Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

Transcribers Note: An effort has been made to keep the project as authentic as possible. Two printers errors have been corrected: "toothach" has been changed to "toothache", and "recals" has been changed to "recalls". Hyphenated words have been standardized as well.

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INVENTION AND DISCOVERY:

Curious Facts and Characteristic
Sketches.

W^M. W. SWAYNE,
BROOKLYN AND NEW YORK.

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MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

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CONTENTS.

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PAGE
Alchemists, The Last of the 110
Alpine Perils--Professor Forbes on 30
Amber an Article of International Trade 66
Amsterdam Pile, The 150
Antiquity of Lightning Conductors 67
Antiquity of Refined Sugar 87
Arkwright's Spinning Frame 128
Art of Stereotype, The 105
Artesian Well of Grenelle, The 132
Ascent of the Jungfrau Alp, by Forbes, &c. 44
Astronomical Shoemaker, An 51
Babbage's Calculating Machine 59
Balloon Travelling, Rate of 103
Balloon Voyage from London to Nassau 86
Banks', Sir Joseph, Balance 37
Benefit of a Wife to an Author 40
Black, Dr., The Death of 133
Brindley the Engineer 43
Brongniart's Early Life 33
Brougham's, Lord, Scientific Blunders 90
Buckingham Palace Gates 37
Burning Mirrors of Archimedes, The 140
Carnot when a Child 23
Catching Electric Eels 74
Character of Engineers in their Works 43
Clearness of the Sky at the Cape of Good Hope 88
Coal Gas in Balloons, Use of 21
Cocoa-Nut Crab, The 50
Coffee-Tree, Transportation of the 127
Columbus' own Ship-Journal 70
Crawshays of Merthyr Tydvil, The 15
Cuvier and Napoleon 21
Cuvier, Childhood of 25
Cuvier, Homage to 14
Cuvier in London 39
Davy, Sir Humphry, Death of 13
Davy, Sir Humphry, as an Angler 93
Deaf, The, How they may Hear 68
Decline of Science, The 52
Dee, Dr., The Necromancer 117
Descartes' "Wooden Daughter" 51
Descent in a Diving-Bell, A 92
Diamonds, Celebrated 114
Discoveries Anticipated 54
Diving-Bell, First Use of the 103
Drummond Light, The 62
Drying Wood for Violins 69
Drymaking in Holland, A 137
Early Incitements (Humboldt's) to Study of Nature 72
Earthquakes, in Chile 38
Earthquakes, How to Measure 62
Electricity, The Velocity of 155
Electrifying Machine in Persia, An 60
El Dorado of Sir Walter Raleigh 65
Elgin Marbles, The 58
Experiments with an Electric Eel 79
False Anticipations of Railway Speed 14
Faraday as a Lecturer 88
Female Mathematician, A French 56
Ferguson, The Wife of James 92
Fire-proof House on Putney Heath 109
"Fossil Rain" 104
Fourdrinier's Paper-making Machinery 48
Fourier's Independence 56
Franklin's Discoveries 22
Gold in Siberia 83
Gutta-percha, Discovery of 20
Herschel's Love of Music 59
Herschel, his First Telescope 75
Herschel, his Sister 94
Holding a "Craw's Court" 30
Hyena, A Tame 107
India Rubber 150 Years Since 85
Indian Jugglers' Secret, The 105
Invention of Gun Cotton 35
Invention of the Diving-Bell 78
Invention of the Hand Gear 130
Invisible Despatch, The 107
Jesuit's Bark, The First Use of 51
Kaleidoscope, Combinations of the 84
Kaleidoscope, Sir D. Brewster's 120
Kaleidoscope, The First 91
Leaning Tower of Pisa, The 29
Leibnitz's Last Moments 21
Lifting Heavy Persons 124
Lighthouses, Reflecting, The Origin of 123
Lion Eaten as Food, The 101
Lithography, The Discovery of 159
London as a Port 48
Longevity of the Beetle 102
Magnetic Correspondence in the 17th Century 142
Mariner's Compass, The 156
Marvels of the Alchemists 129
"Means to the End," The 84
Mechanical Triumphs 57
Monochromatic Painting 156
Moon Seen through Lord Rosse's Telescope, The 101
Mythology of Science, The 64
Navigation before the Compass 144
Necessity the Mother of Invention 136
Newton's Finger-Magnet 20
Nice Robbery, A 55
Observatory, Ancient, in Persia 47
Old St. Paul's, A Wrench to 146
Origin of Post Paid Envelopes 42
Ostrich, Enemies of the 108
Parachute Descent, A Safe 104
Pascal's Childhood 18
Pascal, How He Weighed the Atmosphere 28
Perils of Chemical Experiment 151
Philosophical Enthusiasm 31
Poetic Prophecies of Darwin and Milton 9
Poker across the Fire, The 130
Potato, Introduction of the, into France 88
Power of the Lever 59
Railway System Suggested, The 89
"Raining Trees" at the Cape 106
Raleigh, Sir Walter, a Chemist 58
Rapid Manufacture of a Coat 54
Reason for Silence, Fontaine's 44
Rosse's, Lord, Telescope 121
Rust, Protection by 100
St. Pierre's "Paul and Virginia" 62
Scientific Pilgrim, A 139
Self-taught Mechanist, A 149
Semaphore v. Electric Telegraph 146
"Shepherd to the King of England for Scotland" 32
Siberian Mammoth Remains, The 152
Smeaton's Independence, 23
Smeaton, his Reproof of Gaming 34
Snow Spectacles of the Esquimaux 148
Society of Arts, Origin of the 125
Spinning Feats 128
Steam-Gun in the 15th Century 46
Strychnine a Remedy for Paralysis 54
Sun, Total Eclipse of the, at Cuba, 102
Sun, Vast Spot on the 12
Talent and Opportunity 80
Tea, Identity of Black and Green, 99
Tea, The First Cup of, Drunk in England 40
Tebreez, Variable Climate of 52
Telegraph, Origin of the Electric 134
Telescope, Invention of the 97
Thames Tunnel, Construction of the 10
Travelling Carriage, A Novel 108
Travelling in the Himalaya Mountains 82
Travels of Volcanic Dust 33
Tropical Delights, Sydney Smith's 79
Tycho Brahe, Credulity of 97
Vast Mirrors Made in Russia 127
Vicissitudes of Mining in Mexico 79
Voyages of Manufactures 119
Waste of Human Life 123
Watch Melted by Lightning, A 105
Watt's Discovery of the Composition of Water 26
Weighing-Machine at the Bank of England 17
"Wet the Ropes!" 131
Whitebait, The Rights of 73
Who First Doubled the Cape? 91
Wonders of Australia, Sydney Smith on the 76
World in a Drop of Water, The 42

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NOTE.

In the annals of INVENTION and DISCOVERY, it may be said without undue boasting, no nation of modern times can lay claim to such an eminent position as Great Britain; and her many ingenious and intrepid adventurers into what they found unknown regions of the arts, the sciences, and the earth's surface, have so largely contributed to raise her to her great place and power, that it is mere justice and self-interest to bestow on them grateful rewards in life, and renown after death. In this little volume are brought together a number of sketches and memoranda, illustrating the history of discovery, and the lives and labours of inventors and explorers, not of our own country alone, but of others--for knowledge is of no country, but of all. The object of the collector has been rather to present the popular than the strictly scientific side of his subject--to furnish materials of interest and amusement, as well as instruction; and if now and then he has been tempted to stray into bye-paths of anecdote and gossip, excuse may readily be found in the fact that the private life of our men of science, often singularly noble and full of character, is apt to be altogether obscured by the brilliancy of the results of their secret and silent toil. This volume will have served its purpose, if it excites an appetite for fuller and deeper inquisition into the sources of British greatness and of modern civilisation.

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INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

_CURIOUS FACTS AND ILLUSTRATIVE
SKETCHES._

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POETIC PROPHECIES.

In Dr. Darwin's _Botanic Garden_, first published in 1789, but written, it is well known, at least twenty years before the date of its publication, occurs the following prediction respecting Steam:--

"Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd Steam, afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or, on wide-waving wings expanded bear
The flying chariot through the fields of air,[1]
Fair crews triumphant leaning from above,
Shall wave their fluttering 'kerchiefs as they move;
Or warrior bands alarm the gaping crowd,
And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud:
So mighty Hercules o'er many a clime
Waved his huge mace in virtue's cause sublime;
Unmeasured strength with early art combined,
Awed, served, protected, and amazed mankind."

A distinguished photographer imagines that he has traced the foreshadowing of his delightful science in the following passage from our great epic poet:

"With one touch virtuous
Th' arch-chemic sun, so far from us remote,
Produces."

_Paradise Lost_, b. iii. v. 608.

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Footnote 1:

Darwin projected an "aërial steam-carriage," in which he proposed to
use wings similar to those of a bird, to which motion was to be given
by a gigantic power worked by high-pressure steam, though the details
of his plan were not bodied forth.

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CONSTRUCTION OF THE THAMES TUNNEL.

When the ingenious Miss Pardoe visited Constantinople in 1836, she was not less surprised than gratified by the inquiry of an Albanian chief, as to the probable completion of the Thames tunnel. This, however, is but one of the many instances of the anxiety with which the great work was watched throughout continental Europe. In Egypt, too, where a new country is rising, phoenix-like, upon the ashes of the old world, the progress of the tunnel was regarded with like curiosity; participated, indeed, throughout the civilised world. This interest is fully attested by the visitors' book at the Tunnel, wherein are inscribed the names of scientific men belonging to nearly every city of importance. The engineer of this great work, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Mark Isambard Brunel, completed his design in 1823; and amongst those who then regarded it as practicable were the Duke of Wellington and the late Dr. Wollaston. The works were commenced in 1825, and the Tunnel itself in 1826; and by March, 1827, it had advanced about one-third of the whole length. All proceeded well till May 18, when the river burst into the Tunnel with such velocity and volume, as to fill it in fifteen minutes; but, although the men were at work, no lives were lost. The hole, thirty-eight feet deep, was closed with bags of clay and hazel-rods, the water pumped out, and the works resumed in September. On Jan. 12, 1828, the river broke in a second time, and filled the Tunnel in less than ten minutes; when the rush of water brought with it a strong current of air that put out the lights; six of the workmen were lost. For some distance, Mr. Brunel, junior, struggled in total darkness, and the rush of the water carried him up the shaft. The Tunnel was again cleared, and the part completed found to be sound. Hundreds of plans were proposed for its completion; the funds of the company were too low to proceed, and above 5000_l._ was raised by public subscription.

For seven years the work was suspended; but, by advances from Government, it was resumed in 1835. On April 23, 1837, there was a third irruption of the river; a fourth on Nov. 2, 1837, with the loss of one life; and, on March 6, 1838, the fifth and last irruption took place. Thus, of the tunnel there were completed--

In 1836 117 feet.
-- 1837 28 "
-- 1838 80 "
-- 1839 194 "
-- 1840 76 "

Leaving only 60 feet to complete.

Meanwhile, the tunnel works proved a very attractive exhibition. In 1838, they were visited by 23,000 persons, and, in 1839, by 34,000. By Jan. 1841, the tunnel was completed from shore to shore--1140 feet, and Sir I. Brunel, on Aug. 13, was the first to pass through. On March 25, 1843, the tunnel was opened to the public, with a demonstration of triumph.

The cost of the work has been nearly four times the sum at first contemplated; the actual expense being upwards of 600,000_l._ These, of course, are but a few data of the great work, the progress of which, for twenty years, interested every admirer of scientific enterprize. The engineering details present marvels of ingenuity. The building of the vast brick shaft, 50 feet in diameter, 42 feet in height, and 3 feet thick, with, set over it, the steam-engine for pumping out the water and raising the earth--and the sinking of the whole, _en masse_, into the Rotherhithe bank, were master-works of genius. Thus far the vertical shaft: the tunnel itself commenced with an excavation larger than the interior of the old House of Commons. But the great invention was the _shield_ apparatus--the series of cells, in which, as the miners worked at one end, the bricklayers formed at the other the top, sides, and bottom of the tunnel. The dangers, too, were many: sometimes, portions of the frame would break, with the noise of a cannon-shot; then alarming cries were heard, as some irruption of earth or water poured in; the excavators were, however, much more inconvenienced by fire than water--gas explosions frequently wrapping the place with a sheet of flame, and strangely mingling with the water, and rendering the workmen insensible. Yet, with all these perils, but seven lives were lost in making the tunnel under the Thames; whereas, nearly forty men were killed in building the new London Bridge.--_Note-book of 1848._

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VAST SPOT ON THE SUN.

Sir John Herschel, when at the Cape of Good Hope, observed, on May 25, 1837, a spot upon the sun, the black centre of which would have allowed the globe of our earth to drop through it, leaving a thousand miles clear of contact on all sides of that tremendous gulf.

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DEATH OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.

It was at Rome, on the 20th day of February, 1829, when he was finishing his eloquent work, _The Last Days of a Philosopher_, that Sir Humphry Davy received the final warning to prepare. By dictation, he wrote to his brother, who was at Malta with the British troops--"I am dying from a severe attack of palsy, which has seized the whole of the body, with the exception of the intellectual organ. I shall leave my bones in the Eternal City." But he was to die neither then nor there. Within three weeks, his brother was by his bedside, and found him as much interested in the anatomy and electricity of the torpedo as ever, though he bade Dr. Davy "not to be grieved" by his approaching dissolution. Yet, after a day of 150 pulse-beats, and only five breathings in a minute, and of the most distressing particular symptoms, he again revived. Shortly after this, Lady Davy arrived at Rome from England, with a copy of the second edition of _Salmonia_, which Sir Humphry received with peculiar pleasure. After some weeks of melancholy dalliance with the balmy spring air of the Campagna, the Albula Lake, the hills of Tivoli, and the banks of the Tiber, they travelled quietly round by Florence, Genoa, Turin, slowly threading the flowery, sweet-scented Alpine valleys, to Geneva, where _he suddenly expired_. It was three hours beyond midnight; his servant called his brother; his brother was in time to close his eyes. It was the 29th of May, in 1829.

They buried him at Geneva. In truth, Geneva buried him herself, with serious and respectful ceremonial. A simple monument stands at the head of the hospitable grave. There is a tablet to his memory on the walls of Westminster Abbey. There is a monument also, at Penzance, his birth-place.

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HOMAGE TO CUVIER.

When the Count de Seze replied to an eloquent discourse of Cuvier, he stated that, "since the Restoration, Cuvier was the second example of fortunate combination of literature and science, and that he had been preceded only by that illustrious geometer, (the Marquis de Laplace), whom we may call the _Newton_ of France." In referring to the European reputation of Cuvier, and to the vast extent and variety of his knowledge, he applied to him the happy observation which Fontenelle made respecting Leibnitz--that while the ancients made one Hercules out of several, we might, out of one Cuvier, make several philosophers.

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FALSE ESTIMATE OF RAILWAY SPEED.

The ordinary speed of George Stephenson's Killingworth engine, in 1814, was four miles an hour. In 1825, Mr. Wood, in his work on Railways, took the standard at six miles an hour, drawing 40 tons on a level; and so confident was he that he gauged the power of the locomotive, that he asserted--"nothing could do more harm towards the adoption of railways than the promulgation of such nonsense as that we shall see locomotive engines travelling at the rate of 12, 16, 18, and 20 miles an hour." The promulgator of such nonsense was George Stephenson. In 1829, it was estimated that, at 15 miles an hour, the gross load was 9-1/2 tons, and the net load very little; and that, therefore, high speed, if attainable, was perfectly useless. Before the end of that year, George Stephenson got with "the Rocket" a speed of 29-1/2 miles an hour, carrying a net load of 9-1/2 tons. In 1831, his engines were to draw 90 tons on a level, at 20 miles an hour.

When the speed of the locomotive was set beyond question, prejudice then took the alarm about safety, and a very strong stand was from time to time made for a limitation of speed. Even after the year 1849, the London and Birmingham Directors considered that 20 miles an hour was enough; but the vigour of the broad gauge advocates has tripled the working power of the locomotive, and given us 60 miles an hour where we might have been lingering at 20.

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THE CRAWSHAYS OF MERTHYR TYDVIL.

Mr. Crawshay, of the Cyfarthfa Works, at a dinner given to him in 1847, by the people of Merthyr, related the following account of the rise of his family of "Iron Kings," as they are called.

"My grandfather was the son of a most respectable farmer in Normanton, Yorkshire. At the age of 15, father and son differed. My grandfather, an enterprising boy, rode his own pony to London, then an arduous task of some fifteen or twenty days' travelling. On getting there, he found himself perfectly destitute of friends. He sold his pony for 15_l._; and during the time that the proceeds of the pony kept him, he found employment in an iron warehouse of London, kept by Mr. Bicklewith. He hired himself for three years for 15_l._, the price of his pony. His occupation was to clean the counting-house, to put the desks in order, and to do anything else that he was told. By industry, integrity, and perseverance, he gained his master's favour, and was termed 'the Yorkshire Boy.' He had a very amiable and good master; and, before he had been two years in his place, he stood high in this just man's confidence. The trade in which he was engaged was only a cast-iron warehouse, and his master assigned to him, 'the Yorkshire Boy,' the privilege of selling flat irons--the things with which our shirts and clothes are flattened. The washerwomen of London were sharp folks; and when they bought one flat iron, they stole two. Mr. Bicklewith thought that the best person to cope with them would be a man working for his own interest--and a Yorkshireman at the same time. That was the first matter of trading that ever my grandfather embarked in. By honesty and perseverance, he continued to grow in favour. His master retired in a few years, and left my grandfather in possession of his cast-iron business in London, which was carried on on the very site where I now spend my days--in York Yard. My grandfather left his business in London, and came down here; and my father, who carried it on, supplied him with money almost as fast as he spent it here; but not quite so fast. What occurred subsequently, this company knows perfectly well. Who started with humbler prospects in life than my grandfather? No man in this room is so poor but that he can command 15_l._ Depend upon it, any man who is industrious, honest, and persevering, will be respected in any class of life he may move in. Do you, think, gentlemen, there is a man in England prouder than I am at this moment? What is all the world to me, unless they know me?"

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WEIGHING MACHINE AT THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

The most interesting place connected with the machinery of the Bank of England is the Weighing-Office, which was established about 1840. In consequence of a proclamation concerning the gold circulation, it became very desirable to obtain the most minute accuracy, as coins of different weight were plentifully offered. Many complaints were made, that sovereigns which had been issued from one office were refused at another; and though these assertions were not, perhaps, always founded on truth, yet it is indisputable that the evil occasionally occurred. Every effort was made by the Directors to remedy this, some millions of sovereigns being weighed separately, and the light coins divided from those which were full weight. Fortunately, the Governor for the time being, (Mr. W. Cotton), before whom the complaints principally came, was attached to scientific pursuits; and he at once turned his attention to discover the causes which operated to prevent the attainment of a just weight. In this he was successful, and the result of his inquiry was, a machine, remarkable for an almost elegant simplicity. About 80 or 100 light and heavy sovereigns are placed indiscriminately in a round tube; as they descend on the machinery beneath, those which are light receive a slight touch, which moves them into their proper receptacle; while those which are the legitimate weight, pass into their appointed place. The light coins are then defaced by a sovereign-cutting machine, remarkable alike for its accuracy and rapidity. By this, 200 may be defaced in one minute; and, by the weighing machinery, 35,000 may be weighed in one day.

An eminent member of the Royal Society mentioned to the writer, that, amongst scientific men, it is a question whether the Weighing-Machine of Mr. Cotton is not the finest thing in Mechanics; and that there is only one other invention--the envelope-machine of De la Rue--to be named with it.--_Francis's History of the Bank of England._

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CHILDHOOD OF PASCAL.

Pascal, the celebrated French philosopher and divine, (whose life, Bayle affirms, is worth a hundred sermons), evinced such early ardour for knowledge, that, at the age of eleven, he was ambitious of teaching as well as learning; and he then composed a little treatise on the refractions of the sounds of vibrating bodies when touched by the finger. One day he was found alone in his chamber, tracing, in lines of coal, geometrical figures on the wall; and, on another occasion, he was surprised by his father, just when he had succeeded in obtaining a demonstration of the 32nd proposition of the first book of Euclid--that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles. Astonished and overjoyed, his father rushed to his friend, M. Pailleur, to announce the extraordinary fact; and the young geometer was instantly permitted to study, unrestrained, the Elements of Euclid, of which he soon made himself master, without any extrinsic aid. From the geometry of planes and solids he passed to the higher branches of the science; and, before he was sixteen years of age, he composed a treatise on the Conic Sections, which evinced the most extraordinary sagacity. When scarcely 19 years of age, too, Pascal contrived a machine to assist his father in making the numerical calculations which his official duties in Upper Normandy required.

In later life, Pascal found researches in geometry an occupation well fitted to give serenity to a heart bleeding from the wounds of his beloved associates. He had long before renounced the study of the sciences; but during a violent attack of toothache, which deprived him of sleep, the subject of the cycloid forced itself upon his thoughts. Fermat, Roberval, and others, had trodden the same ground before him; but, in less than eight days, and under severe suffering, he discovered a general method of solving this class of problems, by the summation of certain series; and as there was only one step from this discovery to that of Fluxions, Pascal might, with more leisure and better health, have won from Newton and from Leibnitz the glory of that great invention.

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THE DISCOVERER OF GUTTA PERCHA.

The Gutta Percha Tree, or Gutta Tuban, as it ought more properly to be called--the Percha being a spurious article--abounds in the indigenous forests of Singapore, although it was only about the year 1840 that it was discovered by Europeans. The first notice taken of it appears to have been by Dr. W. Montgomerie, in a letter to the Bengal Medical Board, in the beginning of 1843, wherein he commends the substance as likely to prove useful for some surgical purposes; and supposes it to belong to the Fig tribe. In April, 1843, the substance was taken to Europe by Dr. D. Almeida, who presented it to the Royal Society of Arts of London; but it did not at first attract much attention, as the Society simply acknowledged the receipt of the gift. Its uses would rather appear to have been found out by the Malays, who first manufactured some of the Gutta Percha into whips, and brought them into the town at Singapore for sale, where they were seen by Europeans.

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SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S MAGNET.

The smallest natural Magnets generally possess the greatest proportion of attractive power. Sir Isaac Newton wore in his ring a magnet which weighed only three grains; yet it was able to take up 746 grains, or nearly 250 times its own weight--whereas magnets weighing above two pounds seldom lift more than five or six times their own weight.

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COAL GAS in BALLOONS.

Mr. Green has the merit of being the first person who made experiments on the buoyant properties of Coal Gas. In some of his preliminary trials, he ascertained that the ascensive force of a small balloon, three feet in diameter, was equal to eleven ounces; but, when filled in the old way, with hydrogen gas, not more than fifteen ounces.

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CUVIER AND NAPOLEON.

After Cuvier had presented to Buonaparte, in a Council of State, his Report of the Progress of the Mathematical and Natural Sciences since the year 1789, the Emperor expressed, in a very happy manner, the satisfaction which he had received from the document. "He has praised me," said Napoleon, "as I like to be praised." Cuvier, however, as he himself said, had only invited the Emperor to imitate Alexander, and to employ his power in promoting the advancement of the natural sciences.

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LAST MOMENTS OF LEIBNITZ.

The passing of the mighty spirit of Leibnitz from this scene of existence was a deeply impressive scene. He had suffered from occasional illness during several preceding years. These attacks, however, passed away, and the philosopher resumed his speculations with renewed energy. In November, 1716, his complaint returned with great violence.

"The closing scene suggests gloomy reflections, as the lurid glare, which, during his extraordinary life, had attracted the eyes of the world, disappears; while we have not the record we could desire, indicating that the moral sensibilities of the Philosopher were rightly alive to the decisive nature of the awful change. His seventy years are ended, and the lightning seems lost among dark clouds. During the last day of his life, we are told, he was buried in conversation with his physician on the nature of his disease, and on the doctrines of alchymy. Towards evening, his servant asked him if he would receive the Eucharist. 'Let me alone,' said he, 'I have done ill to no one. I have nothing to confess. All must die.' He raised himself on his bed, and tried to write. The darkness of death was gathering around him. He found himself unable to read what he had written. He tore the paper, and, lying down, covered his face, and a few minutes after 9 o'clock, on the evening of the 14th of November, 1716, he ceased to breathe! It is most solemn to contemplate a human spirit, whose course of thought throughout life was unsurpassed for power of speculation, and daring range of mind among the higher objects of knowledge, and which, at the period of its departure, was in the depths of a controversy about the mysteries of a supersensible world--thus summoned into that world, to become conversant in its final relations with that Being who had entrusted it with such mental power, and whose nature and attributes had so often tasked its speculative energies."--_North British Review._

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FRANKLIN'S DISCOVERIES.

Of all this great man's scientific excellencies, the most remarkable is the smallness, the simplicity, the apparent inadequacy of the means which he employed in his experimental researches. His discoveries were all made with hardly any apparatus at all; and if, at any time, he had been led to employ instruments of a somewhat less ordinary description, he never rested satisfied until he had, as it were, afterwards translated the process, resolving the problem with such simple machinery, that you might say he had done it wholly unaided by apparatus. The experiments by which the identity of lightning and electricity was demonstrated, were made with a sheet of brown paper, a bit of twine or silk thread, and an iron key!--_Lord Brougham._

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CARNÔT, WHEN A CHILD.

The aptitude and taste for military affairs of Carnôt, destined afterwards to perform so important a part in the history of Europe, displayed itself in a singular manner while he was yet a child. Being taken for the first time to a theatre, where some siege or other warlike operation was represented, he astonished the audience by interrupting the piece to complain of the manner in which the general had disposed his men and his guns, crying out to him that his men were in fire, and loudly calling upon him to change his position. In fact, the men were so placed as to be commanded by a battery.

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SMEATON'S INDEPENDENCE.

Smeaton, the engineer, often evinced a high feeling of independence in respect to pecuniary matters, and would never allow motives of emolument to interfere with plans laid on other considerations. The Empress Catherine of Russia was exceedingly anxious to have his services in the formation of great engineering works in her dominions, and she commissioned the Princess Dackshaw to offer him his own terms, if he would accede to her proposal. But his plans and his heart were bent upon the exercise of his skill in his own country, and he steadily refused all the offers made to him. It is reported that when the Princess found her attempts unavailing, she said to him, "Sir, you are a great man, and I honour you. You may have an equal in abilities, perhaps, but in character you stand single. The English minister, Sir Robert Walpole, was mistaken; and my sovereign, to her loss, finds one who has not his price."

After Smeaton had retired from his profession, he was often pressed to superintend certain works; when these entreaties were backed by personal offers of emolument, he used to send for an old woman who took care of his chambers in Gray's Inn, and say, "Her attendance suffices for all my wants!" a reply which conveyed the intimation that a man whose personal wants were so simple, was not likely to break through a pre-arranged line of conduct for mere pecuniary considerations.

Smeaton's _magnum opus_ is the Eddystone lighthouse, which has withstood the storms of more than a century. One of its severest perils was in a terrific hurricane in November, 1824, when the men in the lighthouse appear to have been in a most critical situation; alive to their danger, and conscious of being beyond the hope of human aid. The report made by one of the light-keepers states, that on the morning of the 23rd, "the sea was tremendous, and broke with such violence on the top and round the building, as to demolish in an instant five panes of the lantern glass, and sixteen cylinder glasses, the former of unusual thickness. The house shook with so much violence as to occasion considerable motion of the cylinder glasses fixed in the lamps; and at times the whole building appeared to sway as if resting on an elastic body. The water came from the top of the edifice in such quantities that we were overwhelmed, and the sea made a breach from the top of the house to the bottom."

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CHILDHOOD OF CUVIER.

Cuvier, like Sir Isaac Newton, was born with such a feeble and sickly constitution, that he was scarcely expected to reach the years of manhood. His affectionate mother watched over his varying health, instilled into his mind the first lessons of religion, and had taught him to read fluently before he had completed his fourth year. She made him repeat to her his Latin lessons, though ignorant herself of the language; she conducted him every morning to school; made him practise drawing under her own superintendence, and supplied him with the best works on history and literature. His father had destined him for the army. In the library of the Gymnasium, where he stood at the head of the classes of history, geography, and mathematics, he lighted upon a copy of Gesner's History of Animals and Serpents, with coloured plates; and, about the same time, he had discovered a complete copy of Buffon among the books of one of his relatives. His taste for Natural History now became a passion. He copied the figures which these works contained, and coloured them in conformity with the descriptions; whilst he did not overlook the intellectual beauties of his author.

In the fourteenth year of his age he was appointed president of a society of his schoolfellows, which he was the means of organising, and of which he drew up the rules; and seated on the foot of his bed, which was the president's chair, he first showed his oratorical powers in the discussion of various questions, suggested by the reading of books of natural history and travels, which was the principal object of the society.

When at the age of nineteen, the casual dissection of a colmar, a species of cuttle-fish, induced Cuvier to study the anatomy of the mollusca; and the examination of some fossil terebratulæ, which had been dug up near Fécamp, in June, 1791, suggested to him the idea of comparing fossil with living animals; and thus, as he himself said, "the germ of his two most important labours--the comparison of fossil with living species, and the reform of the classification of the animal kingdom--had their origin at this epoch."

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WATT'S DISCOVERY OF THE COMPOSITION
OF WATER.

A controversy a good many years ago agitated the philosophical world, as to the discovery of the Composition of Water--whether the merit was due to Watt or Cavendish. One of Watt's letters, dated May 15th, 1784, seems to compress the matter into a nutshell. Writing to his friend, Mr. Fry of Bristol, Mr. Watt says, that "he has had the honour of having had his ideas pirated;" that Dr. Blagden explained his theory to Lavoisier, at Paris; that M. Lavoisier soon after invented it himself; and that "since that, Mr. Cavendish has read a paper to the Royal Society on the same idea, without making the least mention of me." "The one," he continues, "is a French financier, and the other a member of the illustrious house of Cavendish, worth above 100,000_l._ (1,000,000_l._) and does not spend 1000_l._ a year. Rich men may do mean actions; may you and I always persevere in our integrity, and despise such doings."

Another important point is, that Watt and Cavendish's papers on the discovery were printed under the sole superintendence of Dr. Blagden, secretary to the Royal Society; that Mr. Watt's paper is printed with the _erroneous date of 1784, in place of 1783_, and that the separate copies of Mr. Cavendish's papers have the _erroneous date of 1783, in place of 1784_. The obvious effect of these two errors was to give Cavendish the priority over Watt; whereas, by written testimony, Watt's theory is proved to have been known to Priestley in 1782.

It is Dr. Blagden's conduct in the matter that has disturbed the current of scientific history. "It is his testimony," says an able writer in the _North British Review_, "not appealed to by Cavendish, but gratuitously offered by himself, that contains the allegation that Cavendish mentioned to him and others his conclusions. It is his testimony, gratuitously sent to Crell, that deprives the French chemists, Lavoisier, Laplace, and Monge, of their due share of honour; and it was by his acts that erroneous dates and claims were propagated throughout Europe. Let us impanel, then, a British jury--not of chemists, for their verdict is given--not of the improvers or manufacturers of steam-engines, for they might be partial--but of the highest functionaries of the law, the members of the peerage--let us lay before them these facts, and then tell them that Blagden received an annuity of 500_l._ from Cavendish; that, at his death, he left him a legacy of 15,000_l._; and we will answer for it, that the testimony of Blagden will be rejected, and the priority of Watt affirmed."

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HOW PASCAL WEIGHED THE ATMOSPHERE.

Pascal's Treatise on the weight of the whole mass of air forms the basis of the modern science of Pneumatics. In order to prove that the mass of air presses by its weight on all the bodies which it surrounds, and also that it is elastic and compressible, he carried a balloon, half filled with air, to the top of the Puy de Dome, a mountain about 500 toises above Clermont, in Auvergne. It gradually inflated itself as it ascended, and when it reached the summit, it was quite full, and swollen as if fresh air had been blown into it; or, what is the same thing, it swelled in proportion as the weight of the column of air which pressed upon it was diminished. When again brought down, it became more and more flaccid, and when it reached the bottom, it resumed its original condition. In the nine chapters of which the Treatise consists, Pascal shows that all the phenomena and effects hitherto ascribed to the horror of a vacuum arise from the weight of the mass of air; and after explaining the variable pressure of the atmosphere in different localities, and in its different states, and the rise of water in pumps, he calculates that the whole mass of air round our globe weighs 8,983,889,440,000,000,000 French pounds.

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THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA.[2]

Sir John Leslie used to attribute the stability of this tower to the cohesion of the mortar it is built with being sufficient to maintain it erect, in spite of its being out of the condition required by physics--to wit, that "in order that a column shall stand, a perpendicular let fall from the centre of gravity must fall within the base." Sir John describes the column of Pisa to be in violation of this principle; but, according to designs shown to Dr. Cumming, at Pisa, in 1836, the perpendicular does fall within the base.

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Footnote 2:

When at Pisa, many years since, Captain Basil Hall investigated the
origin and divergence of the tower from the perpendicular, and
established completely to his own satisfaction that it had been built
from top to bottom, originally, just as it now stands. His reasons for
thinking so are, that the line of the tower, on that side towards
which it leans, has not the same curvature as the line on the
opposite, or what may be called the upper side. If the tower had been
built upright, and then been made to incline over, the line of the
wall on that side towards which the inclination was given, would be
more or less concave in that direction, owing to the nodding or
"swagging over" of the top, by the simple action of gravity acting on
a very tall mass of masonry, which is more or less elastic when placed
in a sloping position. But the contrary is the fact; for the line of
wall on the side towards which the tower leans, is decidedly more
convex than the opposite side. Captain Hall has, therefore, no doubt
whatever that the architect, in rearing his successive courses of
stones, gained or stole a little at each layer, so as to render his
work less and less overhanging as he went up; and thus, without
betraying what he was about, really gained stability.

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HOLDING A "CRAWS' COURT."

Dr. Edmonston in his interesting "_View of the Zetland Islands_," relates that the hooded Crow sometimes engages in merry meetings, but, savage-like, concludes by a sanguinary sacrifice. The crows generally appear in pairs, even during winter, except when attracted to a spot in search of food, or when they assemble for the purpose of holding what is called a _Craws' Court_. This latter institution exhibits a curious fact in their history. Numbers are seen to assemble on a particular hill or field, from many different parts. On some occasions, the meeting does not appear complete before the expiration of a day or two. As soon as all the deputies have arrived, a very general noise and croaking ensue; and shortly after, the whole fall upon one or two individuals, whom they persecute and beat until they kill them. When this has been accomplished, they quietly disperse.

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ALPINE PERILS.

Strange incidents befel Professor Forbes, and his companions, in their travels through the Alps of Savoy. On one occasion, they got so near a thundercloud, as to be highly electrified by induction, with all the angular stones round them hissing like points near a powerful electrical machine; on another, whilst crossing one of the loftiest passes, the Col de Collon, they discovered a dark object lying on the snow, which proved to be the body of a man, with the clothes hard-frozen and uninjured. "The effect on us all," says the Professor, "was electric; and had not the sun shone forth in its full glory, and the very wilderness of eternal snow seemed gladdened under the serenity of such a summer's day, as is rare at these heights, we should certainly have felt a deeper thrill, arising from the sense of personal danger. As it was, when we had recovered our first surprise, and interchanged our expression of sympathy for the poor traveller, and gazed with awe on the disfigured relics of one who had so lately been in the same plight with ourselves, we turned and surveyed, with a stronger sense of sublimity than before, the desolation by which we were surrounded; and became still more sensible of our isolation from human dwellings, human help, and human sympathy, our loneliness with nature, and as it were, the more immediate presence of God."

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PHILOSOPHICAL ENTHUSIASM.

"Never shall I forget," says Agassiz, "the impression which the sight of the _Pterichthys_, provided with appendages resembling wings, produced upon me, when I assured myself that it belonged to the class of fishes. It was an entirely new type, which was about to figure, for the first time since it had ceased to exist, in the series of beings--again to form a link which nothing of all that had been revealed up to the time with regard to extinct creations, would have led us ever to suspect the existence of--showing forcibly that observation alone can lead us to the recognition of the laws of development of organized beings; and how much we should guard against all those systems of transformation of species, which the imagination invents with as much facility as reason refutes them."

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"SHEPHERD TO THE KING OF ENGLAND FOR SCOTLAND."

Lalande, the celebrated astronomer, committed a ludicrous mistake in styling James Ferguson, _Berger du Roi d'Angleterre en Ecosse_, the King of England's Shepherd for Scotland. The matter has, however, been thus explained:--Daubenton, as a naturalist, had the charge of the royal flocks of sheep in France. In order to retain his situation under the republic, he required a _certificate of civism_ from the Section of the Sans Culottes. In this curious document, he is called _the Shepherd Daubenton_. Lalande, whose great work on astronomy was published at this period, had seen James Ferguson (the astronomer) designated _the Shepherd_, probably to distinguish him from Adam Ferguson the Philosopher, and hence he placed _Ferguson the Shepherd_ in the same category with _the Shepherd Daubenton_, and made him "Shepherd to the King of England for Scotland!"

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TRAVELS OF VOLCANIC DUST.

On the 2nd of September, 1845, a quantity of volcanic dust fell in the Orkney Islands, which was supposed to have originated in an eruption of Hecla in Iceland. It was subsequently ascertained that an eruption of Hecla took place on the morning of the above-named day, so as to leave no doubt of the justness of the conclusion. The dust had thus travelled about 600 miles!

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EARLY LIFE OF ALEXANDER BRONGNIART.

This celebrated chemist and mineralogist, upwards of forty years director of the porcelain manufactory of Sèvres, was born at Paris in 1770. His father was justly celebrated for his attainments in the fine arts. His mind developed itself in the midst of that brilliant society belonging to the end of the eighteenth century, which his father was accustomed to draw around him. He there derived, from conversations with Franklin, the germ of that mild and practical philosophy which he never abandoned; and from those of Lavoisier his earliest notions of chemistry, which formed one of the foundations of his scientific career. He gave early indications of that clearness of elocution which formed one of his merits as a professor; and it is related that Lavoisier himself took pleasure in listening to a lecture on chemistry delivered by Brongniart even when he was scarcely fifteen years of age. He studied in the Ecole de Medécine, where he was thrice enrolled; and when every Frenchman was called to the frontier, he was connected to the army of the Pyrenees in the capacity of an apothecary. A stay of fifteen months among these mountains gave him the opportunity of studying a rich and varied field of nature, as a zoologist and botanist. He likewise made geological observations, which, at a later period, took their place in the science, and which he often took pleasure in recalling; but there he encountered dangers which his youth did not suspect, and he was imprisoned under suspicion of having favoured the escape of the skilful naturalist, Broussonnet, who avoided certain death by fleeing by the breach of Rolland. Restored to liberty after the 9th Thermidor, Brongniart returned to Paris, and, in 1800, was nominated director of the porcelain manufactory of Sèvres, on the recommendation of Berthollet. At nineteen years of age, Brongniart was one of the founders of the Societé Philomatique, which, at the period of proscription for all of a higher class, kept alive the sacred fame of science. He died in 1847, and at his funeral, on October 9th, M. Elie de Beaumont delivered an _éloge_, whence these details have been derived.

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SMEATON'S REPROOF OF GAMING.

Smeaton, the engineer, was on intimate terms of acquaintance with the Duke and Duchess of Queensbury, and often spent a leisure hour in the evening at their house. On a few occasions, he played at cards with them, and on one such evening, he effected the abolition of that inconsiderate, indiscriminate play amongst people of superior rank or fortune, which compels every one to join, and at their own stake too. Smeaton detested cards, and his attention never following the game he played like a boy. The game was Pope Joan; and the general run of it was high; and the stake in Pope had accumulated to a serious sum. It was Smeaton's turn by the deal to _double_ it; when, regardless of his cards, he busily made minutes on a slip of paper, and put it on the board. The Duchess eagerly inquired what it was; and he as coolly replied, "Your grace will recollect the field in which my house stands may be about five acres, three roods, and seven perches; which, at thirty years' purchase, will be just my stake; and if your grace will make a duke of me, I presume the winner will not dislike my mortgage." The joke and the lesson had alike their weight; and the party never after played but for the merest trifle.

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INVENTION OF GUN-COTTON.

Cotton, having largely contributed to our national prosperity in times of peace, promised, not long since, to play a very important part in the strategies of war; and this by its use in place of gunpowder; wherefore the new substance was termed "Gun-cotton."

The merit of the invention is believed to be due to Professor Schonbein, of Basle. In 1840, the novelty was first announced as an explosive compound, possessing many apparent advantages over gunpowder. It was described as a cotton prepared by a secret process; which, on the application of a spark, became at once converted into a gaseous state. In an experiment performed in the laboratory of Professor Schonbein, a certain weight of gunpowder, when fired, filled the apartment with smoke; whilst an equal weight of gun-cotton exploded without producing any smoke, leaving only a few atoms of carbonaceous matter behind. Cannon-balls and shells were then experimentally projected by this prepared cotton, with nearly double the projectile force of gunpowder.

Professor Schonbein made an interesting experiment upon the wall of an old castle: it had been calculated that from three to four pounds of gunpowder would be requisite to destroy this wall, and a hole capable of containing that quantity was prepared. In this aperture were put four ounces of the prepared cotton, which, when fired, blew the massive wall to pieces.

Again, the sixteenth part of an ounce of the prepared cotton, placed in a gun, carried a ball with such force, that it perforated two planks at the distance of twenty-eight paces; and, at another time, with the same charge, drove a bullet into a wall, to the depth of three inches and three-quarters.

Professor Schonbein attended the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Southampton, in 1846, when the operation of this new power was explained and experimented with. Subsequently, the professor attended at Osborne House, to exhibit the properties of his gun-cotton to Prince Albert, when Schonbein offered to explode a portion on the hand of Colonel B----: who would, however, have nothing to do with the novel power. Prince Albert himself submitted to the test, and off went the cotton, without smoke, stain, or burning of the skin. Thus encouraged, the colonel took his turn; but whether the material was changed or not for the coarser preparation, it gave him such a singeing that he leaped up with a cry of pain. A hearty laugh was all the commiseration he received. After this, Professor Schonbein loaded a fowling-piece with cotton in the place of powder, and the prince fired both ball and shot from it with the usual effect, and perfect impunity.

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SIR JOSEPH BANKS'S "BALANCE."

At the death of Sir Joseph Banks, there was left at the apartments of the Royal Society, at Somerset House, a very delicate balance, constructed by Ramsden, the property of Sir Joseph. The secretaries accordingly wrote to his widow, requesting to know her wishes respecting the instrument. "Pay it into Coutts's," was her ladyship's reply.

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BUCKINGHAM PALACE GATES.

The central gates of the marble arch, facing Buckingham Palace, were put up in the summer of 1837: they were designed and cast by Samuel Parker, then of Argyll-place--they are the largest and most superb in Europe, not excepting the gates of the Ducal Palace at Venice, or of the Louvre at Paris. Their material is a beautiful alloy, the base of which is refined copper. Although cast, their enriched foliage and scroll-work bear the elaborate finish of the finest chasing: the height of each gate is twenty-five feet; width, seventeen feet, six inches; extreme thickness, three inches; weight of each, two tons, thirteen cwt.; yet, they are so beautifully hung, that a child might open and shut them. They now terminate at the springing of the arch; but Mr. Parker had cast for the heading a chaste frieze, and a design of the royal arms in the central circle, flanked by state crowns: this portion was, however, irretrievably mutilated by the Government removing the gates from the foundry in a common stage-waggon, without due care to prevent their breakage; yet the work cost, altogether, 3000 guineas!

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EARTHQUAKES IN CHILE.