place to place upon
+extraordinary occasions. There is a windmill at Nettlebed, which can be
+distinctly seen with a good glass from Assy Hill, between Maidenhead and
+Henly, the highest ground in England south of the Trent. With the
+assistance of Mr. Perrot, of Hare Hatch, I ascertained the
+practicability of my scheme between these places, which are nearly
+sixteen miles asunder.
+
+I have had occasion to show my claim to the revival of this invention in
+modern times, and in particular to prove that I had practised
+telegraphic communication in the year 1767, long before it was ever
+attempted in France. To establish these truths, I obtained from Mr.
+Perrot, a Berkshire gentleman, who resided in the neighborhood of Hare
+Hatch, and who was witness to my experiments, his testimony to the facts
+which I have just related. I have his letter; and before its contents
+were published in the Memoirs of the Irish Academy for the year 1796, I
+showed it to Lord Charlemont, President of the Royal Irish Academy.
+
+
+MR. EDGEWORTH'S TELEGRAPH IN IRELAND.
+
+[DESCRIBED BY HIS DAUGHTER.]
+
+In August, 1794, my father made a trial of his telegraph between
+Pakenham Hall and Edgeworth Town, a distance of twelve miles. He found
+it to succeed beyond his expectations; and in November following he made
+another trial of it at Collon, at Mr. Foster's, in the county of Louth.
+The telegraphs were on two hills, at fifteen miles' distance from each
+other. A communication of intelligence was made, and an answer received,
+in the space of five minutes. Mr. Foster--my father's friend, and the
+friend of everything useful to Ireland--was well convinced of the
+advantage and security this country would derive from a system of quick
+and certain communication; and, being satisfied of the sufficiency of
+this telegraph, advised that a memorial on the subject should be drawn
+up for Government. Accordingly, under his auspices, a memorial was
+presented, in 1795, to Lord Camden, then Lord Lieutenant. His Excellency
+glanced his eye over the paper, and said that he did not think such an
+establishment necessary, but desired to reserve the matter for further
+consideration. My father waited in Dublin for some time. The suspense
+and doubt in which courtiers are obliged to live is very different from
+that state of philosophical doubt which the wise recommend, and to which
+they are willing to submit. My father's patience was soon exhausted. The
+county in which he resided was then in a disturbed state; and he was
+eager to return to his family, who required his protection. Besides, to
+state things exactly as they were, his was not the sort of temper
+suited to attendance upon the great.
+
+The disturbances in the County of Longford were quieted for a time by
+the military; but again, in the autumn of the ensuing year (September,
+1796), rumors of an invasion prevailed, and spread with redoubled force
+through Ireland, disturbing commerce, and alarming all ranks of
+well-disposed subjects. My father wrote to Lord Carhampton, then
+Commander-in-Chief, and to Mr. Pelham (now Lord Chichester), who was
+then Secretary in Ireland, offering his services. The Secretary
+requested Mr. Edgeworth would furnish him with a memorial. Aware of the
+natural antipathy that public men feel at the sight of long memorials,
+this was made short enough to give it a chance of being read.
+
+
+(Presented, Oct. 6, 1796.)
+
+Mr. Edgeworth will undertake to convey intelligence from Dublin to Cork,
+and back to Dublin, by means of fourteen or fifteen different stations,
+at the rate of one hundred pounds per annum for each station, as long as
+Government shall think proper; and from Dublin to any other place, at
+the same rate, in proportion to the distance: provided that when
+Government chooses to discontinue the business, they shall pay one
+year's contract over and above the current expense, as some compensation
+for the prime cost of the apparatus, and the trouble of the first
+establishment.
+
+
+In a letter of a single page, accompanying this memorial, it was stated,
+that to establish a telegraphic corps of men sufficient to convey
+intelligence to every part of the kingdom where it should be necessary,
+stations tenable against a mob and against musketry might be effected
+for the sum of _six or seven thousand pounds_. It was further observed,
+that of course there must be a considerable difference between a partial
+and a general plan of telegraphic communication; that Mr. Edgeworth was
+perfectly willing to pursue either, or to adopt without reserve any
+better plan that Government should approve. Thanks were returned, and
+approbation expressed.
+
+Nothing now appeared in suspense except the _mode_ of the establishment,
+whether it should be civil or military. Meantime Mr. Pelham spoke of the
+Duke of York's wish to have a reconnoitring telegraph, and observed that
+Mr. Edgeworth's would be exactly what his Royal Highness wanted. Mr.
+Edgeworth in a few days constructed a portable telegraph, and offered it
+to Mr. Pelham. He accepted it, and at his request my brother Lovell
+carried it to England, and presented it to the Duke from Mr. Pelham.
+
+During the interval of my brother's absence in England, my father had no
+doubt that arrangements were making for a telegraphic establishment
+in Ireland. But the next time he went to the castle, he saw
+signs of a change in the Secretary's countenance, who seemed much
+hurried,--promised he would write,--wrote, and conveyed, in diplomatic
+form, a final refusal. Mr. Pelham indeed endeavored to make it as civil
+as he could, concluding his letter with these words:--
+
+
+The utility of a telegraph may hereafter be considered greater; but I
+trust that at all events those talents which have been directed to this
+pursuit will be turned to some other object, and that the public will
+have the benefit of that extraordinary activity and zeal which I have
+witnessed on this occasion in some other institution which I am sure
+that the ingenuity of the author will not require much time to suggest.
+
+I have the honor to be, with great respect, &c,
+
+                                                              T. PELHAM.
+
+DUBLIN CASTLE, Nov. 17, 1796.
+
+
+Of his offer to establish a communication from the coast of Cork to
+Dublin, at _his own expense_, no notice was taken. "He had, as was known
+to Government, expended £500 of his own money; as much more would have
+erected a temporary establishment for a year to Cork. Thus the utility
+of this invention might have been tried, and the most prudent government
+upon earth could not have accused itself of extravagance in being
+partner with a private gentleman in an experiment which had, with
+inferior apparatus, and at four times the expense, been tried in France
+and England, and approved." The most favorable supposition by which we
+can account for the conduct of the Irish Government in this business is
+that a superior influence in England forbade them to proceed. "It must,"
+said my father, "be mortifying to a viceroy who comes over to Ireland
+with enlarged views and benevolent intentions, to discover, when he
+attempts to act for himself, that he is peremptorily checked; that a
+circle is chalked round him, beyond which he cannot move."
+
+No personal feelings of pique or disgust prevented my father from
+renewing his efforts to be of service to his country. Two months after
+the rejection of his telegraph, on Friday the 30th of December, 1796,
+the French were on the Irish coasts. Of this he received intelligence
+late at night. Immediately he sent a servant express to the Secretary,
+with a letter offering to erect telegraphs, which he had in Dublin, on
+any line that Government should direct, and proposing to bring his own
+men with him; or to join the army with his portable telegraphs, to
+reconnoitre. His servant was sent back with a note from the Secretary,
+containing compliments and the promise of a speedy answer; no further
+answer ever reached him. Upon this emergency he could, with the
+assistance of his friends, have established an immediate communication
+between Dublin and the coast, which should not have cost the country one
+shilling. My father showed no mortification at the neglect with which he
+was treated, but acknowledged that he felt much "concern in losing an
+opportunity of saving an enormous expense to the public, and of
+alleviating the anxiety and distress of thousands." A telegraph was most
+earnestly wished for at this time by the best-informed people in
+Ireland, as well as by those whose perceptions had suddenly quickened at
+the view of immediate danger. Great distress, bankruptcies, and ruin to
+many families, were the consequences of this attempted invasion. The
+troops were harassed with contrary orders and forced marches, for want
+of intelligence, and from that indecision which must always be the
+consequence of insufficient information. Many days were spent in terror
+and in fruitless wishes for the English fleet. One fact may mark the
+hurry and confusion of the time; the cannon and the ball sent to Bantry
+Bay were of different calibre. At last Ireland was providentially saved
+by the change of wind, which prevented the enemy from effecting a
+landing on her coast.
+
+That the public will feel little interest in the danger of an invasion
+of Ireland which might have happened in the last century; that it can be
+of little consequence to the public to hear how or why, twenty years
+ago, this or that man's telegraph was not established,--I am aware; and
+I am sensible that few will care how cheaply it might have been
+obtained, or will be greatly interested in hearing of generous offers
+which were not accepted, and patriotic exertions which were not
+permitted to be of any national utility. I know that as a biographer I
+am expected to put private feelings out of the question; and this duty,
+as far as human nature will permit, I hope I have performed.
+
+The facts are stated from my own knowledge, and from a more detailed
+account in his own "Letter to Lord Charlemont on the Telegraph,"--a
+political pamphlet, uncommon at least for its temperate and good-humored
+tone.
+
+Though all his exertions to establish a telegraph in Ireland were at
+this time unsuccessful, yet he persevered in the belief that in future
+modes of telegraphic communication would be generally adopted; and
+instead of his hopes being depressed, they were raised and expanded by
+new consideration of the subject in a scientific light. In the sixth
+volume of the "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," he published an
+"Essay on the Art of Conveying Swift and Secret Intelligence," in which
+he gives a comprehensive view of the uses to which the system may be
+applied, and a description, with plates, of his own machinery. Accounts
+of his apparatus and specimens of his vocabulary have been copied into
+various popular publications, therefore it is sufficient here to refer
+to them. The peculiar advantages of his machinery consist, in the first
+place, in being as free from friction as possible, consequently in its
+being easily moved, and not easily destroyed by use; in the next place,
+on its being simple, consequently easy to make and to repair. The
+superior advantage of his vocabulary arises from its being
+undecipherable. This depends on his employing the numerical figures
+instead of the alphabet. With a power of almost infinite change, and
+consequently with defiance of detection, he applies the combination of
+numerical figures to the words of a common dictionary, or to any length
+of phrase in any given vocabulary. He was the first who made this
+application of figures to telegraphic communication.
+
+Much has been urged by various modern claimants for the honor of the
+invention of the telegraph. In England the claims of Dr. Hooke and of
+the Marquis of Worcester to the original idea are incontestable. But the
+invention long lay dormant, till wakened into active service by the
+French. Long before the French telegraph appeared, my father had tried
+his first telegraphic experiments. As he mentions in his own narrative,
+he tried the use of windmill sails in 1767 in Berkshire; and also a
+nocturnal telegraph with lamps and illuminated letters, between London
+and Hampstead. He refers for the confirmation of the facts to a letter
+of Mr. Perrot's, a Berkshire gentleman who was with him at the time. The
+original of this letter is now in my possession. It was shown in 1795 to
+the President of the Royal Irish Academy. The following is a copy of
+it:--
+
+
+DEAR SIR,--I perfectly recollect having several conversations with you
+in 1767 on the subject of a speedy and secret conveyance of
+intelligence. I recollect your going up the hills to see how far and how
+distinctly the arms (and the position of them) of Nettlebed Windmill
+sails were to be discovered with ease.
+
+As to the experiments from Highgate to London by means of lamps, I was
+not present at the time, but I remember your mentioning the circumstance
+to me in the same year. All these particulars were brought very strongly
+to my memory when the French, some years ago, conveyed intelligence by
+signals; and I then thought and declared that the merit of the invention
+undoubtedly belonged to you. I am very glad that I have it in my power
+to send you this confirmation, because I imagine there is no other
+person now living who can bear witness to your observations in
+Berkshire.
+
+I remain, dear Sir,
+
+                       Your affectionate friend,
+                                                        JAMES L. PERROT.
+
+BATH, Dec. 9, 1795.
+
+
+Claims of priority of invention are always listened to with doubt, or,
+at best, with impatience. To those who bring the invention to
+perfection, who actually adapt it to use, mankind are justly most
+grateful, and to these, rather than to the original inventors, grant the
+honors of a triumph. Sensible of this, the matter is urged no farther,
+but left to the justice of posterity.
+
+I am happy to state, however, one plain fact, which stands independent
+of all controversy, that my father's was the _first_, and I believe the
+only, telegraph which ever spoke across the Channel from Ireland to
+Scotland. He was, as he says in his essay on this subject, "ambitious of
+being the first person who should connect the islands more closely by
+facilitating their mutual intercourse;" and on the 24th of August, 1794,
+my brothers had the satisfaction of sending by my father's telegraph
+four messages across the Channel, and of receiving immediate answers,
+before a vast concourse of spectators.
+
+
+_Edgeworth to Dr. Darwin._
+
+                                           EDGEWORTHTOWN, Dec. 11, 1794.
+
+I have been employed for two months in experiments upon a telegraph of
+my own invention. I tried it partially twenty-six years ago. It differs
+from the French in distinctness and expedition, as the intelligence is
+not conveyed alphabetically....
+
+I intended to detail my telegraphs (in the plural), but I find that I
+have not room at present. If you think it worth while, you shall have
+the whole scheme before you, which I know you will improve for me.
+Suffice it, that by day, at eighteen or twenty miles' distance, I show,
+by four pointers, isosceles triangles, twenty feet high, on four
+imaginary circles, eight imaginary points, which correspond with the
+figures
+
+  0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
+
+So that seven thousand different combinations are formed, of four
+figures each, which refer to a dictionary of words that are referred
+to,--of lists of the navy, army, militia, lords, commons, geographical
+and technical terms, &c, besides an alphabet. So that everything one
+wishes may be transmitted with expedition.
+
+By night, white lights are used.
+
+
+_Dr. Darwin to Mr. Edgeworth._
+
+                                                  DERBY, March 15, 1795.
+
+DEAR SIR,--I beg your pardon for not immediately answering your last
+favor, which was owing to the great influence the evil demon has at
+present in all affairs on this earth. That is, I lost your letter, and
+have in vain looked over some scores of papers, and cannot find it.
+Secondly, having lost your letter, I daily hoped to find it
+again--without success.
+
+The telegraph you described I dare say would answer the purpose. It
+would be like a giant wielding his long arms and talking with his
+fingers; and those long arms might be covered with lamps in the night.
+You would place four or six such gigantic figures in a line, so that
+they should spell a whole word at once; and other such figures in sight
+of each other, all round the coast of Ireland; and thus fortify
+yourselves, instead of Friar Bacon's wall of brass round England, with
+the brazen head, which spoke, "Time is! Time was! Time is past!"
+
+
+MR. EDGEWORTH'S MACHINE.
+
+Having slightly mentioned the contrivances made use of by the ancients
+for conveying intelligence swiftly, and having pointed out some of the
+various important uses to which this art may be applied, I shall
+endeavor to give a clear view of my attempts on this subject.
+
+Models of the French telegraph have been so often exhibited, and the
+machine itself is so well known, that it is not necessary to describe it
+minutely in this place. It is sufficient to say that it consists of a
+tall pole, with three movable arms, which may be seen at a considerable
+distance through telescopes; these arms may be set in as many different
+positions as are requisite to express all the different letters of the
+alphabet. By a successive combination of letters shown in this manner,
+words and sentences are formed and intelligence communicated. No doubt
+can be made of the utility of this machine, as it has been applied to
+the most important purposes. It is obviously liable to mistakes, from
+the number of changes requisite for each word, and from the velocity
+with which it must be moved to convey intelligence with any tolerable
+expedition.
+
+The name, however, which is well chosen, has become so familiar, that I
+shall, with a slight alteration, adopt it for the apparatus which I am
+going to describe. _Telegraph_ is a proper name for a machine which
+describes at a distance. _Telelograph_, or contractedly _Tellograph_, is
+a proper name for a machine that describes _words_ at a distance.
+
+Dr. Hooke, to whom every mechanic philosopher must recur, has written an
+essay upon the subject of conveying swift intelligence, in which he
+proposes to use large wooden letters in succession. The siege of Vienna
+turned his attention to the business. His method is more cumbrous than
+the French telegraph, but far less liable to error.
+
+I tried it before I had seen Hooke's work, in the year 1767 in London,
+and I could distinctly read letters illuminated with lamps in Hampstead
+Churchyard, from the house of Mr. Elers in Great Russell Street,
+Bloomsbury, to whom I refer for date and circumstance. To him and to Mr.
+E. Delaval, F.R.S., to Mr. Perrot, of Hare Hatch, and to Mr Woulfe the
+chemist, I refer for the precedency which I claim in this invention. In
+that year I invented the idea of my present tellograph, proposing to
+make use of windmill sails instead of the hands or pointers which I now
+employ. Mr. Perrot was so good as to accompany me more than once to a
+hill near his house to observe with a telescope the windmill at
+Nettlebed, which places are, I think, sixteen miles asunder. My
+intention at that time was to convey not only a swift but an
+unsuspected mode of intelligence. By means of common windmills this
+might have been effected, before an account of the French telegraph was
+made public.
+
+My machinery consists of four triangular pointers or hands [each upon a
+separate pedestal, ranged along in a row], each of which points like the
+hand of a clock to different situations in the circles which they
+describe. It is easy to distinguish whether a hand moving vertically
+points perpendicularly downwards or upwards, horizontally to the right
+or left, or to any of the four intermediate positions.
+
+The eye can readily perceive the eight different positions in which one
+of the pointers is represented [on the plate attached to the article in
+the "Transactions," but here omitted]. Of these eight positions seven
+only are employed to denote figures, the upright position of the hand or
+pointer being reserved to represent o, or zero. The figures thus denoted
+refer to a vocabulary in which all the words are numbered. Of the four
+pointers, that which appears to the left hand of the observer represents
+thousands; the others hundreds, tens, and units, in succession, as in
+common numeration.
+
+[By these means, as Mr. Edgeworth showed, numbers from 1 up to 7,777,
+omitting those having a digit above 7, could be displayed to the distant
+observer, who on referring to his vocabulary discovered that they meant
+such expressions as it might seem convenient to transmit by this
+excellent invention.]
+
+
+Although the electric telegraphs have long since superseded telegraphs
+of this class in public use, the young people of Colonel Ingham's class
+took great pleasure in the next summer in using Mr. Edgeworth's
+telegraph to communicate with each other, by plans easily made in their
+different country homes.
+
+It may interest the casual reader to know that the first words in the
+first message transmitted on the telegraph between Scotland and Ireland,
+alluded to above, were represented by the numbers 2,645, 2,331, 573,
+1,113 244, 2,411, 6,336, which being interpreted are,--
+
+  "Hark from basaltic rocks and giant walls,"
+
+and so on with the other lines, seven in number. This is Mr. Edgeworth's
+concise history of telegraphy before his time.
+
+The art of conveying intelligence by sounds and signals is of the
+highest antiquity. It was practised by Theseus in the Argonautic
+expedition, by Agamemnon at the siege of Troy, and by Mardonius in the
+time of Xerxes. It is mentioned frequently in Thucydides. It was used by
+Tamerlane, who had probably never heard of the black sails of Theseus;
+by the Moors in Spain; by the Welsh in Britain; by the Irish; and by the
+Chinese on that famous wall by which they separated themselves from
+Tartary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All this detail about Mr. Edgeworth's telegraph resulted in much search
+in the older encyclopædias. Quite full accounts were found, by the young
+people, of his system, and of the French system afterwards employed, and
+worked in France until the electric telegraph made all such inventions
+unnecessary.
+
+Before the next meeting, Bedford Long, who lived on Highland Street in
+Roxbury, and Hugh, who lived on the side of Corey Hill, were able to
+communicate with each other by semaphore; and at the next meeting they
+arranged two farther stations, so that John, at Cambridge, and Jane
+Fortescue, at Lexington, were in the series.
+
+There being some half an hour left that afternoon, the children amused
+themselves by looking up some other of Mr. Edgeworth's curious
+experiments and vagaries.
+
+
+MORE OF MR. EDGEWORTH'S FANCIES.
+
+During my residence at Hare Hatch another wager was proposed by me among
+our acquaintance, the purport of which was that I undertook to find a
+man who should, with the assistance of machinery, walk faster than any
+other person that could be produced. The machinery which I intended to
+employ was a huge hollow wheel, made very light, withinside of which, in
+a barrel of six feet diameter, a man should walk. Whilst he stepped
+thirty inches, the circumference of the large wheel, or rather wheels,
+would revolve five feet on the ground; and as the machinery was to roll
+on planks and on a plane somewhat inclined, when once the _vis inertiæ_
+of the machine should be overcome, it would carry on the man within it
+as fast as he could possibly walk. I had provided means of regulating
+the motion, so that the wheel should not run away with its master. I had
+the wheel made; and when it was so nearly completed as to require but a
+few hours' work to finish it, I went to London for Lord Effingham, to
+whom I had promised that he should be present at the first experiment
+made with it. But the bulk and extraordinary appearance of my machine
+had attracted the notice of the country neighborhood; and, taking
+advantage of my absence, some idle curious persons went to the carpenter
+I employed, who lived on Hare Hatch Common. From him they obtained the
+great wheel which had been left by me in his care. It was not finished.
+I had not yet furnished it with the means of stopping or moderating its
+motion. A young lad got into it; his companions launched it on a path
+which led gently down hill towards a very steep chalk-pit. This pit was
+at such a distance as to be out of their thoughts when they set the
+wheel in motion. On it ran. The lad withinside plied his legs with all
+his might. The spectators, who at first stood still to behold the
+operation, were soon alarmed by the shouts of their companion, who
+perceived his danger. The vehicle became quite ungovernable; the
+velocity increased as it ran down hill. Fortunately the boy contrived to
+jump from his rolling prison before it reached the chalk-pit; but the
+wheel went on with such velocity as to outstrip its pursuers, and,
+rolling over the edge of the precipice, it was dashed to pieces.
+
+The next day, when I came to look for my machine, intending to try it on
+some planks which had been laid for it, I found, to my no small
+disappointment, that the object of all my labors and my hopes was lying
+at the bottom of a chalk-pit, broken into a thousand pieces. I could not
+at that time afford to construct another wheel of this sort, and I
+cannot therefore determine what might have been the success of my
+scheme.
+
+As I am on the subject of carriages, I shall mention a sailing-carriage
+that I tried on this common. The carriage was light, steady, and ran
+with amazing velocity. One day, when I was preparing for a sail in it
+with my friend and schoolfellow Mr. William Foster, my wheel-boat
+escaped from its moorings just as we were going to step on board. With
+the utmost difficulty I overtook it; and as I saw three or four
+stage-coaches on the road, and feared that this sailing-chariot might
+frighten their horses, I, at the hazard of my life, got into my carriage
+while it was under full sail, and then, at a favorable part of the road,
+I used the means I had of guiding it easily out of the way. But the
+sense of the mischief which must have ensued if I had not succeeded in
+getting into the machine at the proper place and stopping it at the
+right moment was so strong as to deter me from trying any more
+experiments on this carriage in such a dangerous place.
+
+Such should never be attempted except on a large common, _at a distance
+from a high_ road. It may not, however, be amiss to suggest that upon a
+long extent of iron railway in an open country carriages properly
+constructed might make profitable voyages, from time to time, with sails
+instead of horses; for though a constant or regular intercourse could
+not be thus carried on, yet goods of a certain sort, that are salable at
+any time, might be stored till wind and weather were favorable.
+
+
+When Bedford had read this passage, John Fordyce said he had travelled
+hundreds of miles on the Western railways where Mr. Edgeworth's sails
+could have been applied without a "stage-coach" to be afraid of them.
+
+
+JACK THE DARTER.
+
+In one of my journeys from Hare Hatch to Birmingham, I accidentally met
+with a person whom I, as a mechanic, had a curiosity to see. This was a
+sailor, who had amused London with a singular exhibition of dexterity.
+He was called _Jack the Darter_. He threw his darts, which consisted of
+thin rods of deal of about half an inch in diameter and of a yard long,
+to an amazing height and distance; for instance, he threw them over what
+was then called the New Church in the Strand. Of this feat I had heard,
+but I entertained some doubts upon the subject. I had inquired from my
+friends where this man could be found, but had not been able to discover
+him. As I was driving towards Birmingham in an open carriage of a
+singular construction, I overtook a man who walked remarkably fast, but
+who stopped as I passed him, and eyed my equipage with uncommon
+curiosity. There was something in his manner that made me speak to him;
+and from the sort of questions he asked about my carriage, I found that
+he was a clever fellow. I soon learned that he had walked over the
+greatest part of England, and that he was perfectly acquainted with
+London. It came into my head to inquire whether he had ever seen the
+exhibition about which I was so desirous to be informed.
+
+"Lord! sir," said he, "I am myself Jack the Darter." He had a roll of
+brown paper in his hand, which he unfolded, and soon produced a bundle
+of the light deal sticks which he had the power of darting to such a
+distance. He readily consented to gratify my curiosity; and after he had
+thrown some of them to a prodigious height, I asked him to throw some of
+them horizontally. At the first trial he threw one of them eighty yards
+with great ease. I observed that he coiled a small string round the
+stick, by which he gave it a rotary motion that preserved it from
+altering its course; and at the same time it allowed the arm which threw
+it time to exercise its whole force.
+
+If anything be simply thrown from the hand, it is clear that it can
+acquire no greater velocity than that of the hand that throws it; but if
+the body that is thrown passes through a greater space than the hand,
+whilst the hand continues to communicate motion to the body to be
+impelled, the body will acquire a velocity nearly double to that of the
+hand which throws it. The ancients were aware of this; and they wrapped
+a thong of leather round their javelins, by which they could throw them
+with additional violence. This invention did not, I believe, belong to
+the Greeks; nor do I remember its being mentioned by Homer or Xenophon.
+It was in use among the Romans, but at what time it was introduced or
+laid aside I know not. Whoever is acquainted with the science of
+projectiles will perceive that this invention is well worthy of their
+attention.
+
+
+A ONE-WHEELED CHAISE.
+
+After having satisfied my curiosity about Jack the Darter, I proceeded
+to Birmingham. I mentioned that I travelled in a carriage of a singular
+construction. It was a one-wheeled chaise, which I had had made for the
+purpose of going conveniently in narrow roads. It was made fast by
+shafts to the horse's sides, and was furnished with two weights or
+counterpoises, that hung below the shafts. The seat was not more than
+eight and twenty or thirty inches from the ground, in order to bring the
+centre of gravity of the whole as low as possible. The footboard turned
+upon hinges fastened to the shafts, so that when it met with any
+obstacle it gave way, and my legs were warned to lift themselves up. In
+going through water my legs were secured by leathers, which folded up
+like the sides of bellows; by this means I was pretty safe from wet. On
+my road to Birmingham I passed through Long Compton, in Warwickshire, on
+a Sunday. The people were returning from church, and numbers stopped to
+gaze at me. There is, or was, a shallow ford near the town, over which
+there was a very narrow bridge for horse and foot passengers, but not
+sufficiently wide for wagons or chaises. Towards this bridge I drove.
+The people, not perceiving the structure of my one-wheeled vehicle,
+called to me with great eagerness to warn me that the bridge was too
+narrow for carriages. I had an excellent horse, which went so fast as to
+give but little time for examination. The louder they called, the faster
+I drove; and when I had passed the bridge, they shouted after me with
+surprise. I got on to Shipstone upon Stone; but before I had dined there
+I found that my fame had overtaken me. My carriage was put into a
+coach-house, so that those who came from Long Compton, not seeing it,
+did not recognize me. I therefore had an opportunity of hearing all the
+exaggerations and strange conjectures which were made by those who
+related my passage over the narrow bridge. There were posts on the
+bridge, to prevent, as I suppose, more than one horseman from passing at
+once. Some of the spectators asserted that my carriage had gone over
+these posts; others said that it had not wheels, which was indeed
+literally true; but they meant to say that it was without any wheel.
+Some were sure that no carriage ever went so fast; and all agreed that
+at the end of the bridge, where the floods had laid the road for some
+way under water, my carriage swam on the surface of the water.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+JAMES WATT.
+
+
+"Uncle Fritz," said Mabel Liddell, the next afternoon that our friends
+had gathered together for a reading, "would it not be well for us all to
+go down into the kitchen this afternoon, and watch the steam come out of
+the kettle as Ellen makes tea for us?"
+
+"Why should it be well, Mabel?" said Colonel Ingham. "For my part, I
+should prefer to remain in my own room, more especially as I consider my
+armchair to be more suited to the comfort of one already on the downward
+path in life than is the kitchen table, where we should have to sit
+should we invade the premises of our friends below."
+
+"I was thinking," said Mabel, "of the manner in which James Watt when a
+child invented the steam-engine, from observing the motion of the top of
+the teakettle; and as we are to read about Watt this afternoon I thought
+we might be in a more fit condition to understand his invention, and
+might more fully comprehend his frame of mind while perfecting his great
+work, should we also fix our eyes and minds on the top of the teakettle
+in Ellen's kitchen."
+
+"Mabel, my child," said Uncle Fritz, "you talk like a book, and a very
+interesting one at that; but I think, as the youngest of us would say,
+that you are just a little off in your remarks. And as I observe that
+Clem, who is going to read this afternoon, desires to deliver a sermon
+of which your conversation seems to be the text, I will request all to
+listen to him before we consider seriously vacating this apartment,
+however poor it may be,"--and he glanced fondly around at the
+comfortable arrangements that everywhere pervaded the study,--"and seek
+the regions below."
+
+"I only wanted to say," began Clem, "that although Watt did on one
+occasion (in his extreme youth) look at a teakettle with some interest,
+he was not in the habit, at the time when he devoted most thought to the
+steam-engine, of having a teakettle continually before him that he might
+gain inspiration from observing the steam issue from its nose. And, as
+Watt dispensed with this aid, I have no doubt that we may do so as well,
+contenting ourselves with the results of the experiments in the
+vaporization of water, which Ellen is now conducting in the form of tea.
+Besides all this, however, I do want to say some things, before we read
+aloud this afternoon (I hope this isn't really too much like a sermon),
+about the steam-engine and the part that Watt had in perfecting it."
+
+At this point the irrepressible Mabel was heard to whisper to Bedford,
+who sat next her: "Wasn't it curious that the same mind which grasped
+the immense capabilities of the steam-engine should have been able also
+to construct such a delicate lyric as
+
+  'How doth the little busy bee
+  Improve each shining hour'?"
+
+"Mabel," said Colonel Ingham, "you are absolutely unbearable. If you do
+not keep in better order I shall be sorry that I dissuaded you from
+descending to the kitchen. I see nothing incongruous myself in
+indulging in mechanical experiments, and in throwing one's thoughts into
+the form of verse,"--here the old gentleman colored slightly, as though
+he recollected something of the sort,--"but it may be well to counteract
+the impression your conversation may have made by stating that Isaac
+Watts did not invent the steam-engine, nor did James Watt write the
+beautiful words you have just quoted.--Now, Clem, I believe you have the
+floor."
+
+"Well," said Clem, "I only want the floor for a short time in order to
+explain about Watt and the steam-engine, and how much he was the
+inventor of it, before we begin to read.
+
+"There are various points about the steam-engine which are really Watt's
+invention,--the separate condenser, for instance,--but the idea of the
+steam-engine was not original with him; that is, when he saw the steam
+in the teakettle raise the lid and drop it again, he was not the first
+to speculate on the power of steam."
+
+"Are you going to read us that part in the book, Clem?" asked Bedford,
+with some interest.
+
+"Yes, if you like," said Clem. "I guess it tells about it in Mr.
+Smiles's 'Life of Watt.'" So he began to overhaul the book he had
+brought, and shortly discovered the anecdote referred to by Mabel with
+such interest, and read it.
+
+"On one occasion he [James Watt] was reproved by Mrs. Muirhead, his
+aunt, for his indolence at the tea-table. 'James Watt,' said the worthy
+lady, 'I never saw such an idle boy as you are. Take a book, or employ
+yourself usefully; for the last hour you have not spoken one word, but
+taken off the lid of that kettle and put it on again, holding now a cup
+and now a silver spoon over the steam, watching how it rises from the
+spout, catching and counting the drops it falls into.' In the view of M.
+Arago, the little James before the teakettle, becomes the great
+engineer, preparing the discoveries which were soon to immortalize him.
+In our opinion, the judgment of the aunt was the truest. There is no
+reason to suppose that the mind of the boy was occupied with
+philosophical theories on the condensation of steam, which he compassed
+with so much difficulty in his maturer years. This is more probably an
+afterthought borrowed from his subsequent discoveries. Nothing is
+commoner than for children to be amused with such phenomena in the same
+way that they will form air-bubbles in a cup of tea, and watch them
+sailing over the surface till they burst. The probability is that little
+James was quite as idle as he seemed."
+
+"That is very interesting," remarked Mabel. "Don't you think now, Uncle
+Fritz, we had better go into the kitchen?" And she looked appealingly at
+the old gentleman, who merely held up his finger for silence as Clem
+continued his lecture.
+
+"What I meant to say," Clem went on, "was that other people before Watt
+had found out the power of steam, and had used it too. There was one
+Hero of Alexandria, who lived about two thousand years ago, who used
+steam for many interesting purposes, notably for animating various
+figures that took part in the idolatrous worship of his time, and thus
+in deceiving the common people. But his contrivances, though engines
+which went by steam, would hardly be called steam-engines. Between Hero
+of Alexandria, of 160 B. C., and the Marquis of Worcester, of 1650 A.
+D., there does not seem to have been much doing in the way of inventing
+the steam-engine. But the Marquis of Worcester in Charles II.'s time was
+a great philosopher, and did nobody knows exactly what with steam. But
+though he did great things, he did not produce a particularly capable
+engine, though he seems to have known more about steam than anybody else
+did at his time. After the Marquis of Worcester and before Watt, there
+were three men who did much towards inventing and improving the
+steam-engine. Their names were Savery, Papin, and Newcomen. I don't
+propose to tell you about the inventions of each one; but it's well
+enough to remember that each one did important service in getting the
+steam-engine to the point where Watt took hold of it. As it was on
+Newcomen's engine that Watt made his first serious experiments, I think
+we should all like to know something about it."
+
+
+THE NEWCOMEN ENGINE.
+
+Newcomen's engine may be thus briefly described: The steam was generated
+in a separate boiler, as in Savery's engine, from which it was conveyed
+into a vertical cylinder underneath a piston fitting it closely, but
+movable upwards and downwards through its whole length. The piston was
+fixed to a rod, which was attached by a joint or chain to the end of a
+lever vibrating upon an axis, the other end being attached to a rod
+working a pump. When the piston in the cylinder was raised, steam was
+let into the vacated space through a tube fitted into the top of the
+boiler, and mounted with a stopcock. The pump-rod at the further end of
+the lever being thus depressed, cold water was applied to the sides of
+the cylinder, on which the steam within it was condensed, a vacuum was
+produced, and the external air, pressing upon the top of the piston,
+forced it down into the empty cylinder. The pump-rod was thereby raised;
+and, the operation of depressing it being repeated, a power was thus
+produced which kept the pump continuously at work. Such, in a few words,
+was the construction and action of Newcomen's first engine.[8]
+
+While the engine was still in its trial state, a curious accident
+occurred which led to a change in the mode of condensation, and proved
+of essential importance in establishing Newcomen's engine as a practical
+working power. The accident was this: in order to keep the cylinder as
+free from air as possible, great pains were taken to prevent it passing
+down by the side of the piston, which was carefully wrapped with cloth
+or leather; and, still further to keep the cylinder air-tight, a
+quantity of water was kept constantly on the upper side of the piston.
+At one of the early trials the inventors were surprised to see the
+engine make several strokes in unusually quick succession; and on
+searching for the cause, they found it to consist in _a hole in the
+piston_, which had let the cold water in a jet into the inside of the
+cylinder, and thereby produced a rapid vacuum by the condensation of the
+continued steam. A new light suddenly broke upon Newcomen. The idea of
+condensing by injection of cold water directly into the cylinder,
+instead of applying it on the outside, at once occurred to him; and he
+proceeded to embody the expedient which had thus been accidentally
+suggested as part of his machine. The result was the addition of the
+injection pipe, through which, when the piston was raised and the
+cylinder full of steam, a jet of cold water was thrown in, and, the
+steam being suddenly condensed, the piston was at once driven down by
+the pressure of the atmosphere.
+
+An accident of a different kind shortly after led to the improvement of
+Newcomen's engine in another respect. To keep it at work, one man was
+required to attend the fire, and another to turn alternately the two
+cocks, one admitting the steam into the cylinder, the other admitting
+the jet of cold water to condense it. The turning of these cocks was
+easy work, usually performed by a boy. It was, however, a very
+monotonous duty, though requiring constant attention. To escape the
+drudgery and obtain an interval for rest or perhaps for play, a boy
+named Humphrey Potter, who turned the cocks, set himself to discover
+some method of evading his task. He must have been an ingenious boy, as
+is clear from the arrangement he contrived with this object. Observing
+the alternate ascent and descent of the beam above his head, he
+bethought him of applying the movement to the alternate raising and
+lowering of the levers which governed the cocks. The result was the
+contrivance of what he called the _scoggan_ (meaning presumably the
+loafer or lazy boy), consisting of a catch worked by strings from the
+beam of the engine. This arrangement, when tried, was found to answer
+the purpose intended. The action of the engine was thus made automatic;
+and the arrangement, though rude, not only enabled Potter to enjoy his
+play, but it had the effect of improving the working power of the engine
+itself; the number of strokes which it made being increased from six or
+eight to fifteen or sixteen in the minute. This invention was afterward
+greatly improved by Mr. Henry Beighton, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, who added
+the plug-rod and hand-gear. He did away with the catches and strings of
+the boy Potter's rude apparatus, and substituted a rod suspended from
+the beam, which alternately opened and shut the tappets attached to the
+steam and injection cocks.
+
+Thus, step by step, Newcomen's engine grew in power and efficiency, and
+became more and more complete as a self-acting machine. It will be
+observed that, like all other inventions, it was not the product of any
+one man's ingenuity, but of many. One contributed one improvement, and
+another another. The essential features of the atmospheric engine were
+not new. The piston and cylinder had been known as long ago as the time
+of Hero. The expansive force of steam and the creation of a vacuum by
+its condensation had been known to the Marquis of Worcester, Savery,
+Papin, and many more. Newcomen merely combined in his machine the result
+of their varied experience; and, assisted by the persons who worked with
+him, down to the engine-boy Potter, he advanced the invention several
+important stages; so that the steam-engine was no longer a toy or a
+scientific curiosity, but had become a powerful machine capable of doing
+useful work.
+
+
+JAMES WATT AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
+
+It was in the year 1759 that Robison[9] first called the attention of
+his friend Watt to the subject of the steam-engine. Robison was then
+only in his twentieth, and Watt in his twenty-third year. Robison's
+idea was that the power of steam might be advantageously applied to the
+driving of wheel-carriages; and he suggested that it would be the most
+convenient for the purpose to place the cylinder with its open end
+downwards to avoid the necessity of using a working-beam. Watt admits
+that he was very ignorant of the steam-engine at the time; nevertheless,
+he began making a model with two cylinders of tin plate, intending that
+the pistons and their connecting-rods should act alternately on two
+pinions attached to the axles of the carriage-wheels. But the model,
+being slightly and inaccurately made, did not answer his expectations.
+Other difficulties presented themselves, and the scheme was laid aside
+because Robison left Glasgow to go to sea. Indeed, mechanical science
+was not yet ripe for the locomotive. Robison's idea had, however,
+dropped silently into the mind of his friend, where it grew from day to
+day, slowly and at length fruitfully.
+
+At his intervals of leisure and in the quiet of his evenings, Watt
+continued to prosecute his various studies. He was shortly attracted by
+the science of chemistry, then in its infancy. Dr. Black was at that
+time occupied with the investigations which led to his discovery of the
+theory of latent heat, and it is probable that his familiar
+conversations with Watt on the subject induced the latter to enter upon
+a series of experiments with the view of giving the theory some
+practical direction. His attention again and again reverted to the
+steam-engine, though he had not yet seen even a model of one. Steam was
+as yet almost unknown in Scotland as a working power. The first engine
+was erected at Elphinstone Colliery, in Stirlingshire, about the year
+1750; and the second more than ten years later, at Govan Colliery, near
+Glasgow, where it was known by the startling name of "The Firework."
+This had not, however, been set up at the time Watt had begun to inquire
+into the subject. But he found that the college possessed the model of a
+Newcomen engine for the use of the Natural Philosophy class, which had
+been sent to London for repair. On hearing of its existence, he
+suggested to his friend Dr. Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy,
+the propriety of getting back the model; and a sum of money was placed
+by the Senatus at the professor's disposal, "to recover the steam-engine
+from Mr. Sisson, instrument-maker in London."
+
+In the mean time Watt sought to learn all that had been written on the
+subject of the steam-engine. He ascertained from Desaguliers, Switzer,
+and other writers, what had been accomplished by Savery, Newcomen,
+Beighton, and others; and he went on with his own independent
+experiments. His first apparatus was of the simplest possible kind. He
+used common apothecaries' phials for his steam reservoirs, and canes
+hollowed out for his steam-pipes. In 1761 he proceeded to experiment on
+the force of steam by means of a small Papin's digester and a syringe.
+The syringe was only the third of an inch in diameter, fitted with a
+solid piston; and it was connected with the digester by a pipe furnished
+with a stopcock, by which the steam was admitted or shut off at will. It
+was also itself provided with a stopcock, enabling a communication to be
+opened between the syringe and the outer air to permit the steam in the
+syringe to escape. The apparatus, though rude, enabled the experimenter
+to ascertain some important facts. When the steam in the digester was
+raised and the cock turned, enabling it to rush against the lower side
+of the piston, he found that the expansive force of the steam raised a
+weight of fifteen pounds, with which the piston was loaded. Then on
+turning on the cock and shutting off the connection with the digester at
+the same time that a passage was opened to the air, the steam was
+allowed to escape, when the weight upon the piston, being no longer
+counteracted, immediately forced it to descend.
+
+Watt saw that it would be easy to contrive that the cocks should be
+turned by the machinery itself with perfect regularity. But there was an
+objection to this method. Water is converted into vapor as soon as its
+elasticity is sufficient to overcome the weight of the air which keeps
+it down. Under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere water acquires
+this necessary elasticity at 212°; but as the steam in the digester was
+prevented from escaping, it acquired increased heat, and by consequence
+increased elasticity. Hence it was that the steam which issued from the
+digester was not only able to support the piston and the air which
+pressed upon its upper surface, but the additional load with which the
+piston was weighted. With the imperfect mechanical construction,
+however, of those days, there was a risk lest the boiler should be burst
+by the steam, which was apt to force its way through the ill-made joints
+of the machine. This, conjoined with the great expenditure of steam on
+the high-pressure system, led Watt to abandon the plan; and the
+exigencies of his business for a time prevented him from pursuing his
+experiments.
+
+At length the Newcomen model arrived from London; and in 1763 the little
+engine, which was destined to become so famous, was put into the hands
+of Watt. The boiler was somewhat smaller than an ordinary teakettle. The
+cylinder of the engine was only of two inches diameter and six inches
+stroke. Watt at first regarded it as merely "a fine plaything." It was,
+however, enough to set him upon a track of thinking which led to the
+most important results. When he had repaired the model and set it to
+work, he found that the boiler, though apparently large enough, could
+not supply steam in sufficient quantity, and only a few strokes of the
+piston could be obtained, when the engine stopped. The fire was urged by
+blowing, and more steam was produced; but still it would not work
+properly. Exactly at the point at which another man would have abandoned
+the task in despair, the mind of Watt became thoroughly roused.
+"Everything," says Professor Robison, "was to him the beginning of a new
+and serious study; and I knew that he would not quit it till he had
+either discovered its insignificance or had made something of it." Thus
+it happened with the phenomena presented by the model of the
+steam-engine. Watt referred to his books, and endeavored to ascertain
+from them by what means he might remedy the defects which he found in
+the model; but they could tell him nothing. He then proceeded with an
+independent course of experiments, resolved to work out the problem for
+himself. In the course of his inquiries he came upon a fact which, more
+than any other, led his mind into the train of thought which at last
+conducted him to the invention of which the results were destined to
+prove so stupendous. This fact was the existence of latent heat.
+
+In order to follow the track of investigation pursued by Watt, it is
+necessary for a moment to revert to the action of the Newcomen
+pumping-engine. A beam, moving upon a centre, had affixed to one end of
+it a chain attached to the piston of the pump, and at the other a chain
+attached to a piston that fitted into the steam-cylinder. It was by
+driving this latter piston up and down the cylinder that the pump was
+worked. To communicate the necessary movement to the piston, the steam
+generated in a boiler was admitted to the bottom of the cylinder,
+forcing out the air through a valve, where its pressure on the under
+side of the piston counterbalanced the pressure of the atmosphere on its
+upper side. The piston, thus placed between two equal forces, was drawn
+up to the top of the cylinder by the greater weight of the pump-gear at
+the opposite extremity of the beam. The steam, so far, only discharged
+the office of the air it displaced; but if the air had been allowed to
+remain, the piston once at the top of the cylinder could not have
+returned, being pressed as much by the atmosphere underneath as by the
+atmosphere above it. The steam, on the contrary, which was admitted by
+the exclusion of air, _could be condensed_, and a vacuum created, by
+injecting cold water through the bottom of the cylinder. The piston,
+being now unsupported, was forced down by the pressure of the atmosphere
+on its upper surface. When the piston reached the bottom, the steam was
+again let in, and the process was repeated. Such was the engine in
+ordinary use for pumping water at the time that Watt began his
+investigations.
+
+Among his other experiments, he constructed a boiler which showed by
+inspection the quantity of water evaporated in any given time, and the
+quantity of steam used in every stroke of the engine. He was astonished
+to discover that a _small_ quantity of water in the form of steam heated
+a large quantity of cold water injected into the cylinder for the
+purpose of cooling it; and upon further examination he ascertained that
+steam heated six times its weight of cold water to 212°, which was the
+temperature of the steam itself. "Being struck with this remarkable
+fact," says Watt, "and not understanding the reason of it, I mentioned
+it to my friend Dr. Black, who then explained to me his doctrine of
+latent heat, which he had taught for some time before this period (the
+summer of 1764); but having myself been occupied by the pursuits of
+business, if I had heard of it I had not attended to it, when I thus
+stumbled upon one of the material facts by which that beautiful theory
+is supported."
+
+When Watt found that water in its conversion into vapor became such a
+reservoir of heat, he was more than ever bent on economizing it; for the
+great waste of heat involving so heavy a consumption of fuel was felt to
+be the principal obstacle to the extended employment of steam as a
+motive power. He accordingly endeavored, with the same quantity of fuel,
+at once to increase the production of steam and to diminish its waste.
+He increased the heating surface of the boiler by making flues through
+it; he even made his boiler of wood, as being a worse conductor of heat
+than the brickwork which surrounds common furnaces; and he cased the
+cylinders and all the conducting pipes in materials which conducted heat
+very slowly. But none of these contrivances were effectual; for it
+turned out that the chief expenditure of steam, and consequently of
+fuel, in the Newcomen engine, was occasioned by the reheating of the
+cylinder after the steam had been condensed, and the cylinder was
+consequently cooled by the injection into it of the cold water. Nearly
+four fifths of the whole steam employed was condensed on its first
+admission, before the surplus could act upon the piston. Watt therefore
+came to the conclusion that to make a perfect steam-engine it was
+necessary that _the cylinder should be always as hot as the steam that
+entered it_; but it was equally necessary that the steam should be
+condensed when the piston descended, nay, that it should be cooled down
+below 100°, or a considerable amount of vapor would be given off, which
+would resist the descent of the piston, and diminish the power of the
+engine. Thus the cylinder was never to be at a less temperature than
+212°, and yet at each descent of the piston it was to be less than
+100°,--conditions which, on the very face of them, seemed to be wholly
+incompatible.
+
+Though still occupied with his inquiries and experiments as to steam,
+Watt did not neglect his proper business, but was constantly on the
+look-out for improvements in instrument-making. A machine which he
+invented for drawing in perspective proved a success; and he made a
+considerable number of them to order, for customers in London as well as
+abroad. He was also an indefatigable reader, and continued to extend his
+knowledge of chemistry and mechanics by perusal of the best books on
+these sciences.
+
+Above all subjects, however, the improvement of the steam-engine
+continued to keep the fastest hold upon his mind. He still brooded over
+his experiments with the Newcomen model, but did not seem to make much
+way in introducing any practical improvement in its mode of working. His
+friend Robison says he struggled long to condense with sufficient
+rapidity without injection, trying one experiment after another, finding
+out what would _not_ do, and exhibiting many beautiful specimens of
+ingenuity and fertility of resource. He continued, to use his own words,
+"to grope in the dark, misled by many an _ignis fatuus_." It was a
+favorite saying of his that "Nature has a weak side, if we can only find
+it out;" and he went on groping and feeling for it, but as yet in vain.
+At length light burst upon him, and all at once the problem over which
+he had been brooding was solved.
+
+
+THE SEPARATE CONDENSER.
+
+One Sunday afternoon, in the spring of 1765, he went to take an
+afternoon walk on the Green, then a quiet grassy meadow used as a
+bleaching and grazing ground. On week days the Glasgow lasses came
+thither with their largest kail-pots to boil their clothes in; and
+sturdy queans might be seen, with coats kilted, trampling blankets in
+their tubs. On Sundays the place was comparatively deserted; and hence
+Watt, who lived close at hand, went there to take a quiet afternoon
+stroll. His thoughts were as usual running on the subject of his
+unsatisfactory experiments with the Newcomen engine, when the first idea
+of the separate condenser suddenly flashed upon his mind. But the
+notable discovery is best told in his own words, as related to Mr.
+Robert Hart, many years after:--
+
+"I had gone to take a walk on a fine Sabbath afternoon. I had entered
+the Green by the gate at the foot of Charlotte Street, and had passed
+the old washing-house. I was thinking upon the engine at the time, and
+had gone as far as the herd's house, when the idea came into my mind
+that as the steam was an elastic body, it would rush into a vacuum, and
+if a communication were made between the cylinder and an exhausted
+vessel, it would rush into it and might be then condensed without
+cooling the cylinder. I then saw that I must get rid of the condensed
+steam and the injection water if I used a jet, as in Newcomen's engine.
+Two ways of doing this occurred to me. First, the water might be run off
+by a descending pipe, if an off-let could be got at the depth of 35 or
+36 feet, and any air might be extracted by a small pump. The second was
+to make the pump large enough to extract both water and air." He
+continued: "I had not walked farther than the Golf-house when the whole
+thing was arranged in my mind."
+
+Great and prolific ideas are almost always simple. What seems impossible
+at the outset appears so obvious when it is effected, that we are prone
+to marvel that it did not force itself at once upon the mind. Late in
+life Watt, with his accustomed modesty, declared his belief that if he
+had excelled, it had been by chance, and the neglect of others. To
+Professor Jardine he said that when it was analyzed the invention would
+not appear so great as it seemed to be. "In the state," said he, "in
+which I found the steam-engine, it was no great effort of mind to
+observe that the quantity of fuel necessary to make it work would
+forever prevent its extensive utility. The next step in my progress was
+equally easy,--to inquire what was the cause of the great consumption of
+fuel: this, too, was readily suggested, viz., the waste of fuel which
+was necessary to bring the whole cylinder, piston, and adjacent parts
+from the coldness of water to the heat of steam, no fewer than from
+fifteen to twenty times in a minute." The question then occurred, How
+was this to be avoided or remedied? It was at this stage that the idea
+of carrying on the condensation in a separate vessel flashed upon his
+mind, and solved the difficulty.
+
+Mankind has been more just to Watt than he was to himself. There was no
+accident in the discovery. It had been the result of close and
+continuous study; and the idea of the separate condenser was merely the
+last step of a long journey, a step which could not have been taken
+unless the road which led to it had been traversed. Dr. Black says,
+"This capital improvement flashed upon his mind at once, and filled him
+with rapture,"--a statement which, in spite of the unimpassioned nature
+of Watt, we can readily believe.
+
+On the morning following his Sunday afternoon's walk on Glasgow Green,
+Watt was up betimes, making arrangements for a speedy trial of his new
+plan. He borrowed from a college friend a large brass syringe, an inch
+and a third in diameter, and ten inches long, of the kind used by
+anatomists for injecting arteries with wax previous to dissection. The
+body of the syringe served for a cylinder, the piston-rod passing
+through a collar of leather in its cover. A pipe connected with the
+boiler was inserted at both ends for the admission of steam, and at the
+upper end was another pipe to convey the steam to the condenser. The
+axis of the stem of the piston was drilled with a hole, fitted with a
+valve at its lower end, to permit the water produced by the condensed
+steam on first filling the cylinder to escape. The first condenser made
+use of was an improvised cistern of tinned plate, provided with a pump
+to get rid of the water formed by the condensation of the steam, both
+the condensing-pipes and the air-pump being placed in a reservoir of
+cold water.
+
+"The steam-pipe," says Watt, "was adjusted to a small boiler. When the
+steam was produced, it was admitted into the cylinder, and soon issued
+through the perforation of the rod and at the valve of the condenser;
+when it was judged that the air was expelled, the steam-cock was shut,
+and the air-pump piston-rod was drawn up, which leaving the small pipes
+of the condenser in a state of vacuum, the steam entered them, and was
+condensed. The piston of the cylinder immediately rose, and lifted a
+weight of about eighteen pounds, which was hung to the lower end of the
+piston-rod. The exhaustion-cock was shut, the steam was re-admitted
+into the cylinder, and the operation was repeated. The quantity of steam
+consumed and the weights it could raise were observed, and, excepting
+the non-application of the steam-case and external covering, the
+invention was complete in so far as regarded the savings of steam and
+fuel."
+
+
+COMPLETING THE INVENTION.
+
+But although the invention was complete in Watt's mind, it took him many
+long and laborious years to work out the details of the engine. His
+friend Robison, with whom his intimacy was maintained during these
+interesting experiments, has given a graphic account of the difficulties
+which he successively encountered and overcame. He relates that on his
+return from the country, after the college vacation in 1765, he went to
+have a chat with Watt and communicate to him some observations he had
+made on Desaguliers' and Belidor's account of the steam-engine. He went
+straight into the parlor, without ceremony, and found Watt sitting
+before the fire looking at a little tin cistern which he had on his
+knee. Robison immediately started the conversation about steam; his
+mind, like Watt's, being occupied with the means of avoiding the
+excessive waste of heat in the Newcomen engine. Watt all the while kept
+looking into the fire, and after a time laid down the cistern at the
+foot of his chair, saying nothing. It seems that Watt felt rather
+nettled that Robison had communicated to a mechanic of the town a
+contrivance which he had hit upon for turning the cocks of his engine.
+When Robison therefore pressed his inquiry, Watt at length looked at him
+and said briskly, "You need not fash yourself any more about that, man.
+I have now made an engine that shall not waste a particle of steam. It
+shall all be boiling hot,--ay, and hot water injected, if I please." He
+then pushed the little tin cistern with his foot under the table.
+
+Robison could learn no more of the new contrivance from Watt at that
+time; but on the same evening he accidentally met a mutual acquaintance,
+who, supposing he knew as usual the progress of Watt's experiments,
+observed to him, "Well, have you seen Jamie Watt?" "Yes." "He'll be in
+fine spirits now with his engine?" "Yes," said Robison, "very fine
+spirits." "Gad!" said the other, "the separate condenser's the thing;
+keep it but cold enough, and you may have a perfect vacuum, whatever be
+the heat of the cylinder." This was Watt's secret, and the nature of the
+contrivance was clear to Robison at once.
+
+It will be observed that Watt had not made a secret of it to his other
+friends. Indeed, Robison himself admitted that one of Watt's greatest
+delights was to communicate the results of his experiments to others,
+and set them upon the same road to knowledge with himself; and that no
+one could display less of the small jealousy of the tradesman than he
+did. To his intimate friend Dr. Black he communicated the progress made
+by him at every stage. The Doctor kindly encouraged him in his
+struggles, cheered him in his encounter with difficulty, and, what was
+of still more practical value at the time, helped him with money to
+enable him to prosecute his invention. Communicative though Watt was
+disposed to be, he learnt reticence when he found himself exposed to the
+depredations of the smaller fry of inventors. Robison says that had he
+lived in Birmingham or London at the time, the probability is that some
+one or other of the numerous harpies who live by sucking other people's
+brains would have secured patents for his more important inventions, and
+thereby deprived him of the benefits of his skill, science, and labor.
+As yet, however, there were but few mechanics in Glasgow capable of
+understanding or appreciating the steam-engine; and the intimate friends
+to whom he freely spoke of his discovery were too honorable to take
+advantage of his confidence. Shortly after Watt communicated to Robison
+the different stages of his invention, and the results at which he had
+arrived, much to the delight of his friend.
+
+It will be remembered that in the Newcomen engine the steam was only
+employed for the purpose of producing a vacuum, and that its working
+power was in the down stroke, which was effected by the pressure of the
+air upon the piston; hence it is now usual to call it the atmospheric
+engine. Watt perceived that the air which followed the piston down the
+cylinder would cool the latter, and that steam would be wasted by
+reheating it. In order, therefore, to avoid this loss of heat, he
+resolved to put an air-tight cover upon the cylinder, with a hole and
+stuffing-box for the piston-rod to slide through, and to admit steam
+above the piston, to act upon it instead of the atmosphere. When the
+steam had done its duty in driving down the piston, a communication was
+opened between the upper and lower part of the cylinder; and the same
+steam, distributing itself equally in both compartments, sufficed to
+restore equilibrium. The piston was now drawn up by the weight of the
+pump-gear; the steam beneath it was then condensed in the separate
+vessel so as to produce a vacuum, and a fresh jet of steam from the
+boiler was let in above the piston, which forced it again to the bottom
+of the cylinder. From an atmospheric engine it had thus become a true
+steam-engine, and with much greater economy of steam than when the air
+did half the duty. But it was not only important to keep the air from
+flowing down the inside of the cylinder; the air which circulated within
+cooled the metal and condensed a portion of the steam within; and this
+Watt proposed to remedy by a second cylinder, surrounding the first,
+with an interval between the two which was to be kept full of steam.
+
+One by one these various contrivances were struck out, modified,
+settled, and reduced to definite plans,--the separate condenser, the air
+and water pumps, the use of fat and oil (instead of water, as in the
+Newcomen engine) to keep the piston working in the cylinder air-tight,
+and the enclosing of the cylinder itself within another to prevent the
+loss of heat. These were all emanations from the first idea of inventing
+an engine working by a piston, in which the cylinder should be
+continually hot and perfectly dry. "When once," says Watt, "the idea of
+separate condensation was started, all these improvements followed as
+corollaries in quick succession, so that in the course of one or two
+days the invention was thus far complete in my mind."
+
+
+WATT MAKES HIS MODEL.
+
+The next step was to construct a model engine for the purpose of
+embodying the invention in a working form. With this object, Watt hired
+an old cellar, situated in the first wide entry to the north of the
+beef-market in King Street, and then proceeded with his model. He found
+it much easier, however, to prepare his plan than to execute it. Like
+most ingenious and inventive men, Watt was extremely fastidious; and
+this occasioned considerable delay in the execution of the work. His
+very inventiveness to some extent proved a hindrance; for new expedients
+were perpetually occurring to him, which he thought would be
+improvements, and which he, by turns, endeavored to introduce. Some of
+these expedients he admits proved fruitless, and all of them occasioned
+delay. Another of his chief difficulties was in finding competent
+workmen to execute his plans. He himself had been accustomed only to
+small metal work, with comparatively delicate tools, and had very little
+experience "in the practice of mechanics _in great_" as he termed it. He
+was therefore under the necessity of depending, in a great measure, upon
+the handiwork of others. But mechanics capable of working out Watt's
+designs in metal were then with difficulty to be found. The beautiful
+self-action and workmanship which have since been called into being,
+principally by his own invention, did not then exist. The only available
+hands in Glasgow were the blacksmiths and tinners, little capable of
+constructing articles out of their ordinary walks; and even in these
+they were often found clumsy, blundering, and incompetent. The result
+was, that in consequence of the malconstruction of the larger parts,
+Watt's first model was only partially successful. The experiments made
+with it, however, served to verify the expectations he had formed, and
+to place the advantages of the invention beyond the reach of doubt. On
+the exhausting-cock being turned, the piston, when loaded with eighteen
+pounds, ascended as quickly as the blow of a hammer; and the moment the
+steam-cock was opened, it descended with like rapidity, though the
+steam was weak, and the machine snifted at many openings.
+
+Satisfied that he had laid hold of the right principle of a working
+steam-engine, Watt felt impelled to follow it to an issue. He could give
+his mind to no other business in peace until this was done. He wrote to
+a friend that he was quite barren on every other subject. "My whole
+thoughts," said he, "are bent on this machine. I can think of nothing
+else." He proceeded to make another and bigger, and, he hoped, a more
+satisfactory engine in the following August; and with that object he
+removed from the old cellar in King Street to a larger apartment in the
+then disused pottery, or delftwork, near the Broomielaw. There he shut
+himself up with his assistant, John Gardiner, for the purpose of
+erecting his engine. The cylinder was five or six inches in diameter,
+with a two-feet stroke. The inner cylinder was enclosed in a wooden
+steam-case, and placed inverted, the piston working through a hole in
+the bottom of the steam-case. After two months continuous application
+and labor it was finished and set to work; but it leaked in all
+directions, and the piston was far from air-tight. The condenser also
+was in a bad way, and needed many alterations. Nevertheless, the engine
+readily worked with ten and a half pounds pressure on the inch, and the
+piston lifted a weight of fourteen pounds. The improvement of the
+cylinder and piston continued Watt's chief difficulty, and taxed his
+ingenuity to the utmost. At so low an ebb was the art of making
+cylinders that the one he used was not bored, but hammered, the
+collective mechanical skill of Glasgow being then unequal to the boring
+of a cylinder of the simplest kind; nor, indeed, did the necessary
+appliances for the purpose then exist anywhere else. In the Newcomen
+engine a little water was found upon the upper surface of the piston,
+and sufficiently filled up the interstices between the piston and the
+cylinder. But when Watt employed steam to drive down the piston, he was
+deprived of this resource, for the water and steam could not coexist.
+Even if he had retained the agency of the air above, the drip of water
+from the crevices into the lower part of the cylinder would have been
+incompatible with keeping the cylinder hot and dry, and, by turning into
+vapor as it fell upon the heated metal, it would have impaired the
+vacuum during the descent of the piston.
+
+While he was occupied with this difficulty, and striving to overcome it
+by the adoption of new expedients, such as leather collars and improved
+workmanship, he wrote to a friend, "My old white-iron man is dead;" the
+old white-iron man, or tinner, being his leading mechanic. Unhappily,
+also, just as he seemed to have got the engine into working order, the
+beam broke, and, having great difficulty in replacing the damaged part,
+the accident threatened, together with the loss of his best workman, to
+bring the experiment to an end. Though discouraged by these
+misadventures, he was far from defeated. But he went on as before,
+battling down difficulty inch by inch, and holding good the ground he
+had won, becoming every day more strongly convinced that he was in the
+right track, and that the important uses of the invention, could he but
+find time and means to perfect it, were beyond the reach of doubt. But
+how to find the means! Watt himself was a comparatively poor man; having
+no money but what he earned by his business of mechanical-instrument
+making, which he had for some time been neglecting through his devotion
+to the construction of his engine. What he wanted was capital, or the
+help of a capitalist willing to advance him the necessary funds to
+perfect his invention. To give a fair trial to the new apparatus would
+involve an expenditure of several thousand pounds; and who on the spot
+could be expected to invest so large a sum in trying a machine so
+entirely new, depending for its success on physical principles very
+imperfectly understood?
+
+There was no such help to be found in Glasgow. The tobacco lords,[10]
+though rich, took no interest in steam power; and the manufacturing
+class, though growing in importance, had full employment for their
+little capital in their own concerns.
+
+
+"How Watt succeeded in interesting Dr. Roebuck in his project, and thus
+obtained funds to continue his experiments; how he finally joined with
+Matthew Boulton in the great firm of Boulton and Watt, manufacturers of
+steam-engines; how they pumped out all the water in the Cornish mines;
+and how Watt finally attained prosperity as well as success,--is an
+interesting story, but rather too long for these winter afternoons; and
+as the story of the _invention_ of the steam-engine is substantially
+told in the foregoing pages, we must stop our reading here, more
+especially as it seems to be tea-time, and I hear Ellen ringing the bell
+for supper."
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+ROBERT FULTON.
+
+
+They were to continue their talk and reading by following along the
+developments in the use of steam.
+
+"Uncle Fritz," said Fanchon, "these agnostics make so much fun of our
+dear Harry and Lucy, that they will not let me quote from 'The Botanic
+Garden.'"
+
+Emma promised that they would laugh as little as they could.
+
+"'The Botanic Garden,'" said Fanchon, "was a stately, and I am afraid
+some of you would say very pompous, poem, written by Dr. Darwin."
+
+"Dr. Darwin write poetry!"
+
+"It is not the Dr. Charles Darwin whom you have heard of; it was his
+grandfather," said Uncle Fritz.
+
+And Fanchon went on: "All I ever knew of 'The Botanic Garden' was in the
+quotations of our dear Harry and Lucy and Frank. But dear Uncle Fritz
+has taken down the book for me, and here it is, with its funny old
+pictures of Ladies' Slippers and such things."
+
+"I do not see what Ladies' Slippers have to do with steam-engines," said
+Bedford Long, scornfully.
+
+"No!" said Fanchon, laughing; "but I do, and that is the difference
+between you and me. Because, you see, I have read 'Harry and Lucy,' and
+you have not." And she opened "The Botanic Garden" at the place where
+she had put in a mark, and read:--
+
+  "Pressed by the ponderous air, the piston falls
+  Resistless, sliding through its iron walls;
+  Quick moves the balance beam of giant birth,
+  Wields its large limbs, and nodding shakes the earth.
+  The giant power, from earth's remotest caves
+  Lifts, with strong arm, her dark reluctant waves,
+  Each caverned rock and hidden depth explores,
+  Drags her dark coals, and digs her shining ores."
+
+"That is rather stilted poetry," said Uncle Fritz, "but a hundred years
+ago people were used to stilted poetry. It describes sufficiently well
+the original pumping-engine of Watt, and the lifting of coal from the
+shafts of the deep English mines. Now, it was not till Watt had made his
+improvements on the pumping-engine,--say in 1788,--that it was possible
+to go any farther in the use of steam than its application to such
+absolutely stationary purposes. It is therefore, I think, a good deal to
+the credit of Dr. Darwin, that within three years after Watt's great
+improvement in the condensing-engine the Doctor should have written
+this:--
+
+  'Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam, afar
+  Drag the slow barge or drive the rapid car.'
+
+It was twelve years after he wrote this, that Fulton had an experimental
+steamboat on the river Seine in France. It was sixteen years after,
+that, with one of Watt's own engines, Fulton drove the 'Clermont' from
+New York to Albany in thirty-six hours, and revolutionized the world in
+doing it.
+
+"Poor James Mackintosh was in virtual exile in Calcutta at that time,
+and he wrote this in his journal: 'A boat propelled by steam has gone a
+hundred and fifty miles upon the Hudson in thirty-six hours. Four miles
+an hour would bring Calcutta within a hundred days of London. Oh that we
+had lived a hundred years later!' In less than fifty years after
+Mackintosh wrote those words, Calcutta was within thirty days of London.
+
+"When Harry and Lucy read these verses in 1825, the 'rapid car' was
+still in the future."
+
+"Yes," said Fanchon; "but Harry says, 'The rapid car is to come, and I
+dare say that will be accomplished soon, papa; do not you think it
+will?'"
+
+"I have sometimes wondered," said Uncle Fritz, "whether our American
+word 'car' where the English say 'wagon' did not come from the 'rapid
+car' of Dr. Darwin. Read on, Fanchon." And he put his finger on the
+lines which Fanchon read:--
+
+  "Or on wide waving wings, expanded, bear
+  The flying chariot through the fields of air."
+
+"Monsieur ----, the French gentleman, tried a light steam-engine for the
+propulsion of a balloon in 1872; but it does not seem to have had power
+enough. Messrs. Renard and Krebs, in their successful flight of August
+last, used an electric battery.
+
+"But we are getting away from Fulton, who is really the first who drove
+the 'slow barge,' and indeed made it a very fast one."
+
+"Did you know him?" asked Emma Fortinbras, whose ideas of chronology are
+very vague.
+
+"Oh, no!" said Uncle Fritz; "he died young and before my time. But I did
+know a personal companion and friend, nay, a bedfellow of his, Benjamin
+Church, who was with him in Paris at one of the crises of his life.
+Fulton had a little steamboat on the river Seine, as I said just now;
+and he had made interest with Napoleon to have it examined by a
+scientific committee. Steam power was exactly what Napoleon wanted, to
+take his great army across from Boulogne to England. The day came for
+the great experiment. Church and Fulton slept, the night before, in the
+same bed in their humble lodgings in Paris. At daybreak a messenger
+waked them. He had come from the river to say that the weight of boiler
+and machinery had been too much for the little boat, that her timbers
+had given way, and that the whole had sunk to the bottom of the river.
+But for this misfortune, the successful steamboat would have sailed upon
+the Seine, and, for aught I know, Napoleon's grandchildren would now be
+emperors of England."
+
+Until Watt had completed the structure of the double-acting
+condensing-engine, the application of steam to any but the single object
+of pumping water had been almost impracticable. It was not enough, in
+order to render it applicable to general purposes, that the condensation
+of the water should take place in a separate vessel, and that steam
+itself should be used, instead of atmospheric pressure, as the moving
+power; but it was also necessary that the steam should act as well
+during the ascent as during the descent of the piston. Before steam
+could be used in moving paddle-wheels, it was in addition necessary that
+a ready and convenient mode of making the motion of the piston
+continuous and rotary, should be discovered. All these improvements upon
+the original form of the steam-engine are due to Watt, and he did not
+complete their perfect combination before the year 1786.
+
+Evans, who, in this country, saw the possibility of constructing a
+double-acting engine, even before Watt, and had made a model of his
+machine, did not succeed in obtaining funds to make an experiment upon a
+large scale before 1801. We conceive, therefore, that all those who
+projected the application of steam to vessels before 1786, may be
+excluded, without ceremony, from the list of those entitled to compete
+with Fulton for the honors of invention. No one, indeed, could have seen
+the powerful action of a pumping-engine without being convinced that the
+energy which was applied so successfully to that single purpose, might
+be made applicable to many others; but those who entertained a belief
+that the original atmospheric engine, or even the single-acting engine
+of Watt, could be applied to propel boats by paddle-wheels, showed a
+total ignorance of mechanical principles. This is more particularly the
+case with all those whose projects bore the strongest resemblance to the
+plan which Fulton afterwards carried successfully into effect. Those who
+approached most nearly to the attainment of success, were they who were
+farthest removed from the plan of Fulton. His application was founded on
+the properties of Watt's double-acting engine, and could not have been
+used at all, until that instrument of universal application had received
+the last finish of its inventor.
+
+In this list of failures, from proposing to do what the instrument they
+employed was incapable of performing, we do not hesitate to include
+Savery, Papin, Jonathan Hulls, Périer, the Marquis de Jouffroy, and all
+the other names of earlier date than 1786, whom the jealousy of the
+French and English nations have drawn from oblivion for the purpose of
+contesting the priority of Fulton's claims. The only competitor, whom
+they might have brought forward with some shadow of plausibility, is
+Watt himself. No sooner had that illustrious inventor completed his
+double-acting engine, than he saw at a glance the vast field of its
+application. Navigation and locomotion were not omitted; but living in
+an inland town, and in a country possessing no rivers of importance, his
+views were limited to canals alone. In this direction he saw an
+immediate objection to the use of any apparatus, of which so powerful an
+agent as his engine should be the mover; for it was clear, that the
+injury which would be done to the banks of the canal, would prevent the
+possibility of its introduction. Watt, therefore, after having conceived
+the idea of a steamboat, laid it aside, as unlikely to be of any
+practical value.
+
+The idea of applying steam to navigation was not confined to Europe.
+Numerous Americans entertained hopes of attaining the same object, but,
+before 1786, with the same want of any reasonable hopes of success.
+Their fruitless projects were, however, rebuked by Franklin, who,
+reasoning upon the capabilities of the engine in its original form, did
+not hesitate to declare all their schemes impracticable; and the
+correctness of his judgment is at present unquestionable.
+
+Among those who, before the completion of Watt's invention, attempted
+the structure of steamboats, must be named with praise Fitch and Rumsey.
+They, unlike those whose names have been cited, were well aware of the
+real difficulties which they were to overcome; and both were the authors
+of plans which, if the engine had been incapable of further improvement,
+might have had a partial and limited success. Fitch's trial was made in
+1783, and Rumsey's in 1787. The latter date is subsequent to Watt's
+double-acting engine; but as the project consisted merely in pumping in
+water, to be afterwards forced out at the stern, the single-acting
+engine was probably employed. Evans, whose engine might have answered
+the purpose, was employed in the daily business of millwright; and
+although he might, at any time, have driven these competitors from the
+field, he took no steps to apply his dormant invention.
+
+Fitch, who had watched the graceful and rapid way of the Indian canoe,
+saw in the oscillating motion of the old pumping-engine the means of
+impelling paddles in a manner similar to that given them by the human
+arm. This idea is extremely ingenious, and was applied in a simple and
+beautiful manner. But the engine was yet too feeble and cumbrous to
+yield an adequate force; and when it received its great improvement from
+Watt, a more efficient mode of propulsion had become practicable, and
+must have superseded Fitch's paddles had they even come into general
+use.
+
+The experiments of Fitch and Rumsey in the United States, although
+generally considered unsuccessful, did not deter others from similar
+attempts. The great rivers and arms of the sea which intersect the
+Atlantic coast, and, still more, the innumerable navigable arms of the
+Father of Waters, appeared to call upon the ingenious machinist to
+contrive means for their more convenient navigation.
+
+The improvement of the engine by Watt was now familiarly known; and it
+was evident that it possessed sufficient powers for the purpose. The
+only difficulty which existed, was in the mode of applying it. The first
+person who entered into the inquiry was John Stevens, of Hokoken, who
+commenced his researches in 1791. In these he was steadily engaged for
+nine years, when he became the associate of Chancellor Livingston and
+Nicholas Roosevelt. Among the persons employed by this association was
+Brunel, who has since become distinguished in Europe as the inventor of
+the block machinery used in the British navy-yards, and as the engineer
+of the tunnel beneath the Thames.
+
+Even with the aid of such talent, the efforts of this association were
+unsuccessful,--as we now know, from no error in principle, but from
+defects in the boat to which it was applied. The appointment of
+Livingston as ambassador to France broke up this joint effort; and, like
+all previous schemes, it was considered abortive, and contributed to
+throw discredit upon all undertakings of the kind. A grant of exclusive
+privileges on the waters of the State of New York was made to this
+association without any difficulty, it being believed that the scheme
+was little short of madness.
+
+Livingston, on his arrival in France, found Fulton domiciliated with
+Joel Barlow. The conformity in their pursuits led to intimacy, and
+Fulton speedily communicated to Livingston the scheme[11] which he had
+laid before Earl Stanhope in 1793. Livingston was so well pleased with
+it that he at once offered to provide the funds necessary for an
+experiment, and to enter into a contract for Fulton's aid in introducing
+the method into the United States, provided the experiment were
+successful.
+
+Fulton had, in his early discussion with Lord Stanhope, repudiated the
+idea of an apparatus acting on the principle of the foot of an aquatic
+bird, and had proposed paddle-wheels in its stead. On resuming his
+inquiries after his arrangements with Livingston, it occurred to him to
+compose wheels with a set of paddles revolving upon an endless chain
+extending from the stem to the stern of the boat. It is probable that
+the apparent want of success which had attended the experiments of
+Symington[12] led him to doubt the correctness of his original views.
+
+That such doubt should be entirely removed, he had recourse to a series
+of experiments upon a small scale. These were performed at Plombières, a
+French watering-place, where he spent the summer of 1802. In these
+experiments the superiority of the paddle-wheel over every other method
+of propulsion that had yet been proposed, was fully established. His
+original impressions being thus confirmed, he proceeded, late in the
+year 1803, to construct a working model of his intended boat, which
+model was deposited with a commission of French _savans_. He at the same
+time began building a vessel sixty-six feet in length and eight feet in
+width. To this an engine was adapted; and the experiment made with it
+was so satisfactory, as to leave little doubt of final success.
+
+Measures were therefore immediately taken, preparatory to constructing a
+steamboat on a larger scale in the United States. For this purpose, as
+the workshops of neither France nor America could at that time furnish
+an engine of good quality, it became necessary to resort to England for
+that purpose. Fulton had already experienced the difficulty of being
+compelled to employ artists unacquainted with the subject. It is,
+indeed, more than probable, that, had he not, during his residence in
+Birmingham, made himself familiar, not only with the general features,
+but with the most minute details of the engine of Watt, the experiment
+on the Seine could not have been made. In this experiment, and in the
+previous investigations, it became obvious that the engine of Watt
+required important modifications in order to adapt it to navigation.
+These modifications had been planned by Fulton; but it now became
+important, that they should be more fully tested. An engine was
+therefore ordered from Watt and Boulton, without any specification of
+the object to which it was to be applied; and its form was directed to
+be varied from their usual models, in conformity to sketches furnished
+by Fulton.
+
+The order for an engine intended to propel a vessel of large size, was
+transmitted to Watt and Boulton in 1803. At about the same time,
+Chancellor Livingston, having full confidence in the success of the
+enterprise, caused an application to be made to the legislature of New
+York for an exclusive privilege of navigating the waters of that State
+by steam, that which was granted on a former occasion having expired.
+
+This privilege was granted with little opposition. Indeed, those who
+might have been inclined to object, saw so much of the impracticable and
+even of the ridiculous in the project, that they conceived the
+application unworthy of serious debate. The condition attached to the
+grant was, that a vessel should be propelled by steam at the rate of
+four miles an hour, within a prescribed space of time. This reliance
+upon the reserved rights of the States proved a fruitful source of
+vexation to Livingston and Fulton, and imbittered the close of the life
+of the latter, and reduced his family to penury. It can hardly be
+doubted that, had an expectation been entertained, that the grant of a
+State was ineffectual, and that the jurisdiction was vested in the
+general government, a similar grant might have been obtained from
+Congress. The influence of Livingston with the administration was
+deservedly high, and that administration was supported by a powerful
+majority; nor would it have been consistent with the principles of the
+opposition to vote against any act of liberality to the introducer of a
+valuable application of science. Livingston, however, confiding in his
+skill as a lawyer, preferred the application to the State, and was thus,
+by his own act, restricted to a limited field.
+
+Before the engine ordered from Watt and Boulton was completed, Fulton
+visited England, and thus had an opportunity of visiting Birmingham, and
+directing, in person, its construction. It could only have been at this
+time, if ever, that he saw the boat of Symington;[13] but a view of it
+could have produced no effect upon his own plans, which had been matured
+in France, and carried, so far as the engine was concerned, to such an
+extent as to admit of no alteration.
+
+The engine was at last completed, and reached New York in 1806. Fulton,
+who returned to his native country about the same period, immediately
+undertook the construction of a boat in which to place it. In ordering
+his engine and in planning the boat, Fulton exhibited plainly how far
+his scientific researches and practical experiments had placed him
+before all his competitors. He had evidently ascertained, what each
+successive year's experience proves more fully, the great advantages
+possessed by large steamboats over those of smaller size; and thus,
+while all previous attempts had been made in smaller vessels, he alone
+resolved to make his final experiment in one of great dimensions. That a
+vessel, intended to be propelled by steam, ought to have very different
+proportions, and lines of a character wholly distinct from those of
+vessels intended to be navigated by sails, was evident to him. No other
+theory, however, of the resistance of fluids was admitted at the time
+than that of Bossut, and there were no published experiments except
+those of the British Society of Arts. Judged in reference to these, the
+model chosen by Fulton was faultless, although it will not stand the
+test of an examination founded upon a better theory and more accurate
+experiments.
+
+The vessel was finished and fitted with her machinery in August, 1807.
+An experimental excursion was forthwith made, at which a number of
+gentlemen of science and intelligence were present. Many of these were
+either sceptical or absolute unbelievers. But a few minutes served to
+convert the whole party, and satisfy the most obstinate doubters, that
+the long-desired object was at last accomplished. Only a few weeks
+before, the cost of constructing and finishing the vessel threatening to
+exceed the funds with which he had been provided by Livingston, Fulton
+had attempted to obtain a supply by the sale of one third of the
+exclusive right granted by the State of New York. No person was found
+possessed of the faith requisite to induce him to embark in the project.
+Those who had rejected this opportunity of investment, were now the
+witnesses of the completion of the scheme, which they had considered as
+an inadequate security for the desired funds.
+
+Within a few days from the time of the first experiment with the
+steamboat, a voyage was undertaken in it to Albany. This city, situated
+at the natural head of the navigation of the Hudson, is distant, by the
+line of the channel of the river, rather less than one hundred and
+fifty miles from New York. By the old post-road, the distance is one
+hundred and sixty miles, at which that by water is usually estimated.
+Although the greater part of the channel of the Hudson is both deep and
+wide, yet for about fourteen miles below Albany this character is not
+preserved, and the stream, confined within comparatively small limits,
+is obstructed by bars of sand or spreads itself over shallows. In a few
+remarkable instances, the sloops, which then exclusively navigated the
+Hudson, had effected a passage in about sixteen hours; but a whole week
+was not unfrequently employed in the voyage, and the average time of
+passage was not less than four entire days. In Fulton's first attempt to
+navigate this stream, the passage to Albany was performed in thirty-two
+hours, and the return in thirty.
+
+Up to this time, although the exclusive grant had been sought and
+obtained from the State of New York, it does not appear that either he
+or his associate had been fully aware of the vast opening which the
+navigation of the Hudson presented for the use of steam. They looked to
+the rapid Mississippi and its branches, as the place where their triumph
+was to be achieved; and the original boat, modelled for shallow waters,
+was announced as intended for the navigation of that river. But even in
+the very first attempt, numbers, called by business or pleasure to the
+northern or western parts of the State of New York, crowded into the yet
+untried vessel; and when the success of the attempt was beyond question,
+no little anxiety was manifested, that the steamboat should be
+established as a regular packet between New York and Albany.
+
+With these indications of public feeling Fulton immediately complied,
+and regular voyages were made at stated times until the end of the
+season. These voyages were not, however, unattended with inconvenience.
+The boat, designed for a mere experiment, was incommodious; and many of
+the minor arrangements by which facility of working and safety from
+accident to the machinery were to be insured, were yet wanting. Fulton
+continued a close and attentive observer of the performance of the
+vessel; every difficulty, as it manifested itself, was met and removed
+by the most masterly as well as simple contrivances. Some of these were
+at once adopted, while others remained to be applied while the boat
+should be laid up for the winter. He thus gradually formed in his mind
+the idea of a complete and perfect vessel; and in his plan, no one part
+which has since been found to be essential to the ease of manoeuvre or
+security, was omitted. But the eyes of the whole community were now
+fixed upon the steamboat; and as all those of competent mechanical
+knowledge were, like Fulton himself, alive to the defects of the
+original vessel, his right to priority of invention of various important
+accessories has been disputed.
+
+The winter of 1807-8 was occupied in remodelling and rebuilding the
+vessel, to which the name "Clermont" was now given. The guards and
+housings for the wheels, which had been but temporary structures,
+applied as their value was pointed out by experience, became solid and
+essential parts of the boat. For a rudder of the ordinary form, one of
+surface much more extended in its horizontal dimensions was substituted.
+This, instead of being moved by a tiller, was acted upon by ropes
+applied to its extremity; and these ropes were adapted to a
+steering-wheel, which was raised aloft towards the bow of the vessel.
+
+It had been shown by the numbers who were transported during the first
+summer, that at the same price for passage, many were willing to
+undergo all the inconveniences of the original rude accommodations, in
+preference to encountering the delays and uncertainty to which the
+passage in sloops was exposed. Fulton did not, however, take advantage
+of his monopoly, but with the most liberal spirit, provided such
+accommodations for passengers, as in convenience and even splendor, had
+not before been approached in vessels intended for the transportation of
+travellers. This was, on his part, an exercise of almost improvident
+liberality. By his contract with Chancellor Livingston, the latter
+undertook to defray the whole cost of the engine and vessel, until the
+experiment should result in success; but from that hour each was to
+furnish an equal share of all investments. Fulton had no patrimonial
+fortune, and what little he had saved from the product of his ingenuity
+was now exhausted. But the success of the experiment had inspired the
+banks and capitalists with confidence, and he now found no difficulty in
+obtaining, in the way of loan, all that was needed. Still, however, a
+debt was thus contracted which the continued demands made upon him for
+new investments never permitted him to discharge. The "Clermont," thus
+converted into a floating palace, gay with ornamental painting, gilding,
+and polished woods, began her course of passages for the second year in
+the month of April.
+
+The first voyage of this year was of the most discouraging character.
+Chancellor Livingston, who had, by his own experiments, approached as
+near to success as any other person who, before Fulton, had endeavored
+to navigate by steam, and who had furnished all the capital necessary
+for the experiment, had plans and projects of his own. These he urged
+into execution in spite of the opposition of Fulton. The boiler
+furnished by Watt and Boulton was not adapted to the object. Copied from
+those used on the land, it required that its fireplace and flues should
+be constructed of masonry. These added so much weight to the apparatus,
+that the rebuilt boat would hardly have floated had they been retained.
+In order to replace this boiler, Livingston had planned a compound
+structure of wood and copper, which he insisted should be tried.
+
+It is only necessary for us to say, that this boiler proved a complete
+failure. Steam began to issue from its joints a few hours after the
+"Clermont" left New York. It then became impossible to keep up a proper
+degree of tension, and the passage was thus prolonged to forty-eight
+hours. These defects increased after leaving Albany on the return, and
+the boiler finally gave way altogether within a few miles of New York.
+The time of the downward passage was thus extended to fifty-six hours.
+Fulton was, however, thus relieved from all further interference; this
+fruitless experiment was decisive as to his superiority over his
+colleague in mechanical skill. He therefore immediately planned and
+directed the execution of a new boiler, which answered the purpose
+perfectly; and although there are many reasons why boilers of a totally
+different form and of subsequent invention should be preferred, it is,
+for its many good properties, extensively used, with little alteration,
+up to the present day. But a few weeks sufficed to build and set this
+boiler, and in the month of June the regular passages of the "Clermont"
+were renewed.
+
+In observing the hour appointed for departure, both from New York and
+Albany, Fulton determined to insist upon the utmost regularity. It
+required no little perseverance and resolution to carry this system of
+punctuality into effect. Persons accustomed to be waited for by
+packet-boats and stages, assented with great reluctance to what they
+conceived to be a useless adherence to precision of time. The benefits
+of this punctuality were speedily perceptible; the whole system of
+internal communication of the State of New York was soon regulated by
+the hours of arrival and departure of Fulton's steamboats; and the same
+system of precision was copied in all other steamboat lines. The
+certainty of conveyance at stated times being thus secured, the number
+of travellers was instantly augmented; and before the end of the second
+summer, the boat became far too small for the passengers, who crowded to
+avail themselves of this novel, punctual, and unprecedentedly rapid
+method of transport.
+
+Such success, however, was not without its alloy. The citizens of Albany
+and the river towns saw, as they thought, in the steamboat, the means of
+enticing their customers from their ancient marts to the more extensive
+market of the chief city; the skippers of the river mourned the
+inevitable loss of a valuable part of their business; and innumerable
+projectors beheld with envy the successful enterprise of Fulton.
+
+Among the latter class was one who, misled by false notions of
+mechanical principles, fancied that in the mere oscillations of a
+pendulum lay a power sufficient for any purpose whatever. Availing
+himself of a well-constructed model, he exhibited to the inhabitants of
+Albany a pendulum which continued its motions for a considerable time,
+without requiring any new impulse, and at the same time propelled a pair
+of wheels. These wheels, however, did not work in water. Those persons
+who felt themselves aggrieved by the introduction of steamboats, quickly
+embraced this project, prompted by an enmity to Fulton, and determined,
+if they could not defeat his object, at least to share in the profits of
+its success.
+
+It soon appeared, from preliminary experiments, made in a sloop
+purchased for the purpose, that a steam-engine would be required to give
+motion to the pendulum; and it was observed that the water-wheels, when
+in connection with the pendulum, had a very irregular motion. A
+fly-wheel was therefore added, and the pendulum was now found to be a
+useless incumbrance. Enlightened by these experiments, the association
+proceeded to build two boats; and these were exact copies, not only of
+the hull and all the accessories of the "Clermont," but the engine
+turned out to be identical in form and structure with one which Fulton
+was at the very time engaged in fitting to his second boat, "The Car of
+Neptune."
+
+The pretence of bringing into use a new description of prime mover was
+of course necessarily abandoned, and the owners of the new steamboats
+determined boldly to test the constitutionality of the exclusive grant
+to Fulton. Fulton and Livingston, in consequence, applied to the Court
+of Chancery of the State of New York for an injunction, which was
+refused. On an appeal to the Court of Errors this decision of the
+Chancellor was reversed; but the whole of the profits which might have
+been derived from the business of the year were prevented from accruing
+to Livingston and Fulton, who, compelled to contend in price with an
+opposition supported by popular feeling in Albany, were losers rather
+than gainers by the operations of the season.
+
+As no appeal was taken from this last decision, the waters of the State
+of New York remained in the exclusive possession of Fulton and his
+partner, until the death of the former. This exclusive possession was
+not, however, attended with all the advantages that might have been
+anticipated. The immense increase of travel which the facilities of
+communication created, rendered it imperative upon the holders of the
+monopoly to provide new facilities by the construction of new vessels.
+The cost of these could not be defrayed out of the profits. Hence new
+and heavy debts were necessarily contracted by Fulton, while Livingston,
+possessed of an ample fortune, required no pecuniary aid beyond what he
+was able to meet from his own resources.
+
+The most formidable opposition which was made to the privileges of
+Fulton, was founded upon the discoveries of Fitch. We have seen, that he
+constructed a boat which made some passages between Trenton and
+Philadelphia; but the method which he used, was that of paddles, which
+are far inferior to the paddle-wheel. Of the inferiority of the method
+of paddles, had any doubt remained, positive evidence was afforded in
+the progress of this dispute; for in order to bring the question to the
+test of a legal decision, a boat propelled by them was brought into the
+waters of the State of New York. The result of the experiment was so
+decisive, that when the parties engaged in the enterprise had succeeded
+in their designs, they made no attempt to propel their boats by any
+other method than that of wheels.
+
+Fulton, assailed in his exclusive privileges derived from State grants,
+took, for his further protection, a patent from the general government.
+This is dated in 1809, and was followed by another, for improvements
+upon it, in 1811. It now appeared, that the very circumstance in which
+the greatest merit of his method consists, was to be the obstacle to his
+maintaining an exclusive privilege. Discarding all complexity, he had
+limited himself to the simple means of adapting paddle-wheels to the
+crank of Watt's engine; and, under the patent laws, it seems hardly
+possible that such a simple yet effectual method could be guarded by a
+specification. As has been the case with many other important
+discoveries, the most ignorant conceived that they might themselves have
+discovered it; and those unacquainted with the history of the attempts
+at navigation by steam, were compelled to wonder that it had been left
+for Fulton to bring it into successful operation.
+
+Before the death of Fulton, the steamboats on the Hudson River were
+increased in number to five. A sixth was built under his direction for
+the navigation of the Sound; and, this water being rendered unsafe by
+the presence of an enemy's[14] squadron, the boat plied for a time upon
+the Hudson. In the construction of this boat he had, in his own opinion,
+exhausted the power of steam in navigation, having given it a speed of
+nine miles an hour; and it is a remarkable fact, which manifests his
+acquaintance with theory and skill in calculation, that he in all cases
+predicted with almost absolute accuracy, the velocity of the vessels he
+caused to be constructed. The engineers of Great Britain came, long
+after, to a similar conclusion in respect to the maximum of speed.
+
+It is now, however, well known, that, with a proper construction of
+prows, the resistance to vessels moving at higher velocities than nine
+miles an hour, increases in a much less ratio than had been inferred
+from experiments made upon wedge-shaped bodies; and that the velocity of
+the pistons of steam-engines may be conveniently increased beyond the
+limit fixed by the practice of Watt.
+
+For these important discoveries the world is indebted principally to
+Robert L. Stevens. That Fulton must have reached them in the course of
+his own practice can hardly be doubted, had his valuable life been
+spared to watch the performance of the vessels he was engaged in
+building at the time of his premature death.[15] These were, a large
+boat intended for the navigation of the Hudson, to which the name of his
+partner, Chancellor Livingston, was given, and one planned for the
+navigation of the ocean. The latter was constructed with the intention
+of making a passage to St. Petersburg; but this scheme was interrupted
+by his death, which took place at the moment he was about to add to his
+glory, as the first constructor of a successful steamboat, that of being
+the first navigator of the ocean by this new and mighty agent.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+GEORGE STEPHENSON AND THE LOCOMOTIVE.
+
+
+"What I say is this," said Nahum, "that all your Vesuvius dividends, and
+all your pickers and slobbers, and shirtings at four cents, and all the
+rest of your great cotton victory, depend on railroads. If your father
+could not go to Lewiston and see his foreman and people, and come back
+before you can say Jack Robinson, there would be no mills at Lewiston
+such as there are. There might be a poor little sawmill making shingles,
+as you free-traders want." This with scorn at Fergus, perhaps, or some
+one else suspected of views unfavorable to protection.
+
+Then Nahum shook hands with Uncle Fritz, and apologized for his zeal,
+adding: "I am telling the boys why I want to go to Altoona, and to
+become a railroad man. I say that the new plant in India might knock
+cotton higher than a kite, and that people might learn to live without
+novels or magazines, but that they must have transportation all the
+same. And I am going into the railroad business. I am going to hew down
+the mountains and fill up the valleys." The boy was fairly eloquent in
+his enthusiasm.
+
+"It is in your blood, my brave fellow," said Uncle Fritz. "People
+thought your grandfather was crazy when he said it, sixty years ago.
+But it proved he was the seer and the prophet, and they were the fools."
+
+"And who invented railroads?" asked Blanche.
+
+"As to that, the man invented a railroad who first put two boards down
+over two ruts to make a cart run easier. Almost as soon as there were
+mines, there must have been some sort of rail for the use of the wagons
+which brought out the ore. These rails became so useful that they were
+continued from the mine to the high-road, whatever it was. But it was
+not till the first quarter of this century, that rails were laid for
+general use. The earliest railroad in the United States was laid at the
+quarries in Quincy, in Massachusetts, in 1825."
+
+Uncle Fritz was so well pleased at their eagerness that he brought out
+for them some of the old books, and some of the new. In especial he bade
+them all read Smiles's "Life of Stephenson" before they came to him
+again. For to George Stephenson, as they soon learned, more than to any
+one man, the world owes the step forward which it made when locomotives
+were generally used on railroads. Since that time the improvements in
+both have gone on together.
+
+Before they met again, at Uncle Fritz's suggestion, Fergus and Hester
+prepared this sketch of the details of Stephenson's earlier invention,
+purposely that Uncle Fritz might use it when these papers should be
+printed together.
+
+
+GEORGE STEPHENSON.
+
+An efficient and economical working locomotive engine still remained to
+be invented, and to accomplish this object Stephenson now applied
+himself. Profiting by what his predecessors had done,--warned by their
+failures and encouraged by their partial successes,--he began his
+labors. There was still wanting the man who should accomplish for the
+locomotive what James Watt had done for the steam-engine, and combine in
+a complete form the best points in the separate plans of others,
+embodying with them such original inventions and adaptations of his own,
+as to entitle him to the merit of inventing the working locomotive, as
+James Watt is to be regarded as the inventor of the working
+condensing-engine. This was the great work upon which George Stephenson
+now entered, though probably without any adequate idea of the ultimate
+importance of his work to society and civilization.
+
+He proceeded to bring the subject of constructing a "Travelling Engine,"
+as he denominated the locomotive, under the notice of the lessees of the
+Killingworth Colliery,[16] in the year 1813. Lord Ravensworth, the
+principal partner, had already formed a very favorable opinion of the
+new colliery engine-wright from the improvements which he had effected
+in the colliery engines, both above and below ground; and after
+considering the matter, and hearing Stephenson's explanations, he
+authorized him to proceed with the construction of a locomotive, though
+his lordship was by some called a fool for advancing money for such a
+purpose. "The first locomotive that I made," said Stephenson, many years
+after, when speaking of his early career at a public meeting in
+Newcastle, "was at Killingworth Colliery, and with Lord Ravensworth's
+money. Yes, Lord Ravensworth and partners were the first to intrust me,
+thirty-two years since, with money to make a locomotive engine. I said
+to my friends, there was no limit to the speed of such an engine, if the
+works could be made to stand."
+
+Our engine-wright had, however, many obstacles to encounter before he
+could get fairly to work upon the erection of his locomotive. His chief
+difficulty was in finding workmen sufficiently skilled in mechanics and
+in the use of tools to follow his instructions, and embody his designs
+in a practical shape. The tools then in use about the colliery were rude
+and clumsy, and there were no such facilities, as now exist, for turning
+out machinery of any entirely new character. Stephenson was under the
+necessity of working with such men and tools as were at his command, and
+he had in a great measure to train and instruct the workmen himself. The
+new engine was built in the workshops at the West Morr, the leading
+mechanic being John Thirlwall, the colliery blacksmith,--an excellent
+mechanic in his way, though quite new to the work now intrusted to him.
+
+In this first locomotive, constructed at Killingworth, Stephenson to
+some extent followed the plan of Blenkinsop's engine. The wrought-iron
+boiler was cylindrical, eight feet in length and thirty-four inches in
+diameter, with an internal flue-tube twenty inches wide passing through
+it. The engine had two vertical cylinders, of eight inches diameter and
+two feet stroke, let into the boiler, which worked the propelling gear
+with cross-heads and connecting-rods. The power of the two cylinders was
+combined by means of spur-wheels, which communicated the motive power to
+the wheels supporting the engine on the rail. The engine thus worked
+upon what is termed the second motion. The chimney was of wrought-iron,
+round which was a chamber extending back to the feed-pumps, for the
+purpose of heating the water previous to its injection into the boiler.
+The engine had no springs, and was mounted on a wooden frame supported
+on four wheels. In order to neutralize as much as possible the jolts and
+shocks which such an engine would necessarily encounter, from the
+obstacles and inequalities of the then very imperfect plate-way, the
+water-barrel, which served for a tender, was fixed to the end of a lever
+and weighted; the other end of the lever being connected with the frame
+of the locomotive carriage. By this means the weight of the two was more
+equally distributed, though the contrivance did not by any means
+compensate for the total absence of springs.
+
+The wheels of the locomotive were all smooth, Stephenson having
+satisfied himself by experiment that the adhesion between the wheels of
+a loaded engine and the rail would be sufficient for the purposes of
+traction.[17]
+
+The engine was, after much labor and anxiety, and frequent alterations
+of parts, at length brought to completion, having been about ten months
+in hand. It was placed upon the Killingworth Railway on the 25th of
+July, 1814, and its powers were tried on the same day. On an ascending
+gradient of 1 in 450, the engine succeeded in drawing after it eight
+loaded carriages, of thirty tons weight, at about four miles an hour;
+and for some time after it continued regularly at work.
+
+Although a considerable advance upon previous locomotives, "Blucher"
+(as the engine was popularly called) was nevertheless a somewhat
+cumbrous and clumsy machine. The parts were huddled together. The boiler
+constituted the principal feature; and, being the foundation of the
+other parts, it was made to do duty not only as a generator of steam,
+but also as a basis for the fixings of the machinery and for the
+bearings of the wheels and axles. The want of springs was seriously
+felt; and the progress of the engine was a succession of jolts, causing
+considerable derangement to the working. The mode of communicating the
+motive power to the wheels by means of the spur-gear also caused
+frequent jerks, each cylinder alternately propelling or becoming
+propelled by the other, as the pressure of the one upon the wheels
+became greater or less than the pressure of the other; and when the
+teeth of the cog-wheels became at all worn, a rattling noise was
+produced during the travelling of the engine.
+
+As the principal test of the success of the locomotive was its economy
+as compared with horse-power, careful calculations were made with the
+view of ascertaining this important point. The result was, that it was
+found the working of the engine was at first barely economical; and at
+the end of the year the steam-power and the horse-power were ascertained
+to be as nearly as possible upon a par in point of cost.
+
+We give the remainder of the history of George Stephenson's efforts to
+produce an economical working locomotive in the words of his son Robert,
+as communicated to Mr. Smiles in 1856, for the purposes of his father's
+"Life."
+
+"A few months of experience and careful observation upon the operation
+of this (his first) engine convinced my father that the complication
+arising out of the action of the two cylinders being combined by
+spur-wheels would prevent their coming into practical application. He
+then directed his attention to an entire change in the construction and
+mechanical arrangements, and in the following year took out a patent,
+dated Feb. 28, 1815, for an engine which combined in a remarkable degree
+the essential requisites of an economical locomotive,--that is to say,
+few parts, simplicity in their action, and great simplicity in the mode
+by which power was communicated to the wheels supporting the engine.
+
+"This second engine consisted, as before, of two vertical cylinders;
+which communicated directly with each pair of the four wheels that
+supported the engine by a cross-head and a pair of connecting-rods. But
+in attempting to establish a direct communication between the cylinders
+and the wheels that rolled upon the rails, considerable difficulties
+presented themselves. The ordinary joints could not be employed to unite
+the engine, which was a rigid mass, with the wheels rolling upon the
+irregular surface of the rails; for it was evident that the two rails of
+the line of railway could not always be maintained at the same level
+with respect to each other,--that one wheel at the end of the axle might
+be depressed into a part of the line which had subsided, while the other
+would be elevated. In such a position of the axle and wheels it was
+clear that a rigid communication between the cross-head and the wheels
+was impracticable. Hence it became necessary to form a joint at the top
+of the piston-rod where it united with the cross-head, so as to permit
+the cross-head always to preserve complete parallelism with the axle of
+the wheels with which it was in communication.
+
+"In order to obtain the flexibility combined with direct action, which
+was essential for insuring power and avoiding needless friction and
+jars from irregularities in the rail, my father employed the 'ball and
+socket joint' for effecting a union between the ends of the cross-heads,
+where they were united with the crank-pins attached to each
+driving-wheel. By this arrangement the parallelism between the
+cross-head and the axle was at all times maintained, it being permitted
+to take place without producing jar or friction upon any part of the
+machine.
+
+"The next important point was to combine each pair of wheels by some
+simple mechanism, instead of the cog-wheels which had formerly been
+used. My father began by inserting each axle into two cranks, at right
+angles to each other, with rods communicating horizontally between them.
+An engine was made upon this plan, and answered extremely well. But at
+that period (1815) the mechanical skill of the country was not equal to
+the task of forging cranked axles of the soundness and strength
+necessary to stand the jars incident to locomotive work; so my father
+was compelled to fall back upon a substitute which, though less simple
+and less efficient, was within the mechanical capabilities of the
+workmen of that day, either for construction or repair. He adopted a
+chain, which rolled over indented wheels placed on the centre of each
+axle, and so arranged that the two pairs of wheels were effectually
+coupled and made to keep pace with each other. But these chains after a
+few years' use became stretched, and then the engines were liable to
+irregularity in their working, especially in changing from working back
+to forward again. Nevertheless, these engines continued in profitable
+use upon the Killingworth Colliery Railway for some years. Eventually
+the chain was laid aside, and the wheels were united by rods on the
+_outside_ instead of rods and crank-axles inside, as specified in the
+original patent; and this expedient completely answered the purpose
+required, without involving any expensive or difficult workmanship.
+
+"Another important improvement was introduced in this engine. The
+eduction steam had hitherto been allowed to escape direct into the open
+atmosphere; but my father having observed the great velocity with which
+the smoke issued from the chimney of the same engine, thought that by
+conveying the eduction steam into the chimney, and there allowing it to
+escape in a vertical direction, its velocity would be imparted to the
+smoke from the engine, or to the ascending current of air in the
+chimney. The experiment was no sooner made than the power of the engine
+became more than doubled; combustion was stimulated, as it were, by a
+blast; consequently, the power of the boiler for generating steam was
+increased, and in the same proportion, the useful duty of the engine was
+augmented.
+
+"Thus, in 1815 my father had succeeded in manufacturing an engine which
+included the following important improvements on all previous attempts
+in the same direction: simple and direct communication between the
+cylinder and the wheels rolling upon the rails; joint adhesion of all
+the wheels, attained by the use of horizontal connecting-rods; and,
+finally, a beautiful method of exciting the combustion of fuel by
+employing the waste steam which had formerly been allowed to escape
+uselessly. It is perhaps not too much to say that this engine, as a
+mechanical contrivance, contained the germ of all that has since been
+effected. It may be regarded, in fact, as a type of the present
+locomotive engine.
+
+"In describing my father's application of the waste steam for the
+purpose of increasing the intensity of combustion in the boiler, and
+thus increasing the power of the engine without adding to its weight,
+and while claiming for this engine the merit of being a type of all
+those which have been successfully devised since the commencement of the
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway, it is necessary to observe that the
+next great improvement in the same direction, the 'multitubular boiler,'
+which took place some years later, could never have been used without
+the help of that simple expedient, _the steam-blast_, by which power
+only, the burning of coke was rendered possible.
+
+"I cannot pass over this last-named invention of my father's without
+remarking how slightly, as an original idea, it has been appreciated;
+and yet how small would be the comparative value of the locomotive
+engine of the present day, without the application of that important
+invention.
+
+"Engines constructed by my father in the year 1818, upon the principles
+just described, are in use on the Killingworth Colliery Railway to this
+very day (1856), conveying, at the speed of perhaps five or six miles an
+hour, heavy coal-trains, probably as economically as any of the more
+perfect engines now in use."
+
+The invention of the steam-blast by George Stephenson in 1815 was
+fraught with the most important consequences to railway locomotion; and
+it is not saying too much to aver that the success of the locomotive has
+been in a great measure the result of its adoption. Without the
+steam-blast, by means of which the intensity of combustion is maintained
+at its highest point, producing a correspondingly rapid evolution of
+steam, high rates of speed could not have been kept up; the advantages
+of the multitubular boiler (afterward invented) could never have been
+fully tested; and locomotives might still have been dragging themselves
+unwieldily along at a rate of a little more than five or six miles an
+hour.
+
+As the period drew near for the opening of the line, the question of the
+tractive power to be employed was anxiously discussed. At the Brusselton
+decline, fixed engines must necessarily be made use of; but with respect
+to the mode of working the railway generally, it was decided that horses
+were to be largely employed, and arrangements were made for their
+purchase.
+
+Although locomotives had been regularly employed in hauling coal-wagons
+on the Middleton Colliery Railway, near Leeds, for more than twelve
+years, and on the Wylam and Killingworth Railways, near Newcastle, for
+more than ten years, great scepticism still prevailed as to the economy
+of employing them for the purpose in lieu of horses. In this case, it
+would appear that seeing was _not_ believing. The popular scepticism was
+as great at Newcastle, where the opportunities for accurate observation
+were the greatest, as anywhere else. In 1824 the scheme of a canal
+between that town and Carlisle again came up; and although a few timid
+voices were raised on behalf of a railway, the general opinion was still
+in favor of a canal. The example of the Hetton Railway, which had been
+successfully worked by Stephenson's locomotives for two years past, was
+pointed to in proof of the practicability of a locomotive line between
+the two places; but the voice of the press, as well as of the public,
+was decidedly against the "new-fangled roads."
+
+When such was the state of public opinion as to railway locomotion, some
+idea may be formed of the clear-sightedness and moral courage of the
+Stockton and Darlington directors in ordering three of Stephenson's
+locomotive engines, at a cost of several thousand pounds, against the
+opening of the railway.
+
+These were constructed after Stephenson's most matured designs, and
+embodied all the improvements which he had contrived up to that time.
+No. 1 engine, the "Locomotion," which was first delivered, weighed about
+eight tons. It had one large flue, or tube, through the boiler, by which
+the heated air passed direct from the furnace at the one end, lined with
+fire-bricks, to the chimney at the other. The combustion in the furnace
+was quickened by the adoption of the steam-blast in the chimney. The
+heat raised was sometimes so great, and it was so imperfectly abstracted
+by the surrounding water, that the chimney became almost red-hot. Such
+engines, when put to their speed, were found capable of running at the
+rate of from twelve to sixteen miles an hour; but they were better
+adapted for the heavy work of hauling coal-trains at low speed--for
+which, indeed, they were specially constructed--than for running at the
+higher speed afterward adopted. Nor was it contemplated by the directors
+as possible, at the time when they were ordered, that locomotives could
+be made available for the purposes of passenger travelling. Besides, the
+Stockton and Darlington Railway did not run through a district in which
+passengers were supposed to be likely to constitute any considerable
+portion of the traffic.
+
+We may easily imagine the anxiety felt by George Stephenson during the
+progress of the works toward completion, and his mingled hopes and
+doubts--though the doubts were but few--as to the issue of this great
+experiment. When the formation of the line near Stockton was well
+advanced, the engineer one day, accompanied by his son Robert and John
+Dixon, made a journey of inspection of the works. The party reached
+Stockton, and proceeded to dine at one of the inns there. After dinner,
+Stephenson ventured on the very unusual measure of ordering in a bottle
+of wine, to drink success to the railway. John Dixon relates with pride
+the utterance of the master on the occasion "Now, lads," said he to the
+two young men, "I venture to tell you that I think you will live to see
+the day when railways will supersede almost all other methods of
+conveyance in this country,--when mail-coaches will go by railway, and
+railroads will become the great highways for the king and all his
+subjects. The time is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man
+to travel on a railway than to walk on foot. I know there are great and
+almost insurmountable difficulties to be encountered, but what I have
+said will come to pass as sure as you now hear me. I only wish I may
+live to see the day, though that I can scarcely hope for, as I know how
+slow all human progress is, and with what difficulty I have been able to
+get the locomotive introduced thus far, notwithstanding my more than ten
+years' successful experiment at Killingworth." The result, however,
+outstripped even George Stephenson's most sanguine expectations; and his
+son Robert, shortly after his return from America in 1827, saw his
+father's locomotive generally adopted as the tractive power on
+mining-railways.
+
+Tuesday, the 27th of September, 1825, was a great day for Darlington.
+The railway, after having been under construction for more than three
+years, was at length about to be opened. The project had been the talk
+of the neighborhood for so long that there were few people within a
+range of twenty miles who did not feel more or less interested about it.
+Was it to be a failure or a success? Opinions were pretty equally
+divided as to the railway; but as regarded the locomotive, the general
+belief was that it would "never answer." However, there was the
+locomotive "No. 1" delivered upon the line, and ready to draw the first
+train of wagons on the opening day.
+
+A great concourse of people assembled on the occasion. Some came from
+Newcastle and Durham, many from the Aucklands, while Darlington held a
+general holiday and turned out all its population. To give _éclat_ to
+the opening, the directors of the company issued a programme of the
+proceedings, intimating the times at which the procession of wagons
+would pass certain points along the line. The proprietors assembled as
+early as six in the morning at the Brusselton fixed engine, where the
+working of the inclined planes was successfully rehearsed. A train of
+wagons laden with coals and merchandise was drawn up the western incline
+by the fixed engine, a length of nineteen hundred and sixty yards in
+seven and a half minutes, and then lowered down the incline on the
+eastern side of the hill, eight hundred and eighty yards, in five
+minutes.
+
+At the foot of the incline the procession of vehicles was formed,
+consisting of the locomotive engine No. 1, driven by George Stephenson
+himself; after it, six wagons loaded with coals and flour; then a
+covered coach containing directors and proprietors; next, twenty-one
+coal-wagons fitted up for passengers (with which they were crammed); and
+lastly, six more wagons loaded with coals.
+
+Strange to say, a man on a horse, carrying a flag with the motto of the
+company inscribed on it, _Periculum privatum utilitas publica_,[18]
+headed the procession! A lithographic view of the great event, published
+shortly after, duly exhibits the horseman and his flag. It was not
+thought so dangerous a place, after all. The locomotive was only
+supposed to be able to go at the rate of from four to six miles an hour,
+and an ordinary horse could easily keep ahead of that.
+
+Off started the procession, with the horseman at its head. A great
+concourse of people stood along the line. Many of them tried to
+accompany it by running, and some gentlemen on horseback galloped across
+the fields to keep up with the train. The railway descending with a
+gentle decline toward Darlington, the rate of speed was consequently
+variable. At a favorable part of the road Stephenson determined to try
+the speed of the engine, and he called upon the horseman with the flag
+to get out of his way! Most probably, deeming it unnecessary to carry
+his _periculum privatum_ farther, the horseman turned aside, and
+Stephenson "put on the steam." The speed was at once raised to twelve
+miles an hour, and, at a favorable part of the road, to fifteen. The
+runners on foot, the gentlemen on horseback, and the horseman with the
+flag were consequently soon left far behind. When the train reached
+Darlington, it was found that four hundred and fifty passengers occupied
+the wagons, and that the load of men, coals, and merchandise amounted to
+about ninety tons.
+
+At Darlington the procession was rearranged. The six loaded coal-wagons
+were left behind, and other wagons were taken on with a hundred and
+fifty more passengers, together with a band of music. The train then
+started for Stockton,--a distance of only twelve miles,--which was
+reached in about three hours. The day was kept throughout the district
+as a holiday; and horses, gigs, carts, and other vehicles, filled with
+people, stood along the railway, as well as crowds of persons on foot,
+waiting to see the train pass. The whole population of Stockton turned
+out to receive the procession, and, after a walk through the streets,
+the inevitable dinner in the Town Hall wound up the day's proceedings.
+
+
+The principal circumstances connected with the construction of the
+"Rocket," as described by Robert Stephenson to Mr. Smiles, may be
+briefly stated. The tubular principle was adopted in a more complete
+manner than had yet been attempted. Twenty-five copper tubes, each three
+inches in diameter, extended from one end of the boiler to the other,
+the heated air passing through them on its way to the chimney; and the
+tubes being surrounded by the water of the boiler. It will be obvious
+that a large extension of the heating surface was thus effectually
+secured. The principal difficulty was in fitting the copper tubes in the
+boiler ends so as to prevent leakage. They were manufactured by a
+Newcastle copper-smith, and soldered to brass screws which were screwed
+into the boiler ends, standing out in great knobs. When the tubes were
+thus fitted, and the boiler was filled with water, hydraulic pressure
+was applied; but the water squirted out at every joint, and the factory
+floor was soon flooded. Robert went home in despair; and in the first
+moment of grief he wrote to his father that the whole thing was a
+failure. By return of post came a letter from his father, telling him
+that despair was not to be thought of,--that he must "try again;" and he
+suggested a mode of overcoming the difficulty, which his son had already
+anticipated and proceeded to adopt. It was to bore clean holes in the
+boiler ends, fit in the smooth copper tubes as tightly as possible,
+solder up, and then raise the steam. This plan succeeded perfectly; the
+expansion of the copper completely filling up all interstices, and
+producing a perfectly water-tight boiler, capable of standing extreme
+external pressure.
+
+The mode of employing the steam-blast for the purpose of increasing the
+draught in the chimney, was also the subject of numerous experiments.
+When the engine was first tried, it was thought that the blast in the
+chimney was not sufficiently strong for the purpose of keeping up the
+intensity of the fire in the furnace, so as to produce high-pressure
+steam with the required velocity. The expedient was therefore adopted of
+hammering the copper tubes at the point at which they entered the
+chimney, whereby the blast was considerably sharpened; and on a farther
+trial it was found that the draught was increased to such an extent as
+to enable abundance of steam to be raised. The rationale of the blast
+may be simply explained by referring to the effect of contracting the
+pipe of a water-hose, by which the force of the jet of water is
+proportionately increased. Widen the nozzle of the pipe and the jet is,
+in like manner, diminished. So is it with the steam-blast in the chimney
+of the locomotive.
+
+Doubts were, however, expressed whether the greater draught obtained by
+the contraction of the blast-pipe were not counterbalanced in some
+degree by the pressure upon the piston. Hence a series of experiments
+was made with pipes of different diameters, and their efficiency was
+tested by the amount of vacuum that was produced in the smoke-box. The
+degree of rarefaction was determined by a glass tube fixed to the bottom
+of the smoke-box, and descending into a bucket of water, the tube being
+open at both ends. As the rarefaction took place, the water would of
+course rise in the tube, and the height to which it rose above the
+surface of the water in the bucket was made the measure of the amount
+of rarefaction. These experiments proved that a considerable increase of
+draught was obtained by the contraction of the orifice; accordingly, the
+two blast-pipes opening from the cylinders into either side of the
+"Rocket" chimney, and turned up within it, were contracted slightly
+below the area of the steam-ports; and before the engine left the
+factory, the water rose in the glass tube three inches above the water
+in the bucket.
+
+The other arrangements of the "Rocket" were briefly these: The boiler
+was cylindrical with flat ends, six feet in length, and three feet four
+inches in diameter. The upper half of the boiler was used as a reservoir
+for the steam, the lower half being filled with water. Through the lower
+part the copper tubes extended, being open to the fire-box at one end,
+and to the chimney at the other. The fire-box, or furnace, two feet wide
+and three feet high, was attached immediately behind the boiler, and was
+also surrounded with water. The cylinders of the engine were placed on
+each side of the boiler, in an oblique position, one end being nearly
+level with the top of the boiler at its after end, and the other
+pointing toward the centre of the foremost or driving pair of wheels,
+with which the connection was directly made from the piston-rod to a pin
+on the outside of the wheel. The engine, together with its load of
+water, weighed only four tons and a quarter; and it was supported on
+four wheels, not coupled. The tender was four-wheeled, and similar in
+shape to a wagon,--the foremost part holding the fuel, and the hind part
+a water-cask.
+
+When the "Rocket" was finished, it was placed upon the Killingworth
+Railway for the purpose of experiment. The new boiler arrangement was
+found perfectly successful. The steam was raised rapidly and
+continuously, and in a quantity which then appeared marvellous. The same
+evening Robert despatched a letter to his father at Liverpool, informing
+him to his great joy, that the "Rocket" was "all right," and would be in
+complete working trim by the day of trial. The engine was shortly after
+sent by wagon to Carlisle, and thence shipped for Liverpool.
+
+The time so much longed for by George Stephenson had now arrived, when
+the merits of the passenger locomotive were about to be put to the test.
+He had fought the battle for it until now, almost single-handed.
+Engrossed by his daily labors and anxieties, and harassed by
+difficulties and discouragements which would have crushed the spirit of
+a less resolute man, he had held firmly to his purpose through good and
+through evil report. The hostility which he had experienced from some of
+the directors opposed to the adoption of the locomotive, was the
+circumstance that caused him the greatest grief of all; for where he had
+looked for encouragement, he found only carping and opposition. But his
+pluck never failed him; and now the "Rocket" was upon the ground to
+prove, to use his own words, "whether he was a man of his word or not."
+
+Great interest was felt at Liverpool, as well as throughout the country,
+in the approaching competition. Engineers, scientific men, and mechanics
+arrived from all quarters to witness the novel display of mechanical
+ingenuity on which such great results depended. The public generally
+were no indifferent spectators, either. The populations of Liverpool,
+Manchester, and the adjacent towns felt that the successful issue of the
+experiment would confer upon them individual benefits and local
+advantages almost incalculable, while populations at a distance waited
+for the result with almost equal interest.
+
+On the day appointed for the great competition of locomotives at
+Rainhill, the following engines were entered for the prize:--
+
+1. Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson's "Novelty."
+
+2. Mr. Timothy Hackworth's "Sanspareil."
+
+3. Messrs. R. Stephenson & Co.'s "Rocket."
+
+4. Mr. Burstall's "Perseverance."
+
+Another engine was entered by Mr. Brandreth, of Liverpool,--the
+"Cycloped," weighing three tons, worked by a horse in a frame,--but it
+could not be admitted to the competition. The above were the only four
+exhibited, out of a considerable number of engines constructed in
+different parts of the country in anticipation of this contest, many of
+which could not be satisfactorily completed by the day of trial.
+
+The day fixed for the competition was the 1st of October; but to allow
+sufficient time to get the locomotives into good working order, the
+directors extended it to the 6th. On the morning of the 6th the ground
+at Rainhill presented a lively appearance, and there was as much
+excitement as if the St. Leger were about to be run. Many thousand
+spectators looked on, among whom were some of the first engineers and
+mechanicians of the day. A stand was provided for the ladies; the
+"beauty and fashion" of the neighborhood were present, and the side of
+the railroad was lined with carriages of all descriptions.
+
+It was quite characteristic of the Stephensons that although their
+engine did not stand first on the list for trial, it was the first that
+was ready; and it was accordingly ordered out by the judges for an
+experimental trip. Yet the "Rocket" was by no means the "favorite" with
+either the judges or the spectators. Nicholas Wood has since stated that
+the majority of the judges were strongly predisposed in favor of the
+"Novelty," and that nine tenths, if not ten tenths, of the persons
+present were against the "Rocket" because of its appearance.[19] Nearly
+every person favored some other engine, so that there was nothing for
+the "Rocket" but the practical test. The first trip made by it was quite
+successful. It ran about twelve miles, without interruption, in about
+fifty-three minutes.
+
+The "Novelty" was next called out. It was a light engine, very compact
+in appearance, carrying the water and fuel upon the same wheels as the
+engine. The weight of the whole was only three tons and one
+hundred-weight. A peculiarity of this engine was that the air was driven
+or forced through the fire by means of bellows. The day being now far
+advanced, and some dispute having arisen as to the method of assigning
+the proper load for the "Novelty," no particular experiment was made
+farther than that the engine traversed the line by way of exhibition,
+occasionally moving at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour. The
+"Sanspareil," constructed by Mr. Timothy Hackworth, was next exhibited,
+but no particular experiment was made with it on this day. This engine
+differed but little in its construction from the locomotive last
+supplied by the Stephensons to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, of
+which Mr. Hackworth was the locomotive foreman.
+
+The contest was postponed until the following day; but before the judges
+arrived on the ground, the bellows for creating the blast in the
+"Novelty" gave way, and it was found incapable of going through its
+performance. A defect was also detected in the boiler of the
+"Sanspareil," and some farther time was allowed to get it repaired. The
+large number of spectators who had assembled to witness the contest were
+greatly disappointed at this postponement; but to lessen it, Stephenson
+again brought out the "Rocket," and attaching to it a coach containing
+thirty-four persons, he ran them along the line at the rate of from
+twenty-four to thirty miles an hour, much to their gratification and
+amazement. Before separating, the judges ordered the engine to be in
+readiness by eight o'clock on the following morning, to go through its
+definitive trial according to the prescribed conditions.
+
+On the morning of the 8th of October the "Rocket" was again ready for
+the contest. The engine was taken to the extremity of the stage, the
+fire-box was filled with coke, the fire lighted, and the steam raised
+until it lifted the safety-valve loaded to a pressure of fifty pounds to
+the square inch. This proceeding occupied fifty-seven minutes. The
+engine then started on its journey, dragging after it about thirteen
+tons weight in wagons, and made the first ten trips backward and forward
+along the two miles of road, running the thirty-five miles, including
+stoppages, in an hour and forty-eight minutes. The second ten trips were
+in like manner performed in two hours and three minutes. The maximum
+velocity attained during the trial trip was twenty-nine miles an hour,
+or about three times the speed that one of the judges of the competition
+had declared to be the limit of possibility. The average speed at which
+the whole of the journeys were performed was fifteen miles an hour, or
+five miles beyond the rate specified in the conditions published by the
+company. The entire performance excited the greatest astonishment among
+the assembled spectators; the directors felt confident that their
+enterprise was now on the eve of success; and George Stephenson rejoiced
+to think that, in spite of all false prophets and fickle counsellors,
+the locomotive system was now safe. When the "Rocket," having performed
+all the conditions of the contest, arrived at the "grand stand" at the
+close of its day's successful run, Mr. Cropper--one of the directors
+favorable to the fixed-engine system--lifted up his hands, and
+exclaimed, "Now has George Stephenson at last delivered himself."
+
+Neither the "Novelty" nor the "Sanspareil" was ready for trial until the
+10th, on the morning of which day an advertisement appeared, stating
+that the former engine was to be tried on that day, when it would
+perform more work than any engine on the ground. The weight of the
+carriages attached to it was only seven tons. The engine passed the
+first post in good style; but in returning, the pipe from the
+forcing-pump burst and put an end to the trial. The pipe was afterward
+repaired, and the engine made several trips by itself, in which it was
+said to have gone at the rate of from twenty-four to twenty-eight miles
+an hour.
+
+The "Sanspareil" was not ready until the 13th; and when its boiler and
+tender were filled with water, it was found to weigh four hundred-weight
+beyond the weight specified in the published conditions as the limit of
+four-wheeled engines; nevertheless, the judges allowed it to run on the
+same footing as the other engines, to enable them to ascertain whether
+its merits entitled it to favorable consideration. It travelled at the
+average speed of about fourteen miles an hour with its load attached;
+but at the eighth trip the cold-water pump got wrong, and the engine
+could proceed no farther.
+
+It was determined to award the premium to the successful engine on the
+following day, the 14th, on which occasion there was an unusual
+assemblage of spectators. The owners of the "Novelty" pleaded for
+another trial, and it was conceded. But again it broke down. Then Mr.
+Hackworth requested the opportunity for making another trial of his
+"Sanspareil." But the judges had now had enough of failures, and they
+declined, on the ground that not only was the engine above the
+stipulated weight, but that it was constructed on a plan which they
+could not recommend for adoption by the directors of the company. One of
+the principal practical objections to this locomotive was the enormous
+quantity of coke consumed or wasted by it,--about six hundred and
+ninety-two pounds per hour when travelling,--caused by the sharpness of
+the steam-blast in the chimney, which blew a large proportion of the
+burning coke into the air.
+
+The "Perseverance" of Mr. Burstall was found unable to move at more than
+five or six miles an hour, and it was withdrawn from the contest at an
+early period. The "Rocket" was thus the only engine that had performed,
+and more than performed, all the stipulated conditions; and it was
+declared to be entitled to the prize of £500, which was awarded to the
+Messrs. Stephenson and Booth[20] accordingly. And farther to show that
+the engine had been working quite within its powers, George Stephenson
+ordered it to be brought upon the ground and detached from all
+incumbrances, when, in making two trips, it was found to travel at the
+astonishing rate of thirty-five miles an hour.
+
+The "Rocket" had thus eclipsed the performances of all locomotive
+engines that had yet been constructed, and outstripped even the sanguine
+expectations of its constructors. It satisfactorily answered the report
+of Messrs. Walker and Rastrick, and established the efficiency of the
+locomotive for working the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and indeed
+all future railways. The "Rocket" showed that a new power had been born
+into the world, full of activity and strength, with boundless capability
+of work. It was the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam-blast,
+and its combination with the multitubular boiler, that at once gave
+locomotion a vigorous life, and secured the triumph of the railway
+system. As has been well observed, this wonderful ability to increase
+and multiply its powers of performance with the emergency that demands
+them, has made this giant engine the noblest creation of human wit, the
+very lion among machines.
+
+The success of the Rainhill experiment, as judged by the public, may be
+inferred from the fact that the shares of the company immediately rose
+ten per cent, and nothing farther was heard of the proposed twenty-one
+fixed engines, engine-houses, ropes, etc. All this cumbersome apparatus
+was thenceforth effectually disposed of.
+
+
+When the reading was over, Bedford said: "When I heard you were going to
+have George Stephenson this afternoon, I wrote to my cousin Prentiss
+Armstrong, who has been at the locomotive works at Altoona for several
+years, and asked him about locomotives nowadays, that I might be able to
+compare them with the locomotives of George Stephenson's time. This is
+his letter, which I'll read, if there be no objection:"--
+
+
+DEAR BEDFORD,--Speaking roughly, a freight-engine of the "Consolidation"
+type (eight driving-wheels and two truck-wheels) weighs from
+forty-seven to forty-eight tons of two thousand pounds. On a road with
+no grades over twenty feet to the mile (1 in 250) it will haul over one
+thousand tons at fifteen miles an hour. If the train is of merchandise,
+it will be of say fifty cars, each weighing ten tons and carrying ten
+tons. If it is of coal or ore, the cars will each carry twenty or
+twenty-five tons.
+
+["The 'Rocket,'" said Bedford, "which was the successful engine at the
+Rainhill competition, weighed a little over four tons and had four
+wheels. Dragging a weight of thirteen tons in wagons, it made
+thirty-five miles in about two hours."]
+
+Our Engine No. 2 [continued the letter] made a mile on a level in
+forty-three seconds with no train, but there are very few such records.
+Two of our fast trains (four cars each, weighing twenty-five tons) make
+a schedule in one place (level) of nine miles in eight minutes. I have
+seen a record of a run on the Bound Brook route of four cars, ten miles
+in eight minutes. I think this must have been down hill.
+
+I hope these facts will answer your views. If there's anything else that
+I can get up for you, I shall be glad to do it.
+
+                         Yours truly,
+                                                     PRENTISS ARMSTRONG.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+ELI WHITNEY.
+
+
+The young people all came in laughing.
+
+"And what is it?" said Uncle Fritz, good-naturedly.
+
+"It is this," said Alice, "that I say that all this is very entertaining
+about Palissy the Potter and Benvenuto Cellini; and I have been boasting
+that I know as much of the steam-engine as Lucy did, who was 'sister to
+Harry.' But I do not see that this is going to profit Blanche when she
+shall make her celebrated visit to Mr. Bright, and when he asks her what
+is the last sweet thing in creels or in fly-frames."
+
+"Is it certain that Blanche is to go?" said Uncle Fritz, doubtfully.
+
+"Oh, dear, Uncle Fritz, do you know?" said Blanche, in mock heroics;
+"are you in the sacred circle which decides? Will the Vesuvius pass its
+dividend, or will it scatter its blessings right and left, so that we
+can go to Paris and all the world be happy?"
+
+"I wish I knew," said Colonel Ingham; "for on that same dividend depends
+the question whether I build four new rooms at Little Crastis for the
+accommodation of my young friends when they visit me there."
+
+"Could you tell us," said Fergus, "what is the cause of the depression
+in the cotton-manufacture?"
+
+"Don't tell him, Uncle Fritz," said Fanchon, "for the two best of
+reasons,--first, that half of us will not understand if you do; and
+second, that none of us will remember."
+
+Colonel Ingham laughed. "And third," he said, "that we are to talk about
+Inventions and Inventors, and we shall not get to Fergus's grand
+question till we come to the series on 'Political Economy and Political
+Economists.'
+
+"You are all quite right in all your suggestions and criticisms. It is
+quite time that you girls should know something of the industry which is
+important not only to all the Southern States, but to all the
+manufacturing States. Cotton is the cheapest article for clothing in the
+world, and the use of it goes farther and farther every year. The
+manufacture is also improving steadily. Thirty men, women, and children
+will make as much cotton cloth to-day as a hundred could make the year
+you were born, Hester. I saw cottons for sale to-day at four cents a
+yard which would have cost nearly three times that money thirty years
+ago. So I have laid out for you these sketches of the life of Eli
+Whitney, on whose simple invention, as you remember, all this wealth of
+production may be said to depend. You college boys ought to be pleased
+to know, that within a year after this man graduated from Yale College,
+he had made an invention and set it a going, which entirely changed the
+face of things in his own country. At that moment there was so little
+cotton raised in America, that Whitney himself had never seen cotton
+wool or cotton seed, when he was first asked if he could make a machine
+which would separate one from the other. It was so little known, indeed,
+that when John Jay of New York negotiated a treaty of commerce with
+England in 1794, the year after Whitney's invention, he did not know
+that any cotton was produced in the United States. The treaty did not
+provide for our cotton, and had to be changed after it was brought back
+to America. With this invention by Whitney, it was possible to clean
+cotton from the seed. The Southern States, which before had no staple of
+importance, had in that moment an immense addition to their resources.
+Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee, besides the States in
+the old thirteen, were settled almost wholly to call into being new
+lands for raising cotton. To these were afterwards added Arkansas,
+Florida, and Texas. With this new industry slave labor became vastly
+more profitable; and the institution of slavery, which would else have
+died out probably, received an immense stimulus. Fortunately for the
+country and the world, the Constitution had fixed the year 1808, as the
+end of the African slave trade. But, up to that date, slaves were pushed
+in with a constantly increasing rapidity, so that the new States were
+peopled very largely with absolute barbarians. There is hardly another
+instance in history where it is so easy to trace in a very few years,
+results so tremendous following from a single invention by a single man.
+
+"Fortunately for us, Miss Lamb has just published a portrait of Eli
+Whitney in the 'Magazine of History.' Here it is, in the October number
+of the 'Magazine of History.'
+
+"As to processes of manufacture, of course we can learn little or
+nothing about them here. But you had better read carefully this article
+in Ure's 'Dictionary of Arts,' though it is a little old-fashioned, and
+then you will be prepared to make up parties to go out to the Hecla, or
+up to Lowell or Lawrence, where you can see with your own eyes.
+
+"And now I will read you a little sketch of the life of Eli Whitney."
+
+
+ELI WHITNEY.
+
+Eli Whitney was born at Westborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts,
+Dec. 8, 1765. His parents belonged to the middle class in society, who,
+by the labors of husbandry, managed by uniform industry and strict
+frugality to provide well for a rising family.
+
+The paternal ancestors of Mr. Whitney emigrated from England among the
+early settlers of Massachusetts, and their descendants were among the
+most respectable farmers of Worcester County. His maternal ancestors, of
+the name of Fay, were also English emigrants, and ranked among the
+substantial yeomanry of Massachusetts. A family tradition respecting the
+occasion of their coming to this country may serve to illustrate the
+history of the times. The story is, that about two hundred years ago,
+the father of the family, who resided in England, a man of large
+property and great respectability, called together his sons and
+addressed them thus: "America is to be a great country. I am too old to
+emigrate myself; but if any one of you will go, I will give him a double
+share of my property." The youngest son instantly declared his
+willingness to go, and his brothers gave their consent. He soon set off
+for the New World, and landed in Boston, in the neighborhood of which
+place he purchased a large tract of land, where he enjoyed the
+satisfaction of receiving two visits from his venerable father. His son
+John Fay, from whom the subject of this memoir is immediately descended,
+removed from Boston to Westborough, where he became the proprietor of a
+large tract of land, since known by the name of the Fay Farm.
+
+From the sister of Mr. Whitney, we have derived some particulars
+respecting his childhood and youth, and we shall present the anecdotes
+to our readers in the artless style in which they are related by our
+correspondent, believing that they would be more acceptable in this
+simple dress than if, according to the modest suggestion of the writer,
+they should be invested with a more labored diction. The following
+incident, though trivial in itself, will serve to show at how early a
+period certain qualities of strong feeling tempered by prudence, for
+which Mr. Whitney afterward became distinguished, began to display
+themselves. When he was six or seven years old he had overheard the
+kitchen maid, in a fit of passion, calling his mother, who was in a
+delicate state of health, hard names, at which he expressed great
+displeasure to his sister. "She thought," said he, "that I was not big
+enough to hear her talk so about my mother. I think she ought to have a
+flogging; and if I knew how to bring it about, she should have one." His
+sister advised him to tell their father. "No," he replied, "it will hurt
+his feelings and mother's too; and besides, it is likely the girl will
+say she never said so, and that would make a quarrel. It is best to say
+nothing about it."
+
+Indications of his mechanical genius were likewise developed at a very
+early age. Of his early passion for such employments, his sister gives
+the following account: "Our father had a workshop, and sometimes made
+wheels of different kinds, and chairs. He had a variety of tools, and a
+lathe for turning chair-posts. This gave my brother an opportunity of
+learning the use of tools when very young. He lost no time; but as soon
+as he could handle tools, he was always making something in the shop,
+and seemed not to like working on the farm. On a time, after the death
+of our mother, when our father had been absent from home two or three
+days, on his return he inquired of the housekeeper what the boys had
+been doing. She told him what B. and J. had been about. 'But what has
+Eli been doing?' said he. She replied he had been making a fiddle. 'Ah,'
+said he, despondingly, 'I fear Eli will have to take his portion in
+fiddles.' He was at this time about twelve years old. His sister adds
+that this fiddle was finished throughout, like a common violin, and made
+tolerably good music. It was examined by many persons, and all
+pronounced it to be a remarkable piece of work for such a boy to
+perform. From this time he was employed to repair violins, and had many
+nice jobs, which were always executed to the entire satisfaction, and
+often to the astonishment, of his customers. His father's watch being
+the greatest piece of mechanism that had yet presented itself to his
+observation, he was extremely desirous of examining its interior
+construction, but was not permitted to do so. One Sunday morning,
+observing that his father was going to meeting, and would leave at home
+the wonderful little machine, he immediately feigned illness as an
+apology for not going to church. As soon as the family were out of
+sight, he flew to the room where the watch hung, and taking it down he
+was so delighted with its motions that he took it all to pieces before
+he thought of the consequences of his rash deed; for his father was a
+stern parent, and punishment would have been the reward of his idle
+curiosity, had the mischief been detected. He, however, put all the work
+so neatly together that his father never discovered his audacity until
+he himself told him, many years afterwards.
+
+"Whitney lost his mother at an early age, and when he was thirteen years
+old his father married a second time. His stepmother, among her articles
+of furniture, had a handsome set of table knives that she valued very
+highly. Whitney could not but see this, and said to her, 'I could make
+as good ones if I had tools, and I could make the necessary tools if I
+had a few common tools to make them with.' His stepmother thought he was
+deriding her, and was much displeased; but it so happened, not long
+afterwards, that one of the knives got broken, and he made one exactly
+like it in every respect except the stamp on the blade. This he would
+likewise have executed, had not the tools required been too expensive
+for his slender resources."
+
+When Whitney was fifteen or sixteen years of age he suggested to his
+father an enterprise, which was an earnest of the similar undertakings
+in which he engaged on a far greater scale in later life. This being the
+time of the Revolutionary War, nails were in great demand and bore a
+high price. At that period nails were made chiefly by hand, with little
+aid from machinery. Young Whitney proposed to his father to procure him
+a few tools, and to permit him to set up the manufacture. His father
+consented; and he went steadily to work, and suffered nothing to divert
+him from his task until his day's work was completed. By extraordinary
+diligence he gained time to make tools for his own use, and to put in
+knife-blades, and to perform many other curious little jobs which
+exceeded the skill of the country artisans. At this laborious occupation
+the enterprising boy wrought alone, with great success, and with much
+profit to his father, for two winters, pursuing the ordinary labors of
+the farm during the summers. At this time he devised a plan for
+enlarging his business and increasing his profits. He whispered his
+scheme to his sister, with strong injunctions of secrecy; and requesting
+leave of his father to go to a neighboring town, without specifying his
+object, he set out on horseback in quest of a fellow-laborer. Not
+finding one as easily as he had anticipated, he proceeded from town to
+town with a perseverance which was always a strong trait of his
+character, until, at a distance of forty miles from home, he found such
+a workman as he desired. He also made his journey subservient to his
+mechanical skill, for he called at every workshop on his way and gleaned
+all the information he could respecting the mechanical arts.
+
+At the close of the war the business of making nails was no longer
+profitable; but a fashion prevailing among the ladies of fastening on
+their bonnets with long pins, he contrived to make those with such skill
+and dexterity that he nearly monopolized the business, although he
+devoted to it only such seasons of leisure as he could redeem from the
+occupations of the farm, to which he now principally betook himself. He
+added to this article, the manufacture of walking-canes, which he made
+with peculiar neatness.
+
+In respect to his proficiency in learning while young, we are informed
+that he early manifested a fondness for figures and an uncommon aptitude
+for arithmetical calculations, though in the other rudiments of
+education he was not particularly distinguished. Yet at the age of
+fourteen he had acquired so much general information, as to be regarded
+on this account, as well as on account of his mechanical skill, a very
+remarkable boy.
+
+From the age of nineteen, young Whitney conceived the idea of obtaining
+a liberal education; but, being warmly opposed by his stepmother, he was
+unable to procure the decided consent of his father, until he had
+reached the age of twenty-three years. But, partly by the avails of his
+manual labor and partly by teaching a village school, he had been so far
+able to surmount the obstacles thrown in his way, that he had prepared
+himself for the Freshman Class in Yale College, which he entered in May,
+1789.
+
+The propensity of Mr. Whitney to mechanical inventions and occupations,
+was frequently apparent during his residence at college. On a particular
+occasion, one of the tutors, happening to mention some interesting
+philosophical experiment, regretted that he could not exhibit it to his
+pupils, because the apparatus was out of order and must be sent abroad
+to be repaired. Mr. Whitney proposed to undertake this task, and
+performed it greatly to the satisfaction of the faculty of the college.
+
+A carpenter being at work upon one of the buildings of the gentleman
+with whom Mr. Whitney boarded, the latter begged permission to use his
+tools, during the intervals of study; but the mechanic, being a man of
+careful habits, was unwilling to trust them with a student, and it was
+only after the gentleman of the house had become responsible for all
+damages, that he would grant the permission. But Mr. Whitney had no
+sooner commenced his operations than the carpenter was surprised at his
+dexterity, and exclaimed, "There was one good mechanic spoiled when you
+went to college."
+
+Soon after Mr. Whitney took his degree, in the autumn of 1792, he
+entered into an engagement with a Mr. B. of Georgia, to reside in his
+family as a private teacher. On his way thither, he was so fortunate as
+to have the company of Mrs. Greene, the widow of General Greene, who,
+with her family, was returning to Savannah after spending the summer at
+the North. At that time it was deemed unsafe to travel through our
+country without having had the small-pox, and accordingly Mr. Whitney
+prepared himself for the excursion, by procuring inoculation while in
+New York. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, the party set sail
+for Savannah. As his health was not fully re-established, Mrs. Greene
+kindly invited him to go with the family to her residence at Mulberry
+Grove, near Savannah, and remain until he was recruited. The invitation
+was accepted; but lest he should not yet have lost all power of
+communicating that dreadful disease, Mrs. Greene had white flags (the
+meaning of which was well understood) hoisted at the landing and at all
+the avenues leading to the house. As a requital for her hospitality, her
+guest procured the virus and inoculated all the servants of the
+household, more than fifty in number, and carried them safely through
+the disorder.
+
+Mr. Whitney had scarcely set his foot in Georgia, before he was met by a
+disappointment which was an earnest of that long series of adverse
+events which, with scarcely an exception, attended all his future
+negotiations in the same State. On his arrival he was informed that Mr.
+B. had employed another teacher, leaving Whitney entirely without
+resources or friends, except those whom he had made in the family of
+General Greene. In these benevolent people, however, his case excited
+much interest; and Mrs. Greene kindly said to him, "My young friend, you
+propose studying the law; make my house your home, your room your
+castle, and there pursue what studies you please." He accordingly began
+the study of the law under that hospitable roof.
+
+Mrs. Greene was engaged in a piece of embroidery in which she employed a
+peculiar kind of frame, called a _tambour_. She complained that it was
+badly constructed, and that it tore the delicate threads of her work.
+Mr. Whitney, eager for an opportunity to oblige his hostess, set himself
+to work and speedily produced a tambour-frame, made on a plan entirely
+new, which he presented to her. Mrs. Greene and her family were greatly
+delighted with it, and thought it a wonderful proof of ingenuity.
+
+Not long afterwards a large party of gentlemen, consisting principally
+of officers who had served under the General in the Revolutionary Army,
+came from Augusta and the upper country, to visit the family of General
+Greene. They fell into conversation upon the state of agriculture among
+them, and expressed great regret that there was no means of cleansing
+the green seed cotton, or separating it from its seed, since all the
+lands which were unsuitable for the cultivation of rice, would yield
+large crops of cotton. But until ingenuity could devise some machine
+which would greatly facilitate the process of cleaning, it was vain to
+think of raising cotton for market. Separating one pound of the clean
+staple from the seed was a day's work for a woman; but the time usually
+devoted to picking cotton was the evening, after the labor of the field
+was over. Then the slaves--men, women, and children--were collected in
+circles, with one whose duty it was to rouse the dozing and quicken the
+indolent. While the company were engaged in this conversation,
+"Gentlemen," said Mrs. Greene, "apply to my young friend Mr. Whitney; he
+can make anything." Upon which she conducted them into a neighboring
+room, and showed them her tambour-frame and a number of toys which Mr.
+Whitney had made or repaired for the children. She then introduced the
+gentlemen to Whitney himself, extolling his genius and commending him to
+their notice and friendship. He modestly disclaimed all pretensions to
+mechanical genius; and when they named their object, he replied that he
+had never seen either cotton or cotton seed in his life. Mrs. Greene
+said to one of the gentlemen, "I have accomplished my aim. Mr. Whitney
+is a very deserving young man, and to bring him into notice was my
+object. The interest which our friends now feel for him will, I hope,
+lead to his getting some employment to enable him to prosecute the study
+of the law."
+
+But a new turn, that no one of the company dreamed of, had been given to
+Mr. Whitney's views. It being out of season for cotton in the seed, he
+went to Savannah and searched among the warehouses and boats until he
+found a small parcel of it. This he carried home, and communicated his
+intentions to Mr. Miller, who warmly encouraged him, and assigned him a
+room in the basement of the house, where he set himself to work with
+such rude materials and instruments as a Georgia plantation afforded.
+With these resources, however, he made tools better suited to his
+purpose, and drew his own wire (of which the teeth of the earliest gins
+were made),--an article which was not at that time to be found in the
+market of Savannah. Mrs. Greene and Mr. Miller were the only persons
+ever admitted to his workshop, and the only persons who knew in what way
+he was employing himself. The many hours he spent in his mysterious
+pursuits, afforded matter of great curiosity and often of raillery to
+the younger members of the family. Near the close of the winter, the
+machine was so nearly completed as to leave no doubt of its success.
+
+Mrs. Greene was eager to communicate to her numerous friends the
+knowledge of this important invention, peculiarly important at that
+time, because then the market was glutted with all those articles which
+were suited to the climate and soil of Georgia, and nothing could be
+found to give occupation to the negroes and support to the white
+inhabitants. This opened suddenly to the planters boundless resources of
+wealth, and rendered the occupations of the slaves less unhealthy and
+laborious than they had been before.
+
+Mrs. Greene, therefore, invited to her house gentlemen from different
+parts of the State; and on the first day after they had assembled, she
+conducted them to a temporary building which had been erected for the
+machine, and they saw with astonishment and delight, that more cotton
+could be separated from the seed in one day, by the labor of a single
+hand, than could be done in the usual manner in the space of many
+months.
+
+Mr. Whitney might now have indulged in bright reveries of fortune and of
+fame; but we shall have various opportunities of seeing that he tempered
+his inventive genius with an unusual share of the calm, considerate
+qualities of the financier. Although urged by his friends to secure a
+patent and devote himself to the manufacture and introduction of his
+machines, he coolly replied that, on account of the great expenses and
+trouble which always attend the introduction of a new invention, and the
+difficulty of enforcing a law in favor of patentees, in opposition to
+the individual interests of so large a number of persons as would be
+concerned in the culture of this article, it was with great reluctance
+that he should consent to relinquish the hopes of a lucrative
+profession, for which he had been destined, with an expectation of
+indemnity either from the justice or the gratitude of his countrymen,
+even should the invention answer the most sanguine anticipations of his
+friends.
+
+The individual who contributed most to incite him to persevere in the
+undertaking, was Phineas Miller. Mr. Miller was a native of Connecticut
+and a graduate of Yale College. Like Mr. Whitney, soon after he had
+completed his education at college, he came to Georgia as a private
+teacher in the family of General Greene, and after the decease of the
+General, he became the husband of Mrs. Greene. He had qualified himself
+for the profession of the law, and was a gentleman of cultivated mind
+and superior talents; but he was of an ardent temperament, and therefore
+well fitted to enter with zeal into the views which the genius of his
+friend had laid open to him. He also had considerable funds at command,
+and proposed to Mr. Whitney to become his joint adventurer, and to be at
+the whole expense of maturing the invention until it should be patented.
+If the machine should succeed in its intended operation, the parties
+agreed, under legal formalities, "that the profits and advantages
+arising therefrom, as well as all privileges and emoluments to be
+derived from patenting, making, vending, and working the same, should be
+mutually and equally shared between them." This instrument bears date
+May 27, 1793; and immediately afterward they commenced business under
+the firm of Miller and Whitney.
+
+An invention so important to the agricultural interest (and, as it has
+proved, to every department of human industry) could not long remain a
+secret. The knowledge of it soon spread through the State, and so great
+was the excitement on the subject, that multitudes of persons came from
+all quarters of the State to see the machine; but it was not deemed safe
+to gratify their curiosity until the patent right had been secured. But
+so determined were some of the populace to possess this treasure, that
+neither law nor justice could restrain them; they broke open the
+building by night, and carried off the machine. In this way the public
+became possessed of the invention; and before Mr. Whitney could complete
+his model and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful
+operation, constructed with some slight deviation from the original,
+with the hope of escaping the penalty for evading the patent right.
+
+As soon as the copartnership of Miller and Whitney was formed, Mr.
+Whitney repaired to Connecticut, where, as far as possible, he was to
+perfect the machine, obtain a patent, and manufacture and ship to
+Georgia such a number of machines as would supply the demand.
+
+Within three days after the conclusion of the copartnership, Mr. Whitney
+having set out for the North, Mr. Miller commenced his long
+correspondence relative to the cotton-gin. The first letter announces
+that encroachments upon their rights had already begun. "It will be
+necessary," says Mr. Miller, "to have a considerable number of gins
+made, to be in readiness to send out as soon as the patent is obtained,
+in order to satisfy the absolute demands, and make people's heads easy
+on the subject; _for I am informed of two other claimants for the honor
+of the invention of cotton-gins, in addition to those we knew before_."
+
+On the 20th of June, 1793, Mr. Whitney presented his patent to Mr.
+Jefferson, then Secretary of State; but the prevalence of the yellow
+fever in Philadelphia (which was then the seat of government) prevented
+his concluding the business relative to the patent until several months
+afterwards. To prevent being anticipated, he took, however, the
+precaution to make oath to the invention before the notary public of the
+city of New Haven, which he did on the 28th of October of the same year.
+
+Mr. Jefferson, who had much curiosity in regard to mechanical
+inventions, took a peculiar interest in this machine, and addressed to
+the inventor an obliging letter, desiring farther particulars respecting
+it, and expressing a wish to procure one for his own use.[21] Mr.
+Whitney accordingly sketched the history of the invention, and of the
+construction and performances of the machine. "It is about a year," says
+he, "since I first turned my attention to constructing this machine, at
+which time I was in the State of Georgia. Within about ten days after my
+first conception of the plan, I made a small though imperfect model.
+Experiments with this encouraged me to make one on a larger scale; but
+the extreme difficulty of procuring workmen and proper materials in
+Georgia prevented my completing the larger one until some time in April
+last. This, though much larger than my first attempt, is not above one
+third as large as the machines may be made with convenience. The
+cylinder is only two feet two inches in length, and six inches in
+diameter. It is turned by hand, and requires the strength of one man to
+keep it in constant motion. It is the stated task of one negro to clean
+fifty weight (I mean fifty pounds after it is separated from the seed)
+of the green cotton seed per day."
+
+In the year 1812 Mr. Whitney made application to Congress for the
+renewal of his patent for the cotton-gin. In his memorial he presented a
+history of the struggles he had been forced to encounter in defence of
+his right, observing that he had been unable to obtain any decision on
+the merits of his claim until he had been _eleven years_ in the law, and
+_thirteen years_ of his patent term had expired. He sets forth that his
+invention had been a source of opulence to thousands of the citizens of
+the United States; that, as a labor-saving machine, it would enable one
+man to perform the work of a thousand men; and that it furnishes to the
+whole family of mankind, at a very cheap rate, the most essential
+article of their clothing. Hence he humbly conceived himself entitled to
+a further remuneration from his country, and thought he ought to be
+admitted to a more liberal participation with his fellow-citizens in
+the benefits of his invention. Although so great advantages had been
+already experienced, and the prospect of future benefits was so
+promising, still, many of those whose interest had been most enhanced by
+this invention, had obstinately persisted in refusing to make any
+compensation to the inventor. The very men whose wealth had been
+acquired by the use of this machine, and who had grown rich beyond all
+former example, had combined their exertions to prevent the patentee
+from deriving any emolument from his invention. From that State in which
+he had first made and where he had first introduced his machine, and
+which had derived the most signal benefits from it, he had received
+nothing; and from no State had he received the amount of half a cent per
+pound on the cotton cleaned with his machines in one year. Estimating
+the value of the labor of one man at twenty cents per day, the whole
+amount which had been received by him for his invention was not equal to
+the value of the labor saved in _one hour_ by his machines then in use
+in the United States. "This invention," he proceeds, "now gives to the
+southern section of the Union, over and above the profits which would be
+derived from the cultivation of any other crop, an annual emolument of
+at least _three millions_ of dollars."[22] The foregoing statement does
+not rest on conjecture, it is no visionary speculation,--all these
+advantages have been realized; the planters of the Southern States have
+counted the cash, felt the weight of it in their pockets, and heard the
+exhilarating sound of its collision. Nor do the advantages stop here.
+This immense source of wealth is but just beginning to be opened. Cotton
+is a more cleanly and healthful article of cultivation than tobacco and
+indigo, which it has superseded, and does not so much impoverish the
+soil. This invention has already trebled the value of the land through a
+large extent of territory; and the degree to which the cultivation of
+cotton may be still augmented, is altogether incalculable. This species
+of cotton has been known in all countries where cotton has been raised,
+from time immemorial, but was never known as an article of commerce
+until since this method of cleaning it was discovered. In short (to
+quote the language of Judge Johnson), "if we should assert that the
+benefits of this invention exceed _one hundred millions of dollars_, we
+could prove the assertion by correct calculation." It is objected that
+if the patentee succeeds in procuring the renewal of his patent, he will
+be too rich. There is no probability that the patentee, if the term of
+his patent were extended for twenty years, would ever obtain for his
+invention one half as much as many an individual will gain by use of it.
+Up to the present time, the whole amount of what he has acquired from
+this source (after deducting his expenses) does not exceed one half the
+sum which a single individual has gained by the use of the machine in
+one year. It is true that considerable sums have been obtained from some
+of the States where the machine is used; but no small portion of these
+sums has been expended in prosecuting his claim in a State where nothing
+has been obtained, and where his machine has been used to the greatest
+advantage.
+
+
+There was much more which was curious, laid out in different books; but
+the call came for supper, and the young people obeyed.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+JAMES NASMYTH.
+
+
+THE STEAM-HAMMER.
+
+"My dear Uncle Fritz, I have found something very precious."
+
+"I hope it is a pearl necklace, my dear," was his reply, "though I see
+no one who needs such ornaments less."
+
+Hester waltzed round the room, and dropped a very low courtesy before
+Uncle Fritz in acknowledgment of his compliment; and all the others
+clapped their hands. They asked her, more clamorously than Uncle Fritz,
+what she had found.
+
+"I have found a man--"
+
+"That is more than Diogenes could."
+
+"Horace, I shall send you out of the room, or back on first principles.
+Do you not know that it is not nice to interrupt?"
+
+"I have found a man, Uncle Fritz, who is an inventor, a great inventor;
+and he is very nice, and he likes people and people like him, and he
+always succeeds,--his things turn out well, like Dr. Franklin's; and he
+says the world has always been grateful to him. He never sulks or
+complains; he knows all about the moon, and makes wonderful pictures of
+it; and he's enormously rich, I believe, too,--but that's not so much
+matter. The best of all is, that he began just as we begin. He had a
+nice father and a nice mother and a good happy home, and was brought up
+like good decent children. Now really, Uncle Fritz, you mustn't laugh;
+but do you not think that most of the people whose lives we read have to
+begin horridly? They have to be beaten when they are apprentices, or
+their fathers and mothers have to die, or they have to walk through
+Philadelphia with loaves of bread under their arms, or to be brought up
+in poor-houses or something. Now, nothing of that sort happened to my
+inventor. And I am very much encouraged. For my father never beat me,
+and my mother never scolded me half as much as I deserved, and I never
+was in a poor-house, and I never carried a loaf of bread under my arm,
+and so I really was afraid I should come to no good. But now I have
+found my new moon-man, I am very much encouraged."
+
+The others laughed heartily at Hester's zeal, and Blanche asked what
+Hester's hero had invented, and what was his name. The others turned to
+Uncle Fritz half incredulously. But Uncle Fritz came to Hester's relief.
+
+"Hester is quite right," he said; "and his name it is James Nasmyth. He
+has invented a great many things, quite necessary in the gigantic system
+of modern machine-building. He has chosen the steam-hammer for his
+device. Here is a picture of it on the outside of his Life. You see I
+was ready for you, Hester."
+
+The children looked with interest on the device, and Fergus said that it
+was making heraldry do as it should, and speak in the language of the
+present time.
+
+Then Uncle Fritz bade Hester find for them a passage in the biography
+where Mr. Nasmyth tells how he changed the old motto of the family.
+Oddly enough, the legend says that the first Nasmyth took his name
+after a romantic escape, when one of his pursuers, finding him disguised
+as a blacksmith, cried out, "Ye're _nae smyth_."
+
+It is a little queer that this name should have been given to the family
+of a man, who, in his time, forged heavier pieces of iron than had ever
+been forged before, and, indeed, invented the machinery by which this
+should be done. The old Scotch family had for a motto the words
+
+  "Non arte, sed Marte."
+
+With a very just pride, James Nasmyth has changed the motto, and made it
+
+  "Non Marte, sed arte."
+
+That is, while they said, "Not by art, but by war," this man, who has
+done more work for the world, directly or indirectly, than any of
+Aladdin's genii, says, "Not by war, but by art."
+
+Hester was well pleased that their old friend justified her enthusiasm
+so entirely. He and she began dipping into her copy and his copy of the
+biography, which is one of the most interesting books of our time.
+
+
+JAMES NASMYTH.
+
+My grandfather, Michael Naesmyth, like his father and grandfather, was a
+builder and architect. The buildings he designed and erected for the
+Scotch nobility and gentry were well arranged, carefully executed, and
+thoroughly substantial. I remember my father pointing out to me the
+extreme care and attention with which he finished his buildings. He
+inserted small fragments of basalt into the mortar of the external
+joints of the stones, at close and regular distances, in order to
+protect the mortar from the adverse action of the weather; and to this
+day they give proof of their efficiency.
+
+The excellence of my grandfather's workmanship was a thing that my own
+father impressed upon me when a boy. It stimulated in me the desire to
+aim at excellence in everything that I undertook, and in all practical
+matters to arrive at the highest degree of good workmanship. I believe
+that these early lessons had a great influence upon my future career.
+
+My father, Alexander Nasmyth, was the second son of Michael Nasmyth. He
+was born in his father's house in the Grassmarket, on the 9th of
+September, 1758.
+
+I have not much to say about my father's education. For the most part he
+was his own schoolmaster. I have heard him say that his mother taught
+him his A B C, and that he afterward learned to read at Mammy Smith's.
+This old lady kept a school for boys and girls at the top of a house in
+the Grassmarket. There my father was taught to read his Bible and to
+learn his Carritch (the Shorter Catechism).
+
+My father's profession was that of a portrait-painter, to begin with;
+but later he devoted himself to landscape-painting. But he did not
+confine himself to this pursuit. He was an all-round man, with something
+of the universal about him. He was a painter, an architect, and a
+mechanic. Above all, he was an incessantly industrious man.
+
+I was born on the morning of the 19th of August, 1808, at my father's
+house in Edinburgh. I was named James Hall, after a dear friend of my
+father. My mother afterward told me that I must have been a "very
+noticin' bairn," as she observed me, when I was only a few days old,
+following with my little eyes any one who happened to be in the room, as
+if I had been thinking to my little self, "Who are you?"
+
+When I was about four or five years old I was observed to give a decided
+preference to the use of my left hand. At first everything was done to
+prevent my using it in preference to the right, until my father, after
+viewing a little sketch I had drawn with my left hand, allowed me to go
+on in my own way. I used my right hand in all that was necessary, and my
+left in all sorts of practical manipulative affairs. My left hand has
+accordingly been my most willing and obedient servant, and in this way I
+became ambidexter.
+
+In due time I was sent to school; and while attending the High School,
+from 1817 to 1820, there was the usual rage among boys for
+spinning-tops, "peeries," and "young cannon." By means of my father's
+excellent foot-lathe I turned out the spinning-tops in capital style, so
+much so that I became quite noted among my school companions. They all
+wanted to have specimens of my productions. They would give any price
+for them. The peeries were turned with perfect accuracy, and the
+steel-shod or spinning pivot was centred so as to correspond with the
+heaviest diameter at the top. They would spin twice as long as the
+bought peeries. When at full speed they would "sleep;" that is, turn
+round without a particle of wavering. This was considered high art as
+regarded top-spinning.
+
+Flying-kites and tissue-paper balloons were articles that I was also
+somewhat famed for producing. There was a good deal of special skill
+required for the production of a flying-kite. It must be perfectly still
+and steady when at its highest flight in the air. Paper messengers were
+sent up to it along the string which held it to the ground. The top of
+the Calton Hill was the most favorite place for enjoying this pleasant
+amusement.
+
+Another article for which I became equally famous was the manufacture of
+small brass cannon. These I cast and bored, and mounted on their
+appropriate gun-carriages. They proved very effective, especially in the
+loudness of the report when fired. I also converted large cellar-keys
+into a sort of hand-cannon. A touch-hole was bored into the barrel of
+the key, with a sliding brass collar that allowed the key-guns to be
+loaded and primed, ready for firing.
+
+The principal occasion on which the brass cannon and hand-guns were used
+was on the 4th of June,--King George the Third's birthday. This was
+always celebrated with exuberant and noisy loyalty. The guns of the
+Castle were fired at noon, and the number of shots corresponded with the
+number of years that the king had reigned. The grand old Castle was
+enveloped in smoke, and the discharges reverberated along the streets
+and among the surrounding hills. Everything was in holiday order. The
+coaches were hung with garlands, the shops were ornamented, the troops
+were reviewed on Bruntsfield Links, and the citizens drank the king's
+health at the Cross, throwing the glasses over their backs. The boys
+fired off gunpowder, or threw squibs or crackers, from morning till
+night. It was one of the greatest schoolboy events of the year.
+
+My little brass cannon and hand-guns were very busy that day. They were
+fired until they became quite hot. These were the pre-lucifer days. The
+fire to light the powder at the touch-hole was obtained by the use of a
+flint, a steel, and a tinder-box. The flint was struck sharply on the
+steel, a spark of fire consequently fell into the tinder-box, and the
+match (of hemp string, soaked in saltpetre) was readily lit and fired
+off the little guns.
+
+One of my attached cronies was Tom Smith. Our friendship began at the
+High School in 1818. A similarity of disposition bound us together.
+Smith was the son of an enterprising general merchant at Leith. His
+father had a special genius for practical chemistry. He had established
+an extensive color-manufactory at Portobello, near Edinburgh, where he
+produced white lead, red lead, and a great variety of colors,--in the
+preparation of which he required a thorough knowledge of chemistry. Tom
+Smith inherited his father's tastes, and admitted me to share in his
+experiments, which were carried on in a chemical laboratory situated
+behind his father's house at the bottom of Leith Walk.
+
+We had a special means of communication. When anything particular was
+going on at the laboratory, Tom hoisted a white flag on the top of a
+high pole in his father's garden. Though I was more than a mile away, I
+kept a lookout in the direction of the laboratory with a spy-glass. My
+father's house was at the top of Leith Walk, and Smith's house was at
+the bottom of it. When the flag was hoisted I could clearly see the
+invitation to me to come down. I was only too glad to run down the Walk
+and join my chum, to take part in some interesting chemical process. Mr.
+Smith, the father, made me heartily welcome. He was pleased to see his
+son so much attached to me, and he perhaps believed that I was worthy of
+his friendship. We took zealous part in all the chemical proceedings,
+and in that way Tom was fitting himself for the business of his life.
+
+Mr. Smith was a most genial-tempered man. He was shrewd and
+quick-witted, like a native of York, as he was. I received the greatest
+kindness from him as well as from his family. His house was like a
+museum. It was full of cabinets, in which were placed choice and
+interesting objects in natural history, geology, mineralogy, and
+metallurgy. All were represented. Many of these specimens had been
+brought to him from abroad by his ship-captains, who transported his
+color manufactures and other commodities to foreign parts.
+
+My friend Tom Smith and I made it a rule--and in this we were encouraged
+by his father--that, so far as was possible, we ourselves should
+actually _make_ the acids and other substances used in our experiments.
+We were not to buy them ready-made, as this would have taken the zest
+out of our enjoyment. We should have lost the pleasure and instruction
+of producing them by means of our own wits and energies. To encounter
+and overcome a difficulty is the most interesting of all things. Hence,
+though often baffled, we eventually produced perfect specimens of
+nitrous, nitric, and muriatic acids. We distilled alcohol from duly
+fermented sugar and water, and rectified the resultant spirit from
+fusel-oil by passing the alcoholic vapor through animal charcoal before
+it entered the worm of the still. We converted part of the alcohol into
+sulphuric ether. We produced phosphorus from old bones, and elaborated
+many of the mysteries of chemistry.
+
+The amount of practical information which we obtained by this system of
+making our own chemical agents, was such as to reward us, in many
+respects, for the labor we underwent. To outsiders it might appear a
+very troublesome and roundabout way of getting at the finally desired
+result; but I feel certain that there is no better method of rooting
+chemical or any other instruction deeply in our minds. Indeed, I regret
+that the same system is not pursued by the youth of the present day.
+They are seldom if ever called upon to exert their own wits and industry
+to obtain the requisites for their instruction. A great deal is now said
+about technical education; but how little there is of technical
+handiness or head work! Everything is _bought ready-made_ to their
+hands; and hence there is no call for individual ingenuity.
+
+I left the High School at the end of 1820. I carried with me a small
+amount of Latin and no Greek. I do not think I was much the better for
+my small acquaintance with the dead languages.
+
+By the time I was seventeen years old I had acquired a considerable
+amount of practical knowledge as to the use and handling of mechanical
+tools, and I desired to turn it to some account. I was able to construct
+working models of steam-engines and other apparatus required for the
+illustration of mechanical subjects. I began with making a small working
+steam-engine, for the purpose of grinding the oil-colors used by my
+father in his artistic work. The result was quite satisfactory. Many
+persons came to see my active little steam-engine at work; and they were
+so pleased with it that I received several orders for small workshop
+engines, and also for some models of steam-engines to illustrate the
+subjects taught at Mechanics' Institutions.
+
+I contrived a sectional model of a complete condensing steam-engine of
+the beam and parallel-motion construction. The model, as seen from one
+side, exhibited every external detail in full and due action when the
+fly-wheel was moved round by hand; while on the other, or sectional
+side, every detail of the interior was seen, with the steam-valves and
+air-pump, as well as the motion of the piston in the cylinder, with the
+construction of the piston and the stuffing-box, together with the
+slide-valve and steam-passages, all in due position and relative
+movement.
+
+I was a regular attendant at the Edinburgh School of Arts from 1821 to
+1826, meanwhile inventing original contrivances of various sorts.
+
+About the year 1827, when I was nineteen years old, the subject of
+steam-carriages to run upon common roads occupied considerable
+attention. Several engineers and mechanical schemers had tried their
+hands, but as yet no substantial results had come of their attempts to
+solve the problem. Like others, I tried my hand. Having made a small
+working model of a steam-carriage, I exhibited it before the members of
+the Scottish Society of Arts. The performance of this active little
+machine was so gratifying to the Society, that they requested me to
+construct one of such power as to enable four or six persons to be
+conveyed along the ordinary roads. The members of the Society, in their
+individual capacity, subscribed £60, which they placed in my hands, as
+the means of carrying out their project.
+
+I accordingly set to work at once. I had the heavy parts of the engine
+and carriage done at Anderson's foundry at Leith. There was in
+Anderson's employment a most able general mechanic, named Robert
+Maclaughlan, who had served his time at Carmichael's, of Dundee.
+Anderson possessed some excellent tools, which enabled me to proceed
+rapidly with the work. Besides, he was most friendly, and took much
+delight in being concerned in my enterprise. This "big job" was executed
+in about four months. The steam-carriage was completed and exhibited
+before the members of the Society of Arts. Many successful trials were
+made with it on the Queensferry Road, near Edinburgh. The runs were
+generally of four or five miles, with a load of eight passengers,
+sitting on benches about three feet from the ground.
+
+The experiments were continued for nearly three months, to the great
+satisfaction of the members.
+
+The chief object of my ambition was now to be taken on at Henry
+Maudsley's works in London. I had heard so much of his engineering work,
+of his assortment of machine-making tools, and of the admirable
+organization of his manufactory, that I longed to obtain employment
+there. But I was aware that my father had not the means of paying the
+large premium required for placing me there, and I was also informed
+that Maudsley had ceased to take pupils, they caused him so much
+annoyance. My father and I went to London; and Mr. Maudsley received us
+in the most kind and frank manner, and courteously invited us to go
+round the works. When this was concluded I ventured to say to Mr.
+Maudsley that "I had brought up with me from Edinburgh some working
+models of steam-engines and mechanical drawings, and I should feel truly
+obliged if he would allow me to show them to him." "By all means," said
+he; "bring them to me to-morrow at twelve o'clock." I need not say how
+much pleased I was at this permission to exhibit my handiwork, and how
+anxious I felt as to the result of Mr. Maudsley's inspection of it.
+
+I carefully unpacked my working model of the steam-engine at the
+carpenter's shop, and had it conveyed, together with my drawings, on a
+handcart to Mr. Maudsley's, next morning, at the appointed hour. I was
+allowed to place my work for his inspection in a room next his office
+and counting-house. I then called at his residence, close by, where he
+kindly received me in his library. He asked me to wait until he and his
+partner, Joshua Field, had inspected my handiwork.
+
+I waited anxiously. Twenty long minutes passed. At last he entered the
+room, and from a lively expression in his countenance I observed in a
+moment that the great object of my long-cherished ambition had been
+attained. He expressed, in good round terms, his satisfaction at my
+practical ability as a workman, engineer, and mechanical draughtsman.
+Then, opening the door which led from his library into his beautiful
+private workshop, he said, "This is where I wish you to work, beside me,
+as my assistant workman. From what I have seen there is no need of an
+apprenticeship in your case."
+
+One of his favorite maxims was, "First _get a clear notion_ of what you
+desire to accomplish, and then in all probability you will succeed in
+doing it." Another was, "Keep a sharp lookout upon your materials; get
+rid of every pound of material you can _do without_; put to yourself the
+question, 'What business has it to be there?' avoid complexities, and
+make everything as simple as possible." Mr. Maudsley was full of quaint
+maxims and remarks,--the result of much shrewdness, keen observation,
+and great experience. They were well worthy of being stored up in the
+mind, like a set of proverbs, full of the life and experience of men.
+His thoughts became compressed into pithy expressions exhibiting his
+force of character and intellect. His quaint remarks on my first visit
+to his workshop and on subsequent occasions proved to me invaluable
+guides to "right thinking" in regard to all matters connected with
+mechanical structure.
+
+On the morning of Monday, May 30, 1829, I began my regular attendance at
+Mr. Maudsley's workshop, and remained with him until he died, Feb. 14,
+1831. It was a very sad thing for me to lose my dear old master, who
+always treated me like a friend and companion. At his death I passed
+over into the service of his worthy partner, Joshua Field, until my
+twenty-third year, when I intended to begin business for myself.
+
+I first settled myself at Manchester, but afterwards established a large
+business outside of Manchester on the Bridgewater Canal. In August,
+1836, the Bridgewater Foundry was in complete and efficient action. The
+engine ordered at Londonderry was at once put in hand, and the concern
+was fairly started in its long career of prosperity. The wooden
+workshops had been erected upon the grass, but the greensward soon
+disappeared. The hum of the driving-belts, the whirl of the machinery,
+the sound of the hammer upon the anvil, gave the place an air of busy
+activity. As work increased, workmen multiplied. The workshops were
+enlarged. Wood gave place to brick. Cottages for the accommodation of
+the work-people sprung up in the neighborhood, and what had once been a
+quiet grassy field became the centre of a busy population.
+
+It was a source of vast enjoyment to me, while engaged in the anxious
+business connected with the establishment of the foundry, to be
+surrounded with so many objects of rural beauty. The site of the works
+being on the west side of Manchester, we had the benefit of breathing
+pure air during the greater part of the year. The scenery round about
+was very attractive. Exercise was a source of health to the mind as well
+as the body. As it was necessary that I should reside as near as
+possible to the works, I had plenty of opportunities for enjoying the
+rural scenery of the neighborhood. I had the good fortune to become the
+tenant of a small cottage in the ancient village of Barton, in
+Cheshire, at the very moderate rental of fifteen pounds a year. The
+cottage was situated on the banks of the river Irwell, and was only
+about six minutes' walk from the works at Patricroft. It suited my
+moderate domestic arrangements admirably.
+
+On June 16, 1840, a day of happy memory, I was married to Miss Anne
+Hartop.
+
+I was present at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, on
+Sept. 15, 1830. Every one knows the success of the undertaking. Railways
+became the rage. They were projected in every possible direction; and
+when made, locomotives were required to work them. When George
+Stephenson was engaged in building his first locomotive, at
+Killingworth, he was greatly hampered, not only by the want of handy
+mechanics, but by the want of efficient tools. But he did the best that
+he could. His genius overcame difficulties. It was immensely to his
+credit that he should have so successfully completed his engines for the
+Stockton and Darlington, and afterward for the Liverpool and Manchester,
+Railway.
+
+Only a few years had passed, and self-acting tools were now enabled to
+complete, with precision and uniformity, machines that before had been
+deemed almost impracticable. In proportion to the rapid extension of
+railways the demand for locomotives became very great. As our machine
+tools were peculiarly adapted for turning out a large amount of
+first-class work, we directed our attention to this class of business.
+In the course of about ten years after the opening of the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway, we executed considerable orders for locomotives for
+the London and Southampton, the Manchester and Leeds, and the Gloucester
+Railway Companies.
+
+The Great Western Railway Company invited us to tender for twenty of
+their very ponderous engines. They proposed a very tempting condition of
+the contract. It was that if, after a month's trial of the locomotives,
+their working proved satisfactory, a premium of £100 was to be added to
+the price of each engine and tender. The locomotives were made and
+delivered; they ran the stipulated number of test miles between London
+and Bristol in a perfectly satisfactory manner; and we not only received
+the premium, but, what was much more encouraging, we received a special
+letter from the board of directors, stating their entire satisfaction
+with the performance of our engines, and desiring us to refer other
+contractors to them with respect to the excellence of our workmanship.
+This testimonial was altogether spontaneous, and proved extremely
+valuable in other quarters.
+
+The date of the first sketch of my steam-hammer was Nov. 24, 1839. It
+consisted of, first, a massive anvil, on which to rest the work; second,
+a block of iron constituting the hammer, or blow-giving portion; and,
+third, an inverted steam cylinder, to whose piston-rod the hammer-block
+was attached. All that was then required to produce a most effective
+hammer, was simply to admit steam of sufficient pressure into the
+cylinder, so as to act on the under side of the piston, and thus to
+raise the hammer-block attached to the end of the piston-rod. By a very
+simple arrangement of a slide-valve under the control of an attendant,
+the steam was allowed to escape, and thus permit the massive block of
+iron rapidly to descend by its own gravity upon the work then upon the
+anvil.
+
+Thus, by the more or less rapid manner in which the attendant allowed
+the steam to enter or escape from the cylinder, any required number or
+any intensity of blows could be delivered. Their succession might be
+modified in an instant; the hammer might be arrested and suspended
+according to the requirements of the work. The workman might thus, as it
+were, _think in blows_. He might deal them out on to the ponderous
+glowing mass, and mould or knead it into the desired form as if it were
+a lump of clay, or pat it with gentle taps, according to his will or at
+the desire of the forgeman.
+
+Rude and rapidly sketched out as it was, this my first delineation of
+the steam-hammer will be found to comprise all the essential elements of
+the invention. There was no want of orders when the valuable qualities
+of the steam-hammer came to be seen and experienced; soon after I had
+the opportunity of securing a patent for it in the United States, where
+it soon found its way into the principal iron-works of the country. As
+time passed by, I had furnished steam-hammers to the principal foundries
+in England, and had sent them abroad even to Russia.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But the English Government is proverbially slow in recognizing such
+improvements. It was not till years had passed by, that Mr. Nasmyth was
+asked to furnish hammers to government works. Then he was invited to
+apply them to pile-driving. He says:--
+
+
+My first order for my pile-driver was a source of great pleasure to me.
+It was for the construction of some great royal docks at Devonport. An
+immense portion of the shore of the Hamoaze had to be walled in so as to
+exclude the tide.
+
+When I arrived on the spot with my steam pile-driver, there was a great
+deal of curiosity in the dockyard as to the action of the new machine.
+The pile-driving machine-men gave me a good-natured challenge to vie
+with them in driving down a pile. They adopted the old method, while I
+adopted the new one. The resident managers sought out two great pile
+logs of equal size and length,-seventy feet long and eighteen inches
+square. At a given signal we started together. I let in the steam, and
+the hammer at once began to work. The four-ton block showered down blows
+at the rate of eighty a minute, and in the course of _four and a half
+minutes_ my pile was driven down to its required depth. The men working
+at the ordinary machine had only begun to drive. It took them upward of
+_twelve hours_ to complete the driving of their pile!
+
+Such a saving of time in the performance of similar work--by steam
+_versus_ manual labor--had never before been witnessed. The energetic
+action of the steam-hammer, sitting on the shoulders of the pile high up
+aloft, and following it suddenly down, the rapidly hammered blows
+keeping time with the flashing out of the waste steam at the end of each
+stroke, was indeed a remarkable sight. When my pile was driven the
+hammer-block and guide-case were speedily re-hoisted by the small engine
+that did all the laboring and locomotive work of the machine, the
+steam-hammer portion of which was then lowered on to the shoulders of
+the next pile in succession. Again it set to work. At this the
+spectators, crowding about in boats, pronounced their approval in the
+usual British style of "Three cheers!" My new pile-driver was thus
+acknowledged as another triumphant proof of the power of steam.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the course of the year 1843 it was necessary for me to make a journey
+to St. Petersburg. My object was to endeavor to obtain an order for a
+portion of the locomotives required for working the line between that
+city and Moscow. The railway had been constructed under the engineership
+of Major Whistler, and it was shortly about to be opened.
+
+The Major gave me a frank and cordial reception, and informed me of the
+position of affairs. The Emperor, he said, was desirous of training a
+class of Russian mechanics to supply not only the locomotives, but to
+keep them constantly in repair. The locomotives must be made in Russia.
+I received, however, a very large order for boilers and other detail
+parts of the Moscow machines.
+
+I enjoyed greatly my visit to St. Petersburg, and my return home through
+Stockholm and Copenhagen.
+
+Travelling one day in Sweden, the post-house where I was set down was an
+inn, although without a sign-board. The landlady was a bright, cheery,
+jolly woman. She could not speak a word of English, nor I a word of
+Dannemora Swedish. I was very thirsty and hungry, and wanted something
+to eat. How was I to communicate my wishes to the landlady? I resorted,
+as I often did, to the universal language of the pencil. I took out my
+sketch-book, and in a few minutes I made a drawing of a table with a
+dish of smoking meat upon it, a bottle and a glass, a knife and fork, a
+loaf, a salt-cellar, and a corkscrew. She looked at the drawing and gave
+a hearty laugh. She nodded pleasantly, showing that she clearly
+understood what I wanted. She asked me for the sketch, and went into the
+back garden to show it to her husband, who inspected it with great
+delight. I went out and looked about the place, which was very
+picturesque. After a short time the landlady came to the door and
+beckoned me in, and I found spread out on the table everything that I
+desired,--a broiled chicken, smoking hot from the gridiron, a bottle of
+capital home-brewed ale, and all the _et ceteras_ of an excellent
+repast. I made use of my pencil in many other ways. I always found that
+a sketch was as useful as a sentence. Besides, it generally created a
+sympathy between me and my entertainers.
+
+As the Bridgewater Foundry had been so fortunate as to earn for itself a
+considerable reputation for mechanical contrivances, the workshops were
+always busy. They were crowded with machine tools in full action, and
+exhibited to all comers their effectiveness in the most satisfactory
+manner. Every facility was afforded to those who desired to see them at
+work; and every machine and machine tool that was turned out became in
+the hands of its employers the progenitor of a numerous family.
+
+Indeed, on many occasions I had the gratification of seeing my
+mechanical notions adopted by rival or competitive machine constructors,
+often without acknowledgment; though, notwithstanding this point of
+honor, there was room enough for all. Though the parent features were
+easily recognizable, I esteemed such plagiarisms as a sort of
+left-handed compliment to their author. I also regarded them as a proof
+that I had hit the mark in so arranging my mechanical combinations as to
+cause their general adoption; and many of them remain unaltered to this
+day.
+
+My favorite pursuit, after my daily excursions at the foundry, was
+astronomy. I constructed for myself a telescope of considerable power,
+and, mounting my ten-inch instrument, I began my survey of the heavens.
+I began as a learner, and my learning grew with experience. There were
+the prominent stars, the planets, the Milky Way,--with thousands of
+far-off suns,--to be seen. My observations were at first merely
+general; by degrees they became particular. I was not satisfied with
+enjoying these sights myself. I made my friends and neighbors sharers in
+my pleasure, and some of them enjoyed the wonders of the heavens as much
+as I did.
+
+In my early use of the telescope I had fitted the speculum into a light
+square tube of deal, to which the eyepiece was attached, so as to have
+all the essential parts of the telescope combined together in the most
+simple and portable form. I had often to move it from place to place in
+my small garden at the side of the Bridgewater Canal, in order to get it
+clear of the trees and branches which intercepted some object in the
+heavens which I wished to see. How eager and enthusiastic I was in those
+days! Sometimes I got out of bed in the clear small hours of the
+morning, and went down to the garden in my night-shirt. I would take the
+telescope in my arms and plant it in some suitable spot, where I might
+take a peep at some special planet or star then above the horizon.
+
+It became bruited about that a ghost was seen at Patricroft! A barge was
+silently gliding along the canal near midnight, when the boatman
+suddenly saw a figure in white. "It moved among the trees, with a coffin
+in its arms!" The apparition was so sudden and strange that he
+immediately concluded that it was a ghost. The weird sight was reported
+all along the canal, and also at Wolverhampton, which was the boatman's
+headquarters. He told the people at Patricroft, on his return journey,
+what he had seen; and great was the excitement produced. The place was
+haunted; there was no doubt about it! After all, the rumor was founded
+on fact; for the ghost was merely myself in my night-shirt, and the
+coffin was my telescope, which I was quietly shifting from one place to
+another, in order to get a clearer sight of the heavens at midnight.
+
+I had been for some time contemplating the possibility of retiring
+altogether from business. I had got enough of the world's goods, and was
+willing to make way for younger men.
+
+Many long years of pleasant toil and exertion had done their work. A
+full momentum of prosperity had been given to my engineering business at
+Patricroft. My share in the financial results accumulated, with
+accelerated rapidity, to an amount far beyond my most sanguine hopes.
+But finding, from long-continued and incessant mental efforts, that my
+nervous system was beginning to become shaken, especially in regard to
+an affection of the eyes, which in some respects damaged my sight, I
+thought the time had arrived for me to retire from commercial life.
+
+Behold us, then, settled down at Hammerfield for life. We had plenty to
+do. My workshop was fully equipped. My hobbies were there, and I could
+work them to my heart's content. The walls of our various rooms were
+soon hung with pictures and other works of art, suggestive of many
+pleasant associations of former days. Our library bookcase was crowded
+with old friends in the shape of books that had been read and re-read
+many times, until they had almost become part of ourselves. Old
+Lancashire friends made their way to us when "up in town," and expressed
+themselves delighted with our pleasant house and its beautiful
+surroundings.
+
+I was only forty-eight years old, which may be considered the prime of
+life. But I had plenty of hobbies, perhaps the chief of which was
+astronomy. No sooner had I settled at Hammerfield than I had my
+telescopes brought out and mounted. The fine, clear skies with which we
+were favored furnished me with abundant opportunities for the use of my
+instruments. I began again my investigations on the sun and the moon,
+and made some original discoveries.
+
+It is time to come to an end of my recollections. I have endeavored to
+give a brief _résumé_ of my life and labors. I hope they may prove
+interesting as well as useful to others. Thanks to a good constitution
+and a frame invigorated by work, I continue to lead, with my dear wife,
+a happy life.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+SIR HENRY BESSEMER.
+
+
+THE AGE OF STEEL.
+
+In intervals of the reading meetings so many of the children's
+afternoons with Uncle Fritz had been taken up with excursions to see
+machinery at work, that their next meeting at the Oliver House was, as
+it proved, the last for the winter.
+
+They had gone to the pumping-station of the waterworks, and had seen the
+noiseless work of the great steam-engine there. They had gone to the
+Ætna Mills at Watertown, and with the eye of the flesh had seen "rovers"
+and shuttles, and had been taught what "slobbers" are. They had gone to
+Waltham, and had been taught something of the marvellous skill and
+delicacy expended on the manufacture of watches. They had gone to Rand
+and Avery's printing-house; and here they not only saw the processes of
+printing, but they saw steam power "converted" into electricity. They
+had gone to the Locomotive Factory in Albany Street, and understood,
+much better than before, the inventions of George Stephenson, under the
+lead of the foremen in the shops, who had been very kind to them.
+
+On their last meeting Uncle Fritz reminded them of something which one
+of these gentlemen had taught them about the qualities of steel and
+iron; and again of what they had seen of steel-springs at Waltham, when
+they saw how the balances of watches are arranged.
+
+"Some bright person has called our time 'the Age of Steel,'" he said.
+"You know Ovid's division was 'the Age of Gold, the Age of Silver, the
+Age of Brass, the Age of Iron.' And Ovid, who was in low spirits,
+thought the Age of Iron was the worst of all. Now, we begin to improve
+if we have entered the Age of Steel; for steel is, poetically speaking,
+glorified iron.
+
+"Now the person to whom we owe it, that, in practice, we can build steel
+ships to-day where we once built iron ships, and lay steel rails to-day
+where even Stephenson was satisfied with iron, is Sir Henry Bessemer.
+The Queen knighted him in recognition of the service he had rendered to
+the world by his improvements in the processes of turning iron into
+steel.
+
+"It is impossible to estimate the addition which these improvements have
+made to the physical power of the world. I have not the most recent
+figures, but look at this," said Uncle Fritz. And he gave to John to
+read from a Life of Sir Henry Bessemer:--
+
+"Prior to this invention the entire production of cast steel in Great
+Britain was only about fifty thousand tons annually; and its average
+price, which ranged from £50 to £600, prohibited its use for many of the
+purposes to which it is now universally applied. After the invention, in
+the year 1877, the Bessemer steel produced in Great Britain alone
+amounted to 750,000 tons, or fifteen times the total of the former
+method of manufacture, while the selling price averaged only £10 per
+ton, and the coal consumed in producing it was less by 3,500,000 tons
+than would have been required in order to make the same quality of
+steel by the old, or Sheffield, process. The total reduction of cost is
+equal to about £30,000,000 sterling upon the quantity manufactured in
+England during the year."
+
+The same book goes on to show that in other nations £20,000,000 worth of
+Bessemer steel was produced in the same year.
+
+"You see," said Uncle Fritz, "that here is an addition to the real
+wealth of the world such as makes any average fairy story about diamonds
+and rubies rather cheap and contemptible.
+
+"You will like Sir Henry Bessemer, Hester, because he was happily
+trained and had good chances when he was a boy. And you will be amused
+to see how his bright wife was brighter than all the internal-revenue
+people. She was so bright that she lost him the appointment which had
+enabled him to marry her. But I think he says somewhere, with a good
+deal of pride, that but for that misfortune, and the injustice which
+accompanied it, he should have probably never made his great inventions.
+It is one more piece of 'Partial evil,--universal good.'"
+
+Then the children, with Uncle Fritz's aid, began picking out what they
+called the plums from the accounts he showed them of Sir Henry
+Bessemer's life.
+
+
+BESSEMER'S FAMILY.
+
+At the time of the great Revolution of 1792 there was employed in the
+French mint a man of great ingenuity, who had become a member of the
+French Academy of Sciences at the age of twenty-five. When Robespierre
+became Dictator of France, this scientific academician was transferred
+from the mint to the management of a public bakery, established for the
+purpose of supplying the populace of Paris with bread. In that position
+he soon became the object of revolutionary frenzy. One day a rumor was
+set afloat that the loaves supplied were light in weight; and, spreading
+like wildfire, it was made the occasion of a fearful tumult. The manager
+of the bakery was instantly seized and cast into prison. He succeeded in
+escaping, but it was at the peril of his life. Knowing the peril he was
+in, he lost no time in making his way to England; and he only succeeded
+in doing so by adroitly using some documents he possessed bearing the
+signature of the Dictator. Landing in England a ruined man, his talents
+soon proved a passport to success. He was appointed to a position in the
+English mint; and by the exercise of his ingenuity in other directions,
+he ere long acquired sufficient means to buy a small estate at Charlton,
+in Hertfordshire. Such, in brief, were the circumstances that led to the
+settlement there of Anthony Bessemer, the father of Sir Henry Bessemer.
+The latter may be said to have been born an inventor. His father was an
+inventor before him. After settling in England, his inventive ingenuity
+was displayed in making improvements in microscopes and in
+type-founding, and in the discovery of what his son has happily
+described as the true alchemy. The latter discovery, which he made about
+the beginning of the present century, was a source of considerable
+profit to him. It is generally known that when gold articles are made by
+the jewellers, there are various discolorations left on their surface by
+the process of manufacture; and in order to clear their surface, they
+are put into a solution of alum, salt, and saltpetre, which dissolves a
+large quantity of the copper that is used as an alloy. Anthony Bessemer
+discovered that this powerful acid not only dissolved the copper, but
+also dissolved a quantity of gold. He accordingly began to buy up this
+liquor; and as he was the only one who knew that it contained gold in
+solution, he had no difficulty in arranging for the purchase of it from
+all the manufacturers in London. From that liquor he succeeded in
+extracting gold in considerable quantities for many years. By some means
+that he kept secret (and the secret died with him), he deposited the
+particles of gold on the shavings of another metal, which, being
+afterwards melted, left the pure gold in small quantities. Thirty years
+afterward the Messrs. Elkington invented the electrotype process, which
+had the same effect. Anthony Bessemer was also eminently successful as a
+type-founder. When in France, before the Revolution of 1792, he cut a
+great many founts of type for Messrs. Firmin Didot, the celebrated
+French type-founders; and after his return to England he betook himself,
+as a diversion, to type-cutting for Mr. Henry Caslon, the celebrated
+English type-founder. He engraved an entire series, from pica to
+diamond,--a work which occupied several years. The success of these
+types led to the establishment of the firm of Bessemer and Catherwood as
+type-founders, carrying on business at Charlton. The great improvement
+which Anthony Bessemer introduced into the art of type-making was not so
+much in the engraving as in the composition of the metal. He discovered
+that an alloy of copper, tin, and bismuth was the most durable metal for
+type; and the working of this discovery was very successful in his
+hands. The secret of his success, however, he kept unknown to the trade.
+He knew that if it were suspected that the superiority of his type
+consisted in the composition of the metal, analysis would reveal it,
+and others would then be able to compete with him. So, to divert
+attention from the real cause, he pointed out to the trade that the
+shape of his type was different, as the angle at which all the lines
+were produced from the surface was more obtuse in his type than in those
+of other manufacturers, at the same time contending that his type would
+wear longer. Other manufacturers ridiculed this account of Bessemer's
+type, but experience showed that it lasted nearly twice as long as other
+type. The business flourished for a dozen years under his direction, and
+during that period the real cause of its success was kept a secret. The
+process has since been re-discovered and patented. Such were some of the
+inventive efforts of the father of one of the greatest inventors of the
+present age.
+
+
+HENRY BESSEMER.
+
+The youngest son of Anthony Bessemer, Henry, was born at Charlton, in
+Hertfordshire, in 1813. His boyhood was spent in his native village; and
+while receiving the rudiments of an ordinary education in the
+neighboring town of Hitchin, the leisure and retirement of rural life
+afforded ample time, though perhaps little inducement, for the display
+of the natural bent of his mind. Notwithstanding his scanty and
+imperfect mechanical appliances, his early years were devoted to the
+cultivation of his inventive faculties. His parents encouraged him in
+his youthful efforts.
+
+At the age of eighteen he came to London, "knowing no one," he says,
+"and myself unknown,--a mere cipher in a vast sea of human enterprise."
+Here he worked as a modeller and designer with encouraging success. He
+engraved a large number of elegant and original designs on steel, with a
+diamond point, for patent-medicine labels. He got plenty of this sort of
+work to do, and was well paid for it. In his boyhood his favorite
+amusement was the modelling of objects in clay; and even in this
+primitive school of genius he worked with so much success that at the
+age of nineteen he exhibited one of his beautiful models at the Royal
+Academy, then held at Somerset House.
+
+
+STAMPED PAPER.
+
+Thus he soon began to make his way in the metropolis; and in the course
+of the following year he was maturing some plans in connection with the
+production of stamps which he sanguinely hoped would lead him on to
+fortune. At that time the old forms of stamps were in use that had been
+employed since the days of Queen Anne; and as they were easily
+transferred from old deeds to new ones, the Government lost a large
+amount annually by this surreptitious use of old stamps instead of new
+ones. The ordinary impressed or embossed stamps, such as are now
+employed on bills of exchange, or impressed directly on skins or
+parchment, were liable to be entirely obliterated if exposed for some
+months to a damp atmosphere. A deed so exposed would at last appear as
+if unstamped, and would therefore become invalid. Special precautions
+were therefore observed in order to prevent this occurrence. It was the
+practice to gum small pieces of blue paper on the parchment; and, to
+render it still more secure, a strip of metal foil was passed through
+it, and another small piece of paper with the printed initials of the
+sovereign was gummed over the loose end of the foil at the back. The
+stamp was then impressed on the blue paper, which, unlike parchment, is
+incapable of losing the impression by exposure to a damp atmosphere.
+Experience showed, however, that by placing a little piece of moistened
+blotting-paper for a few hours over the paper, the gum became so
+softened that the two pieces of paper and the slip of foil could be
+easily removed from an old deed and then used for a new one. In this way
+stamps could be used a second and third time; and by thus utilizing the
+expensive stamps on old deeds of partnerships that were dissolved, or
+leases that were expired, the public revenue lost thousands of pounds
+every year. Sir Charles Persley, of the Stamp Office, told Sir Henry
+Bessemer that the Government were probably defrauded of £100,000 per
+annum in that way. The young inventor at once set to work, for the
+express purpose of devising a stamp that could not be used twice. His
+first discovery was a mode by which he could have reproduced easily and
+cheaply thousands of stamps of any pattern. "The facility," he says,
+"with which I could make a permanent die from a thin paper original,
+capable of producing a thousand copies, would have opened a wide door
+for successful frauds if my process had been known to unscrupulous
+persons; for there is not a government stamp or a paper seal of a
+corporate body that every common office clerk could not forge in a few
+minutes at the office of his employer or at his own home. The production
+of such a die from a common paper stamp is a work of only ten minutes;
+the materials cost less than one penny; no sort of technical skill is
+necessary, and a common copying-press or a letter stamp yields most
+successful copies." To this day a successful forger has to employ a
+skilful die-sinker to make a good imitation in steel of the document he
+wishes to forge; but if such a method as that discovered and described
+by Sir Henry Bessemer were known, what a prospect it would open up!
+Appalled at the effect which the communication of such a process would
+have had upon the business of the Stamp Office, he carefully kept the
+knowledge of it to himself; and to this day it remains a profound
+secret.
+
+More than ever impressed with the necessity for an improved form of
+stamp, and conscious of his own capability to produce it, he labored for
+some months to accomplish his object, feeling sure that, if successful,
+he would be amply rewarded by the Government. To insure the secrecy of
+his experiments, he worked at them during the night, after his ordinary
+business of the day was over. He succeeded at last in making a stamp
+which obviated the great objection to the then existing form, inasmuch
+as it would be impossible to transfer it from one deed to another, to
+obliterate it by moisture, or to take an impression from it capable of
+producing a duplicate. Flushed with success and confident of the reward
+of his labors, he waited upon Sir Charles Persley at Somerset House, and
+showed him, by numerous proofs, how easily all the then existing stamps
+could be forged, and his new invention to prevent forgery. Sir Charles,
+who was much astonished at the one invention and pleased with the other,
+asked Bessemer to call again in a few days. At the second interview Sir
+Charles asked him to work out the principle of the new stamping
+invention more fully. Accordingly Bessemer devoted five or six weeks'
+more labor to the perfecting of his stamp, with which the Stamp Office
+authorities were now well pleased. The design, as described by the
+inventor, was circular, about two and a half inches in diameter, and
+consisted of a garter with a motto in capital letters, surmounted by a
+crown. Within the garter was a shield, and the garter was filled with
+network in imitation of lace. The die was executed in steel, which
+pierced the parchment with more than four hundred holes; and these holes
+formed the stamp. It is by a similar process that valentine makers have
+since learned to make the perforated paper used in their trade. Such a
+stamp removed all the objections to the old one. So pleased was Sir
+Charles with it that he recommended it to Lord Althorp, and it was soon
+adopted by the Stamp Office. At the same time Sir Henry was asked
+whether he would be satisfied with the position of Superintendent of
+Stamps with £500 or £600 per annum, as compensation for his invention,
+instead of a sum of money from the treasury. This appointment he gladly
+agreed to accept; for, being engaged to be married at the time, he
+thought his future position in life was settled. Shortly afterwards he
+called on the young lady to whom he was engaged, and communicated the
+glad tidings to her, at the same time showing her the design of his new
+stamp. On explaining to her that its chief virtue was that the new
+stamps thus produced could not, like the old ones, be fraudulently used
+twice or thrice, she instantly suggested that if all stamps had a date
+put upon them they could not be used at a future time without detection.
+The idea was new to him; and, impressed with its practical character, he
+at once conceived a plan for the insertion of movable dates in the die
+of his stamp. The method by which this is now done is too well known to
+require description here; but in 1833 it was a new invention. Having
+worked out the details of a stamp with movable dates, he saw that it
+was more simple and more easily worked than his elaborate die for
+perforating stamps; but he also saw that if he disclosed his latest
+invention it might interfere with his settled prospects in connection
+with the carrying out of his first one. It was not without regret, too,
+that he saw the results of many months of toil and the experiments of
+many lonely nights at once superseded; but his conviction of the
+superiority of his latest design was so strong, and his own sense of
+honor and his confidence in that of the Government was so unsuspecting,
+that he boldly went and placed the whole matter before Sir Charles
+Persley. Of course the new design was preferred. Sir Charles truly
+observed that with this new plan all the old dies, old presses, and old
+workmen could be employed. Among the other advantages it presented to
+the Government, it did not fail to strike Sir Charles that no
+Superintendent of Stamps would now be necessary,--a recommendation which
+the perforated die did not possess. The Stamp Office therefore abandoned
+the ingenuous and ingenious inventor. The old stamps were called in, and
+the new ones issued in a few weeks; the revenue from stamps grew
+enormously, and forged or feloniously used stamps are now almost unheard
+of. The Stamp Office reaped a benefit which it is scarcely possible to
+estimate fully, while Bessemer did not receive a farthing. Shortly after
+the new stamp was adopted by Act of Parliament, Lord Althorp resigned,
+and his successors disclaimed all liability. When the disappointed
+inventor pressed his claim, he was met by all sorts of half-promises and
+excuses, which ended in nothing. The disappointment was all the more
+galling because, if Bessemer had stuck to his first-adopted plan, his
+services would have been indispensable to its execution; and it was
+therefore through his putting a better and more easily worked plan
+before them that his services were coolly ignored. "I had no patent to
+fall back upon," he says, in describing the incident afterward. "I could
+not go to law, even if I wished to do so; for I was reminded, when
+pressing for mere money out of pocket, that I had done all the work
+voluntarily and of my own accord. Wearied and disgusted, I at last
+ceased to waste time in calling at the Stamp Office,--for time was
+precious to me in those days,--and I felt that nothing but increased
+exertions could make up for the loss of some nine months of toil and
+expenditure. Thus sad and dispirited, and with a burning sense of
+injustice overpowering all other feelings, I went my way from the Stamp
+Office, too proud to ask as a favor that which was indubitably my
+right."
+
+
+GOLD PAINT.
+
+Shortly after he had taken out his first patent for his improvement in
+type-founding, his attention was accidentally turned to the manufacture
+of bronze powder, which is used in gold-work, japanning, gold-printing,
+and similar operations. While engaged in ornamenting a vignette in his
+sister's album, he had to purchase a small quantity of this bronze, and
+was struck with the great difference between the price of the raw
+material and that of the manufactured article. The latter sold for
+112_s._ a pound, while the raw material only cost 11_d._ a pound. He
+concluded that the difference was caused by the process of manufacture,
+and made inquiries with the view of learning the nature of the process.
+He found, however, that this manufacture was hardly known in England.
+The article was supplied to English dealers from Nuremberg and other
+towns in Germany. He did not succeed, therefore, in finding any one who
+could tell him how it was produced. In these circumstances he determined
+to try to make it himself, and worked for a year and a half at the
+solution of this task. Other men had tried it and failed, and he was on
+the point of failing too. After eighteen months of fruitless labor he
+came to the conclusion that he could not make it, and gave it up. But it
+is the highest attribute of genius to succeed where others fail, and,
+impelled by this instinct, he resumed his investigations after six
+months' repose. At last success crowned his efforts. The profits of his
+previous inventions now supplied him with funds sufficient to provide
+the mechanical appliances he had designed.
+
+Knowing very little of the patent law, and considering it so insecure
+that the safest way to reap the full benefit of his new invention was to
+keep it to himself, he determined to work his process of bronze-making
+in strict secrecy; and every precaution was therefore adopted for this
+purpose. He first put up a small apparatus with his own hands, and
+worked it entirely himself. By this means he produced the required
+article at 4_s._ a pound. He then sent out a traveller with samples of
+it, and the first order he got was at 80_s._ a pound. Being thus fully
+assured of success, he communicated his plans to a friend, who agreed to
+put £10,000 into the business, as a sleeping partner, in order to work
+the new manufacture on a larger scale. The entire working of the concern
+was left in the hands of Sir Henry, who accordingly proceeded to enlarge
+his means of production. To insure secrecy, he made plans of all the
+machinery required, and then divided them into sections. He next sent
+these sectional drawings to different engineering works, in order to
+get his machinery made piecemeal in different parts of England. This
+done, he collected the various pieces, and fitted them up himself,--a
+work that occupied him nine months. Finding everything at last in
+perfect working order, he engaged four or five assistants in whom he had
+confidence, and paid them very high wages on condition that they kept
+everything in the strictest secrecy. Bronze powder was now produced in
+large quantities by means of five self-acting machines, which not only
+superseded hand labor entirely, but were capable of producing as much
+daily as sixty skilled operatives could do by the old hand system.
+
+To this day the mechanical means by which his famous gold paint is
+produced remains a secret. The machinery is driven by a steam-engine in
+an adjoining room; and into the room where the automatic machinery is at
+work none but the inventor and his assistants have ever entered. When a
+sufficient quantity of work is done, a bell is rung to give notice to
+the engine-man to stop the engine; and in this way the machinery has
+been in constant use for over forty years without having been either
+patented or pirated. Its profit was as great as its success. At first he
+made 1,000 per cent profit; and though there are other products that now
+compete with this bronze, it still yields 300 per cent profit. "All this
+time," says the successful inventor thirty years afterward, "I have been
+afraid to improve the machinery, or to introduce other engineers into
+the works to improve them. Strange to say, we have thus among us a
+manufacture wholly unimproved for thirty years. I do not believe there
+is another instance of such a thing in the kingdom. I believe that if I
+had patented it, the fourteen years would not have run out without other
+people making improvements in the manufacture. Of the five machines I
+use, three are applicable to other processes, one to color-making
+especially; so much so that notwithstanding the very excellent income
+which I derive from the manufacture, I had once nearly made up my mind
+to throw it open and make it public, for the purpose of using part of my
+invention for the manufacture of colors. Three out of my five assistants
+have died; and if the other two were to die and myself too, no one would
+know what the invention is." Since this was said (in 1871), Sir Henry
+has rewarded the faithfulness of his two surviving assistants by handing
+over to them the business and the factory.
+
+
+BESSEMER STEEL.
+
+Sir Henry Bessemer was first led to turn his attention to the
+improvement of the manufacture of iron by a remark of Commander Minie,
+who was superintending certain trials of the results of Sir Henry's
+experiments in obtaining rotation of shot fired from a smooth-bore gun.
+"The shots," said Minie, "rotate properly; but if you cannot get
+stronger metal for your guns, such heavy projectiles will be of little
+use."
+
+At this time Sir Henry had no connection with the iron or steel trade,
+and knew little or nothing of metallurgy. But this fact he has always
+represented as being rather an advantage than a drawback. "I find," he
+says, "in my experience with regard to inventions, that the most
+intelligent manufacturers invent many small improvements in various
+departments of their manufactures,--but, generally speaking, these are
+only small ameliorations based on the nature of the operation they are
+daily pursuing; while, on the contrary, persons wholly unconnected with
+any particular business have their minds so free and untrammelled to
+new things as they are, and as they would present themselves to an
+independent observer, that they are the men who eventually produce the
+greatest changes." It was in this spirit that he began his
+investigations in metallurgy. His first business was to make himself
+acquainted with the information contained in the best works then
+published on the subject. He also endeavored to add some practical
+knowledge to what he learned from books. With this view he visited the
+iron-making districts in the north, and there obtained an insight into
+the working merits and defects of the processes then in use. On his
+return to London he arranged for the use of an old factory in St.
+Pancras, where he began his own series of experiments. He converted the
+factory into a small experimental "iron-works," in which his first
+object was to improve the quality of iron. For this purpose he made many
+costly experiments without the desired measure of success, but not
+without making some progress in the right direction. After twelve months
+spent in these experiments he produced an improved quality of cast iron,
+which was almost as white as steel, and was both tougher and stronger
+than the best cast iron then used for ordnance. Of this metal he cast a
+small model gun, which was turned and bored. This gun he took to Paris,
+and presented it personally to the Emperor,[23] as the result of his
+labors thus far. His Majesty encouraged him to continue his experiments,
+and desired to be further informed of the results.
+
+As Sir Henry continued his labors, he extended their scope from the
+production of refined iron to that of steel; and in order to protect
+himself, he took out a patent for each successive improvement. One idea
+after another was put to the test of experiment; one furnace after
+another was pulled down, and numerous mechanical appliances were
+designed and tried in practice. During these experiments he specified a
+multitude of improvements in the crucible process of making steel; but
+he still felt that much remained to be done. At the end of eighteen
+months, he says, "the idea struck me" of rendering cast iron malleable
+by the introduction of atmospheric air into the fluid metal. His first
+experiment to test this idea was made in a crucible in the laboratory.
+He there found that by blowing air into the molten metal in the
+crucible, by means of a movable blow-pipe, he could convert ten pounds
+or twelve pounds of crude iron into the softest malleable iron. The
+samples thus produced were so satisfactory in all their mechanical tests
+that he brought them under the notice of Colonel Eardley Wilmot, then
+the Superintendent of the Royal Gun Factories, who expressed himself
+delighted and astonished at the result, and who offered him facilities
+for experimenting in Woolwich Arsenal. These facilities were extended to
+him in the laboratory by Professor Abel, who made numberless analyses of
+the material as he advanced with his experiments. The testing department
+was also put at his disposal, for testing the tensile strength and
+elasticity of different samples of soft malleable iron and steel. The
+first piece that was rolled at Woolwich was preserved by Sir Henry as a
+memento. It was a small bar of metal, about a foot long and an inch
+wide, and was converted from a state of pig iron in a crucible of only
+ten pounds. That small piece of bar, after being rolled, was tried, to
+see how far it was capable of welding; and he was surprised to see how
+easily it answered the severest tests. After this he commenced
+experiments on a larger scale. He had proved in the laboratory that the
+principle of purifying pig iron by atmospheric air was possible; but he
+feared, from what he knew of iron metallurgy, that as he approached the
+condition of pure soft malleable iron, he must of necessity require a
+temperature that he could not hope to attain under these conditions. In
+order to produce larger quantities of metal in this way, one of his
+first ideas was to apply the air to the molten iron in crucibles; and
+accordingly, in October, 1855, he took out a patent embodying this idea.
+He proposed to erect a large circular furnace, with openings for the
+reception of melting-pots containing fluid iron, and pipes were made to
+conduct air into the centre of each pot, and to force it among the
+particles of metal. Having thus tested the purifying effect of cold air
+introduced into the melting iron in pots, he labored for three months in
+trying to overcome the mechanical difficulties experienced in this
+complicated arrangement. He wondered whether it would not be possible to
+dispense with the pipes and pots, and perform the whole operation in one
+large circular or egg-shaped vessel. The difficult thing in doing so,
+was to force the air all through the mass of liquid metal. While this
+difficulty was revolving in his mind, the labor and anxiety entailed by
+previous experiments brought on a short but severe illness; and while he
+was lying in bed, pondering for hours upon the prospects of succeeding
+in another experiment with the pipes and pots, it occurred to him that
+the difficulty might be got over by introducing air into a large vessel
+from below into the molten mass within.
+
+Though he entertained grave doubts as to the practicability of carrying
+out this idea, chiefly owing to the high temperature required to
+maintain the iron in a state of fluidity while the impurities were being
+burned out, he determined to put it to a working test; and on recovering
+health he immediately began to design apparatus for this purpose. He
+constructed a circular vessel, measuring three feet in diameter and five
+feet in height, and capable of holding seven hundred-weight of iron. He
+next ordered a small, powerful air-engine and a quantity of crude iron
+to be put down on the premises in St. Pancras, that he had hired for
+carrying on his experiments. The name of these premises was Baxter
+House, formerly the residence of old Richard Baxter; and the simple
+experiment we are now going to describe has made that house more famous
+than ever. The primitive apparatus being ready, the engine was made to
+force streams of air, under high pressure, through the bottom of the
+vessel, which was lined with fire-clay; and the stoker was told to pour
+the metal, when it was sufficiently melted, in at the top of it. A
+cast-iron plate--one of those lids which commonly cover the coal-holes
+in the pavement--was hung over the converter; and all being got ready,
+the stoker in some bewilderment poured in the metal. Instantly out came
+a volcanic eruption of such dazzling coruscations as had never been seen
+before. The dangling pot-lid dissolved in the gleaming volume of flame,
+and the chain by which it hung grew red and then white, as the various
+stages of the process were unfolded to the gaze of the wondering
+spectators. The air-cock to regulate the blast was beside the
+converting-vessel; but no one dared to go near it, much less
+deliberately to shut it. In this dilemma, however, they were soon
+relieved by finding that the process of decarburization or combustion
+had expended all its fury; and, most wonderful of all, the result was
+steel! The new metal was tried. Its quality was good. The problem was
+solved. The new process appeared successful. The inventor was elated, as
+well he might be!
+
+The new process was received with astonishment by all the iron-working
+world. It was approved by many, but scoffed at by others. As trials went
+on, however, the feeling against it increased. The iron so made was
+often "rotten," and no one could tell exactly why.
+
+Bessemer, however, continued to investigate everything for himself,
+regardless of all suggestions. Some ideas of permanent value were
+offered to him, but were set at nought. It was not till another series
+of independent experiments were made that he himself discovered the
+secret of failure. It then appeared that, by mere chance, the iron used
+in his first experiments was Blaenavon pig, which is exceptionally free
+from phosphorus; and consequently, when other sorts of iron were thrown
+at random into the converter, the phosphorus manifested its refractory
+nature in the unworkable character of the metal produced. Analyses made
+by Professor Abel for Sir Henry showed that this was the real cause of
+failure. Once convinced of this fact, Sir Henry set to work for the
+purpose of removing this hostile element. He saw how phosphorus was
+removed in the puddling-furnace, and he now tried to do the same thing
+in his converter. Another series of costly and laborious experiments was
+conducted; and first one patent and then another was taken out, tried,
+and abandoned. His last idea was to make a vessel in which the
+converting process did not take place, but into which he could put the
+pig iron as soon as it was melted, along with the same kind of materials
+that were used in the puddling-furnace. He was then of opinion that he
+must come as near to puddling as possible, in order to get the
+phosphorus out of the iron. Just as he was preparing to put this plan
+into operation, there arrived in England some pig iron which he had
+ordered from Sweden some months previously. When this iron, which was
+free from phosphorus, was put into the converter, it yielded, in the
+very first experiment, a metal of so high a quality that he at once
+abandoned his efforts to dephosphorize ordinary iron. The Sheffield
+manufacturers were then selling steel at £60 a ton; and he thought that
+as he could buy pig iron at £7 a ton, and by blowing it a few minutes in
+the converter could make it into what was being sold at such a high
+price, the problem was solved.
+
+But there was yet one thing wanting. He had now succeeded in producing
+the purest malleable iron ever made, and that, too, by a quicker and
+less expensive process than was ever known before. But what he wanted
+was to make steel. The former is iron in its greatest possible purity;
+the latter is pure iron containing a small percentage of carbon to
+harden it. There has been an almost endless controversy in trying to
+make a definition that will fix the dividing line that separates the one
+metal from the other.[24]
+
+For our present purpose, suffice it to quote the account given in a
+popular treatise on metallurgy, published at the time when Bessemer was
+in the midst of his experiments. "Wrought iron," it says, "or soft
+iron, may contain no carbon; and if perfectly pure, would contain none,
+nor indeed any other impurity. This is a state to be desired and aimed
+at, but it has never yet been perfectly attained in practice. The best
+as well as the commonest foreign irons always contain more or less
+carbon.... Carbon may exist in iron in the ratio of 65 parts to 10,000
+without assuming the properties of steel. If the proportion be greater
+than that, and anywhere between the limits of 65 parts of carbon to
+10,000 parts of iron and 2 parts of carbon to 100 of iron, the alloy
+assumes the properties of steel. In cast iron the carbon exceeds 2 per
+cent, but in appearance and properties it differs widely from the
+hardest steel. These properties, although we quote them, are somewhat
+doubtful; and the chemical constitution of these three substances may,
+perhaps, be regarded as still undetermined." Now, in the Bessemer
+converter the carbon was almost entirely consumed. In the small gun just
+described,[25] there were only 14 parts of carbon for 1,000,000 parts of
+iron. Bessemer's next difficulty was to carburize his pure iron, and
+thus to make it into steel. "The wrought iron," says Mr. I. L. Bell, "as
+well as the steel made according to Sir Henry Bessemer's original plan,
+though a purer specimen of metal was never heard of except in the
+laboratory, was simply worthless. In this difficulty, a ray of
+scientific truth, brought to light one hundred years before, came to the
+rescue. Bergmann was one of the earliest philosophers who discarded all
+theory, and introduced into chemistry that process of analysis which is
+the indispensable antecedent of scientific system. This Swedish
+experimenter had ascertained the existence of manganese in the iron of
+that country, and connected its presence with suitability for steel
+purposes." Manganese is a kind of iron exceptionally rich in carbon, and
+also exceptionally free from other impurities. Berzelius, Rinman,
+Karsten, Berthier, and other metallurgists had before now discussed its
+effect when combined with ordinary iron; and the French were so well
+aware that ferro-manganese ores were superior for steel-making purposes
+that they gave them the name of _mines d'acier_. So Bessemer, after many
+experiments, discovered a method whereby, with the use of
+ferro-manganese, he could make what is known as mild steel. The process
+of manufacture, when described by Sir Henry Bessemer at Cheltenham in
+1856,[26] was so nearly complete, that only two important additions were
+made afterwards. One was the introduction of the ferro-manganese for the
+purpose of imparting to his pure liquid iron the properties of "mild
+steel." The other was an improvement in the mechanical apparatus. He
+found that when the air had been blown into the iron till all the carbon
+was expelled, the continuance of "the blow" afterward consumed the iron
+at a very rapid rate, and a great loss of iron thus took place. It was
+therefore necessary to cease blowing at a particular moment. At first he
+saw no practical way by which he could prevent the metal going into the
+air-holes in the bottom of the vessel below the level of the liquid
+mass, so as to stop them up immediately on ceasing to force the air
+through them; for if he withdrew the pressure of air, the whole
+apparatus would be destroyed for a time. Here, again, his inventive
+genius found a remedy. He had the converter holding the molten iron
+mounted on an axis, which enabled him at any moment he liked to turn it
+round and to bring the holes above the level of the metal; whenever this
+was done the process of conversion or combustion ceased of itself, and
+the apparatus had only to be turned back again in order to resume the
+operation. This turning on an axis of a furnace weighing eleven tons,
+and containing five tons of liquid metal, at a temperature scarcely
+approachable, was a system entirely different from anything that had
+preceded it; for it he took out what he considered one of his most
+important patents, "and," he says, "I am vain enough to believe that so
+long as my process lasts, the motion of the vessel containing the fluid
+on its axis will be retained as an absolute necessity for any form which
+the process may take at any future time." The patent for this invention
+was taken out about four years after his original patent for the
+converter.
+
+Uncle Fritz showed them a picture of this gigantic kettle, which holds
+this mass of molten metal and yet turns so easily.
+
+"But," said Helen, "you have a model of it here, Uncle Fritz." And she
+pointed to her Uncle Fritz's inkstand, which is something the shape of a
+fat beet-root, with the point turned up to receive the ink. Uncle Fritz
+nodded his approval. These inkstands, which turn over on a little brazen
+axis, were probably first made by some one who had seen the great
+eleven-ton converters.
+
+Uncle Fritz showed the children the picture in the "Practical Magazine,"
+and they spent some time together in looking over the pages of the
+volume for 1876.
+
+The Bessemer process was now perfect. Nearly four years had elapsed
+since its conception and first application; and in addition to the
+necessary labor and anxiety he had experienced, no less than £20,000
+had been expended in making experiments that were necessary to complete
+its success. It only remained to bring the process into general use.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The young people asked quite eagerly whether they could see the
+processes of "conversion" anywhere, and were glad to be told that
+Bessemer steel is made in many parts of America. One of their young
+friends, who was educated at the "Technology," is in charge of a
+department at Steelton, in Pennsylvania, and they have all written
+letters to him.
+
+The American steel-makers have a great variety of ores to choose from,
+and they have found it possible, by using different ores, to avoid the
+difficulties which Mr. Bessemer first met in using the ores of England.
+
+And so far are the processes now simplified, that in many American
+establishments the molten iron is received liquid from the blast
+furnaces, and does not have to be reduced a second time in a cupola
+furnace, as was the iron used by Mr. Bessemer. There is no cooling, in
+such establishments, between the ore and the finished steel.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE LAST MEETING.
+
+
+GOODYEAR.
+
+When the day for the next meeting came, Uncle Fritz had a large
+collection of books and magazines in the little rolling racks and tables
+where such things are kept. But no one of them was opened.
+
+No. The young people appeared in great strength, all at the same moment,
+and notified him that he was to put on his hat and his light overcoat,
+and go with them on what they called the first "Alp" of the season. For
+there is a pretence in the little company that they are an Alpine Club,
+and that for eight months of the year it is their duty to climb the
+highest mountains near Boston.
+
+Now, the very highest of these peaks is the summit hill of the Blue
+Hills, to which indeed Massachusetts owes its name. For "Matta" in the
+Algonquin tongue meant "great," and "Chuset" meant "a hill." And a woman
+who was living on a little hummock near Squantum, just before Winthrop
+and the rest landed, was the sacred Sachem of the Massachusetts Indians.
+Hence the name of Mattachusetts Bay; and then, by euphony or bad
+spelling, or both, Massachusetts.
+
+Uncle Fritz obeyed the rabble rout, as he is apt to do. He retired for a
+minute to put on heavier shoes, and, when he reappeared, he took the
+seat of honor in the leading omnibus. And a very merry expedition they
+had to the summit, where, as the accurate Fergus told them, they were
+six hundred feet above the level of the sea. There was but little wood,
+and they were able to lie and sit in a large group on the ground just on
+the lee side of the hill, where they could look off on the endless sea.
+
+"Whom should you have told us about, had it rained?" said Mabel Fordyce.
+
+"Oh! you were to have had your choice. There are still left many
+inventors. I had looked at Mr. Parton's Life of Goodyear, and the very
+curious brief prepared for the court about his patents. Half of you
+would not be here to-day but for that ingenious and long-suffering man."
+
+"Should not I have come?" said Gertrude, incredulously.
+
+"Surely not," said Uncle Fritz, laughing. "I saw your water-proof in
+your shawl-strap. I know your mamma well enough to know that you would
+never have been permitted to come so far from home without that ægis, or
+without those trig, pretty overshoes. You owe waterproof and overshoes
+both to the steady perseverance of Goodyear and to the loyal help of his
+wife and daughters. Some day you must read Mr. Webster's eulogy on him
+and them. Indeed, he is the American Palissy. You hear a good deal of
+woman's rights; but, really, modern women had no rights worth speaking
+of till Mr. Goodyear enabled them to go out-doors in all weathers.
+
+"I meant we should have an afternoon with the Goodyears. Then I meant
+that you should know, Gertrude, where that slice of bread came from."
+
+"Well," said she, "I do not know much, but I do know that. It came out
+of the bread-box."
+
+"Very good," said the Colonel, laughing. "But somebody put it into the
+bread-box. And it is quite as well that you should know who put it in.
+American girls and American boys ought to know that men's prayer for
+'Daily Bread' is answered more and more largely every year. They ought
+to know why. Well, the great reason is that reaping and binding after
+the reapers, nay, that sowing the corn, and every process between sowing
+and harvest, has been wellnigh perfected by the American inventors. So I
+had wanted to give a day or two to reapers and binders, and the other
+machinery of harvesting. Indeed, if our winter had been as long as poor
+Captain Greely's was, and if you had met me every week, we should have
+had a new invention for each one. Here are the telephone and the
+telegraph. Here is the use of the electric light. Here is the
+sewing-machine, with all its nice details, like the button-hole maker.
+Nay, every button is made by its own machinery. Here are carpets one
+quarter cheaper than they were only four years ago; cotton cloths made
+more by machinery and less by hand labor; nay, they tell us that the
+cotton is to be picked by a machine before long.
+
+"But these are things you must work up for yourselves. You are on a good
+track now, and have learned some of the principles of such study.
+
+"Go to the originals whenever you can. Read what you understand, and
+fall back on what you did not understand at first, so as to try it
+again."
+
+"Do you not think that all the great things have been invented, Uncle
+Fritz?"
+
+This was John Angier's rather melancholy question.
+
+"Not a bit of it, my boy. Certainly not for as keen eyes as yours and as
+handy hands. Let me tell you what I heard President Dawson say. He is
+President of McGill University, and is counted one of the first physical
+philosophers in America.
+
+"He said this in substance: 'What will future times say of us, the men
+of the end of the nineteenth century? They will say, "What was the ban
+on those men, what numbed them or held them still, as if in fear? Why
+did they not apply in daily life their own great discoveries of the
+central laws of Nature? They were able to work out principles. Why could
+they not embody them in useful inventions? They discovered the Ocean of
+Truth, but they stood frightened on its shore. They found the great
+principles of science, and for their application they seem to have been
+satisfied when they had built the steam-engine, had devised the
+telegraph, the telephone, the phonograph, and when they had set the
+electric light a blazing."'
+
+"You see, John, that he thinks there is enough more for you and the rest
+to invent and to discover."
+
+Then Uncle Fritz took from his ulster pocket Mr. Parton's volume of
+biographical sketches.
+
+"It is all very fine for you, Miss Alice," he said, "to lie there on
+your waterproof, and to be sure that even mamma will not scold when you
+go home. But take the book, and read, and see who has wept and who has
+starved that you might lie there."
+
+And Alice read the passages he had marked for her.
+
+
+The difficulty of all this may be inferred when we state that at the
+present time it takes an intelligent man a year to learn how to conduct
+the process with certainty, though he is provided, from the start, with
+the best implements and appliances which twenty years' experience has
+suggested. And poor Goodyear had now reduced himself, not merely to
+poverty, but to isolation. No friend of his could conceal his impatience
+when he heard him pronounce the word "India-rubber." Business-men
+recoiled from the name of it. He tells us that two entire years passed,
+after he had made his discovery, before he had convinced one human being
+of its value. Now, too, his experiments could no longer be carried on
+with a few pounds of India-rubber, a quart of turpentine, a phial of
+aquafortis, and a little lampblack. He wanted the means of producing a
+high, uniform, and controllable degree of heat,--a matter of much
+greater difficulty than he anticipated. We catch brief glimpses of him
+at this time in the volumes of testimony. We see him waiting for his
+wife to draw the loaves from her oven, that he might put into it a batch
+of India-rubber to bake, and watching it all the evening, far into the
+night, to see what effect was produced by one hour's, two hours', three
+hours', six hours' baking. We see him boiling it in his wife's
+saucepans, suspending it before the nose of her teakettle, and hanging
+it from the handle of that vessel to within an inch of the boiling
+water. We see him roasting it in the ashes and in hot sand, toasting it
+before a slow fire and before a quick fire, cooking it for one hour and
+for twenty-four hours, changing the proportions of his compound and
+mixing them in different ways. No success rewarded him while he employed
+only domestic utensils. Occasionally, it is true, he produced a small
+piece of perfectly vulcanized India-rubber; but upon subjecting other
+pieces to precisely the same process, they would blister or char.
+
+Then we see him resorting to the shops and factories in the neighborhood
+of Woburn, asking the privilege of using an oven after working hours,
+or of hanging a piece of India-rubber in the "man-hole" of the boiler.
+The foremen testify that he was a great plague to them, and smeared
+their works with his sticky compound; but though they regarded him as
+little better than a troublesome lunatic, they all appear to have helped
+him very willingly. He frankly confesses that he lived at this time on
+charity; for although _he_ felt confident of being able to repay the
+small sums which pity for his family enabled him to borrow, his
+neighbors who lent him the money were as far as possible from expecting
+payment. Pretending to lend, they meant to give. One would pay his
+butcher's bill or his milk-bill; another would send in a barrel of
+flour; another would take in payment some articles of the old stock of
+India-rubber; and some of the farmers allowed his children to gather
+sticks in their fields to heat his hillocks of sand containing masses of
+sulphurized India-rubber. If the people of New England were not the most
+"neighborly" people in the world, his family must have starved, or he
+must have given up his experiments. But, with all the generosity of his
+neighbors, his children were often sick, hungry, and cold, without
+medicine, food, or fuel. One witness testifies: "I found, in 1839, that
+they had not fuel to burn nor food to eat, and did not know where to get
+a morsel of food from one day to another, unless it was sent in to
+them." We can neither justify nor condemn their father. Imagine Columbus
+within sight of the new world, and his obstinate crew declaring it was
+only a mirage, and refusing to row him ashore. Never was mortal man
+surer that he had a fortune in his hand, than Charles Goodyear was when
+he would take a piece of scorched and dingy India-rubber from his pocket
+and expound its marvellous properties to a group of incredulous
+villagers. Sure also was he that he was just upon the point of a
+practicable success. Give him but an oven and would he not turn you out
+fire-proof and cold-proof India-rubber, as fast as a baker can produce
+loaves of bread? Nor was it merely the hope of deliverance from his
+pecuniary straits that urged him on. In all the records of his career,
+we perceive traces of something nobler than this. His health being
+always infirm, he was haunted with the dread of dying before he had
+reached a point in his discoveries where other men, influenced by
+ordinary motives, could render them available.
+
+By the time that he had exhausted the patience of the foremen of the
+works near Woburn, he had come to the conclusion that an oven was the
+proper means of applying heat to his compound. An oven he forthwith
+determined to build. Having obtained the use of a corner of a factory
+yard, his aged father, two of his brothers, his little son, and himself
+sallied forth, with pickaxe and shovels, to begin the work; and when
+they had done all that unskilled labor could effect towards it, he
+induced a mason to complete it, and paid him in brick-layers' aprons
+made of aquafortized India-rubber. This first oven was a tantalizing
+failure. The heat was neither uniform nor controllable. Some of the
+pieces of India-rubber would come out so perfectly "cured" as to
+demonstrate the utility of his discovery; but others, prepared in
+precisely the same manner, as far as he could discern, were spoiled,
+either by blistering or charring. He was puzzled and distressed beyond
+description; and no single voice consoled or encouraged him. Out of the
+first piece of cloth which he succeeded in vulcanizing he had a coat
+made for himself, which was not an ornamental garment in its best
+estate; but, to prove to the unbelievers that it would stand fire, he
+brought it so often in contact with hot stoves, that at last it
+presented an exceedingly dingy appearance. His coat did not impress the
+public favorably, and it served to confirm the opinion that he was
+laboring under a mania.
+
+In the midst of his first disheartening experiments with sulphur, he had
+an opportunity of escaping at once from his troubles. A house in Paris
+made him an advantageous offer for the use of his aquafortis process.
+From the abyss of his misery the honest man promptly replied, that that
+process, valuable as it was, was about to be superseded by a new method,
+which he was then perfecting, and as soon as he had developed it
+sufficiently he should be glad to close with their offers. Can we wonder
+that his neighbors thought him mad?
+
+It was just after declining the French proposal that he endured his
+worst extremity of want and humiliation. It was in the winter of
+1839-40; one of those long and terrible snowstorms for which New England
+is noted, had been raging for many hours, and he awoke one morning to
+find his little cottage half buried in snow, the storm still continuing,
+and in his house not an atom of fuel nor a morsel of food. His children
+were very young, and he was himself sick and feeble. The charity of his
+neighbors was exhausted, and he had not the courage to face their
+reproaches. As he looked out of the window upon the dreary and
+tumultuous scene,--"fit emblem of his condition," he remarks,--he called
+to mind that a few days before, an acquaintance, a mere acquaintance,
+who lived some miles off, had given him upon the road a more friendly
+greeting than he was then accustomed to receive. It had cheered his
+heart as he trudged sadly by, and it now returned vividly to his mind.
+To this gentleman he determined to apply for relief, if he could reach
+his house. Terrible was his struggle with the wind and the deep drifts.
+Often he was ready to faint with fatigue, sickness, and hunger, and he
+would be obliged to sit down upon a bank of snow to rest. He reached the
+house and told his story, not omitting the oft-told tale of his new
+discovery,--that mine of wealth, if only he could procure the means of
+working it. The eager eloquence of the inventor was seconded by the
+gaunt and yellow face of the man. His generous acquaintance entertained
+him cordially, and lent him a sum of money, which not only carried his
+family through the worst of the winter, but enabled him to continue his
+experiments on a small scale. O. B. Coolidge, of Woburn, was the name of
+this benefactor.
+
+On another occasion, when he was in the most urgent need of materials,
+he looked about his house to see if there was left one relic of better
+days upon which a little money could be borrowed. There was nothing but
+his children's school-books,--the last things from which a New Englander
+is willing to part. There was no other resource. He gathered them up,
+and sold them for five dollars, with which he laid in a fresh stock of
+gum and sulphur, and kept on experimenting.
+
+
+Alice and Hester looked over the rest of the story while the others
+packed up the wrecks of the picnic and prepared to go down the hill.
+Then they joined Uncle Fritz in the advance, and thanked him very
+seriously for what he had shown them.
+
+"Such a story as that," said Hester, "is worth more than anything about
+cut-offs or valves."
+
+"I think so too," said he.
+
+"I should like," said the girl, "to write to those children of his a
+letter to thank them for what they have done, and what he did for me,
+and a million girls like me."
+
+"It would be a good thing to do," said he, "and I think I can put you in
+the way."
+
+"And I do hope," said Alice, eagerly, "that if we are ever tested in
+that way we shall bear the test."
+
+"Dear Uncle Fritz, if we cannot invent a flying-machine, and have not
+learned how to close up rivets this winter, we have learned at least how
+to bear each other's burdens."
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[1] These are the quinqueremes, fastened together, of the other account.
+
+[2] The estimates of a talent vary somewhat, but ten talents made about
+seven hundred pounds.
+
+[3] Quoted in Fabricius's Greek fragments.
+
+[4] Encyclopædia Americana: art. "Roger Bacon."
+
+[5] See "Stories of Adventure."
+
+[6] As St. James says, "The wisdom from above is _first_ pure."
+
+[7] Joseph Droz, born in 1773. His essay was published in 1806, and had
+come to its fourth edition in 1825.
+
+[8] The first-steam-engines were devised in order to supply some motor
+for the pumps which were necessary, all over England, to keep the mines
+free from water. The locomotive engine, as will be seen later, owes its
+birth to the efforts of colliery engineers to find some means of drawing
+coal better than the horse-power generally in use.
+
+[9] John Robison, at this time a student at Glasgow College, and
+afterwards Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh. He was at
+one time Master of the Marine Cadet Academy at Cronstadt.
+
+[10] The principal men of Glasgow were the importers of tobacco from
+Virginia.
+
+[11] Earl Stanhope, among other projects, had conceived "the hope of
+being able to apply the steam-engine to navigation by the aid of a
+peculiar apparatus modelled after the foot of an aquatic fowl." Fulton,
+on being consulted by the Earl, doubted the feasibility, and suggested
+the very means which he afterward made successful upon the Hudson.
+
+[12] Symington was an engineer who had been carrying out some
+experiments of Miller of Dalswinton in regard to the practicability of
+steam navigation.
+
+[13] Who subsequently made charge that Fulton, having seen his steamboat
+and made copious notes thereon, had thus been able to make his boat upon
+the Hudson.
+
+[14] This was in the course of the War of 1812.
+
+[15] Fulton died Feb. 24, 1815; he was born in 1765.
+
+[16] Killingworth is a town some seven or eight miles north of
+Newcastle, in Northumberland. George Stephenson was at this time the
+engine-wright of the colliery. It may be said here that the principal
+use for which the early locomotive engines and railroads were designed
+was to convey coal from the pit to a market. It was not till the success
+of the mining and quarrying railways led to the building of the
+Liverpool and Manchester Road, between two great cities, that the value
+of the railroad for the transfer of passengers was recognized.
+
+[17] It had been generally the opinion that cog-wheels must be used
+which should fit into cogs in the rail. Otherwise it was imagined the
+wheels would revolve without proceeding.
+
+[18] "The private risk is the public benefit."
+
+[19] It had a sort of resemblance to a grasshopper, caused by the angle
+at which the piston and cylinder were placed.
+
+[20] Mr. Henry Booth, secretary to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
+suggested to Mr. Stephenson the idea of a multitubular boiler.
+
+[21] This letter is dated Nov. 24, 1793.
+
+[22] This was in 1812, twenty years after the invention of the gin. The
+saving in 1885 is enormously greater.
+
+[23] Napoleon III., under whose protection Bessemer had been
+experimenting in projectiles when his attention was turned to the
+manufacture of iron.
+
+[24] In Grüner's text-book on steel, he says: "In its properties, as
+well as in its manufacture, steel is comprised between the limits of
+cast and wrought iron. It cannot even be said where steel begins or
+ends. It is a series which begins with the most impure black pig iron,
+and ends with the softest and purest wrought iron. [Karsten stated this
+in these words in 1823.] Cast-iron passes into hard steel in becoming
+malleable (natural steel for wire-mills, the 'Wildstahl' of the
+Germans); and steel, properly so called, passes into iron, giving in
+succession mild steel, steel of the nature of iron, steely iron, and
+granular iron."
+
+[25] A small cannon cast by Sir Henry, the description of which we have
+omitted.
+
+[26] Immediately after his first successful experiment at St. Pancras,
+described above.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  Abel, Professor, 275, 278
+
+  Althorp, Lord, 268
+
+  Anderson, 246
+
+  Archimedes, 18, 20
+
+
+  Bacon, Roger, 37
+
+  Barlow, Joel, 179
+
+  Baxter House, 277
+
+  Beccaria, 114
+
+  Bell, I. L., 280
+
+  Benvenuto Cellini, 58
+
+  Bernard Palissy, 82
+
+  Berthier, 281
+
+  Berzelius, 281
+
+  Bessemer, Andrew, 262
+
+  Bessemer, Sir Henry, 259
+
+  Bessemer and Catherwood, 263
+
+  Black, Dr., 165
+
+  Blue Hills, Mass., 284
+
+  Bossuet, 183
+
+  Boulton, Matthew, 171, 181
+
+  Bourbon, Constable, 63
+
+  Braithwaite and Ericsson, 212
+
+  Brandreth, 212
+
+  Bridgewater Foundry, 249, 255
+
+  Brunel, Isambert, 178
+
+  Bungy, Friar, 41
+
+  Burstall, 212, 216
+
+
+  Carriage, Sailing, 141
+
+  Car of Neptune, 189
+
+  Caslon, Henry, 263
+
+  Cellini, Benvenuto, 58
+
+  Chaise, One-wheeled, 144
+
+  Charles IX. of France, 96
+
+  Cheltenham, 281
+
+  Church, Benjamin, 174
+
+  Circle, The Square of, 22
+
+  Clement VII., 62
+
+  Condensation, 159
+
+  Conductors of Electricity, 105
+
+  Constable Bourbon, shot, 63
+
+  Coolidge, O. B., 292
+
+  Court of Chancery, N. Y., 189
+
+
+  Dalibard, 108
+
+  Darwin, Dr., 135
+
+  Dawson, President, 286
+
+  De Foe, Daniel, 99
+
+  Devonport, 252
+
+  Didot, Finnin, 263
+
+  Dixon, John, 205
+
+  Droz, François Xavier Joseph, 102
+
+
+  Edgeworth, Richard Lovell, 119
+
+  Edison's Laboratory, 51
+
+  Electricity, 103
+
+  Elkingtons, 263
+
+  Engines, Early Steam, 149
+
+  Euclid, 20
+
+  Evans, Oliver, 175
+
+  Experiment, The Great, 111
+
+
+  Field, Joshua, 249
+
+  Fitch, John, 177, 190
+
+  "Firework," The, 155
+
+  Francis I., 71
+
+  Franklin, Benjamin, 97, 177, 237
+
+  Fulton, Robert, 173
+
+
+  Gig, One-wheeled, 145
+
+  Glasses, Musical, 115-117
+
+  Gold Paint, 270
+
+  Goodyear, Charles, 285
+
+  Greene, Mrs. General, 227, 229
+
+  Grüner, 279
+
+  Gun Factories, 275
+
+
+  Hackworth, Timothy, 212
+
+  Hammerfield, 257
+
+  Harmonica, 113
+
+  Hart's Recollections, 161
+
+  Hartop, Annie (Mrs. Bessemer), 250
+
+  Helton Railway, 203
+
+  Hiero, 21
+
+  Hitchin, 264
+
+  Hooke, Dr. Robert, 137
+
+  Hulls, Jonathan, 176
+
+
+  Jack the Darter, 142
+
+  Jay, John, 220
+
+  Jefferson, Thomas, 233
+
+  Jouffroy, Marquis de, 176
+
+
+  Karsten, 281
+
+  Keramics, 82
+
+  Killingworth Colliery, 195
+
+
+  Latent Heat, 157
+
+  Lightning, 107
+
+  Livingston, Chancellor, 178
+
+
+  Mackintosh, James, 173
+
+  Maclaughlan, Robert, 246
+
+  Manchester, 249
+
+  Marcellus attacks Syracuse, 26
+
+  Massachusetts, Derivation of Name, 284
+
+  Maudsley, Henry, 247
+
+  Middleton Colliery Railway, 203
+
+  Miller, Phineas, 231
+
+  Minie, Commander, 273
+
+  Musical Glasses, 115
+
+
+  Napoleon I., 175
+
+  Napoleon III., 274
+
+  Nasmyth, James, 238
+
+  Newcomen Engine, 150, 167, 169
+
+  Nuremburg, 271
+
+
+  Palissy the Potter, 82
+
+  Papin, Denis, 176
+
+  Patricroft, 256
+
+  Périer, 176
+
+  Persley, Sir Charles, 266
+
+  Plombières, 180
+
+  Pope Clement VII., 62
+
+  Potter, Humphrey, 152
+
+  Practical Magazine, 282
+
+
+  Quincy, 194
+
+
+  Rastrick and Walker, 217
+
+  Ravensworth, Lord, 195
+
+  Renard and Krebs, 174
+
+  Resolution Book, 101
+
+  Rinman, 281
+
+  Robespierre, Max, 261
+
+  Robison, 154, 165
+
+  Roebuck, Dr., 171
+
+  Roger Bacon, 37
+
+  Roosevelt, Nicholas, 178
+
+  Royal Academy, 265
+
+  Royal Gun Factories, 275
+
+  Rumsey, James, 177
+
+
+  St. Pancras, 274
+
+  St. Petersburg, 192, 253
+
+  Savery, 176
+
+  Scottish Society of Arts, 246
+
+  Sharp Conductors, 105
+
+  Somerset House, 265
+
+  Sounds and Signals, 139
+
+  Stanhope, Earl, 179
+
+  Stamp Office, English, 266
+
+  Steam-Engines, Early, 149
+
+  Stephenson, George, 193
+
+  Stephenson, Robert, 208
+
+  Stevens, John, 178
+
+  Stevens, Robert L., 192
+
+  Sweden, 254
+
+  Symington, 180, 182
+
+  Syracuse, Siege of,  25
+
+
+  Telegraph, Edgeworth's, 124
+
+  Telegraph, English, 133
+
+  Telegraph, Irish, 127
+
+  Telegraph, Home, 139
+
+  Telegraphs, 125, 126
+
+  Tellograph, 137
+
+  Thirteen Virtues, 100
+
+  Travelling Engine, 195
+
+
+  Ugolini, Giorgio, 65
+
+
+  Virgil, 53
+
+
+  Walker and Rastrick, 217
+
+  Walking-machine, 140
+
+  Watt, James, 146
+
+  Whistler, Major G. W., 254
+
+  Whitney, Eli, 219
+
+  Wilmot, Col. Eardley, 275
+
+  Wood, Nicholas, 213
+
+  Woolwich Arsenal, 275
+
+  Wylam and Killingworth Railway, 203
+
+
+  Zonara, 32
+
+
+    University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+MR. HALE'S BOY BOOKS.
+
+
+  STORIES OF WAR,
+  _Told by Soldiers_.
+
+  STORIES OF THE SEA,
+  _Told by Sailors_.
+
+  STORIES OF ADVENTURE,
+  _Told by Adventurers_.
+
+  STORIES OF DISCOVERY,
+  _Told by Discoverers_.
+
+  STORIES OF INVENTION,
+  _Told by Inventors_.
+
+Collected and edited by EDWARD E. HALE. 16mo, cloth, black and gold.
+Price, $1.00 per volume.
+
+
+  _For sale by all booksellers, or mailed, post-paid, on receipt of
+  price by the Publishers_,
+
+  ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.
+
+
+
+EDWARD E. HALE'S WRITINGS.
+
+
+TEN TIMES ONE IS TEN. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY: Ten Christmas Stories. With
+Frontispiece by Darley. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+UPS AND DOWNS. An Every-day Novel, 16mo. $1.50.
+
+A SUMMER VACATION. Paper covers. 50 cents.
+
+IN HIS NAME. Square 18mo. $1.00.
+
+OUR NEW CRUSADE. Square 18mo. $1.00.
+
+THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY, and other Tales. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+THE INGHAM PAPERS. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+WORKINGMEN'S HOMES. Illustrated. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+HOW TO DO IT. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+HIS LEVEL BEST. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+THE GOOD TIME COMING; or, Our New Crusade. A Temperance Story. Square
+18mo. Paper covers. 50 cents.
+
+GONE TO TEXAS; or, The Wonderful Adventures of a Pullman. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+CRUSOE IN NEW YORK, and other Stories. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+WHAT CAREER? or, The Choice of a Vocation and the Use of Time. 16mo.
+$1.25.
+
+MRS. MERRIAM'S SCHOLARS. A Story of the "Original Ten." 16mo. $1.00.
+
+SEVEN SPANISH CITIES, and the Way to Them. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+
+  _For sale by all Booksellers. Mailed, postpaid, by the
+  Publishers_,
+
+  ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.
+
+
+
+
+_EDWARD E. HALE'S WRITINGS._
+
+
+=THE GOOD TIME COMING=; or, Our New Crusade. Square 18mo. Paper,
+50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
+
+    "It has all the characteristics of its brilliant
+    author,--unflagging entertainment, helpfulness, suggestive,
+    practical hints, and a contagious vitality that sets one's blood
+    tingling. Whoever has read 'Ten Times One is Ten' will know just
+    what we mean. We predict that the new volume, as being a more
+    charming story, will have quite as great a parish of readers. The
+    gist of the book is to show how possible it is for the best
+    spirits of a community, through wise organization, to form
+    themselves into a lever by means of which the whole tone of the
+    social status may be elevated, and the good and highest happiness
+    of the helpless many be attained through the self-denying
+    exertions of the powerful few."--_Southern Churchman._
+
+
+=THE INGHAM PAPERS.= 16mo. $1.25.
+
+    "But it is not alone for their wit and ingenuity we prize Mr.
+    Hale's stories, but for the serious thought, the moral, or
+    practical suggestion underlying all of them. They are not written
+    simply to amuse, but have a graver purpose. Of the stories in the
+    present volume, the best to out thinking is 'The Rag Man and Rag
+    Woman.'"--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+=HOW TO DO IT.= 16mo. $1.00.
+
+    "Good sense, very practical suggestions, telling illustrations (in
+    words), lively fancy, and delightful humor combine to make Mr.
+    Hale's hints exceedingly taking and stimulating, and we do not see
+    how either sex can fail, after reading his pages, to know How to
+    Talk, How to Write, How to Read, How to go into Society, and How
+    to Travel. These, with Life at School, Life in Vacation, Life
+    Alone, Habits in Church, Life with Children, Life with your
+    Elders, Habits of Reading, and Getting Ready, are the several
+    topics of the more than as many chapters, and make the volume one
+    which should find its way to the hands of every boy and girl. To
+    this end we would like to see it in every Sabbath-school library
+    in the land."--_Congregationalist._
+
+
+=CRUSOE IN NEW YORK=, and other Stories. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+    "If one desires something unique, full of wit, a veiled sarcasm
+    that is rich in the extreme, it will all be found in this charming
+    little book. The air of perfect sincerity with which they are
+    told, the diction, reminding one of 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' and
+    the ludicrous improbability of the tales, give them a power rarely
+    met with in 'short stories.' There is many a lesson to be learned
+    from the quiet little volume."
+
+
+=THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY=, and other Tales. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+    "A collection of those strange, amusing, and fascinating stories,
+    which, in their simplicity of narrative, minute detail, allusion
+    to passing occurrences, and thorough _naturalness_, make us almost
+    feel that the difference between truth and fiction is not worth
+    mentioning. Mr. Hale is the prince of story-tellers; and the
+    marvel is that his practical brain can have such a vein of
+    frolicsome fancy and quaint humor running through it. It will
+    pay any one to _think_ while reading these."--_Universalist
+    Quarterly._
+
+
+=WORKINGMEN'S HOMES.= Illustrated. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+    "Mr. Hale has a concern, as the Friends say, that laboring men
+    should have better homes than they usually find in the great
+    cities. He believes all the great charities of the cities fail to
+    overtake their task, because the working men are always slipping
+    down to lower degrees of discomfort, unhealthiness, and vice by
+    the depressing influences surrounding their homes. He writes
+    racily and earnestly, and with rare literary
+    excellence."--_Presbyterian._
+
+
+=TEN TIMES ONE IS TEN=: The Possible Reformation. A new edition, in
+two parts. Part I. The Story. Part II. Harry Wadsworth and
+Wadsworth Clubs. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+    HARRY WADSWORTH'S MOTTO.
+
+      "To look up and not down;
+      To look forward and not back;
+      To look out and not in; and
+      To lend a hand.
+
+    "The four rules are over my writing-desk and in my heart. Every
+    school boy and girl of age to understand it should have this
+    story, and, if I was rich enough, should have it."--_Extract from
+    a letter by an unknown correspondent._
+
+
+=MRS. MERRIAM'S SCHOLARS.= A Story of the "Original Ten." 16mo. $1.00.
+
+    "It is almost inevitable that such a book as 'Ten Times One is
+    Ten' should suggest others in the same line of thought; and Mr.
+    Hale begins in 'Mrs. Merriam's Scholars' to take up a few of what
+    he terms the 'dropped stitches' of the narrative. The story is
+    exceedingly simple, so far as concerns its essentials, and carries
+    the reader forward with an interest in its motive which Mr. Hale
+    seldom fails to impart to his writings.... The two already
+    published should be in every Sunday-school library, and, indeed,
+    wherever they will be likely to fall into the hands of
+    appreciative readers."
+
+
+=HIS LEVEL BEST.= 16mo. $1.25.
+
+    "We like Mr. Hale's style. He is fresh, frank, pungent,
+    straightforward, and pointed. The first story is the one that
+    gives the book its title, and it is related in a dignified
+    manner, showing peculiar genius and humorous talent. The
+    contents are, 'His Level Best,' 'The Brick Moon,' 'Water
+    Talk,' 'Mouse and Lion,' 'The Modern Sinbad,' 'A Tale of a
+    Salamander.'"--_Philadelphia Exchange._
+
+
+=GONE TO TEXAS=; or, The Wonderful Adventures of a Pullman. 16mo. $1.00.
+
+    "There are few books of travel which combine in a romance of true
+    love so many touches of the real life of many people, in glimpses
+    of happy homes, in pictures of scenery and sunset, as the
+    beautiful panorama unrolled before us from the windows of this
+    Pullman car. The book is crisp and bright, and has a pleasant
+    flavor; and whatever is lovely in the spirit of its author, or of
+    good report in his name, one may look here and find promise of
+    both fulfilled."--_Exchange._
+
+
+=WHAT CAREER?= or, The Choice of a Vocation and the Use of Time.
+16mo. $1.25.
+
+    "'What Career?' is a book which will do anybody good to read;
+    especially is it a profitable book for young men to 'read, mark,
+    and inwardly digest.' Mr. Hale seems to know what young men need,
+    and here he gives them the result of his large experience and
+    careful observation. A list of the subjects treated in this little
+    volume will sufficiently indicate its scope: (1) The Leaders Lead;
+    (2) The Specialties; (3) Noblesse Oblige; (4) The Mind's Maximum;
+    (5) A Theological Seminary; (6) Character; (7) Responsibilities of
+    Young Men; (8) Study Outside School; (9) The Training of Men; (10)
+    Exercise."--_Watchman._
+
+
+=UPS AND DOWNS.= An Every-Day Novel. 16mo. $1.50.
+
+    "This book is certainly very enjoyable. It delineates American
+    life so graphically that we feel as if Mr. Hale must have seen
+    every rood of ground he describes, and must have known personally
+    every character he so cleverly depicts. In his hearty fellowship
+    with young people lies his great power. The story is permeated
+    with a spirit of glad-heartedness and elasticity which in this
+    hurried, anxious, money-making age it is most refreshing to meet
+    with in any one out of his teens; and the author's sympathy with,
+    and respect for, the little romances of his young friends is most
+    fraternal."--_New Church Magazine._
+
+
+=SEVEN SPANISH CITIES=, and the Way to Them. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+    "The Rev. E. E. Hale's 'Spanish Cities' is in the author's most
+    lively style, full of fun, with touches of romance, glimpses of
+    history, allusions to Oriental literature, earnest talk about
+    religion, consideration of Spanish politics, and a rapid, running
+    description of everything that observant eyes could possibly see.
+    Mr. Hale makes Spain more attractive and more amusing than any
+    other traveller has done, and he lavishes upon her epigram and
+    wit."--_Boston Advertiser._
+
+
+=CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY.= Ten Stories. 16mo. $1.25.
+
+    "Many an eye has moistened, and many a heart grown kindlier with
+    Christmas thoughts over 'Daily Bread,' and some of the lesser
+    stars which now shine in the same galaxy; and the volume which
+    contains them will carry on their humane ministry to many a future
+    Christmas time."--_Christian Register._
+
+
+=IN HIS NAME.= A Story of the Waldenses, Seven Hundred Years ago.
+Square 18mo. Paper, 30 cents; cloth, $1.00.
+
+    "A touching, almost a thrilling, tale is this by E. E. Hale, in
+    its pathetic simplicity and its deep meaning. It is a story of the
+    Waldenses in the days when Richard Coeur de Lion and his
+    splendid following wended their way to the Crusades, and when the
+    name of Christ inspired men who dwelt in palaces, and men who
+    sheltered themselves in the forests of France. 'In his Name' was
+    the 'Open Sesame' to the hearts of such as these, and it is to
+    illustrate the power of this almost magical phrase that the story
+    is written. That it is charmingly written, follows from its
+    authorship. There is in fact no little book that we have seen of
+    late that offers so much of so pleasant reading in such little
+    space, and conveys so apt and pertinent a lesson of pure
+    religion."--_N. Y. Commercial Advertiser._
+
+    "The very loveliest Christmas story ever written. It has the ring
+    of an old Troubadour in it."
+
+
+=A SUMMER VACATION.= 16mo. 50 cents.
+
+    "After Mr. Hale's return from Europe he preached to his people
+    four sermons concerning his European experience. At the request of
+    'some who heard them,' Mr. Hale has allowed these sermons to be
+    published with this title. They are full of vigorous thought, wide
+    philanthropy, and practical suggestions, and will be read with
+    interest by all classes."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+
+  _Sold everywhere. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price, by the
+  Publishers_,
+
+  ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of Invention, by Edward E. Hale
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40276 ***