file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #cgegd-;h4htm or #cgegd-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/cache_/epu b_/#cgegd_/pg#cgegd-;images4html7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/files_/#cg egd_/cgegd-;h4zip7 ,images of the original pages are available through ,internet ,archive4 ,see http3_/_/www4archive4org_/details_/great inventionsd#jjpier ,illustration3 ,,the ,,first ,,sheet ,,from ,,the ,,printing ,,press ,graded ,supplementary ,reading ,series ,,great ,,inventions ,,and ,,discoveries by ,,willis ,,duff ,,piercy ,new ,york ,charles ,e4 ,merrill ,company ,copyright1 #aiaa ,by ,charles ,e4 ,merrill ,co4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i4 ,introduction #g ,,ii4 ,the ,printing ,press #ae ,,iii4 ,the ,steam ,engine #cj ,,iv4 ,electricity3 ,the ,telegraph and the ,telephone #ef ,v4 ,electricity3 ,lighting1 ,transportation1 and ,other ,uses #gh ,,vi4 ,the ,discovery of ,america #ib ,,vii4 ,weapons and ,gunpowder #ajh ,,viii4 ,astronomical ,discoveries and ,inventions #abg ,,ix4 ,the ,cotton-gin #ach ,x4 ,anaesthetics #adg ,,xi4 ,steel and ,rubber #aed ,,xii4 ,stenography and the ,typewriter #afd ,,xiii4 ,the ,friction ,match #afi ,,xiv4 ,photography #agg ,,xv4 ,clocks #ahb ,,xvi4 ,some ,machines #ahh ,the ,sewing ,machine #ahh ,the ,reaper #aib ,spinning and ,weaving ,machines #aig ,,xvii4 ,aeronautics #bjc ,,great ,,inventions ,,and ,,discoveries ,,chapter ,i ,,introduction ,tens of thousands of years ago1 when the world was even then old1 primitive man came into existence4 ,the first men lived in the branches of trees or in their hollow trunks1 and sometimes in caves4 ,for food they chased horses or caught fish from the streams along whose shores they lived4 ,if they had clothing1 it was the skins of wild beasts4 ,life was simple1 slow1 and crude4 ,there were no cities1 books1 railroads1 clocks1 newspapers1 schools1 churches1 judges1 teachers1 automobiles1 or elections4 ,man lived with other animals and was little superior to them4 ,these primitive men are called cave-dwellers4 ,a resident of modern ,new ,york sits down to a breakfast gathered from distant parts of the earth4 ,he spreads out before him his daily newspaper1 which tells him what has happened during the last twenty-four hours all over the world4 ,telegraph wires and ocean cables have flashed these events across thousands of miles into the newspaper offices and there great printing presses have recorded them upon paper4 ,after breakfast he gets into an electric street car or automobile and is carried through miles of space in a very short time to a great steel building hundreds of feet high4 ,he steps into an electric elevator and is whirled rapidly up to his office on the twentieth floor4 ,the postman brings a package of letters which fast-flying mail trains have brought him during the night from far-away places4 ,he reads them and then speaks rapidly to a young woman who makes some crooked marks on paper4 ,after running her fingers rapidly over the keyboard of a little machine1 she hands him type-written replies to the letters he has received4 ,a boy brings him a little yellow envelope4 ,in it he finds a message from ,seattle or ,london or ,hong ,kong or ,buenos ,ayres sent only a few moments ago4 ,he wishes to talk with a business associate in ,boston or ,st4 ,louis4 ,still sitting at his desk1 he applies a small tube to his ear and speaks to the man as distinctly and as instantaneously as if he were in the next room4 ,he finds it important to be in ,chicago4 ,after luncheon1 he boards a train equipped with the conveniences of his own home1 sleeps there comfortably1 and flies through the thousand miles of distance in time to have breakfast in ,chicago the next morning4 ,what is the difference between the life of the cave-dweller and the life of the modern ,new ,yorker8 ,we call it civilization4 ,it is not at one bound or at one thousand that we pass from the primitive cave to ,new ,york ,city4 ,civilization is the accumulation of centuries of achievement4 ,it is builded1 in the language of ,isaiah1 line upon line1 line upon line2 here a little1 and there a little4 ,different nations have accomplished different things and have scattered the seeds of these accomplishments among other nations4 ,certain individuals have seen farther in certain directions than their fellows and have contributed to civilization the results of their vision4 ,whoever has added to the safety1 the happiness1 the power1 or the convenience of society2 whoever discovers a star or a microbe2 whoever paints a picture or plants a tree1 builds a bridge or fights a righteous battle2 whoever makes two ears of corn grow where there grew but one before2 whoever lets the light shine in upon a darkened street or a darkened spirit is an agent of civilization4 ,the history of civilization is largely a history of man's struggle against the forces of nature and of his victory over them4 ,nature is always saying to man1 ,thou shalt not2 and man is always replying1 ,i will4 ,if diseases lurk in air and water1 cures are ready in the mind of man4 ,nature shoves men apart with lofty mountains2 but man drives his iron horse over the mountains or through them4 ,vast oceans roll and mighty winds blow between continents2 but steam laughs at stormy seas4 ,the moon's light is not sufficient for man's purposes and he makes a brighter one4 ,when winter blows his icy breath1 man warms himself with coal and fire4 ,the ,south pours down upon him her scorching summer2 but he has learned how to freeze water into ice4 ,time and space conspire together for human isolation2 man conjures with electricity and with it destroys both4 ,the stars seek to hide their secrets behind immeasurable distances2 but an ,italian gives man a glass that brings the heavens closer before his vision4 ,history tries to conceal itself in the rubbish of ages2 but with ink man preserves the past4 ,his asylums1 hospitals1 churches1 schools1 libraries1 and universities are lights along the shore guiding the human race in its voyage down the ever widening stream of growth and possibility4 ,the centuries do not yield to man equal advancement4 ,some are very fertile2 others are almost1 if not quite1 barren4 ,the entire period of a thousand years stretching from the fall of ,rome to the discovery of ,america was as sterile as a heath4 ,on the other hand1 the nineteenth century was the greatest in history in point of human progress1 especially in the field of inventions4 ,it alone gave to man far more of civilization than the whole ten centuries before the discovery of ,america or indeed any other period of a thousand years4 ,one hundred years ago there was not a mile of railroad1 ocean cable1 or telegraph wire in the world2 not a telephone1 automobile1 electric light1 or typewriter4 ,the people were then deriding the new-born idea of the steamboat1 and wireless telegraphy had not been dreamed of4 ,even up to the beginning of the ,revolutionary ,war1 less than one hundred fifty years ago1 no man in ,america had ever seen an envelope1 a match1 a stove1 a piece of coal1 a daily newspaper1 a sewing machine1 a reaper1 a drill1 a mowing machine1 ether1 chloroform1 galvanized iron1 ,india-rubber1 or steam-driven machinery4 ,we who are alive to-day are fortunate more than any other generation thus far in the world's population4 ,we are living1 we are dwelling ,in a grand and awful time2 ,in an age on ages telling-- ,to be living is sublime4 ,the horse and the dog of to-day are not very different from the horses and the dogs of a thousand years ago4 ,from the beginning they have done about all they can ever do4 ,not so with man4 ,he is a progressive animal4 ,he is always reaching outward and upward for broader and higher things4 ,tennyson sings1 ,for ,i doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs1 ,and the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns4 ,the difference between the lives of the primitive cave-dweller and the modern ,american is unspeakably vast4 ,but looking far down the vista of future ages1 who shall say that the fortieth century may not as far surpass the twentieth as the twentieth does the sleepy dawn of man's existence on the earth8 ,we are packing more of life into a day than our ancestors could put into a month4 ,and the hours of the centuries to come hold a fuller experience than our days4 ,thomas ,carlyle calls man a tool-using animal4 ,throughout all time man has made and used tools4 ,these tools are the best measure of his civilization4 ,according to the material out of which they have been made1 man's progress has been divided into epochs or ages4 ,primitive man made a few implements of bone1 horn1 and stone4 ,they were few and crude4 ,this period is called the ,stone ,age4 ,during it men dwelt in caves or huts1 dressed themselves in skins1 and lived by catching fish1 chasing wild animals1 and gathering wild fruits4 ,by and by man learned how to make tools out of bronze1 an alloy composed of copper and tin4 ,these bronze implements were more numerous and more efficient than the stone tools and gave man a higher degree of power and workmanship4 ,with them he cut down trees or carved stone for his dwellings and acquired generally a higher order of life4 ,this era is named the ,bronze ,age4 ,finally the use of iron was discovered4 ,this metal afforded many tools that could not be made of stone or bronze--tools that were much stronger and more efficient4 ,man became correspondingly more powerful and his life more complex4 ,the period during which iron was used is called the ,iron ,age4 ,invention is the making of some new thing not previously existing4 ,discovery is the finding of something already in existence but not known before4 ,there was no electric telegraph until ,samuel ,morse made or invented it2 ,america has always existed1 but was not known until ,christopher ,columbus found or discovered it4 ,among all the builders of civilization1 not the least are the inventors and discoverers4 ,high up on the page of those who have made the world great will always stand the names of ,gutenberg or ,coster1 ,watt1 ,stephenson1 ,morse1 ,edison1 ,fulton1 ,galileo1 ,newton1 ,columbus1 ,morton1 ,bell1 ,marconi1 and others who have invented new machines and discovered new processes for making life more happy1 safe1 and powerful4 ,regarding the influence of inventions upon civilization1 ,lord ,salisbury says3 ,the inventors and even the first users of the great discoveries in applied science had never realized what influence their work was to have upon industry1 politics1 society1 and even religion4 ,the discovery of gunpowder simply annihilated feudalism1 thus effecting an entire change in the structure of government in ,europe4 ,as to the discovery of printing1 it not only made religious revolutions possible1 but was the basis on which modern democratic forms of government rested4 ,the steam engine not only changed all forms of industry and the conditions under which industries were prosecuted1 but it made practically contiguous the most distant parts of the world1 reducing its vastness to a relatively contracted area4 ,and now the introduction of electricity as a form of force seems destined1 as its development proceeds1 to bring about results quite as important in their way1 though but yet dimly seen by the most far-sighted4 ,secretary ,seward pays this tribute to invention3 ,the exercise of the inventive faculty is the nearest akin to the ,creator of any faculty possessed by the human mind2 for while it does not create in the sense that the ,creator did1 yet it is the nearest approach to it of anything known to man4 ,and ,lord ,bacon tells us3 ,the introduction of new inventions seemeth to be the very chief of all human actions4 ,the benefits of new inventions may extend to all mankind universally2 while the good of political achievements can respect but some particular cantons of men2 these latter do not endure above a few ages1 the former forever4 ,inventions make all men happy1 without injury to any one single person4 ,furthermore1 they are1 as it were1 new creations1 and imitations of ,god's own works4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,printing ,,press ,blessings be on the head of ,cadmus1 the ,phoenicians1 or whoever it is1 that first invented books4 ,thomas ,carlyle4 ,except a living man1 says ,charles ,kingsley1 there is nothing more wonderful than a book--a message to us from the dead--from human souls whom we never saw1 who lived perhaps thousands of miles away2 and yet these1 on those little sheets of paper1 speak to us1 amuse us1 vivify us1 teach us1 comfort us1 open their hearts to us as brothers4 ,we ought to reverence books1 to look at them as useful and mighty things4 ,milton calls a good book the precious life blood of a master spirit1 embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life4 ,cicero likens a room without books to a body without a soul4 ,ruskin says1 ,bread of flour is good2 but there is bread1 sweet as honey1 if we would eat it1 in a good book4 ,and ,thomas ,carlyle exclaims3 ,wondrous1 indeed1 is the virtue of a true book6 ,o thou who art able to write a book1 which once in two centuries or oftener there is a man gifted to do1 envy not him whom they name city-builder1 and inexpressibly pity him whom they name conqueror or city-burner6 ,is it not wonderful that a record of all the world has thought and said and felt and done can be deposited in a corner of my room1 and that there ,i may sit and commune with the master spirits of all the centuries8 ,socrates1 ,plato1 ,homer1 ,cicero1 ,virgil1 ,horace1 ,paul1 ,david1 ,moses1 ,buddha1 ,confucius1 ,goethe1 ,dante1 ,shakespeare1 ,hugo1 ,wordsworth1 ,tennyson1 ,carlyle1 and ,emerson1 all in one room at the same time6 ,great as books are1 however1 the world has not long had them4 ,for many generations after man's advent1 he had no language4 ,he communicated with his fellows by means of gestures or gave vent to his feelings in rude grunts or cries1 much as the lower animals do now4 ,but ,god gave to man something ,he did not bestow upon the other animals--the power of articulate speech4 ,certain sounds came to represent certain ideas and a kind of oral language grew up4 ,this became more and more highly developed as time went by4 ,for centuries the traditions1 stories1 and songs of men were handed down orally from father to son and were preserved only in the memory4 ,the poems of ,homer1 the great ,greek bard1 were recited by readers to large audiences1 some of them numbering probably twenty thousand4 ,by and by men felt the need of preserving their thoughts in some more permanent way than by memory1 and there grew up a rude system of writing4 ,at first pictures or rude imitations of objects were used2 a circle or a disc might represent the sun1 and a crescent the moon4 ,the idea of a tree was denoted by the picture of a tree4 ,the early ,indians of ,north ,america were among the peoples who used a system of picture writing4 ,in process of time1 as men grew in knowledge and culture1 certain fixed signs began to denote certain sounds1 and a phonetic system of writing was developed4 ,for the first phonetic alphabet it is generally supposed that we are indebted to the ,phoenicians1 an active1 commercial people1 who lived along the eastern shore of the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,they were a maritime nation and scattered their alphabet wherever they sailed1 so that some kind of phonetic alphabet finally existed throughout the civilized world4 ,books among the ancients were very different from the books of the present4 ,paper has not been known long1 nor1 indeed1 has the art of printing4 ,when man began to preserve his thoughts and deeds in more permanent form than in the memory1 various substances were used to write upon4 ,josephus1 an historian of the ,jews1 mentions two columns1 one of stone and the other of brick1 upon which the children of ,seth wrote accounts of their inventions and astronomical discoveries4 ,tablets of lead containing the works of ,hesiod1 a ,greek writer1 were deposited in the temple of the ,muses in ,boeotia4 ,according to the ,bible1 the ten commandments which the ,lord gave to ,moses on ,mount ,sinai for the children of ,israel were engraved on two tablets of stone2 and the laws of ,solon1 the great ,grecian law-giver1 were carved on planks of wood4 ,sixty centuries ago on the banks of the ,nile in northern ,africa flourished the civilization of the ,egyptians4 ,there grew abundantly in ,egypt a marsh reed called the papyrus4 ,from the name of this plant is derived our word paper4 ,the ,egyptians made their books from the papyrus plant4 ,with a sharp instrument they cut lengthwise strips through the stalk1 put these strips together edge to edge1 and on them at right angles1 placed another layer of shorter strips4 ,the two layers were then moistened with ,nile water1 pressed together1 and left to dry4 ,a leaf of writing material was thus produced4 ,any roughness on the surface of the sheet was polished away with some smooth instrument4 ,a number of leaves were then glued together so as to form a long piece of the material4 ,the ,egyptians took reeds1 dipped them in gum water colored with charcoal or with a kind of resinous soot1 and wrote on the long papyrus strip4 ,sometimes ink was made of the cuttle fish or from lees of wine4 ,after the papyrus had been written upon1 it was rolled up and became an ,egyptian book4 ,papyrus was used for writing material not only by the ,egyptians but by the ,greeks and the ,romans also1 and for a long time it was the chief substance used for writing throughout the civilized world4 ,it continued in use to a greater or less extent till about the seventh century after ,christ4 ,on the plains of ,asia lived the ,chaldeans1 whose civilization was about as old as that of the ,egyptians4 ,but their books were very different4 ,men use for their purposes the things that are close at hand4 ,in ,egypt the papyrus plant was utilized for making books4 ,in ,chaldea1 instead of this marsh reed1 there were great stores of clay and of this material the ancient ,chaldeans1 and the ,babylonians and the ,assyrians who followed them1 made their books4 ,the ,chaldeans took bricks or masses of smooth clay and1 while they were yet soft1 made impressions on them with a metal stiletto shaped at the end like the side of a wedge4 ,in ,latin the word for wedge is cuneus4 ,hence this old writing of the ,chaldeans is called cuneiform or wedge-shaped4 ,some of these wedge-shaped impressions stood for whole words1 others for syllables4 ,after the clay tablets had been written upon1 they were burned or dried hard in the sun4 ,a ,chaldean book was thus made very durable and lasted for ages4 ,during recent years many of them have been dug up in ancient ,babylonia and deciphered4 ,they consist of grammars1 dictionaries1 religious books and hymns1 laws1 public documents1 and records of private business transactions4 ,the early ,greeks and ,romans used for their books tablets of ivory or metal or1 more commonly1 tablets of wood taken from the beech or fir tree4 ,the inner sides of these tablets were coated with wax4 ,on this wax coating the letters were traced with a pointed metallic pen or stiletto called the stylus4 ,our ,english word style1 as used in rhetoric1 comes from the name of this instrument4 ,the other end of the stylus was used for erasing4 ,two of these waxed tablets1 joined at the edges by wire hinges1 were the earliest specimens of bookbinding4 ,wax tablets of this kind continued in partial use in ,europe through the ,middle ,ages4 ,later the leaves of the palm tree were used2 then the inner bark of the lime1 ash1 maple1 or elm4 ,the next material that came into general use for writing purposes was parchment4 ,this was made from the skins of animals1 particularly sheep or lambs4 ,next came vellum1 the prepared skin of the calf4 ,parchment and vellum were written upon with a metallic pen4 ,as these substances were very costly1 sometimes one book was written over another on the same piece of parchment or vellum4 ,of course this made the reading of the manuscript very difficult4 ,about the end of the ninth century or the beginning of the tenth1 after ,christ1 parchment and vellum as material for books gave way to paper4 ,at first paper was made of cotton1 but during the twelfth century it was produced from linen4 ,it is not known who invented linen paper1 but its introduction gave the first great impulse to book making4 ,in the early ,greek books the lines ran in opposite directions alternately4 ,that is1 there would be a line from left to right across the page1 and then the next lower line would begin at the right and run towards the left4 ,among some of the ,orientals the lines ran from right to left4 ,in the old ,chinese books the lines were vertical down the page1 as they are still4 ,among ,western and ,northern peoples the lines ran from left to right as in our modern books4 ,the old civilizations of ,egypt and ,babylonia1 in which the art of book-making originated1 sprang up1 flourished1 and decayed1 burying from the sight of men precious secrets in the arts and sciences4 ,the beautiful flower of ,greek culture budded1 bloomed1 and withered4 ,passing on from east to west1 civilization knocked at the door of ,rome and awakened there such military and legal genius as the world had not yet seen4 ,then a horde of wild barbarians poured over the mountains of northern ,italy and overthrew the mighty city on the ,tiber4 ,the sun of civilization was setting1 at least for a time4 ,night was coming on1 the night of the ,dark ,ages1 a night without a star of human thought or achievement1 a night full of the noxious vapors of ignorance and superstition4 ,about the beginning of the fifteenth century after ,christ there came over the world a great intellectual awakening4 ,the human intellect began to awake1 to stretch itself1 to go forth and conquer4 ,one of the first signs and causes of this intellectual awakening was an event that happened at ,mainz in ,germany or at ,haarlem in ,holland1 or possibly in both places at the same time4 ,of all the events that have made for civilization and have influenced the progress of the human race1 this event at ,haarlem or ,mainz is the most important4 ,it is the invention of printing4 ,before this time1 ever since man began to record his thoughts1 whether on plank1 stone1 or papyrus1 on bark of tree1 skin of animal1 or tablet of wax or paper1 every letter was made by hand4 ,the process was necessarily slow1 books were rare and costly1 and only the few could have them4 ,but with the advent of a process that would multiply books and make them cheap1 learning was made accessible to the multitude4 ,the clang of the first printing press was the death knell of ignorance and tyranny4 ,illustration3 ,,an ,,advertisement ,,of ,,caxton1 ,,the ,,first ,,printer ,,in ,,england ,before the invention of printing with movable1 metal types1 a kind of block printing was used4 ,the words or letters were carved on a block of wood2 the block was applied to paper1 silk1 cloth1 or vellum1 and thus impressions were made4 ,it has always been a matter of dispute as to who invented printing4 ,it is fairly clear that printing1 both with blocks and with movable types1 was practised in ,china and ,japan long before it was in ,europe4 ,there is a tradition that as far back as #age ,a4,d4 ,chinese classics were cut upon tablets of stone1 that these tablets were placed outside the university1 and that impressions were made from them4 ,however1 we are not indebted to ,china or ,japan for the art of printing4 ,the real invention of printing1 so far as the civilized world is concerned1 occurred in ,europe in the latter part of the fifteenth century4 ,the inventor is often said to be ,johann ,gutenberg1 of ,mainz1 ,germany4 ,another strong claimant for this honor is ,lourens ,janszoon ,coster1 who lived at ,haarlem1 in ,holland4 ,concerning the lives of ,coster and ,gutenberg little is known4 ,coster was born at ,haarlem1 ,holland1 about #acgj ,a4,d4 ,he was a member of the ,haarlem ,council1 assessor and treasurer4 ,he probably perished in the plague that visited ,haarlem in #adci-dj4 ,gutenberg was born of noble parents at ,mainz1 ,germany1 in #adaj4 ,he had an active mind and gave attention to the manufacture of money1 the polishing of stones1 and the making of looking-glasses1 besides his efforts in printing4 ,he died in ,february1 #adfh1 poor1 childless1 and almost friendless4 ,the first printed book1 so far as can be determined1 was made at ,mainz1 ,germany1 and bears the date of #aded ,a4,d4 ,from certain legal records it is supposed that ,gutenberg was the maker of this book and the inventor of printing4 ,on the other hand1 there is a story that ,coster1 while walking in the woods one autumn afternoon1 chanced to make for his little grandchild some letters from the bark of a tree2 that these letters suggested to him the idea of metallic types2 and that he1 and not ,gutenberg1 was the inventor of printing4 ,as the story goes1 a slave stole ,coster's types and ran away with them from ,haarlem to ,mainz2 and the books which1 it is supposed1 were made at the latter place came really from ,coster's types1 not ,gutenberg's4 ,the fact cannot be known4 ,it has hopelessly gone with the years4 ,this first book1 which was printed in two different editions1 consisted of certain letters written by ,pope ,nicholas ,v in behalf of the kingdom of ,cyprus4 ,by about #adgg ,a4,d4 printing had extended from ,mainz to all the chief towns of ,germany1 ,italy1 ,switzerland1 ,france1 the ,netherlands1 ,spain1 and ,england4 ,by the beginning of the sixteenth century it had spread to all the principal places of ,europe4 ,in the type of the early books the various letter forms were not fixed as they are in modern books1 but the type for each book was made as much as possible like the writing of the original manuscript4 ,as printers moved from place to place introducing their art1 it seems that not one carried away the types of his master but each made his own anew4 ,type was originally made and set up by hand1 piece by piece1 so that even the production of printed books was very slow4 ,various mechanical devices have been invented from time to time1 quickening and cheapening the making of books and other printed matter1 so that to-day printers turn out books and papers in large quantities in an amazingly short time4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,printing ,,press ,,in ,,boston ,,at ,,which ,,franklin ,,worked ,the first newspaper in the world is believed to have been the ,frankfurter ,journal1 published about #afae ,a4,d4 at ,frankfort-on-the-,main1 in ,germany4 ,but of this there is no certainty4 ,newspapers1 however1 had their beginnings in ,germany and ,italy some time in the latter part of the sixteenth or the first part of the seventeenth century4 ,it is believed that the ,weekly ,news1 started in ,london in #afbb1 was the first newspaper published in ,england4 ,in the ,united ,states there was a printing press attached to ,harvard ,college1 at ,cambridge1 ,massachusetts1 as early as #afch1 two years after the college was founded1 and only six years after the settlement of ,boston4 ,with this one exception1 for a long time there were no printing presses in the colonies4 ,a newspaper called ,publick ,occurrences was started in ,boston in #afij1 but it was soon afterward suppressed by the ,british government4 ,the first permanent newspaper in ,america was the ,boston ,news ,letter1 established at ,boston in #agjd4 ,one of the greatest wonders and triumphs of civilization is the great modern daily newspaper4 ,it occupies a giant sky-scraper as its home1 employs a small army of workmen1 spends vast sums of money in obtaining and printing the news1 and is sold for a cent per copy4 ,the head of a newspaper staff is the editor-in-chief4 ,he is in a general way responsible to the publishers for the paper4 ,next in command is the managing editor who has charge of the actual work of publication4 ,subordinate to the managing editor are other editors who have control over various departments of the paper4 ,the telegraph editor looks after news sent by telegraph2 the city editor has charge of happenings in the city of publication2 the exchange editor clips items from other papers2 the religious editor attends to affairs of religion2 the sporting editor collects and arranges news of sports and games2 the commercial editor works with the markets and matters of commerce and business2 the society editor gives attention to social functions2 and the dramatic editor takes note of the theaters4 ,the city editor commands a company of perhaps half a hundred reporters1 who are sent scurrying daily throughout the city to bring in the news from its various sources4 ,one goes to the ball game1 another to a funeral1 another to the courts1 another to a hotel to interview some prominent person1 and still another goes to a political convention4 ,there are also photographers1 illustrators1 and editorial writers4 ,at the close of the day1 special correspondents and representatives of press associations in every nook and corner of the earth send the world's news for the day by telegraph and ocean cable direct into the newspaper office4 ,a king has died2 a battle has been fought2 storm1 earthquake1 or fire has destroyed a city2 or there has been some achievement in science or art4 ,the local reporters have brought in the news of the city4 ,after all has been quickly written1 examined1 and edited1 the reports are sent to the composing room to be put into type4 ,the foreman of the composing room distributes the manuscript1 called copy1 among skilled operators1 who by means of type-setting machines put it into type4 ,impressions are then made from this type on strips of paper4 ,these impressions are called proofs4 ,proof readers compare these proofs with the original copy for the purpose of correcting errors4 ,after the correction of errors the columns of type1 called galleys1 are locked up in a form which is the size of a page4 ,the form is next sent to the stereotyping room1 where an exact reproduction is made in metal4 ,the metal plates are put in place on the presses4 ,the machinery is started4 ,tons of white paper are fed into the presses at one end4 ,out at another in an instant comes the finished newspaper1 printed1 cut1 and folded4 ,these papers are counted and delivered automatically to the mailing room1 at the rate of about #ajj1jjj copies in an hour1 for the improved1 modern press4 ,after their arrival at the mailing room1 papers that are for out-of-town subscribers are wrapped in packages1 addressed1 and carried in express wagons to fast mail trains1 which carry this record of what man did the previous day to readers hundreds of miles away4 ,this afternoon at five o'clock a prominent man dies suddenly in ,san ,francisco4 ,to-night at midnight the newspapers of ,st4 ,louis1 ,chicago1 and ,new ,york will come from the press with his picture and a long sketch of his life4 ,how is this possible in so short a time8 ,the papers have on file1 arranged in alphabetical order1 photographs of prominent persons and places and biographical sketches of great men1 kept up to date4 ,whenever any noted person1 place1 or thing is made conspicuous by any event1 the picture and sketch are taken from the files and used4 ,it is the electric telegraph that makes possible the modern daily newspaper4 ,before its invention1 papers resorted to various devices for transmitting news4 ,for some years messengers riding ponies brought news from ,washington to the ,new ,york papers4 ,these papers also utilized small1 swift-sailing vessels to meet incoming ships bearing news from foreign countries4 ,a recent bulletin on printing and publishing issued by the ,census ,bureau of the ,united ,states government showed that there were in the ,united ,states #ba1cid newspapers and periodicals1 printed in twenty-seven different languages4 ,of these1 #b1deb were daily2 #ae1jdf weekly2 #b1ejj monthly2 #cec quarterly2 #eh tri-weekly2 #fde semi-weekly2 and #cdj of all other kinds4 #bj1ahd of these papers were ,english2 #fai ,german2 #aeh ,scandinavian2 #eh ,italian2 #da ,french2 #dd ,bohemian2 #ca ,spanish2 #ah ,hebrew2 #ba ,dutch2 #g ,chinese2 #i ,japanese2 #e ,greek2 #df ,polish2 #e ,hungarian2 #c ,arabic2 and two each in the ,welsh1 ,syrian and ,gaelic languages4 ,the capital invested in printing and publishing in the ,united ,states was a little more than #che1jjj1jjj4 ,it would take one person twelve hours a day every day for six thousand years1 or from the beginnings of ,egyptian and ,babylonian civilization to the dawn of the twentieth century1 to read at an average rate all the papers published in the ,united ,states during a single year4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,steam ,,engine ,,the ,,song ,,of ,,steam ,,by ,,george ,,washington ,,cutter ,harness me down with your iron bands2 ,be sure of your curb and rein2 ,for ,i scorn the power of your puny hands1 ,as the tempest scorns a chain4 ,how ,i laughed as ,i lay concealed from sight ,for many a countless hour1 ,at the childish boast of human might1 ,and the pride of human power4 ,when ,i saw an army upon the land1 ,a navy upon the seas1 ,creeping along1 a snail-like band1 ,or waiting the wayward breeze2 ,when ,i marked the peasant faintly reel ,with the toil which he daily bore1 ,as he feebly turned the tardy wheel1 ,or tugged at the weary oar2 ,when ,i measured the panting courser's speed1 ,the flight of the courier dove1 ,as they bore the law a king decreed1 ,or the lines of impatient love1-- ,i could not but think how the world would feel1 ,as these were outstripped afar1 ,when ,i should be bound to the rushing keel1 ,or chained to the flying car2 ,ha1 ha6 they found me out at last2 ,they invited me forth at length2 ,and ,i rushed to my throne with a thunder-blast1 ,and ,i laughed in my iron strength4 ,oh1 then ye saw a wondrous change ,on the earth and the ocean wide1 ,where now my fiery armies range1 ,nor wait for wind and tide4 ,hurrah6 hurrah6 the waters o'er2 ,the mountain's steep decline2 ,time--space--have yielded to my power2 ,the world--the world is mine6 ,the rivers the sun hath earliest blest1 ,or those where his beams decline2 ,the giant streams of the queenly ,west1 ,and the ,orient floods divine4 ,the ocean pales where'er ,i sweep1 ,i in my strength rejoice2 ,and the monsters of the briny deep ,cower1 trembling1 at my voice4 ,i carry the wealth and the lord of earth1 ,the thoughts of his god-like mind2 ,the wind lags after my going forth1 ,the lightning is left behind4 ,in the darksome depths of the fathomless mine ,my tireless arm doth play1 ,where the rocks never saw the sun decline1 ,or the dawn of the glorious day4 ,i bring earth's glittering jewels up ,from the hidden caves below1 ,and ,i make the fountain's granite cup ,with a crystal gush o'erflow4 ,i blow the bellows1 ,i forge the steel1 ,in all the shops of trade2 ,i hammer the ore1 and turn the wheel1 ,where my arms of strength are made2 ,i manage the furnace1 the mill1 the mint2 ,i carry1 ,i spin1 ,i weave2 ,and all my doings ,i put into print ,on every ,saturday eve4 ,i've no muscle to weary1 no breast to decay1 ,no bones to be laid on the shelf1 ,and soon ,i intend you may go and play1 ,while ,i manage this world myself4 ,but harness me down with your iron bands1 ,be sure of your curb and rein2 ,for ,i scorn the power of your puny hands1 ,as the tempest scorns a chain6 ,the most powerful and important mass of matter on the earth is the steam engine4 ,it is the throbbing heart of civilization1 even as the printing press is its brain4 ,it would be difficult for man to compute his debt to steam4 ,upon it he relies for food1 clothing1 and shelter1 the three necessities for which the race has always striven2 and without it he could have scarcely any of life's comforts and luxuries4 ,steam is the mistress of commerce1 manufacturing1 and mining1 and the servant of agriculture4 ,steam gives employment to millions of men4 ,it plants cities and towns in waste places4 ,it enables man to leave the little valley or hillside where his fathers lived1 and makes of him a citizen of the world4 ,it lessens the power of time and space1 and makes neighbors of ocean-divided continents4 ,it would not be easy for men living in the twentieth century to imagine a society uninfluenced by the use of steam2 but nearly all of man's life on the earth has been passed without its help4 ,fire and water1 the two productive factors of steam1 have always existed2 but it was not until a few score of years ago that man learned to put them together successfully1 and to produce the greatest force known to civilization4 ,in the few years since its discovery it has spread to every nook and corner of civilization4 ,suppose you could ascend to some great height whence you could see working at one time all the steam driven machinery in the world4 ,what a sight it would be6 ,what if the noise from all this machinery--the screech of the speeding locomotive1 the hum and roar of factory and mill1 the hoarse yell of ships1 and the puffing of mine-engines--should reach your ear at once8 ,what a sound it would be6 ,the idea of using steam for driving stationary machinery originated in the early centuries4 ,this was the first use to which steam was put4 ,for a long time no one seems to have thought of using it for transportation purposes4 ,as far back as #acj ,b4,c41 we find mention of heat engines1 which employed steam as their motive power1 and were used for organ blowing1 the turning of spits1 and like purposes4 ,but from this early date till the seventeenth century practically no progress was made in the use of steam4 ,though men had experimented with steam up to this time with more or less success1 the world is chiefly indebted for the developed type of the steam engine to ,james ,watt and ,george ,stephenson4 ,watt was born in ,greenock1 ,scotland1 ,january #ai1 #agcf4 ,he was a poor boy and early in life he was thrown upon his own resources4 ,during his youth he struggled against ill health2 for days at a time he was prostrated with severe headaches4 ,but he was bright1 determined1 and had a genial disposition that made him many friends4 ,when he was twenty-one years old1 he secured a position as maker of scientific instruments for the university in ,glasgow4 ,he began discussing with some scientific friends at the university the possibility of improving the steam engine1 which at that time was used only for pumping water1 chiefly in the drainage of mines4 ,he entered upon a scientific study of the properties of steam and tried to devise means for making the steam engine more useful4 ,one ,sunday afternoon early in #agfe1 while walking in ,glasgow1 the idea he had studied so long to evolve suddenly flashed into his mind4 ,without delay ,watt put his plan to the test and found that it worked4 ,for a long time1 owing to a lack of money1 he had difficulty in establishing the merits of his improvements4 ,finally he formed a partnership with ,matthew ,boulton1 a wealthy and energetic man who lived at ,birmingham1 ,england4 ,they began the manufacture of steam engines at ,birmingham1 under the firm name of ,boulton and ,watt4 ,this partnership was very successful4 ,watt supplied the inventions2 ,boulton furnished the money and attended to the business4 ,before the time of ,watt1 the steam engine was exclusively a steam pump--slow1 cumbrous1 wasteful of fuel1 and very little used4 ,watt made it a quick1 powerful1 and efficient engine1 requiring only a fourth as much fuel as before4 ,under his first patent the engine was still used only as a steam pump2 but his later improvements adapted it for driving stationary machinery of all kinds and1 save in a few respects1 left it essentially what it is to-day4 ,prior to ,watt's inventions1 the mines of ,great ,britain were far from thriving4 ,many were even on the point of being abandoned1 through the difficulty of removing the large quantities of water that collected in them4 ,his improvements made it possible to remove this water at a moderate cost1 and this gave many of the mines a new lease of life4 ,the commercial success of his engine was soon fully established4 ,watt paid practically no attention to the use of steam for purposes of transportation4 ,in one of his patents he described a steam locomotive2 but he offered little encouragement when his chief assistant1 ,murdoch1 who was the inventor of gas lighting1 made experiments with steam for locomotion4 ,the notion then was to use a steam carriage on ordinary roads4 ,railroads had not been thought of4 ,when the idea of using steam on railways began to take shape in the later days of ,watt1 he refused to encourage the plan4 ,it is said that he even put a clause in a lease of his house1 providing that no steam carriage should ever approach it under any pretext whatever4 ,besides developing the steam engine1 ,watt made other inventions1 including a press for copying letters4 ,he also probably discovered the chemical composition of water4 ,he died at ,heathfield1 ,england1 on the nineteenth of ,august1 #ahai4 ,it is denied many men to see the magnitude of their achievements4 ,moses died on ,pisgah1 in sight of the ,promised ,land1 toward which for forty years he had led the children of ,israel through the wilderness4 ,wolfe gave up his life on the plains of ,quebec just as the first shouts of the routed ,french greeted his ears4 ,columbus was sent home in chains from the ,america he had discovered1 not dreaming he had given to civilization another world4 ,lincoln's eyes were closed forever at the very dawn of peace1 after he had watched in patience through the long and fearful night of the ,civil ,war4 ,it never appeared to ,james ,watt that the idea which flashed into his mind that ,sunday afternoon while he was walking in the streets of ,glasgow1 would transform human life2 that like a mighty multiplier it would increase the product of man's power and give him dominion1 not over the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air1 but over tide and wind1 space and time4 ,victor ,hugo calls locomotives these giant draft horses of civilization4 ,but man never harnessed these wonderful iron animals until the time of ,george ,stephenson1 less than a hundred years ago4 ,stephenson was born at ,wylam1 near ,newcastle1 ,england1 ,june #i1 #agha4 ,his father was a fireman of a coal-mine engine at that place4 ,in boyhood ,george was a cowherd1 but he spent his spare time making clay models of engines and other objects of a mechanical nature4 ,when he was fourteen years old1 he became assistant to his father in firing the engine at the colliery1 and three years later he was advanced to engine driving4 ,at this time he could not even read2 but1 stimulated by a strong desire to know more of the engines made by ,boulton and ,watt1 he began in his eighteenth year to attend a night school4 ,he learned rapidly4 ,during most of this time he studied various experiments with a view to making a successful steam locomotive4 ,modern railways had their origin in roads called tramways1 which were used for hauling coal from the mines of ,england to the sea4 ,at first ordinary dirt roads were used for this purpose2 but as the heavy traffic wore these roads away1 it become the practice to place planks or timbers at the bottoms of the ruts4 ,afterwards wooden rails were laid straight and parallel on the level surface4 ,the rails were oak scantlings held together with cross timbers of the same material1 fastened by means of large oak pins4 ,later strips of iron were nailed on the tops of the wooden rails4 ,over these rails1 bulky1 four-wheeled carts loaded with coal were pulled by horses4 ,stephenson made what he called a traveling engine for the tramways leading from the mines where he worked to the sea1 nine miles distant4 ,he named his engine ,my ,lord4 ,on ,july #be1 #ahad1 he made a successful trial trip with it4 ,the successful use of steam in hauling coal from the mines led thoughtful persons to consider its use for carrying merchandise and passengers4 ,at this time freight was transported inland by means of canals4 ,this method was slow2 thirty-six hours were required for traveling fifty miles4 ,passengers were conveyed by coaches drawn by horses4 ,in #ahba a railroad for the transportation of merchandise and passengers was opened between ,stockton and ,darlington in ,england4 ,the line1 including three branches1 was thirty-eight miles long4 ,the plan was to use animal power on this road1 but ,george ,stephenson secured permission to try on it his steam locomotive4 ,in ,september1 #ahbe1 the first train passed over the road4 ,it consisted of thirty-four cars weighing1 all told1 ninety tons4 ,the train was pulled by ,stephenson's engine1 operated by ,stephenson himself1 with a signalman riding on horseback in advance4 ,the train moved off at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour1 and on certain parts of the road it reached a speed of fifteen miles per hour4 ,the trial was a complete success4 ,the road had been built chiefly for the transportation of freight1 but from the first passengers insisted on being carried1 and in ,october1 #ahbe1 the ,company began to run a daily passenger coach called the ,experiment4 ,this coach carried six persons inside and from fifteen to twenty outside4 ,the round trip between ,stockton and ,darlington was made in two hours4 ,a fare of one shilling was charged1 and each passenger was allowed fourteen pounds of baggage free4 ,the ,stockton and ,darlington was the first railway in the world over which passengers and freight were hauled by steam4 ,stephenson was next employed to help construct a railway between ,liverpool and ,manchester4 ,the most eminent engineers of the day predicted that the road could not be built4 ,but it was built4 ,on the fifteenth of ,september1 #ahcj1 ,stephenson made a trial trip over the road with an improved locomotive named the ,rocket4 ,on the trial trip the ,rocket made twenty-nine miles an hour4 ,this trip firmly proved the possibilities of steam as motive power on railways and started the modern era of railroad building4 ,other railways were quickly built and soon they radiated from ,london to nearly every ,english seaport4 ,illustration3 ,,an ,,early ,,railroad ,,train ,,in ,,englandan ,,early ,,railroad ,,train ,,in ,,england ,stephenson's son1 ,robert1 assisted him in the construction of the ,rocket and later attained considerable reputation as an engineer4 ,it is claimed that ,george ,stephenson was the inventor of the safety lamp for use in mines1 an invention usually accredited to ,sir ,humphry ,davy4 ,he was often consulted in the building of subsequent railroads1 but he spent the last years of his life in farming and gardening at his home at ,chesterfield1 ,england1 where he died ,august #ab1 #ahdh4 ,before the days of railroads in ,america1 freight was hauled on canals and passengers rode in stage coaches or on horseback4 ,a coach made the trip from ,boston to ,new ,york twice a week and the journey required six days4 ,a trip from ,new ,york to ,philadelphia took two days4 ,from ,philadelphia to ,baltimore the roads were good1 but south of ,baltimore they were bad and even dangerous4 ,south of the ,james ,river the traveler was compelled to make his journey on horseback4 ,a coach from ,charleston to ,savannah was the only public conveyance south of the ,potomac ,river4 ,in the days of the old colonial stagecoach1 if a traveler wished to go from ,boston to ,new ,york1 he would have to be ready to begin the journey at three o'clock in the morning4 ,the stage had no glass windows1 no door or step1 and passengers were obliged to climb in at the front4 ,one pair of horses pulled the stage eighteen miles1 and then they were relieved by another pair4 ,at about ten o'clock in the evening1 after a day's journey of forty miles1 the stage drew up at an inn for the night4 ,at three o'clock the next morning1 after dressing by the light of a horn lantern1 the traveler must resume his journey4 ,if the roads were bad1 he might have to alight from the stage and help the driver pull the wheels out of the mud4 ,rivers were crossed on clumsy flat-boats4 ,when the streams were swollen with rains or filled with floating ice1 the passage across was often dangerous4 ,the trip from ,boston to ,philadelphia1 which would have taken eight days of ,washington's time1 can easily be made now by train in as many hours4 ,in these days of the modern railroad1 ,san ,francisco is nearer in time to ,new ,york than ,washington was scarcely a hundred years ago4 ,the first railway in ,america was built in #ahbf4 ,it connected a granite quarry at ,quincy1 ,massachusetts1 with the town of ,milton in the same state4 ,it was only two or three miles long1 and was operated with horses4 ,in ,may1 #ahbi1 three ,english locomotives--the first ever seen in ,america--were unloaded at ,new ,york ,city4 ,on ,august #i of the same year1 one of these engines was tried at ,honesdale1 ,pennsylvania4 ,this was the first time that a locomotive ever turned a wheel on a railway in ,america4 ,a canal which the business men of ,philadelphia proposed to construct from their city to ,pittsburg1 in order to give them access to the trade centers of the ,west1 threatened the commercial prosperity of ,baltimore4 ,to offset the advantages which this canal would give ,philadelphia1 at a great public meeting in ,baltimore it was decided to build a railway from ,baltimore to some point on the ,ohio ,river4 ,the road was named the ,baltimore and ,ohio4 ,in #ahcj it was finished from ,baltimore as far as ,ellicott's ,mills1 a distance of fifteen miles4 ,the ,baltimore and ,ohio was the first railroad in the ,united ,states built for the express purpose of carrying passengers and freight4 ,the original intention was to pull cars over this road with horses4 ,but ,peter ,cooper persuaded the railroad officials to try his engine ,tom ,thumb1 which he had built in #ahbi4 ,the trial was successful1 for ,tom ,thumb drew a car-load of passengers at the rate of fifteen to eighteen miles per hour4 ,this engine was the first locomotive built in ,america1 and its trial was the first trip ever made by an ,american locomotive4 ,the first railroad in the ,united ,states constructed with the original purpose of using steam as motive power was the ,south ,carolina railroad1 a line one hundred thirty-six miles long between ,charleston and ,hamburg4 ,a locomotive built in ,new ,york ,city1 called the ,best ,friend1 made its first trip over this road in ,november1 #ahcj4 ,it was the first locomotive to run regularly on a railroad in the ,united ,states4 ,railroad building spread rapidly in ,america1 as it had in ,england4 ,by #ahce there were twenty-two railroads in the ,united ,states1 two of them being west of the ,alleghenies1 though no road was more than one hundred forty miles in length4 ,there was no railroad west of the ,mississippi ,river prior to #ahec1 and in that year a line only thirty-eight miles long was built4 ,during #aijf alone1 #eeaf miles of railroad were constructed in the ,united ,states4 ,at the end of that year1 there was a total in the ,united ,states of #bbb1fce miles1 or nearly enough to reach nine times around the entire globe4 ,the ,united ,states now has thirty per cent4 more miles of railway main track than all of ,europe1 and contains two fifths of the railroad mileage of the world4 ,the railroads of the ,united ,states represent a value of about fifteen billion dollars1 and give employment to a million and a half persons4 ,the ,pennsylvania ,railroad was originally owned by the state4 ,any one could use it by paying certain charges1 and each person operating the road furnished his own cars1 horses1 and drivers4 ,there were frequent blockades2 when two cars going in opposite directions met1 one had to turn back4 ,if rival shippers came together and neither was willing to yield to the other1 a fight probably settled the rights of precedence4 ,after a time steam became the sole motive power1 and the locomotives were owned by the state4 ,the railroad journeys of our grandfathers were very different from our own4 ,in their day the rails were wooden beams or stringers laid on horizontal blocks of stone4 ,strips of iron were fastened with spikes to the tops of the wooden rails4 ,the cars were small1 each seating only a few passengers4 ,the locomotive was crude4 ,its greatest speed was about fifteen miles an hour4 ,it could not climb a hill1 and when a grade was reached1 the cars had to be pulled up or let down with ropes managed by a stationary engine4 ,no cab sheltered the engineer2 no brake checked the speed4 ,sometimes the spikes fastening the iron strips to the tops of the wooden rails worked loose1 and these strips curled up and penetrated the bottoms of the cars1 greatly to the annoyance and fright of the traveler4 ,the bridges in those days were roofed4 ,the smokestack of the locomotive1 being too tall to pass under the roof1 was made in two joints or sections fastened together with hinges4 ,when the train approached a bridge1 the top section of the stack was lowered4 ,as wood only was used for fuel1 the stack emitted a shower of sparks1 smoke1 and hot cinders4 ,the passengers coughed and sputtered1 and covered their eyes1 mouths1 and noses with handkerchiefs4 ,the trip from ,chicago to ,new ,york is about a thousand miles1 over prairie1 river1 and mountain4 ,should you make the journey between these cities over the ,pennsylvania ,railroad of to-day1 there would be little danger of conflict because two rival trains might want the track at the same time4 ,nor would you have to wait while ropes pulled the train up a grade1 for the locomotive can climb the hills4 ,instead of the old wooden rails with their strips of iron1 there is a double track of solid steel rails all the way4 ,the landscape would fly past you at the rate of a mile a minute1 instead of fifteen miles an hour4 ,let us suppose that you leave ,chicago at #b4de o'clock ,p4,m41 central time4 ,before the train starts you could telephone to a friend without leaving the car4 ,you might sit down1 in an elegant dining-car1 to a dinner of all the delicacies the market could afford4 ,you might occupy your own exclusive compartment in a luxuriously equipped ,pullman car1 lit by electric bulbs1 or you could spend the evening reading the magazines1 newspapers1 and books provided in the train library4 ,you might write at a comfortable desk with train stationery1 or dictate letters and telegrams to the train stenographer4 ,you are provided with hot and cold water1 bathing facilities1 and a barber shop4 ,a maid could be summoned to the service of women and children2 and a valet would be in attendance to sponge and press clothing over night4 ,you would arrive in ,new ,york the next morning at #i4de o'clock1 having traveled the thousand miles in eighteen hours4 ,simple as the idea of the sleeping-car is in reality1 it was not introduced until #aheh1 when the ,lake ,shore ,railroad ran the first crude and uncomfortable night-cars4 ,george ,m4 ,pullman in #ahei set for himself the task of producing a palace car which should be used for continuous and comfortable travel through long distances by day and night4 ,he remodelled into sleeping-cars two passenger coaches belonging to the ,chicago and ,alton ,railroad4 ,though these cars fell far below the inventor's ideal1 they were far in advance of the first make-shifts and in consequence created a demand for more and better cars of the same kind4 ,in #ahfc1 at his factory in ,chicago1 ,pullman began the construction of the ,pioneer1 the first of the ,pullman palace cars4 ,this car was built at a cost of #ah1jjj4 ,it was first used in the funeral train which conveyed the body of ,president ,lincoln to his burial place in ,springfield1 ,illinois4 ,few inventions have been financially so remunerative to the inventors as the ,pullman palace car4 ,it brought ,mr4 ,pullman an immense fortune4 ,the ,pullman ,palace ,car ,company1 founded by ,pullman in #ahfg1 is one of the largest and most successful manufacturing concerns in ,america4 ,it employs a capital of #dj1jjj1jjj1 gives work to fourteen thousand persons1 furnishes sleeping-car service for #abj1jjj miles of railway1 and operates over #b1jjj cars4 ,mr4 ,pullman adopted plans for the vestibule car in #ahhg4 ,he died at his home in ,chicago1 ,october #ai1 #ahig4 ,the idea of the steamboat did not originate in the brain of ,robert ,fulton4 ,it is claimed that1 as early as #aedc1 ,blasco de ,garay propelled a boat by steam1 and that in #agjg1 just a hundred years before the time of ,fulton's ,clermont1 ,papin ran a boat with steam on a river in ,germany4 ,in #agfc ,william ,henry experimented with a steamboat on the ,conistoga ,river in ,pennsylvania4 ,james ,rumsey1 a ,scotchman living in ,maryland1 is said to have been the first ,american to discover a method for running a vessel with steam against wind and tide4 ,he conceived the idea in ,august1 #aghc4 ,during #aghe he made his boat1 and in #aghf he navigated it on the ,potomac ,river at ,shepherdstown1 ,virginia1 in the presence of hundreds of spectators4 ,he wrote to ,general ,washington of his invention1 and ,washington wrote concerning it to ,governor ,johnson of ,maryland4 ,in #ahci ,congress voted a gold medal to ,james ,rumsey1 ,jr41 son and only surviving child of the inventor1 in recognition of the elder ,rumsey's achievement4 ,in #aghg ,john ,fitch exhibited on the ,delaware ,river a vessel to be propelled by steam1 and in #agij1 from ,june to ,september1 he ran a steamboat on that river between ,philadelphia and ,trenton4 ,but he could not induce the public to patronize his boat1 and for lack of business it had to be withdrawn4 ,some ,british authorities claim that the first practical steamboat in the world was the tug ,charlotte ,dundas1 built by ,william ,symmington1 and tried in #ahjb on the ,clyde and ,forth ,canal in ,scotland4 ,the trial was successful1 but steam towing was abandoned for fear of injuring the banks of the canal4 ,symmington had built a small steamboat that traveled five miles an hour in #aghh4 ,illustration3 ,,robert ,,fulton ,to ,robert ,fulton1 an ,american1 belongs the credit for placing the steamboat on a successful commercial basis4 ,fulton was born at ,little ,britain1 ,pennsylvania1 in #agfe4 ,at the age of seventeen he adopted the profession of portrait and landscape painter4 ,at twenty-two he went to ,england to study art4 ,there he met ,james ,watt1 the inventor of the steam engine1 and soon he began to give attention to mechanics4 ,in #agic he started to work on the idea of propelling boats by steam4 ,he made an unsuccessful experiment with a steamboat on the ,seine ,river in ,france4 ,the vessel sank because its construction was faulty4 ,fulton returned to ,america and in ,new ,york harbor began to build another boat which he named the ,katherine of ,clermont1 shortened to the ,clermont4 ,her engine was procured from ,boulton and ,watt in ,england4 ,the boat was one hundred feet long and twenty feet wide1 weighed one hundred sixty tons1 and was equipped with side paddle wheels and a sheet-iron boiler4 ,as the inventor worked patiently at his task1 the newspapers gave him but little notice and the public ridiculed him4 ,the ,new ,york legislature had passed a bill granting to ,fulton and to ,chancellor ,livingston the exclusive right to navigate with steam boats the waters of ,new ,york ,state4 ,this bill was a standing subject of ridicule among the legislators at ,albany4 ,in ,august1 #ahjg1 the ,clermont was ready for her trial trip4 ,a large crowd of spectators lined the banks of the ,hudson as the boat slowly steamed out into the river4 ,the crowd jeered and hooted and shouted at the vessel their nick-name of ,fulton's ,folly4 ,as the ,clermont moved up the river1 making slow headway against the current1 the crowd changed their jeers to expressions of wonder and finally to cheers4 ,the dry pine wood used for fuel sent out a cloud of thick1 black smoke1 flames1 and sparks1 which spread terror among the watermen of the harbor4 ,the ,clermont made the voyage from ,new ,york up the ,hudson to ,chancellor ,livingston's country estate near ,albany1 a distance of a hundred ten miles1 in twenty-four hours4 ,the trip was without mishap and it thoroughly established the practicability of steam for purposes of navigation4 ,concerning this voyage ,fulton wrote to a friend in ,paris3 ,my steamboat voyage to ,albany and back has turned out rather more favorably than ,i had calculated4 ,the voyage was performed wholly by power of the steam engine4 ,i overtook many sloops and schooners beating to windward1 and parted with them as if they had been at anchor4 ,the power of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved4 ,the morning ,i left ,new ,york there were not thirty persons in the city who believed that the boat would ever move a mile an hour1 or be of the least utility4 ,while we were putting off from the wharf1 ,i heard a number of sarcastic remarks4 ,this is the way in which ignorant men compliment what they call philosophers and projectors4 ,i feel infinite pleasure in reflecting on the immense advantages my country will derive from the invention4 ,the ,clermont was soon running as a regular packet between ,new ,york and ,albany4 ,the owners of sailing craft on the river hated her and tried to sink her4 ,the ,new ,york legislature passed a bill declaring that any attempt to destroy or injure the ,clermont should be a public offense punishable by fine and imprisonment4 ,then the enemies of the boat applied to the courts for an injunction restraining ,fulton from navigating the ,hudson with his steamboat4 ,daniel ,webster appeared as ,fulton's attorney4 ,he won the case and secured for the ,clermont the full rights of the river4 ,fulton afterward built other steamboats1 including a system of steam ferries for ,new ,york ,city4 ,in #ahad he constructed the first ,united ,states war steamer4 ,before constructing the ,clermont1 ,fulton was interested in canals and in the invention of machinery for spinning flax and twisting rope4 ,he also made experiments with sub-marine explosives in ,england1 ,france1 and the ,united ,states2 but these were considered failures4 ,he died ,february #bd1 #ahae4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,clermont ,,on ,,the ,,hudson ,the first steamboat in the ,west was built at ,pittsburg in #ahaa1 and within a few years after the first trip of the ,clermont1 steamboats were being used on all the leading rivers of the country4 ,from the earliest times men had sailed the seas1 but their ships were small and slow and subject to wind1 tide1 and current4 ,the success of the river steamboat led to the use of steam in ocean navigation4 ,the first steamship to cross the ,atlantic was the ,savannah1 in #ahah4 ,the vessel relied almost as much upon wind as upon steam for motive power1 but during the voyage of twenty-five days steam was used on eighteen days4 ,the wood required for fuel left little room in the vessel for freight4 ,with the advent of coal for fuel1 and better machinery1 steamships grew in importance1 and in #ahcg two ships1 the ,sirius and the ,great ,western1 crossed the ,atlantic from ,liverpool to ,new ,york with the use of steam alone4 ,by #ahej the average time for a trans-,atlantic voyage had been reduced to eleven or twelve days4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,lusitania ,,of ,,the ,,cunard ,,line ,if the old ,savannah could be placed beside the ,lusitania1 the giantess of the ,cunard line of ocean steamers1 a comparison would demonstrate the triumphs of the century in ocean navigation4 ,if you were to cross the ocean on the ,lusitania or her sister-ship the ,mauretania1 you would enter a vast floating mansion seven hundred ninety feet long1 eighty-eight feet wide1 eighty-one feet high from keel to boat deck1 and weighing thirty-two thousand five hundred tons4 ,her height to the mastheads is two hundred sixteen feet2 each of her three anchors weighs ten tons2 and her funnels are so large that a trolley car could easily run through them4 ,the ,lusitania has accommodation for three thousand passengers1 officers1 and crew1 and is driven by mighty turbine engines of sixty-eight thousand horse power4 ,the steamer was built at a cost of #g1ejj1jjj4 ,she has traveled the three thousand miles across the ,atlantic in about four and a half days--the quickest trans-,atlantic voyage ever made4 ,she moves through the great waves of the ocean with such steadiness that passengers can scarcely tell whether they are on water or land4 ,a telephone system connects all parts of the ship2 there are electric elevators1 a special nursery in which children may play2 a gymnasium for exercise1 shower baths1 and an acre and a half of upper deck4 ,there are five thousand electric lights1 requiring two hundred miles of wire4 ,wireless telegraphy flashes messages to the moving ship from distant parts of the world1 and bears back greetings from her passengers4 ,a daily illustrated newspaper of thirty-two pages is published on board ship4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,electricity3 ,,the ,,telegraph ,,and ,,the ,,telephone ,the great miracle of the twentieth century is electricity4 ,if the printing press is the brain of civilization and the steam engine is its heart1 electric wires are its nervous system4 ,steam is a giant2 electricity is a witch4 ,there is something uncanny about it4 ,man writes volumes about electricity2 calls it positive and negative and measures it in ohms and volts2 gives courses to explain it in his schools and universities2 kills criminals1 cures the sick1 and scatters darkness with it2 makes it whirl him through space2 compels it to bear his whisper through hundreds of miles1 and can make it fly around the entire earth with his written word--and yet no man knows what electricity is4 ,electricity exists1 and has always existed1 from the back of a cat to the infinite arch of the sky4 ,a hundred years ago practically nothing was known of electricity4 ,persons now living were born into a world that had never seen an electric telegraph1 a telephone1 an electric car1 or an electric light4 ,we are living in the morning of electrical knowledge1 and what the day may bring no one can imagine4 ,americans have given the world many of the greatest inventions1 and in the field of electricity they have given it nearly everything of value4 ,it is to ,american ingenuity that civilization is indebted for the electrical telegraph1 the sub-marine cable1 the telephone1 the electric light1 and the electric car4 ,the names of ,morse1 ,vail1 ,field1 ,bell1 ,brush1 ,gray1 ,edison1 and ,sprague--all ,american electrical inventors--will always be prominent in the list of the world's great benefactors4 ,if you will rub a stick of sealing wax briskly with a woolen cloth1 you will find that the stick of wax will attract to itself bits of bran1 small shreds of paper1 and the like4 ,this is the simplest experiment in electricity4 ,in the same way1 by rubbing amber with silk1 ,thales1 a ,greek philosopher who lived in the sixth century before ,christ1 is thought to have discovered electricity4 ,the ,greek word for amber is elektron4 ,because of the supposed discovery of electricity in amber by ,thales1 the ,english word electricity was coined and used for the first time by ,william ,gilbert1 a ,british physician and scientist1 who lived during the reigns of ,elizabeth and ,james4 ,for nearly twenty-five centuries1 reaching from the time of ,thales to the opening of the nineteenth century1 the world learned practically nothing about electricity4 ,the start in modern electrical knowledge was made by ,galvani1 an ,italian scientist1 born in #agcg1 who just before the last century dawned showed that electricity can be produced by the contact of metals with fluids4 ,the term galvanic1 used in connection with electricity1 comes from the name of this investigator4 ,galvani's experiments suggested the electric battery to ,volta1 another ,italian scientist who was born in #agde4 ,the electrical word voltaic is in honor of ,volta4 ,in #ageb ,benjamin ,franklin flew his kite into the thunderstorm and proved that lightning is electricity4 ,a little later ,hans ,christian ,oersted1 a ,danish investigator1 pointed out the relation between electricity and magnetism4 ,in the early part of the nineteenth century1 ,michael ,faraday1 an eminent ,english physicist1 discovered the possibility of producing electric currents through the motion of a magnet4 ,faraday's discovery led to the electric dynamo machine1 the source of modern power over electricity4 ,the oldest and greatest of electrical inventions is the telegraph4 ,tele is a ,greek adverb meaning afar4 ,graph comes from the ,greek verb to write4 ,telegraph therefore means to write afar4 ,the idea of telegraphic communication is more than two and a half centuries old4 ,in #afcb ,galileo referred to a secret art of communicating at great distances by means of magnetic needles4 ,in #agec there appeared in the ,scots ,magazine an article signed ,c4 ,m4 7since ascertained to have been ,charles ,morrison1 of ,greenock in ,scotland7 setting forth a fairly clear idea of the electric telegraph4 ,joseph ,henry1 of ,washington1 ,d4,c41 in #ahca signaled through an electrical circuit a mile in length4 ,the first commercially successful telegraph was devised in #ahcg by ,samuel ,f4 ,b4 ,morse1 an ,american4 ,samuel ,finley ,breese ,morse was born in ,charlestown1 ,massachusetts1 ,april #bg1 #agia4 ,he was educated in the common schools of his native town and in ,yale ,university1 where he was graduated in #ahaj4 ,after graduation1 like ,fulton1 the inventor of the steamboat1 he went to ,europe to study art1 and became successful as an artist4 ,on his return to ,america in #ahcb1 one of his fellow passengers on the ship was ,charles ,t4 ,jackson1 who had been studying electricity in ,paris4 ,jackson told ,morse of some experiments in electricity which the ,french had been making1 and remarked that it would be a good thing if news could be transmitted through long distances by electricity4 ,morse replied1 ,why can't it be done8 ,from that hour he gave his time and energy to the invention of the electric telegraph4 ,during the remainder of the voyage he drew plans for apparatus and tried to devise an electric alphabet4 ,in #ahcg he put two instruments at the ends of a short line through which he sent and received messages4 ,about this time he met a man who was destined to be of great service to him in promoting his invention1 and one who deserves almost as much credit for it as ,morse himself4 ,this was ,alfred ,vail4 ,vail was born at ,morristown1 ,new ,jersey1 ,september #be1 #ahjg4 ,he was a son of ,stephen ,vail1 the wealthy owner of the ,speedwell iron works4 ,one day in ,september1 #ahcg1 after ,morse had completed his apparatus1 he was invited to exhibit it at the ,university of the ,city of ,new ,york4 ,alfred ,vail was a student in the university at the time and was one of the spectators to whom the apparatus was exhibited4 ,he was much impressed with it4 ,morse needed money1 and ,alfred ,vail's father had it4 ,morse was invited to the home of the ,vails in ,speedwell1 where the matter of the invention was talked over4 ,the sum of two thousand dollars was necessary to get the invention started4 ,stephen ,vail agreed to furnish the money4 ,alfred ,vail was to construct apparatus and exhibit it to ,congress4 ,for this he was to have one-fourth of the proceeds arising from the patent4 ,alfred ,vail set to work to construct the apparatus4 ,a room in his father's factory was set apart for this purpose4 ,william ,baxter1 a bright mechanic employed in the iron shops1 was chosen to assist him4 ,as secrecy was required for the work1 the room was kept locked4 ,for several months ,vail and ,baxter occupied together the locked room1 sharing each other's confidence and each other's elation or disappointment as the work went well or ill4 ,on ,january #f1 #ahch1 ,baxter1 without hat or coat1 rushed to the elder ,vail's residence to announce that the apparatus was completed4 ,mr4 ,vail had become discouraged4 ,however1 he went to see the trial of the apparatus4 ,he found his son at one end of the three miles of wire that was stretched around the room1 and ,morse at the other4 ,after a short explanation had been made to him1 he wrote on a piece of paper1 ,a patient waiter is no loser4 ,he then said to his son1 ,if you can send this1 and ,mr4 ,morse can read it at the other end1 ,i shall be convinced4 ,the message was sent and read at the other end of the wire4 ,the apparatus was taken to ,washington1 where it created not only wonder but excitement4 ,illustration3 ,,samuel ,f4 ,b4 ,,morse ,in ,september1 #ahcg1 ,morse filed an application for a patent on his invention4 ,in ,december of the same year he failed in his effort to secure from ,congress an appropriation for an experimental line which he proposed to build between ,washington and ,baltimore4 ,in ,may1 #ahch1 he went to ,europe seeking aid4 ,the governments there refused him funds or patents4 ,in ,may1 #ahci1 he returned to the ,united ,states and began an heroic struggle for recognition4 ,during this period he often suffered for the barest necessities of life4 ,sometimes he could afford but a single meal in twenty-four hours4 ,finally1 after repeated disappointments1 when ,morse himself had almost given up hope1 the ,house of ,representatives of the ,twenty-seventh ,congress1 on the last night of its session1 ,march #c1 #ahdc1 by a vote of ninety to eighty-two1 appropriated thirty thousand dollars for building a trial line between ,washington and ,baltimore4 ,after the bill had passed the ,house1 the outlook for its passage in the ,senate was not bright4 ,one ,senator who was favorable to the bill advised ,morse to give it up1 return home1 and think no more of it4 ,the bill had been made the object of opposition and ridicule2 one prominent official1 to show his contempt for the project1 proposed that half the amount asked for should be used in mesmeric experiments4 ,morse1 believing that the ,senate would defeat the appropriation1 went to his lodging place to retire for the night4 ,he found that after paying the amount he owed at the hotel1 he would have less than forty cents left4 ,early the next morning information reached him that a little before midnight the ,senate had passed the bill4 ,apparent failure had turned into victory2 the fight was won4 ,work was begun at once4#a ,on ,april #cj the line reached ,annapolis ,junction1 twenty-two miles from ,washington1 and was operated with satisfactory results4 #a ,from an account by ,stephen ,vail used in ,graded ,literature ,readers1 by permission of ,truth4 ,may #a1 #ahdd1 was the date upon which the ,whig convention was to assemble in ,baltimore1 to nominate the candidates of that party for ,president and ,vice-,president4 ,it was arranged between ,morse and ,vail that the latter should obtain from the passengers upon the afternoon train from ,baltimore to ,washington1 when it stopped at ,annapolis ,junction1 information of the proceedings of the convention and transmit it at once to ,morse at the ,capitol in ,washington4 ,the train arrived at half-past three o'clock1 and from the passengers1 among whom were many of the delegates to the convention1 ,mr4 ,vail ascertained that the convention had assembled1 nominated the candidates1 and adjourned4 ,this information he at once dispatched to ,morse1 with whom was gathered a number of prominent men who had been invited to be present4 ,morse sat awaiting the prearranged signal from ,vail1 when suddenly there came from the instrument the understood clicking1 and as the mechanism started1 unwinding the ribbon of paper upon which came the embossed dots and dashes1 the complete success of the telegraph over twenty-two miles of wire was established4 ,slowly came the message4 ,when it had ended1 ,morse rose and said3 ',gentlemen1 the convention has adjourned4 ,the train bearing that information has just left ,annapolis ,junction for ,washington1 and ,mr4 ,vail has telegraphed me the ticket nominated1 and it is--' he hesitated1 holding in his hand the final proof of victory over space1 'it is--it is ,clay and ,frelinghuysen4' ',you are quizzing us1' was the quiet remark4 ',it's easy enough for you to guess that ,clay is at the head of the ticket1 but ,frelinghuysen--who is ,frelinghuysen8' ',i only know1' was the dignified answer1 'that it is the name ,mr4 ,vail has sent to me from ,annapolis ,junction1 where he had the news five minutes ago from the train bound this way bearing the delegates4' ,at that time the twenty-two miles from the ,junction to ,washington required an hour and a quarter for the fastest trains1 and long before the train reached ,washington the newsboys--enterprising even in those days--had their 'extras' upon the streets1 their headings ',by ,telegraph' telling the story1 and being the first time that such a legend had ever appeared upon a printed sheet4 ,a great and enthusiastic crowd greeted the delegates as they alighted from the train at the station4 ,they were struck dumb with astonishment when they heard the people hurrahing for ',clay and ,frelinghuysen1' and saw in cold type before their very eyes the information which they supposed was exclusively their own1 but which had preceded them 'by telegraph4' ,they had asked ,mr4 ,vail at the ,junction what he was doing when they saw him working the telegraph key1 and when he told them1 they joked about it most glibly1 for no one had any belief in the success of the telegraph4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,first ,,message ,,by ,,telegraph ,by ,may #bc the entire line was completed from ,washington to ,baltimore4 ,on the next day1 ,may #bd1 #ahdd1 ,morse from ,washington sent to ,vail at ,baltimore the first message ever sent over the completed wire1 ,what hath ,god wrought8 ,this famous message was dictated by ,miss ,ellsworth1 daughter of the commissioner of patents at that time4 ,she had taken a keen interest in the success of the bill appropriating the thirty thousand dollars for the experiment1 and was the first to convey to ,morse the news that the bill had passed4 ,morse thereupon gave ,miss ,ellsworth his promise that the first message to pass over the line should be dictated by her4 ,a bit of the original wire and the receiver that ,vail used at ,baltimore are now preserved in the ,national ,museum in ,washington4 ,the transmitter used by ,morse at the ,washington end of the line has been lost4 ,morse lived to see his system of telegraphy adopted by the ,united ,states1 ,france1 ,germany1 ,denmark1 ,sweden1 ,russia1 and ,australia4 ,ninety-five per cent of all telegraphy is by his system4 ,he finally received a large fortune from his invention4 ,unlike ,columbus1 ,morse was honored in his lifetime for his achievement4 ,foreign nations bestowed upon him honors and medals1 and in ,august1 #aheh1 a convention of ,european powers called by ,napoleon ,,iii at ,paris gave ,morse four hundred thousand francs 7about #hj1jjj7 as a testimonial of his services to civilization4 ,in ,october1 #ahdb1 he laid the first sub-marine telegraph line4 ,it was across the harbor of ,new ,york4 ,later he assisted ,peter ,cooper and ,cyrus ,w4 ,field in their efforts to lay the first ,atlantic cable4 ,honored by all the civilized world1 he died in ,new ,york ,city ,april #b1 #ahgb4 ,thirteen years earlier ,vail had died at his home in ,morristown1 ,new ,jersey4 ,in the ,morse system the alphabet is represented by combinations of dots and dashes4 ,the dots denote short currents of electricity flowing through the wire2 the dashes1 longer ones4 ,credit for the alphabet really belongs to ,vail2 ,morse had devised a somewhat complicated system1 but ,vail invented the dots and dashes4 ,he discovered that e and t are the most frequently used letters4 ,he denoted e by one dot1 or one short current2 t he indicated by one dash1 or one long current4 ,the other letters are denoted by dots and dashes1 as a1 one dot and one dash2 b1 one dash and three dots1 etc4 ,in #ahch ,steinheil1 a ,german investigator1 contributed an important element to the practical operation of the electric telegraph by discovering that the earth could take the place of the return wire1 which up to that time had been deemed necessary to complete the circuit4 ,at first only one message could be sent over a wire at a time4 ,now several messages may be transmitted in opposite directions over the same wire at the same time4 ,wireless telegraphy is based on the principle discovered and announced by the ,english scientist ,michael ,faraday1 that heat1 light1 and electricity are transmitted by ether waves1 and that these ether waves permeate all space4 ,the first to demonstrate the practical operation of wireless telegraphy was ,guglielmo ,marconi1 an ,italian4 ,in #ahij he undertook experiments to prove his theory that the electric current readily passes through any substance1 and when once started in a given direction follows a direct course without the aid of a conductor4 ,marconi made the first practical demonstration of wireless telegraphy in #ahif4 ,in ,march1 #ahii1 he sent a wireless message across the ,english channel from ,france to ,england4 ,in ,december1 #aija1 be began his first experiments in wireless telegraphy across the ,atlantic4 ,in ,december of the following year the first official trans-,atlantic wireless message was sent4 ,now wireless telegraphic messages are sent regularly to and from moving ships in mid-ocean1 and across the three thousand miles of the ,atlantic between ,europe and ,america4 ,one of the most striking illustrations of the power of perseverance is the successful struggle of ,cyrus ,west ,field in laying the ,atlantic cable4 ,mr4 ,field was born in ,stockbridge1 ,massachusetts1 ,november #cj1 #ahai4 ,his schooling1 which was slight1 was secured in his native town4 ,when he was fifteen years old1 he secured a position in a business house in ,new ,york ,city at a salary of fifty dollars a year4 ,he subsequently founded a prosperous business in the manufacture and sale of paper4 ,in #ahed ,mr4 ,field's attention was directed to an attempt to lay an electric cable at ,newfoundland1 which had failed for want of funds4 ,the idea of laying a cable across the ,atlantic occurred to him4 ,he laid his plans before a number of prominent citizens of ,new ,york4 ,on four successive evenings they met at his home to study the project1 and they finally decided to undertake it4 ,on ,may #f1 #ahed1 a company was organized to lay the cable1 with ,peter ,cooper as president4 ,the next twelve years ,field devoted exclusively to the cable4 ,he went to ,england thirty times4 ,the first cable was brought from ,england and was to be laid across the ,gulf of ,st4 ,lawrence4 ,forty miles had been successfully laid1 when a storm arose and the cable was cut in order to save the ship4 ,then came a year's delay4 ,meantime the bottom of the sea was being explored and a vast tableland was discovered stretching from ,newfoundland to ,ireland4 ,field went to ,england1 where he had little difficulty in organizing a company1 and work was then begun on the construction of a new cable4 ,next he laid his enterprise before ,congress1 and asked for money4 ,an appropriation bill was finally passed in the ,senate by a majority of one1 and was signed by ,president ,pierce on ,march #c1 #aheg1 the day before he retired from office4 ,field returned to ,england to superintend the construction of the cable and to make preparations for laying it4 ,at last it was ready1 tested1 and coiled on the ship4 ,on ,august #aa1 #aheg1 the sixth day out1 after three hundred and thirty-five miles had been laid1 the cable parted4 ,lord ,clarendon1 in an interview with ,field1 had remarked3 ,but1 suppose you don't succeed8 ,suppose you make the attempt and fail--your cable is lost in the sea--then what will you do8 ,the reply came promptly1 ,charge it to profit and loss1 and go to work to lay another4 ,lord ,clarendon was so well pleased with the reply that he pledged his aid4 ,the loss of three hundred and thirty-five miles of cable was the loss of half a million dollars4 ,field came back to ,america and secured from the ,secretary of the ,navy the vessels needed for another trial4 ,on ,june #aj1 #aheh1 the ,united ,states steam frigate ,niagara1 then the largest in the world1 and the ,british ship ,agamemnon set out from opposite shores1 bound for mid-ocean4 ,the vessels met1 and the two sections of the cable were spliced2 then they began laying it toward both shores at the same time4 ,after a little more than a hundred miles had been laid1 this cable parted in mid-ocean1 and ,field hurried to ,london to meet the discouraged directors4 ,on ,july #ag1 the ships set sail again for mid-ocean4 ,the cable was spliced in fifteen hundred fathoms of water and again the ships started for opposite shores4 ,field was on the ,niagara headed toward ,newfoundland4 ,scarcely any one looked for success4 ,field was the only man who kept up courage through this trying period4 ,on ,august #e1 #aheh1 he telegraphed the safe arrival of the ship at ,newfoundland4 ,the shore ends of the cable were laid and on ,august #af a message from ,queen ,victoria of ,england to ,president ,buchanan flashed under the sea4 ,there was great excitement everywhere4 ,the two worlds had been tied together with a strange electric nerve4 ,illustration3 ,,cyrus ,w4 ,,field ,on the evening of the first of ,september a great ovation was tendered ,field in ,new ,york4 ,national salutes were fired2 processions were formed2 there was an address by the mayor1 and late at night a great banquet4 ,while the banquet was in progress1 the cable parted4 ,everyone except ,field was disheartened4 ,he went to work again1 and during the next five years1 the long years of the ,civil ,war1 he labored unceasingly4 ,a larger cable with a greater resisting force was made4 ,on the twenty-third of ,july1 #ahfe1 the steamship ,great ,eastern began another attempt to lay the cable4 ,when it was within six hundred miles of ,newfoundland1 the cable parted again4 ,for nine days attempts were made1 in two and a half miles of water1 to grapple the cable1 splice it1 and continue the work of laying it4 ,three times the cable was grappled1 but the apparatus on the ship was not strong enough to hoist it aboard4 ,still ,field never faltered4 ,another ,british company was formed and another cable was constructed4 ,the ,great ,eastern was again loaded and on ,july #ac1 a ,friday1 set sail westward laying the cable4 ,after an uncertain voyage of two weeks the ,great ,eastern arrived at ,newfoundland1 and the undertaking had again been successfully accomplished4 ,field telegraphed his arrival as follows3 ,hearts ,content1 ,july #bg1 #ahff4 ,we arrived here at nine o'clock this morning4 ,all well4 ,thank ,god1 the cable is laid1 and is in perfect working order4 ,,cyrus ,w4 ,,field4 ,twelve years of unfaltering perseverance had won4 ,honors were heaped upon ,field4 ,congress voted him a gold medal and the thanks of the nation4 ,the prime minister of ,great ,britain declared that only the fact of his being the citizen of another nation prevented his receiving the highest honors in the power of the ,british government to bestow4 ,the ,paris ,exposition ,universelle of #ahfg honored him with the ,grand ,medal1 the highest prize it had to give4 ,mr4 ,field was afterward interested in the laying of cables connecting ,europe1 ,india1 ,china1 ,australia1 the ,west ,indies1 and ,south ,america4 ,in #ahhj-ha he made a trip around the world1 full of satisfaction in his own part in making a new era of the world's civilization4 ,he died at his home in ,new ,york on ,july #aa1 #ahib4 ,the effect of the electric telegraph on government1 intelligence1 and civilization in general can scarcely be overstated4 ,sydney ,smith1 writing to ,earl ,grey after the admission of ,california into the ,united ,states1 said that this marked an end to the great ,american republic2 for how could people with such diversified interests1 with such natural barriers1 hold together8 ,he did not foresee how strongly a fine copper wire could bind together the two seaboards and the great plains of the interior4 ,without the electric telegraph1 neither the great daily newspaper nor the modern operation of railroads would be possible4 ,it wipes away the natural boundaries of nations and makes neighbors of all men4 ,in #ahai ,sir ,charles ,wheatsone1 an ,english physicist1 invented an instrument popularly known as the magic lyre1 but which he called the telephone4 ,the first part of this word is the same ,greek adverb tele that is found in telegraph4 ,the phone is from another ,greek word meaning to sound4 ,to telephone1 therefore1 means to sound afar4 ,the use of the ,english word telephone by ,wheatsone is historically the first appearance of the word in our language4 ,his device did nothing but reproduce music by means of sounding boards4 ,the inventor of the modern telephone is ,alexander ,graham ,bell4 ,mr4 ,bell was born in ,edinburgh1 ,scotland1 ,march #c1 #ahdg4 ,his father was ,alexander ,melville ,bell1 a ,scotch educator1 inventor of a system of visible speech1 and author of some text-books on elocution4 ,his grandfather was ,alexander ,bell1 noted for his efforts to remove impediments of speech4 ,alexander ,graham ,bell was therefore well fitted by heredity for the invention of an instrument to transmit speech4 ,he was educated in the ,edinburgh high school and in the ,university of ,edinburgh1 and in #ahfg he entered the ,university of ,london4 ,hard study broke down his health and he moved to ,canada4 ,thence he moved to the ,united ,states1 becoming first a teacher of deaf mutes1 and afterward professor of vocal physiology in ,boston ,university4 ,in #ahgd1 at the suggestion of the ,boston ,board of ,education1 he began some experiments to show to the eye the vibrations of sound1 for the use of the deaf and dumb4 ,the results of these experiments convinced ,bell that articulate speech could be transmitted through space4 ,early in #ahgf he completed the first telephone4 ,the same year he exhibited it at the ,centennial ,exposition at ,philadelphia1 where it was pronounced the wonder of wonders4 ,he filed application for a patent on his invention at the ,patent ,office in ,washington1 ,february #ad1 #ahgf4 ,it is a singular fact that another application for a patent on the telephone was received at the ,patent ,office a few hours later on the same day from ,elisha ,gray1 an electrical inventor of ,chicago4 ,the patent was issued to ,bell1 not because his invention was superior in merit to ,gray's1 but on the ground that his application was received first4 ,this is a case where the early bird catches the worm1 for the profits arising from the patent have made ,mr4 ,bell very wealthy1 and high honors have come to him as the inventor of one of the world's greatest and most marvelous inventions4 ,the ,bell ,telephone ,company was organized in #ahgg1 and in #ahgh the first telephone exchanges were constructed4 ,by the following year the telephone was firmly established as a social and commercial necessity4 ,it has grown with great rapidity4 ,it is now found in every city of the world2 hotels1 large buildings1 and ships have their private exchanges1 and it has found its way recently into thousands of farmhouses4 ,bell had to fight hard in the courts to sustain his patent4 ,suit after suit was brought by rival claimants1 attacking his right to the patent4 ,the litigation was bitter and protracted4 ,one of the most noteworthy of these suits was brought by a ,pennsylvania mechanic named ,drawbaugh4 ,he claimed that about #ahgb he had made a working telephone out of a cigar box1 a glass tumbler1 a tin can1 and some other crude materials2 and that with the apparatus thus constructed he had talked over a wire several hundred feet long4 ,many persons testified that they were acquainted with ,drawbaugh's apparatus1 some of them having used it4 ,some instruments1 said to be the original ones which ,drawbaugh had constructed1 were brought into court and exhibited4 ,it was shown that speech could be transmitted with them in a crude way4 ,drawbaugh claimed that he was too poor at the time of making the apparatus to take out the necessary patent4 ,the ,court decided in favor of ,bell4 ,elisha ,gray1 whose application for a patent had been received the same day that ,bell's was1 also brought suit against ,bell4 ,before making his application1 ,gray had filed some preliminary papers looking forward to a patent on the telephone4 ,in his suit against ,bell he charged that the patent examiner had fraudulently and secretly conveyed to ,bell the contents of those papers4 ,but ,bell won this suit1 and he finally established over all rivals his legal title as the inventor of the telephone4 ,recently a wireless system of telephoning has been in process of development1 and it will not be strange if1 within a few years1 we shall be talking through space without wires1 so boundless seem the possibilities of the age4 ,,chapter ,v ,,electricity3 ,,lighting1 ,,transportation1 ,,and ,,other ,,uses ,man must have discovered artificial light as soon as he discovered fire1 for the two exist together4 ,the first light was probably produced by burning sticks or pieces of wood4 ,in his search for more light1 man learned how to make the tallow candle4 ,lights made in one form or other from the fats of animals persisted almost to the threshold of the present4 ,the next step forward was to the use of oil2 and the next1 to the use of gas4 ,the first practical use of gas for purposes of illumination was in #agib4 ,in that year ,william ,murdoch1 an ,english engineer1 produced gas artificially from coal1 and with it lighted his house in ,cornwall1 a county of ,england4 ,nine years afterward a ,frenchman named ,lebon illuminated his house and garden in ,paris with gas produced from wood4 ,street lighting by gas was introduced in #ahjg by an ,englishman named ,f4 ,a4 ,winzer or ,windsor1 in ,pall ,mall1 one of the fine streets of ,london4 ,the first gas lights in ,america were installed in #ahjf by ,david ,melville1 of ,newport1 ,rhode ,island1 in his residence and in the streets adjacent4 ,baltimore was the first city in the ,united ,states to adopt gas lighting for its streets4 ,this was in #ahag4 ,when gas was first used1 there was much opposition to it1 as there usually has been to improvements in general4 ,the citizens of ,philadelphia protested for more than twenty years against the introduction of gas into that city for purposes of illumination4 ,some of the newspapers of the time called gas a folly and a nuisance2 and one of the professors in the ,university of ,pennsylvania declared that even if gas were the good thing its supporters were declaring it to be1 tallow candles and oil lamps were good enough for him4 ,but gas triumphed1 and to-day the world could scarcely do without it1 either for illumination or for fuel4 ,the electric light had its beginning about #ahjj in the experiments of ,sir ,humphry ,davy1 a ,british investigator4 ,he discovered that if two pieces of carbon are brought into contact1 completing a circuit through which an electric current flows1 and if the carbon points are separated by a short distance1 the points will become intensely hot and emit a brilliant light4 ,the word arc1 used in connection with the arc lamp or light1 refers to the gap or arc between the two carbon points1 across which the electric current leaps in creating the light4 ,following ,sir ,humphry ,davy's experiments1 several arc lights were invented1 with greater or less degree of success1 and about #ahfj electricity was tried successfully for lighting in some lighthouses along the ,british coast4 ,the widespread usage and the usefulness of the arc electric light1 however1 are due to ,charles ,francis ,brush1 an electrical inventor of ,cleveland1 ,ohio1 who in #ahgf simplified the arc light so as to bring it into general use for lighting streets1 large rooms1 halls1 and outdoor spaces4 ,brush was also the inventor of an electric-dynamo machine that has added to his fame4 ,after the invention of the arc light1 he took out more than fifty other patents4 ,the incandescent electric light1 for lighting residences and small rooms1 came a little later as the invention of ,edison4 ,thomas ,alva ,edison is one of the most remarkable men of all times and places4 ,alexander1 ,caesar1 and ,napoleon together did not benefit mankind as has this quiet ,american inventor4 ,he was born at ,milan1 ,ohio1 ,february #aa1 #ahdg4 ,his father was of ,dutch descent and his mother was ,scotch4 ,the mother1 who had been a teacher1 gave him all the schooling he received4 ,early in life he showed great mental vigor and ingenuity4 ,when he was twelve years old1 he is said to have read the histories of ,hume and ,gibbon4 ,illustration3 ,,thomas ,a4 ,,edison ,when ,thomas was seven years old1 the ,edison family moved to ,port ,huron1 ,michigan4 ,he soon became a newsboy on the ,grand ,trunk railway running into ,detroit4 ,he also became proprietor of a news stand1 a book store1 and a vegetable market1 each a separate enterprise in ,port ,huron1 employing eleven boys in all4 ,his spare hours in ,detroit1 between the arrival and departure of his train1 he spent reading in the ,free ,library4 ,before long he had bought a small hand printing press1 some old type1 and plates for patent insides from the proprietor of a ,detroit newspaper1 and using the baggage car for an office1 he started the ,grand ,trunk ,herald1 the first and only newspaper ever published on a railway train4 ,his inquiring mind led him one day to make some chemical experiments in the car4 ,he overturned a bottle of phosphorus1 set the car on fire1 and as a result was not permitted to use it longer for a newspaper office4 ,one day young ,edison snatched the child of the station agent at ,mount ,clemens1 ,michigan1 from beneath the wheels of a locomotive4 ,in gratitude for this act1 the station agent taught him telegraphy4 ,in a few months his ingenuity1 one of the chief characteristics of the great inventor1 led him to string a private telegraph wire from the depot to the town4 ,over this wire he forwarded messages1 charging ten cents for each message4 ,next he went to ,stratford1 ,canada1 as night operator for the ,grand ,trunk railway4 ,one night he received an order to hold a train4 ,he stopped to reply before signaling the train1 and when he reached the platform the train had passed4 ,a collision resulted1 though not a serious one1 and ,edison was ordered to report at the office of the general manager4 ,edison hastily climbed on a freight train1 went to ,port ,huron1 and probably has not yet called on the general manager4 ,edison worked as telegraph operator at various places4 ,although he was a brilliant and rapid telegrapher1 his fondness for playing pranks and making fun lost him several positions4 ,after making his first experiments with a telegraph repeater1 he left ,indianapolis for ,cincinnati1 where he earned sixty dollars per month1 besides something extra for night work4 ,he ,worked next in ,louisville and ,memphis4 ,he was poor in purse1 for all his money went to defray the expenses of his experiments4 ,his fondness for ,victor ,hugo's great work1 ,les ,miserables1 gained for him the nicknames of ,victor and ,hugo4 ,at ,memphis he perfected his telegraph repeater and was the first to bring ,new ,orleans into direct communication with ,new ,york4 ,however1 the manager at ,memphis was jealous of him and dismissed him4 ,shabby and destitute1 he made his way back to ,louisville1 walking a hundred miles of the way1 and resumed his old position4 ,after he had worked in the ,louisville office for two years1 his experimenting again got him into trouble4 ,he upset some sulphuric acid1 part of which trickled through the floor and spoiled the carpet in the manager's room below4 ,for this he was discharged4 ,he next went to ,new ,orleans1 intending to sail for ,brazil2 but the ship had gone and an old ,spanish sailor advised him to stay in ,america4 ,he went back to ,cincinnati1 where he made some of his first experiments in duplex telegraphy1 a system whereby two messages may be sent over the same wire at the same time4 ,a little while afterward1 as poor as ever and as unattractive in dress1 he walked into the telegraph office in ,boston1 where he had procured work4 ,his co-workers there1 thinking they would have some fun at his expense1 set him to receiving messages from the most rapid operators in ,new ,york4 ,instead of throwing up his hands in defeat1 as his companions expected1 he received the messages easily1 with a good margin to spare1 and asked the operator sending at the other end of the line to please send with the other foot4 ,he was at once placed regularly on the ,new ,york wire4 ,while in ,boston1 ,edison opened a small workshop1 put many of his ideas into definite shape1 and took out his first patent4 ,it was upon a chemical apparatus to record votes4 ,he tried to introduce this into ,congress1 but failed1 although he proved that it would work4 ,he left ,boston not only without money1 but in debt1 and went to ,new ,york4 ,this was in #ahga when he was twenty-four years old4 ,at that time an apparatus called a gold indicator was in use in the offices of about six hundred brokers1 to show fluctuations in the prices of gold4 ,the system was operated from a central office near ,wall street4 ,one day this central office was filled with six hundred messenger boys1 each bringing the complaint that the machinery had broken4 ,no one knew how to repair it4 ,a stranger walked up1 looked at the apparatus1 and said to the manager1 ,mr4 ,law1 ,i think ,i can show you where the trouble is4 ,the machinery was repaired1 the office was cleared1 and order was restored4 ,what is your name1 sir8 asked the delighted manager4 ,edison1 was the reply4 ,he was engaged as superintendent at a salary of #bjj per month1 and from that hour his fortunes were assured4 ,edison at once busied himself with inventing4 ,he improved and invented various machines used in the stock markets1 and in #ahgb perfected his system of duplex telegraphy4 ,two years later he brought out the wonderful quadruplex system1 by which four messages may be sent over the same wire at the same time4 ,this system saved millions of dollars and dispensed with thousands of miles of poles and wires4 ,he started a large factory at ,newark1 ,new ,jersey1 employing some three hundred men4 ,sometimes he was working on as many as forty-five improvements and original inventions at once4 ,in #ahgf he stopped manufacturing and turned all his attention to inventing4 ,in that year he established a laboratory at ,menlo ,park1 ,new ,jersey1 twenty-five miles from ,new ,york ,city4 ,when this laboratory was outgrown1 he founded a new one at ,orange1 ,new ,jersey1 the largest laboratory ever established by one man for scientific research and invention4 ,it comprises one building #bej feet long and three stories high1 and four smaller buildings1 each one hundred feet long and one story high4 ,the principal building contains a library of thirty thousand reference books1 a lecture room1 and an exhibition room1 where a remarkable collection of instruments of almost every kind is to be seen4 ,when ,edison began working to produce an incandescent electric light for illuminating residences and small rooms1 most of the scientists of ,england said that such a light could not be produced4 ,for nine years he worked on this invention4 ,the chief problem was to find1 for the horseshoe thread or filament used to give off the light1 a material that should glow with sufficient intensity and yet not be consumed by the great heat necessary to produce the light4 ,in his search for this material he tried all kinds of rags and textiles steeped in various chemicals1 different kinds of paper1 wood1 inner and outer bark1 cornstalks1 etc4 ,finally he sent one of his assistants to the ,east1 and in ,japan a kind of bamboo was found answering the requirements4 ,perseverance won1 and the incandescent electric light became a reality about #ahhj4 ,illustration3 ,,an ,,incandescent ,,light ,thomas ,edison is one of the most systematic of workers1 and nearly all his inventions have been the result of intelligent and methodical labor directed toward a definite aim4 ,he reads carefully what other investigators have found out1 so as not to waste time in going over fruitless ground4 ,he also keeps copious note books of his own operations1 so that there may be no loss of time and energy4 ,his invention of the phonograph1 however1 was accidental4 ,while he was working to improve the telephone1 the idea of the phonograph suddenly came into his mind4 ,a little while afterward the first phonograph1 crude but successful1 was finished4 ,at first this instrument was regarded as a toy1 but later the invention was sold for a million dollars4 ,edison is a man of remarkable personality4 ,once when someone referred to him as a genius and said that he supposed a genius worked only when the spirit moved him1 the inventor replied1 ,genius is two per cent inspiration and ninety-eight per cent perspiration4 ,he certainly possesses great native talent for inventing4 ,this was apparent in his early boyhood4 ,but much of his marvelous success is due to the intelligent direction of effort1 to tireless perseverance1 and to long hours of work4 ,in #ahig he devoted his attention exclusively to the invention of a new storage battery1 upon which he had been working for five years4 ,for more than a year he worked harder than a day laborer4 ,he was in his laboratory by half past seven in the morning2 his luncheon was sent to him there2 he went home to dinner1 but he returned by eight o'clock4 ,at half past eleven his carriage called for him1 but often the coachman was compelled to wait three or four hours before the inventor was willing to suspend his work4 ,while the first incandescent electric lighting plant was being prepared in ,new ,york ,city1 ,edison himself worked part of the time in the trenches1 to be sure that the work would be properly done4 ,there is scarcely an electrical apparatus or an electrical process in existence to-day that does not bear the mark of some great change for the better coming from this most ingenious of ,american inventors4 ,he has taken out more than four hundred patents on original inventions and improvements4 ,mr4 ,edison is still living in his beautiful home at ,west ,orange1 ,new ,jersey1 near his laboratory4 ,he is frequently called the ,wizard of ,menlo ,park4 ,the idea of using electricity as motive power on railroads is nearly as old as the railroads themselves4 ,in #ahcg1 when the utility of steam for purposes of transportation was doubted1 ,robert ,davidson propelled a car with an electric engine on the ,edinburgh and ,glasgow road4 ,in the fifties ,thomas ,davenport1 a ,vermont blacksmith1 constructed an electric engine containing all the essential elements of the modern electric motor4 ,little progress1 however1 was made in the use of electricity for motive power1 because the cost of producing the electric current was so great4 ,in #ahhg ,lieut4 ,sprague1 overcoming most of the difficulties then existing1 installed at ,richmond1 ,virginia1 the first successful electric railway in the world4 ,managers of street railways in other cities visited ,richmond1 and after an inspection of what ,sprague had done there1 decided to substitute electricity for animal power4 ,no other construction has had a more rapid growth since the time of its invention than the electric railway4 ,in #ahij there were only thirteen unimportant electric roads4 ,now there is hardly a city of the civilized world where the hum of the electric street car is not heard at all hours of day and night4 ,modern urban life could scarcely exist without it4 ,it is rapidly pushing its way into the country and giving the farmer the privilege of rapid and cheap transit4 ,the uses of electricity are by no means exhausted in the four major inventions of the telegraph1 the telephone1 the electric light1 and the electric street car4 ,it has been put to many minor uses4 ,among the most interesting and important of these are the ,roentgen or ,x-rays1 discovered by ,wilhelm ,konrad von ,roentgen1 a ,german physicist1 in #ahie4 ,they were named ,x-rays by their discoverer1 because the ultimate nature of their radiation was unknown1 the letter ,x being commonly used in algebra to represent an unknown quantity4 ,the ,x-rays are peculiar electric rays having the power to penetrate wood1 flesh1 and other opaque substances4 ,they are of much value to surgery in disclosing the location of bullets1 foreign substances of various kinds1 and other objective points in the interior of the human body4 ,the ,united ,states government has demonstrated through its ,department of ,agriculture that electricity applied to the soil will quicken and help the growth of certain vegetables4 ,it has also shown that certain crops are forwarded by the application of electric light4 ,the ,new ,york legislature in #ahhh passed a law providing that criminals should be executed in that state thereafter by electrocution1 that is1 by sending through the body of the condemned person1 a current of electricity strong enough to produce death4 ,execution in this way makes death quicker and apparently less painful than by hanging1 the method used previously1 and subsequently several other states have passed laws for electrical execution1 following the example of ,new ,york4 ,elisha ,gray1 who contested with ,bell the invention of the telephone1 was the inventor of a peculiar machine called the telautograph4 ,tele and graph have been previously explained4 ,auto is from a ,greek word meaning itself4 ,the meaning of telautograph1 therefore1 is to write afar by itself4 ,by means of the telautograph1 which is operated with electric currents1 if a person writes with an ordinary lead pencil on paper1 say in ,washington or any other place1 at the same time the writing will be reproduced with pen and paper at the other end of the line1 in ,new ,york or wherever the message may be sent4 ,one of the important uses of electricity is in connection with the electric block signal4 ,this is a device for preventing railroad collisions4 ,the signals are operated with electricity1 and show engineers whether or not a certain section of the track ahead of them is clear4 ,electricity is used also in the production of certain chemical substances2 in covering base metals with a coating of a precious metal1 as gold or silver1 called electroplating2 in producing a solid metal page from rows of type1 called an electrotype1 which is used in printing2 in the navigation of small boats and the propulsion of automobiles2 in playing organs and pianos2 in driving electric fans2 in drawing elevators in high buildings2 in call-bells and door-bells2 in police-alarms and fire-alarms2 in the treatment of certain diseases2 and in many other useful ways4 ,what electricity may do for the future cannot even be guessed4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,discovery ,,of ,,america ,the birthplace of mankind is supposed to have been somewhere in ,asia1 untold thousands of years ago4 ,the race is thought to have spread thence to the northern coast of ,africa and to the peninsulas that jut down from the south of ,europe4 ,the travelers of ancient times were the ,phoenicians4 ,they occupied a narrow strip of land along the eastern shore of the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,their country was small and with difficulty supported an increasing population4 ,to the east of them were barbaric hordes1 who poured over the mountains and pushed the ,phoenicians to the sea1 making of them traders and colonizers4 ,as early as twelve centuries before ,christ they were founding colonies1 exploring strange lands1 trading all over the known world1 and leaving their alphabet wherever they went4 ,arriving at a favorable place1 they would pull their ships ashore1 plant a crop1 wait till it had matured1 reap it1 and go on4 ,they founded many colonies on such sites4 ,herodotus1 a ,greek1 born in ,asia ,minor nearly five hundred years before ,christ1 is called the father of history and geography4 ,he tells us that in his time the earth was thought to consist of the coast regions of the ,mediterranean ,sea1 extending rather vaguely north and south1 and bounded on the west by the ,atlantic ,ocean and on the east by the great ,persian ,empire4 ,the word ,mediterranean is made up of two ,latin words meaning the middle of the earth4 ,eratosthenes1 a ,greek geographer who was born on the northern coast of ,africa about three centuries before ,christ1 wrote a geographical treatise in which he announced his belief that the earth was in the form of a sphere revolving on its own axis4 ,he succeeded in convincing only a few1 however1 that his theory was right4 ,the next great geographer was ,strabo1 born in the northeast part of ,asia ,minor in the year #fd ,b4,c4 ,he was a great traveler and observer1 and wrote a work on geography that has come down to us4 ,the parts dealing with his own observations are especially valuable4 ,the great traveler of mediaeval times was ,marco ,polo1 an ,italian1 born in ,venice in #abed ,a4,d4 ,he traveled widely1 had many adventures1 and published an account of his travels4 ,his experiences were a great stimulus to geographical inquiry and discovery4 ,about this time also the mariners' compass was introduced into ,europe4 ,civilization seems to be indebted to the ,chinese for the compass1 for it is mentioned by them as an instrument of navigation as early as the third or fourth century after ,christ4 ,with the advent of the compass1 seamen were no longer compelled to hug the shore2 they acquired more daring to sail the open sea1 and geographical exploration was correspondingly widened4 ,geographical knowledge grew very slowly4 ,by the beginning of the eighteenth century1 explorers had become familiar with the range of the ocean1 the outline of the continents1 and with many islands4 ,at the beginning of the nineteenth century1 four fifths of the land area of the entire globe was unknown4 ,africa1 except a narrow rim of coast1 was almost as little known as the planet ,mars is to-day4 ,at the opening of the last century men knew little more about ,asia than did ,marco ,polo1 three or four centuries earlier4 ,in ,america the whole vast area west of the ,mississippi ,river was unknown in #ahjj4 ,the coast of ,australia had not yet been traced1 and nothing was known of its interior4 ,at that time ,south ,america was better known than any other of the continental land masses1 except ,europe2 now it is the least explored of all4 ,the nineteenth century1 wonderful for advancement in many fields of human endeavor1 was a marvelous one for the growth of geographical knowledge4 ,as we stand in the doorway of the twentieth century1 there is scarcely one eleventh of the land area of the whole earth that remains unexplored4 ,lewis and ,clark pushed their way through the unknown vastness of the ,american ,northwest2 ,livingstone and ,stanley penetrated the dark continent of ,africa2 and in ,september1 #aiji1 ,lieut4 ,robert ,e4 ,peary of the ,united ,states ,navy startled civilization by announcing his discovery of the ,north ,pole4 ,with the exception of a few interior tracts to-day1 the only portions of the earth unknown and unmapped lie around the poles1 and these are being rapidly sought out and brought to knowledge4 ,of all geographical conquests1 by far the greatest is the discovery of ,america by ,christopher ,columbus in #adib ,a4,d4 ,the story of ,columbus is one of the most interesting and pathetic in history4 ,it is a story of toil1 hardship1 perseverance1 and great success1 requited with disappointment and disgrace4 ,christophoro ,colombo was born in ,genoa1 ,italy1 about #adce or #adcf ,a4,d4 ,following the custom of those times in giving names ,latin forms1 his name became ,christopher ,columbus4 ,in ,latin the word columba means dove4 ,his father was a wool-comber who was wealthy enough to send his son to a university1 where he studied mathematics and astronomy4 ,on leaving the university1 he worked a few months at his father's trade1 but when he was fifteen years old he determined to be a sailor4 ,of the late boyhood and early manhood of ,columbus little is known4 ,he seems to have traveled much1 and it is certain that he studied much4 ,it was popularly supposed in the time of ,columbus that the earth was flat2 that it was surrounded by a great world-river called ,oceanus or the ocean1 and that if one should come to the edge he would plunge down into illimitable space4 ,from the time of ,eratosthenes and ,aristotle1 ,greek thinkers and scholars who lived several hundreds of years before the birth of ,christ had known that the earth was round1 and ,columbus believed this fact too4 ,he mastered the books1 both ancient and contemporary1 on geography and navigation1 learned to draw charts and to construct spheres1 and fitted himself to be a practical seaman and navigator4 ,in #adgj he arrived at ,lisbon1 ,portugal1 after he had been shipwrecked in a sea fight and had escaped to land on a plank4 ,in ,portugal he married the daughter of an old sea captain4 ,he pored over the logs and papers of his father-in-law1 and talked with old seamen of their voyages and of the mysteries of the western sea4 ,about this time he seems to have arrived at the conclusion that much of the world remained undiscovered4 ,there were strange rumors about the western sea4 ,navigators had seen queer pieces of wood and some canes in the ocean1 and the bodies of two strange men had been washed ashore1 very broad-faced1 and differing in aspect from ,christians4 ,european commerce was in need of a shorter route to ,asia than the overland route then in use4 ,columbus hoped that he could reach the eastern coast of ,asia by sailing west4 ,he did not believe the earth as large as it really is1 and he over-estimated the size of ,asia1 so that he did not realize the breadth of the ,atlantic or the magnitude of the task before him4 ,columbus was poor1 and money was required for so huge an undertaking as a voyage to ,asia4 ,it was necessary1 therefore1 for him to seek aid in the enterprise4 ,he asked help first from the senate of his native town1 ,genoa2 but ,genoa turned to him an unhearing ear4 ,he applied next to ,king ,john of ,portugal4 ,the king referred the matter to a council of geographers1 who reported against it4 ,with the lurking hope that there might be something in the plan1 the king was dishonorable enough to send out an expedition secretly to test it4 ,the sailors who made the attempt soon lost heart and returned without having accomplished anything4 ,when ,columbus learned of the king's secret attempt1 he was so outraged that he left ,portugal for ,spain4 ,at about the same time he sent his brother ,bartholomew to ,england to enlist the assistance of the ,british sovereign1 ,king ,henry ,,vii4 ,after much waiting and much vexation1 ,columbus at last gained the interest of the ,spanish king1 ,ferdinand1 who referred the proposition to a council of his astronomers and geographers4 ,they finally decided that the project was vain and visionary and that they could have nothing more to do with it4 ,in great discouragement ,columbus began preparations to go to ,france4 ,at the door of a monastery in the little maritime town of ,palos1 he knocked and asked for bread and water for his son1 ,diego1 who was accompanying him4 ,he was received at the monastery1 and there he met some persons of influence who interceded for him with the ,spanish queen1 ,isabella4 ,he went to the ,court again1 his plan was once more investigated1 and once more ,columbus was refused the aid he was seeking4 ,he set out for ,france and had journeyed some distance on the way4 ,in the meantime an official won the queen's consent to the enterprise1 and there is a story that in her enthusiasm she offered to pledge her jewels to raise money for the expedition4 ,a messenger who was sent to overtake ,columbus brought him back1 and on the seventeenth of ,april1 #adib1 the formal agreement between him and the king and queen of ,spain was entered into1 signed1 and sealed4 ,columbus's aim was to find the east coast of ,asia4 ,for the accomplishment of this he had a number of motives4 ,he wanted to win wealth and fame for himself1 to provide a shorter and cheaper route for commerce with the ,east1 and to convert to ,christianity the ,grand ,khan1 a great ,asiatic ruler1 to whom he bore a letter of introduction from the rulers of ,spain4 ,great difficulty was experienced in finding sailors for so uncertain and terrifying a trip4 ,freedom was offered to convicts and bankrupts if they would accompany the expedition4 ,at last seamen were secured to man three small ships1 stores were provided1 and everything was made ready for the voyage4 ,the adventurers numbered1 all told1 one hundred and twenty4 ,the shore presented a strange spectacle on the morning of departure4 ,the friends of the sailors stood on shore weeping and wringing their hands1 confident in the belief that their loved ones would be swallowed up by some fabulous monster of the western deep1 or in some way be forever lost to them4 ,on the morning of ,friday1 ,august #c1 #adib1 at eight o'clock1 the little fleet of three ships weighed anchor at the port of ,palos1 ,spain1 and set out on the most uncertain and the greatest of all ocean voyages4 ,the ships had been on the sea three weeks1 and no land had yet been sighted4 ,the compass no longer pointed due north4 ,a meteor fell into the ocean not far from the ships4 ,the sailors lost courage4 ,they declared that they must perish if they went on1 and that their commander ought to be compelled to return4 ,some of them proposed to throw him into the sea4 ,columbus kept two reckonings2 a correct one for himself1 and an incorrect one to appease the sailors4 ,he pleaded with his men to be courageous1 as long as mild methods availed4 ,he then grew harsh and commanded them4 ,through all the uncertainty and the mutterings of the sailors1 he clung unwaveringly to his purpose--to push forward4 ,he had no thought of going back4 ,flying birds and floating objects promised land1 but time went on and no land appeared4 ,the sailors grew more and more violent4 ,on the night of the eleventh of ,october1 ,columbus himself saw a light in the distance1 which sometimes flickered and sometimes disappeared1 as if it might be a torch borne by some one walking4 ,all were now in eager expectancy4 ,at two o'clock on the morning of ,friday1 ,october twelfth1 a cannon fired from one of the vessels announced that a sailor had actually discovered land4 ,when daylight came1 ,columbus landed4 ,the first thing he did upon reaching the shore was to fall upon his knees1 kiss the earth1 and with tears of joy thank ,god for deliverance from the perils of such a voyage4 ,his men1 ashamed of their mutiny and distrust1 threw themselves at his feet1 imploring his forgiveness4 ,columbus next drew his sword1 planted the royal banner1 and in the name of the ,spanish sovereigns took possession of the country4 ,in honor of his deliverance he named the place ,san ,salvador1 which means ,saint ,savior1 or ,holy ,savior4 ,one of his three vessels was wrecked by a storm near the island of ,santo ,domingo1 called also ,hayti and ,hispaniola4 ,columbus built a fort on this island from the wrecked ship1 and left in it a colony of about forty of the crew4 ,desirous of returning to ,spain with an account of his voyage1 he set sail in ,january1 #adic1 on the return trip4 ,a terrific storm was encountered4 ,columbus1 fearing that his ships might sink1 and wishing to preserve a record of what he had done1 wrote an account of the voyage on a piece of parchment and placed it in a cask1 which he threw overboard in the hope that it might be carried to shore and found4 ,the storm abated1 however1 and on the fifteenth of ,march he sailed with two of his vessels into the port of ,palos4 ,illustration3 ,,columbus ,,on ,,the ,,deck ,,of ,,the ,,santa ,,maria4 ,from the painting by von ,piloty ,he entered the city amid the shouts of the people1 the booming of cannons1 and the ringing of bells4 ,hastening to ,barcelona1 where the king and queen were then holding court1 he was received with a triumphal procession4 ,seated next to the throne1 he gave an account of his discoveries and exhibited the new country's products which he had brought back--gold1 cotton1 parrots1 curious weapons1 strange plants1 unknown birds and beasts1 and the nine ,indians whom he had brought with him for baptism4 ,great honors were poured upon him4 ,the king and queen could scarcely do enough for him4 ,in ,september1 #adic1 ,columbus sailed westward on his second voyage4 ,the fort which he had built on ,santo ,domingo was found burned1 and the colony was scattered4 ,he decided to build a second fort1 and coasting forty miles east of ,cape ,haytien he selected a site where he founded the town of ,isabella1 named in honor of the ,spanish queen4 ,he discovered and explored a number of the islands of the ,west ,indies1 including ,porto ,rico1 which has belonged to the ,united ,states since the recent war with ,spain4 ,the second voyage closed with his return to ,spain in ,june1 #adif4 ,on next to the last day of ,may1 #adih1 with six ships ,columbus set out on his third voyage4 ,on the first day of ,august he discovered the ,continent of ,south ,america4 ,he thought it was only an island4 ,sailing along the shore1 he believed that the various capes which he passed were islands1 and not until he reached the mouth of the great ,orinoco ,river did he conclude that what he had discovered was not an island but a great continent4 ,on his return to the new town of ,isabella1 he found that matters had not gone well there while he was away4 ,the natives had risen in revolt against the tyranny of the governor whom ,columbus left to rule the island in his absence4 ,for some time ,columbus's enemies1 who had become jealous of him1 had been trying to poison the minds of the ,spanish king and queen against him4 ,finally the ,spanish rulers sent an officer to inquire into the affairs of the new colony4 ,when this officer arrived1 he took possession of ,columbus's house1 put ,columbus in chains1 and sent him back to ,spain4 ,these chains ,columbus kept to the day of his death1 and his son ,hernando says his father requested that they might be buried with him4 ,after he arrived in ,spain1 he was restored to the good will of the king and queen who soon sent him on another voyage4 ,in ,may1 #aejb1 ,columbus set sail on his fourth and last voyage1 during which he endured very great dangers4 ,two of his vessels were destroyed by a storm and the other two were wrecked off the coast of ,jamaica4 ,separated from all the rest of the world1 a number of his companions revolted1 threatened his life1 deserted him1 and settled on another part of the island4 ,the natives ceased to bring him food1 and death seemed imminent4 ,in this extremity he took advantage of an approaching eclipse of the moon4 ,he told the natives that his ,god would destroy the moon as a token of the punishment to be inflicted upon them1 if they did not bring the white men food4 ,when the eclipse came1 the natives implored ,columbus to intercede for them with his ,god1 and they brought him food in abundance4 ,after the shipwreck1 the navigator sent some of his boldest men in canoes to ask relief of the governor of the colony in ,hispaniola4 ,the messengers reached the colony in safety1 but the governor would not undertake the rescue of ,columbus4 ,they bought a vessel1 took it to ,jamaica1 and after a year of danger and anxiety on the island1 in ,june1 #aejd1 ,columbus started on his homeward voyage4 ,in ,september of this year he landed on ,spanish soil for the last time4 ,this final voyage was not productive of any important results4 ,soon after his return ,queen ,isabella died1 and about two years later1 on ,may #ab1 #aejf1 ,columbus himself died at ,valladolid1 ,spain4 ,he was buried first at ,valladolid1 but his remains were soon transferred to a monastery in ,seville1 ,spain4 ,they were exhumed in #aecf and taken across the sea to the city of ,santo ,domingo1 on the island of ,hayti1 which he had discovered4 ,in #agif the remains were taken to ,havana1 ,cuba1 where they remained until the close of the ,spanish-,american war4 ,in #ahih1 after the island of ,cuba had passed from ,spain to the ,united ,states1 the body of the great admiral was taken across the ,atlantic again to ,spain1 where it now rests4 ,in person ,columbus was tall and well formed4 ,early in life he had auburn hair1 but by the time he was thirty years old his hair had been turned white with care1 hardship1 and trouble4 ,his face was long1 and he had gray eyes and an aquiline nose4 ,he was moderate in all his habits1 and was one of the most religious of men4 ,he was of a poetic temperament and thus lacked some of the essential qualities of great leadership4 ,he was broad in his outlook1 noble in his aspirations1 and benevolent in spirit4 ,columbus died ignorant of the fact that he had discovered a new world4 ,he believed that the great continent which he gave to civilization was ,asia1 and that he had only found a new way to that country4 ,he called the natives whom he found ,indians1 thinking that they were inhabitants of ,india4 ,when it was known that a new country had actually been discovered1 it was named ,america in honor of ,amerigo ,vespucci1 an ,italian geographer and navigator1 who visited1 it seems1 the mainland of this country in #adig4 ,the land discovered by ,columbus on the night of ,october #ab1 #adib1 is believed to have been ,watling's island1 one of the groups of the ,west ,indies4 ,eighteen years elapsed between the time when ,christopher ,columbus conceived his enterprise and that ,august morning in #adib when he set sail on his first voyage of discovery4 ,he had gone about from place to place seeking aid1 but spurned everywhere4 ,these years were spent in almost hopeless anxiety1 in poverty1 and in neglect4 ,the people of his day thought him crazy4 ,when he passed by1 they pointed to their foreheads and smiled4 ,he braved the dangers of unknown waters1 of mutinous crews1 of hostile natives1 and of starvation4 ,what is worse1 he endured the arrows of jealousy1 slander1 and misrepresentation4 ,he had a contract with the ,spanish crown whereby he was to receive certain honors and wealth as a result of his discoveries4 ,he could not get ,king ,ferdinand to fulfill the contract4 ,he was sent home in chains from the great hemisphere he had discovered1 and even the honor of its name went to another who had no claim to it4 ,through the career of every successful man there runs a grim determination to do the thing in hand4 ,columbus had this determination and with it he triumphed4 ,the stars hid themselves behind storms2 the compass refused to act normally2 a strange and terrible ocean roared2 mutiny howled and jealousy hissed1 but on one thing he was determined--he would do his best to accomplish the thing he had set himself to accomplish2 and he did it4 ,one of the most inspiring poems in ,american literature is ,joaquin ,miller's ,columbus3-- ,behind him lay the gray ,azores1 ,behind the ,gate of ,hercules2 ,before him not the ghost of shores1 ,before him only shoreless seas4 ,the good mate said3 ,now must we pray1 ,for lo6 the very stars are gone4 ,brave ,adm'r'l1 speak1 what shall ,i say8 ,why1 say3 ',sail on6 sail on6 and on6' ,my men grow mutinous day by day2 ,my men grow ghastly wan and weak4 ,the stout mate thought of home2 a spray ,of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek4 ,what shall ,i say1 brave ,adm'r'l1 say1 ,if we sight naught but seas at dawn8 ,why1 you shall say at break of day3 ',sail on6 sail on6 sail on6 and on6' ,they sailed and sailed1 as winds might blow1 ,until at last the blanched mate said3 ,why1 now not even ,god would know ,should ,i and all my men fall dead4 ,these very winds forget their way1 ,for ,god from these dread seas is gone4 ,now speak1 brave ,adm'r'l1 speak and say-- ,he said3 ,sail on6 sail on6 and on6 ,they sailed4 ,they sailed4 ,then spake the mate3 ,this mad sea shows his teeth to-night4 ,he curls his lips1 he lies in wait1 ,with lifted teeth as if to bite6 ,brave ,adm'r'l1 say but one good word3 ,what shall we do when hope is gone8 ,the word leapt like a leaping sword3 ,sail on6 sail on6 sail on6 and on6 ,then1 pale and worn he kept his deck ,and peered through darkness4 ,ah1 that night ,of all dark nights6 ,and then a speck-- ,a light6 a light6 a light6 a light6 ,it grew1 a starlit flag unfurled6 ,it grew to be time's burst of dawn4 ,he gained a world2 he gave that world ,its grandest lesson3 ,oh6 sail on6 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,weapons ,,and ,,gunpowder ,man's weapons of warfare1 offensive and defensive1 have been many and curious4 ,david slew ,goliath with a stone from a sling4 ,the ,scriptures tell us that ,samson1 the mighty man of the ,bible1 killed a thousand ,philistines at one time with the jaw-bone of an ass4 ,the study of the development of arms makes one of the most significant chapters in the history of civilization4 ,the use of stone weapons seems to have been universally characteristic of the earlier races of mankind1 as it still is distinctive of the ruder races4 ,the weapons made from stone were necessarily few and simple4 ,the most common was an ax1 made from various kinds of stone and with varying degrees of skill4 ,spear-points and arrow-heads were made of flint4 ,these show a comparatively high type of workmanship4 ,the highest efforts of the ancient stone-workers culminated in a leaf-shaped dagger or knife of flint1 various in form but uniform in type4 ,these flint daggers differed also in size1 but seldom exceeded a foot in length4 ,they were never ground or polished1 but delicately chipped to a fine1 straight edge1 and were often beautiful4 ,illustration3 ,,statues ,,showing ,,knights ,,in ,,armor ,in the ,bronze ,age several kinds of bronze daggers were made4 ,the characteristic weapon of this period1 however1 was the leaf-shaped bronze sword4 ,no warlike weapon of any period is more graceful in form or more beautifully finished4 ,this sword had a very thin edge on both sides running from hilt to point1 and the handle was of bone1 horn1 or wood4 ,the thinness of the edge seems to have been produced without the aid of hammer or file4 ,the weapon was better fitted for stabbing and thrusting than for cutting with the edge4 ,bronze spear-points have been found1 but throughout the ,bronze ,age arrow-heads were made of flint4 ,there were also shields of bronze1 held in the hand by a handle fastened to the center4 ,the period of transition between the ,bronze ,age and the ,iron ,age is marked by an iron sword1 which was similar in form to the leaf-shaped bronze sword4 ,homer1 the great ,greek bard who is supposed to have lived about a thousand years before the birth of ,christ1 in speaking of the wars of the ,greeks1 describes their weapons somewhat fully4 ,they used a double-edged1 bronze-bladed sword1 the hilt and scabbard of which were adorned with gold and silver4 ,in the combats of the ,homeric age1 however1 the spear1 lance1 or javelin played the principal part2 swords were used only for fighting at close range4 ,bows and arrows also were used4 ,the only iron weapon specifically mentioned is the arrow-head4 ,this was inserted in a split shaft1 precisely like the flint arrow-heads of the early ,north ,american ,indians and other modern savages4 ,the defensive armor of the heroic age of ,greece was entirely of bronze4 ,it consisted of a helmet for the head1 cuirass for the chest1 greaves for the legs1 and a shield4 ,the bronze cuirass was often ornamented with gold4 ,the shield was round or oval in shape1 very large1 and covered with hide4 ,the ,greeks of the later or historic age fought chiefly with long1 heavy spears4 ,later the shield was reduced in size and the sword increased in length4 ,the light-armed troops were furnished with a light javelin having a strap or thong fastened to the middle to assist in hurling4 ,a linen corselet came into use instead of the heavy metal cuirass4 ,the mounted troops were supplied with a longer sword1 a javelin1 and a short dagger4 ,the military strength of early ,egypt lay in her archers1 who fought either on foot or from chariots4 ,the ,egyptian bow was a little shorter than a man's height4 ,the string was of hide or cord2 the arrows were of reed1 winged with three feathers and pointed with bronze heads1 and were from two to three feet in length4 ,the ,egyptian archers carried a curved1 broad-bladed sword1 and a dagger or a battle-axe for combat at close quarters4 ,their defensive armor consisted of a quilted head-piece and coat4 ,they used no shield1 as this would have interfered with the use of the bow4 ,the infantry were classified according to the weapons with which they fought--as spearmen1 swordsmen1 clubmen1 and slingers4 ,the spears were five or six feet long and had triangular or leaf-shaped heads of bronze4 ,the spearmen carried shields shaped like a door with a curved top1 having a hole in the upper portion through which they could look4 ,these shields were about half as high as a man and were covered with hairy hide1 with the hair attached4 ,the early swords of ,egypt were of bronze1 straight1 double-edged1 tapering from hilt to point1 and measuring from two and a half to three feet in length4 ,the ancient ,assyrians fought with swords somewhat like those of ,egypt4 ,they used also bows1 lances1 spears1 and javelins4 ,their shields were round and convex2 and their cuirass was a close-fitting garment made of many layers of flax1 plaited together or interwoven1 and cemented and hardened with glue4 ,this linen corselet was found also among the ,egyptians1 the ,greeks1 and the ,romans4 ,the characteristic weapon of the ,romans1 the greatest warriors of ancient times1 was what the ,romans themselves called the pilum4 ,this weapon was a pike having a stout iron head carried on a rod of iron4 ,the iron rod was about twenty inches long and terminated in a socket for the insertion of the wooden shaft1 which was a little more than three feet in length4 ,the entire weapon was therefore about five feet long4 ,the pilum could be hurled as a javelin with great effect4 ,piercing the shield of the enemy1 the slender iron rod bent under the weight of the shaft1 which trailed along the ground1 making the shield useless for purposes of defense4 ,when used at close quarters1 the pilum had something of the efficiency of the modern bayonet2 and when wielded firmly in both hands1 it served to ward off sword-strokes1 which fell harmlessly upon the long and strong iron neck of the weapon4 ,no warrior of ancient times was more formidable than the ,roman with his pilum4 ,the ,romans had also swords of bronze and bronze armor1 resembling the armor and the swords of the ,greeks4 ,in the prosperous days of ,rome1 her legions1 under one of the greatest military commanders of all time1 ,julius ,caesar1 brought nearly all the world of that day to the feet of their general4 ,the ,franks1 a ,germanic people who lived early in the ,christian era and who gave their name to ,france1 used the battle-ax as their chief weapon4 ,it had a broad blade and a short handle and was used as a missile4 ,it is said that a blow of an ax1 when hurled1 would pierce an enemy's shield or kill him1 and that the ,franks rarely missed their aim4 ,they wore no armor1 not even helmets1 though they carried swords1 round shields1 and darts with barbed iron heads1 which were used for throwing or thrusting4 ,when this dart became fixed in an adversary's shield1 it was the habit of the ,frank to bound forward1 place a foot upon one end of the trailing dart1 and1 compelling the enemy to lower his shield1 slay him with the battle-ax4 ,the ,franks used also a short1 straight1 broad-bladed sword1 double-edged and obtuse at the point4 ,the military organization of the later ,franks changed from infantry to cavalry1 and this change gave way in time to the era of chivalry4 ,the superior soldiers of the time of ,charlemagne had added to their equipment the celebrated coat of mail4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,knight ,,in ,,action ,our early ,anglo-,saxon fathers fought with swords1 spears1 axes1 and a heavy1 single-edged knife4 ,the sword was especially the weapon of the horseman1 and was not carried by anyone under the rank of thane4 ,the infantry bore the other weapons4 ,the early ,anglo-,saxons do not appear to have used the bow and arrow1 though in later times the long bow was an important weapon in ,england4 ,the ,anglo-,saxons of olden times were not strong in cavalry4 ,saxon warriors carried round or oval shields made of wood and covered with leather4 ,suits of metal armor were worn for defense4 ,the gallant knights of the ,middle ,ages fought on horseback1 as they went about protecting the weak1 redressing the wrongs of the injured1 and upholding right against might4 ,they were clad in armor of metal1 with swords buckled to their sides4 ,mail armor of interlinked metallic rings was used until the beginning of the fourteenth century4 ,from this time to the beginning of the seventeenth century1 armor was made of solid plates of metal4 ,after #afjj1 armor was gradually replaced by a new agent of warfare1 against which it was no protection4 ,likewise the shield1 the dagger1 and the bow gave way1 though the long bow continued in use as an ,english weapon until the close of ,queen ,elizabeth's reign4 ,illustration3 ,,an ,,archer ,,of ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,century ,the invention of gunpowder was one of the most far-reaching events of all history4 ,this terrific substance has not only revolutionized warfare1 but has changed the current of human history itself4 ,it is not known who invented gunpowder1 or when it was first used4 ,it is a compound of saltpetre1 charcoal1 and sulphur2 the proportions in which these three ingredients are mixed vary in different countries and in different kinds of powders4 ,it seems likely that powder was invented in the ,far ,east1 perhaps in ,china4 ,saltpetre comes1 for the most part1 from ,china and ,india1 on whose vast plains it is found mixed with the soil4 ,an ordinary wood fire kindled on ground containing saltpetre would bring the saltpetre into contact with charcoal1 and thereby practically produce powder4 ,it is probable that the discovery of the explosive occurred in this accidental way4 ,fireworks were used in ,china from a very early date1 but it is doubtful if the ,chinese1 or any other nation of ,asia1 used gunpowder as a propelling force4 ,it was left for the ,western nations to develop and give practical value to the discovery of the ,chinese4 ,our first knowledge of powder as an agency of war dates from about the year #gjj ,a4,d41 when it was used by the ,byzantine emperors in defending ,constantinople against the ,saracens4 ,it was employed there1 however1 not as a propelling force1 but in the form of rockets or a fiery liquid called ,greek fire4 ,its first real use in ,europe as a power for propulsion was in ,spain1 where the ,moors and the ,christians both used some kind of artillery as early as the twelfth century after ,christ4 ,gunpowder was first introduced into ,england by ,roger ,bacon1 a ,british scientist1 who was born early in the thirteenth century4 ,he probably did not discover its properties independently1 but by reading ancient manuscripts4 ,owing to the crude and uncertain methods of making gunpowder1 it did not attain much value until ,berthold ,schwarz1 a ,german monk1 at about #acbj ,a4,d4 introduced an improved method of manufacture4 ,the improved powder thus made was first used in ,england by ,king ,edward ,,iii in his war against the ,scotch in #acbg4 ,it was perhaps used on the continent of ,europe earlier than this1 but the occasions are uncertain4 ,the tubes from which the missiles were propelled were called crakeys of war4 ,spenser called cannon those devilish iron engines4 ,they were probably used for the first time in field warfare by the ,english in the battle at ,crecy1 a small town in ,france1 where on ,august #bf1 #acdf1 the ,english defeated the ,french4 ,the artillery seemed to have been used in this battle merely to frighten the horses of the enemy1 and the cannon were laughed at as ingenious toys4 ,from the ,battle of ,crecy onward1 the use of gunpowder spread rapidly throughout ,europe1 the ,russians being the last to adopt it4 ,saltpetre1 at first used in its natural state1 began to be produced artificially1 and then the manufacture of powder extended among the nations4 ,during the ,french ,revolution1 according to ,carlyle1 the revolutionists were driven to such extremities for want of powder that they scraped old cellars seeking material for its manufacture4 ,many recent improvements have been made in the production of gunpowder1 the most important resulting in the smokeless powder4 ,before the introduction of cannon using gunpowder as a propelling force1 various machines were used in warfare for hurling missiles4 ,large stones and heavy darts or arrows were thrown by means of tightly twisted ropes1 like the action of a bow1 or through the aid of a lever and sling4 ,various names were applied to these weapons1 the chief of which were the ballista and the catapult4 ,the ballista hurled stones by means of a twisted cord or a lever2 the catapult by darts or arrows could throw a projectile half a mile4 ,both machines were used by the ,romans with great effect1 in both defensive and offensive warfare4 ,in destroying the wall of a besieged town1 the ,romans used a battering-ram4 ,it consisted of a beam of wood with a mass of bronze or iron on the end resembling a ram's head4 ,in its earliest form1 the battering-ram was beaten against the wall by the soldiers2 later it was suspended in a frame and made to swing with ropes4 ,another kind moved on rollers1 the swinging movement being given to it also by means of ropes4 ,the beam of the ram was from sixty to one hundred and twenty feet long1 the head sometimes weighed more than a ton1 and as many as a hundred men were necessary to swing it4 ,for the protection of the soldiers using it1 a wooden roof covered it1 and the whole was mounted on wheels4 ,scarcely any wall could resist the continued blows of the battering-ram4 ,the ,romans were the most effective in the use of this engine1 though they borrowed it from the ,greeks4 ,the first cannon were clumsy and comparatively inefficient4 ,they were made of wooden bars held together with iron hoops1 and they shot balls of stone4 ,cannon of bronze were next made1 and in the latter part of the fifteenth century iron cannon came into use4 ,the next improvement was the production of cannon of steel1 and for some years past the best artillery has been made of this material4 ,after stone balls ceased to be used1 round balls of iron were utilized4 ,these in time gave way to cylindrical projectiles of steel4 ,originally cannon were loaded at the muzzle1 but in recent years breech-loading devices have been developed1 so that now all of the best modern guns are loaded from the rear4 ,within the last twenty-five years1 rapid-fire guns have been developed4 ,these have a mechanism by which the breech is opened and closed again by a single motion of a lever4 ,the loading with projectile and powder is also done with one motion4 ,the rapidity of firing varies from two hundred shots per minute in the smallest guns to one shot in two minutes in the largest4 ,the largest ,british cannon are nearly eighteen inches in calibre 7diameter of bore71 weigh a hundred tons1 are thirty-five feet long1 shoot a shell weighing nearly a ton1 consume at each charge #dej pounds of powder1 and have the power of penetrating solid iron armor plate to the depth of almost two feet1 at a distance of one thousand yards4 ,at least a year and a quarter is required for making one of the great1 heavy guns1 and often a longer time4 ,the cost of constructing one of the largest ,english cannon is about #aag1jjj1 and it costs about #age to fire the gun once4 ,some of the most powerful cannon may be relied upon to hit an object ten feet high at a distance of about nine thousand yards4 ,in battle1 however1 owing to conditions of atmosphere and the limitations of human vision1 fire would rarely be opened at a greater distance than three thousand yards1 or not quite two miles4 ,guns discharged by machinery have been introduced within the last half-century4 ,the fire from machine guns is practically continuous4 ,several kinds have been invented and improved by various persons4 ,one of the best types of this kind of ordnance is the ,gatling gun1 invented in #ahfj by ,dr4 ,r4 ,j4 ,gatling1 of ,indianapolis4 ,it consists of a number of parallel barrels1 usually ten1 grouped around and fastened to a central shaft4 ,each barrel has its own mechanism for firing4 ,as the barrels revolve1 loaded cartridges are fed into them by machinery and the empty cartridges are ejected4 ,by means of an automatic mechanism1 the bullets may be scattered over such an arc in front as may be desired1 or concentrated upon a narrower range4 ,the ,gatling gun can fire at the rate of #abjj shots per minute2 it literally hails bullets4 ,the greatest name connected with the manufacture of modern cannon is that of ,herr ,alfred ,krupp1 of ,germany1 who was born at ,essen in #ahab in humble circumstances4 ,he erected the first ,bessemer steel works in ,germany in the city of his birth1 and was the pioneer in the introduction of steel for the manufacture of heavy guns4 ,he believed in the utility of steel when the great governments of the earth had no faith in it4 ,the works at ,essen cover in all about one thousand acres1 and in them twenty thousand persons find employment4 ,to ,krupp ,germany owed much1 and was not negligent in paying him honor4 ,his factory supplied artillery to nearly all the nations of ,europe4 ,he died in ,july1 #ahhg1 and was succeeded in the management of the works by his son ,alfred1 who also died recently4 ,the plant still continues in operation4 ,illustration3 ,,musketeer ,,and ,,pikeman ,,of ,,the ,,early ,,seventeenth ,,century ,the first portable or hand gun consisted of a simple iron or brass tube fastened to a straight stock of wood4 ,horsemen used the first guns1 and fired them by placing the end of the stock against the breast and letting the barrel rest on a fork fastened to the saddle4 ,the gun was discharged by applying a lighted match to a touch-hole in the top of the barrel4 ,one kind of powder was used for priming2 another for firing4 ,before the invention of cartridges1 the powder and bullets were loaded separately at the muzzle1 with some kind of packing between4 ,the colonial rifles in ,america were loaded in this way4 ,in a fight at close quarters1 after a gun had been once discharged1 the soldier had to fight with his sword4 ,about the middle of the seventeenth century1 the bayonet was invented1 taking its name from the town of ,bayonne1 in ,france1 where the inventor lived4 ,the lighted match which soldiers originally carried for igniting their guns gave way to the flint and steel2 and in #ahjg a ,scotch clergyman named ,forsyth obtained a patent which led to the invention of the percussion cap4 ,this improvement revolutionized the mechanism of firearms4 ,many improvements have been made recently in arms1 so that cartridges containing cap1 powder1 and projectile are fed automatically into guns so delicately constructed that they have great carrying power1 precision1 and rapidity4 ,from the dawn of human existence man has sought by some method or other to overcome natural barriers of water4 ,the idea of the ship is as old almost as the race itself4 ,the most primitive form of vessel was the raft4 ,in prehistoric ages men made vessels by hollowing out the trunks of trees1 either with fire or with such crude tools as they possessed4 ,the ,latin poet ,virgil mentions hollowed alders used for boats1 and indeed canoes were made from hollowed tree trunks as long ago as the ,stone ,age4 ,the next step forward in the art of shipbuilding was the bark canoe4 ,in countries where bark is scarce1 small vessels were made of skins1 felt1 or canvas covered with pitch4 ,in process of time1 boats were made by fastening timbers together1 and in this method the basic principle of modern shipbuilding was reached4 ,it is the relation of ships to purposes of war that interests us here4 ,when the curtain rose for the drama of civilization in ,egypt five thousand years ago1 men were fighting at sea4 ,the oldest ships of which we have knowledge were ,egyptian4 ,the vessels of war were then propelled by oarsmen1 who were protected from the missiles of the enemy by planks4 ,on the ,egyptian war-galleys there was often a projecting bow to which was attached a metal head for ramming the vessels of the enemy4 ,our knowledge of ,greek fighting ships--thanks to ,greek literature--is fairly full4 ,in the time of ,homer1 about ten centuries before ,christ1 ,greek men-of-war carried crews of from fifty to one hundred and twenty men1 nearly all of whom took part in the labor of rowing4 ,a military boat called the bireme came into use in ,greece about six or seven centuries before ,christ4 ,the word means a vessel with two rows or banks of oarsmen on each side1 one row above the other4 ,this disposition of rowers was evidently for the purpose of securing the largest possible number in the least possible space4 ,it is probable that the ,greeks did not originate the bireme1 but borrowed the idea from the ,phoenicians or possibly from ,egypt4 ,when ,athens was at the zenith of her glory1 the principal war vessel was the trireme1 a ship with three rows of oarsmen to the side1 each rising above another4 ,larger ships were subsequently constructed with four1 five1 and even sixteen banks of rowers to a side1 tier above tier4 ,the ,romans1 although they were so powerful in land warfare1 were not strong in naval achievement until after the ,first ,punic ,war4 ,in this war they learned the art of naval construction from their enemies1 the ,carthaginians4 ,a ,carthaginian quinquereme1 or boat with five banks of oars1 drifted to the ,roman coast4 ,the ,romans copied it1 set up frames on dry land in which crews were taught to row1 and in sixty days from the time the trees were felled they had built and manned a fleet4 ,later the ,romans used grappling hooks with which they bound together their own and an opposing ship4 ,they then boarded the enemy's vessel and carried on the fight at close quarters4 ,these tactics gave the ,romans command of the sea1 and their war galley came to be the supreme object of terror in the naval history of ,roman days4 ,sails and wind superseded rowers as the motive force of ships4 ,then came steam4 ,but after gunpowder and steam had worked a revolution in the modes of naval combat1 vessels of war continued to be made of wood4 ,the first fight between iron ships in the history of the world was fought on the ninth of ,march1 #ahfb1 in ,hampton ,roads1 near ,norfolk1 ,virginia1 during the ,civil ,war in ,america4 ,the battle was the combat between the ,merrimac and the ,monitor4 ,this engagement marked the end of wooden navies4 ,thenceforth the nations of earth were to make their warships of iron and steel4 ,among the largest battleships built for the ,united ,states navy are the ,delaware and the ,north ,dakota4 ,each of these battleships is five hundred and ten feet long1 a little more than eighty-five feet wide1 sinks to the depth of nearly twenty-seven feet in the water1 and travels at the rate of twenty-one knots per hour4 ,each vessel weighs twenty thousand tons1 and is armed with ten great guns a foot in diameter at the mouth4 ,the ,north ,dakota required #dfhh tons of steel armor at a cost of more than four hundred dollars per ton4 ,each of its great twelve-inch guns cost nearly #aaj1jjj1 weighs fifty-two tons1 and hurls a projectile weighing #hej pounds a distance of twelve miles4 ,three hundred and eighty-five pounds of powder are consumed at a single discharge4 ,at a distance of more than a mile and a half the projectiles of the ,north ,dakota will penetrate steel armor to a depth of nearly twenty inches4 ,when these projectiles leave the guns1 they fly through the air at the rate of #b1hjj feet in a second4 ,when one hundred shots have been fired from one of these guns1 it is worn so that it will be useless until repaired4 ,the cost of a single discharge from one of these guns is about #cej4 ,sub-marine navigation has always been attended by the most woeful catastrophes1 but in spite of numerous accidents the development of the submarine boat has progressed uninterruptedly4 ,each new model presents new preventive devices4 ,flasks of oxylithic powder are carried for purifying the air in the water-tight compartments in which the crews live while the boat is below the surface of the water4 ,there is also a special apparatus for signalling other vessels or the shore1 in case of danger4 ,in #aijd three vessels1 designated ,x1 ,y1 and ,z1 were completed1 which could achieve submersion in the short space of two minutes4 ,the boats were armed with six torpedoes each4 ,france owns the largest fleet of under-water warships in the world4 ,england stands next1 and the ,united ,states government is third4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,astronomical ,,discoveries ,,and ,,inventions ,when ,i consider thy heavens1 the work of thy fingers1 the moon and the stars1 which thou hast ordained1 what is man1 that thou art mindful of him8 ,the ,hebrew psalmist feels the insignificance of man compared with the infinitude of the heavens4 ,victor ,hugo expresses the opposite thought3 ,there is one spectacle grander than the sea--that is the sky2 there is one spectacle grander than the sky--that is the interior of the soul4 ,there is nothing more dignified1 more sublime1 more awful1 than a contemplation of the heavens4 ,in point of grandeur1 astronomy may be regarded as king of the sciences4 ,it is also their patriarch4 ,thousands of years before the birth of ,christ the priests of ,chaldea1 from the tops of their flat-roofed temples1 studied the stars and laid the foundations of the science of astronomy4 ,the heavens1 with their teeming1 whirling1 circling congregation1 obeying laws that have no variableness neither shadow of turning do1 indeed1 declare the glory of ,god4 ,from the earliest times the stars were supposed to influence for good and ill the lives of men4 ,there were supposed to be stars of good luck and of bad omen4 ,the cool1 calculating ,cassius tells ,brutus1 ,the fault1 dear ,brutus1 is not in our stars1 ,but in ourselves1 that we are underlings4 ,when you look up into the heavens at the flickering dots of light which we call the stars1 you are looking at worlds1 many of them far larger than our earth4 ,they seem small because of vast distances from us4 ,our own solar system1 great as it is1 in comparison with the celestial universe is but a clod in an acre4 ,at the center of our system is the sun1 a huge ball of fiery matter #ic1jjj1jjj miles from the earth1 and as large as #ccj1jjj worlds like ours4 ,circling around the sun like maddened horses around a race course are eight planets4 ,these planets1 with the sun and some comets1 constitute our solar system2 our system1 for how many solar systems there are in space no one knows4 ,these planets1 in their order outward from the sun1 are ,mercury1 ,venus1 our ,earth1 ,mars1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune4 ,of these1 ,mercury is the smallest and ,jupiter is the largest4 ,the following table shows some interesting facts about the planets3 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------- ,number of ,time planets ,distance required ,velocity ,name ,diameter required to from sun for one in orbit1 in miles equal sun in millions revolution miles per in size of miles around sun hour in days ---------------------------------------- -------------------------- ,mercury #c1jjh #e1jjj1jjj #cf #hh #ajg1jab ,venus #g1dhj #dbe1jjj #ff #bbe #gh1bhd ,earth #g1ibf #ccb1bfj #ib #cfe-a_/d #ff1egi ,mars #d1iii #c1jic1ejj #ada #fhg #ec1ich ,jupiter #hh1dci #a1jdh #dhc #d1ccb #bi1bjc ,saturn #ge1jcf #c1ejb #hhf #aj1gei #ba1efj ,uranus #cj1hge #bb1fjj #a1ghc #cj1fhg #ae1bjb ,neptune #cg1bje #ai1djj #b1gid #fj1abg #ab1aef ---------------------------------------- -------------------------- ,the moon is #bdj1jjj miles from the earth1 and it would require nearly #bd1ejj1jjj moons to equal the sun in size4 ,other planets have moons1 some of them several4 ,if you lived on the planet ,mercury1 your annual birthday would come around about once in three of our months4 ,if you had your home out on the border land of the solar system1 on the planet ,neptune1 you would have a birthday once in about #afe years1 as we count time on the earth4 ,it will be observed that the closer the planet is to the sun1 the faster it travels in its orbit4 ,this fact is due to the power of gravitation toward the sun4 ,this strange influence drives the planets around the sun1 and the nearer the planet is to the sun the greater is the power and consequently the faster the revolution4 ,the law of gravitation was discovered by ,sir ,isaac ,newton4 ,newton was born in #afdb in ,lincolnshire1 ,england4 ,his father was a farmer1 and the farmhouse in which the son was born is still preserved4 ,he was educated at a grammar school in ,lincolnshire1 and later entered ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge1 from which he was graduated in #affe4 ,early in life he displayed a great liking for mathematics4 ,within a few years after he entered college1 he had mastered the leading mathematical works of the day and had begun to make some progress in original mathematical investigation4 ,newton's great life work--the achievement which insured to his name a place among the immortals--was suggested to him by accident4 ,as the story goes1 while he was walking one day in a garden1 he saw an apple fall from a tree4 ,he speculated upon the reasons for its falling1 and ultimately concluded that the same force which causes an apple to fall from a tree holds the heavenly bodies in their places4 ,further investigation brought him to the unfolding of this general law of gravitation3 ,every body in nature attracts every other body with a force directly as its mass1 and inversely as the square of its distance4 ,this law is the greatest law of nature4 ,it is the central fact of the physical universe1 the cement of the material world1 the mighty1 mystic shepherdess of space1 that keeps the planets from wandering off alone4 ,it is this awful1 silent power reaching out from the enormous mass of the sun1 that lashes the planets in their furious race1 and yet holds them tightly reined in their orbits4 ,newton was one of the greatest mathematicians1 scientists1 and thinkers in the history of the world4 ,he died at ,kensington1 ,england1 on ,march #bj1 #agbg1 and was buried in ,westminster ,abbey1 with the illustrious dead of ,great ,britain4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,isaac ,,newton ,the operation of this law of gravitation pointed the way to the discovery of the planet ,neptune1 which is considered the greatest triumph of mathematical astronomy since the days of ,newton4 ,prior to the discovery of ,neptune1 ,uranus was the outermost known planet of the solar system4 ,it was noticed that ,uranus was being pulled out of its proper path4 ,it was being tugged away by some strange force beyond the edge of the known planetary system4 ,as the result of a skilful and laborious investigation1 ,leverrier1 a young ,french astronomer1 wrote in substance to an assistant in the observatory at ,berlin3 ,direct your telescope to a point on the ecliptic in the constellation of ,aquarius in longitude #cbf deg41 and you will find within a degree of that place a new planet1 looking like a star of the ninth magnitude1 and having a perceptible disk4 ,leverrier did not know of the existence of such a planet4 ,he calculated its existence1 location1 and mass from the fact that some such body must be there1 to account for the disturbance caused to ,uranus4 ,the telescope in the ,berlin ,observatory was directed to the place designated by ,leverrier1 and on the night of ,september #bc1 #ahdf1 in exact accordance with his prediction and within half an hour after the astronomers had begun looking1 ,neptune was discovered within less than one degree from the exact spot where ,leverrier had calculated it must be4 ,such are the triumphs of the human mind4 ,such are the failures of nature to hide her secrets from the inquiry of man1 even behind untold millions of miles4 ,according to the principles of gravitation as unfolded by ,newton1 the power of attraction decreases directly as the square of the distance between the sun and a planet4 ,neptune1 being on the outer rim of the system and hence farthest away from the sun1 moves in its orbit around the sun more sluggishly than any other planet4 ,life such as we know it on the earth could not exist on ,neptune2 it would be too cold4 ,the light and heat from the sun on ,neptune are only one nine hundredth part of what we get on the earth4 ,but even so1 the sunlight falling upon ,neptune is equal in power to seven hundred of our full moons4 ,it was thought that ,uranus was the last planet of the solar system until ,neptune was found4 ,whether ,neptune is the last1 or whether other worlds are roaming around beyond it1 is not known4 ,ptolemy1 who was one of the most celebrated astronomers of earlier times1 was born in ,egypt about a century and a half after ,christ4 ,according to the ,ptolemaic system of astronomy1 which ,ptolemy expounded but did not originate1 the earth was considered the center of the universe1 and around it the other planets and the sun were believed to revolve4 ,a passage in the ,bible in which ,joshua commanded the sun to stand still indicates that the old ,hebrews believed the sun circled around the earth4 ,the ,ptolemaic theory did not account for all the facts observed by astronomers1 but for nearly fifteen centuries it held practically universal sway over the belief of men1 until another thinker set the matter right4 ,nicholas ,copernicus was born in ,prussia1 ,february #ai1 #adgc4 ,he studied mathematics1 medicine1 theology1 and painting1 but his greatest achievements were in astronomy4 ,he made holes in the walls of his room1 through which he might observe the stars4 ,copernicus did not believe in the theory of ,ptolemy that the earth was the center of the universe1 but held that the solar system had for its center the sun1 and that around it the planets1 including the earth1 revolved4 ,in working out this belief1 which science has subsequently shown to be correct1 he laid the foundations of the modern system of astronomy4 ,the book in which ,copernicus expounded his theory was begun in #aejg and was completed in #aecj4 ,he could not be induced to publish it1 however1 until shortly before his death4 ,on ,may #bd1 #aedc1 he lay dying in ,frauenburg4 ,a few hours before his death1 when reason1 memory1 and life were slipping away from him1 the first printed copy of his book was borne to ,frauenburg and placed in the great astronomer's hands4 ,he touched the book1 looked at it for a time1 and seemed conscious of what it was4 ,quickly afterward he lapsed into insensibility and was gone4 ,johann ,kepler1 who was born in ,germany in #aega1 contributed several important facts to astronomy4 ,he studied the motions and laws of the celestial bodies4 ,copernicus taught that the planets revolved around the sun in circular orbits1 but ,kepler discovered that their paths are ellipses4 ,he also found that the nearer the planets are to the sun the faster they travel4 ,kepler's discoveries were embodied in three great laws of astronomy known as ,kepler's laws4 ,these furnished the foundation for ,newton's discoveries and are the basis of modern astronomy4 ,kepler died in ,november1 #afcj4 ,many of the wonderful discoveries that have been made in the field of astronomy could not have been possible without the telescope1 the most important instrument used by astronomers4 ,the first part of the word is the same ,greek adverb meaning afar1 found in telegraph and telephone2 the last part is derived from a ,greek verb meaning to see4 ,the telescope1 therefore1 is an instrument for seeing objects that are far off4 ,it is a long tube ,with lenses so arranged as to make objects appear much larger than they would to the naked eye4 ,the telescope was invented by a ,dutch optician named ,hans ,lippershey about three hundred years ago4 ,the ,italian scientist ,galileo1 who was born at ,pisa in ,february1 #aefd1 heard of the invention1 began studying the principles upon which it depends1 and greatly improved it4 ,galileo was the first to use the telescope for astronomical purposes4 ,with it he discovered the satellites of ,jupiter1 the spots on the sun1 and the hills and valleys of the moon4 ,illustration3 ,,galileo ,at the present time the largest telescopes in the world are made and owned in ,america4 ,the largest is the ,yerkes telescope1 belonging to the ,university of ,chicago and located on the shores of ,lake ,geneva1 ,wisconsin4 ,microscopes1 opera glasses1 and other magnifying instruments depend upon the same principles as the telescope4 ,one of the most astounding of man's tools is the spectroscope1 an instrument used for analyzing light4 ,through a knowledge of chemistry scientists can establish scientific relations between different substances and the light which they emit4 ,by analyzing the light from the heavenly bodies with the aid of the spectroscope1 and comparing this result with the light sent out from different known kinds of matter1 man can stand on this little flying speck of matter we call the earth and discover of what substances the stars are made4 ,one of the most interesting questions arising in a study of the heavenly bodies is whether or not any of them besides the earth are inhabited4 ,is there any good reason for supposing that our pigmy planet1 so insignificant compared with many celestial bodies1 is the only one containing life8 ,on the other hand1 life such as we know it could not exist on some of the other planets4 ,mercury would be too hot2 ,neptune too cold4 ,climatic conditions on ,mars are most nearly like those of the earth4 ,within recent years the telescope has revealed on the surface of ,mars a number of peculiar1 regular lines4 ,many scientists hold that these are artificial canals or irrigation ditches1 and that the planet must be inhabited4 ,the theory does not seem at all unreasonable4 ,but the most that can be safely said is that if any of the other planets are inhabited1 the most likely one is ,mars4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,cotton-,,gin ,another great invention is the cotton-gin4 ,it is great because of the commercial prosperity which it brought to the ,southern states2 because it cheapened and extended the use of an almost necessary article of life2 and because of its effect on ,american history4 ,the inventor was an ,american1 ,eli ,whitney4 ,the word gin is an abbreviation of engine1 and in former days was often used to denote a handy mechanical device of any kind4 ,the cotton-gin is a machine for removing the seed from the fiber of the cotton-plant4 ,its essential parts are a number of saws which tear the fiber from the seeds1 some stiff brushes used to remove the fiber from the saws1 and a revolving fan which blows the lighter substance of the cotton away from the saws and brushes4 ,the original cotton-gin has been little changed by improvement since its invention4 ,it seems to be one of those inventions which have been perfected by the inventor himself4 ,eli ,whitney was born in ,westborough1 ,worcester ,county1 ,massachusetts1 ,december #h1 #agfe4 ,his father was a thrifty farmer4 ,nature bestowed upon the son marked ability in the use of tools4 ,while he was yet a child1 his inventive genius manifested itself4 ,before he was ten years old1 he could use every tool in the farm workshop with the ease and skill of an old workman4 ,he made a violin before he was twelve and later he came to be noted in the neighborhood as a skilful mender of fiddles4 ,he also turned his attention to making nails1 which in ,revolutionary days were made by hand1 and became the best nail-maker in ,worcester ,county4 ,when he was twenty-four years of age1 a desire for a college education possessed him4 ,his father agreed to furnish the money to pay for his schooling1 with the stipulation that the son should pay it back4 ,he entered ,yale1 where he was graduated in #agib4 ,after graduation ,whitney went ,south to act as tutor in a private family4 ,upon arrival at his destination1 he found that the position was already filled4 ,at that time the widow of ,general ,nathanael ,greene1 who fought in the ,revolutionary ,war1 lived near ,savannah1 ,georgia4 ,she had become interested in young ,whitney and invited him to make her plantation his home4 ,she noted his inventive skill1 and one day when a group of ,georgia planters was discussing at her home the desirability of a machine for removing cotton-seeds from the fiber1 ,mrs4 ,greene said3 ,gentlemen1 apply to my friend1 ,mr4 ,whitney2 he can make anything4 ,whitney was called in and the planters laid the matter of the machine before him4 ,at this time he had never even seen cotton fiber4 ,but he made up his mind to try what he could do toward solving the problem4 ,he went to ,savannah and searched among the warehouses and flat-boats for samples of cotton4 ,mrs4 ,greene encouraged him in his undertaking and gave him a room in the basement of her house for his workshop4 ,here he shut himself up with his task1 and was heard early and late hammering1 sawing1 and filing4 ,no one was admitted to the room but ,mrs4 ,greene and ,phineas ,miller1 the tutor of ,mrs4 ,greene's children4 ,at the outset ,whitney had neither money nor tools4 ,the money was supplied by an old college friend2 the tools ,whitney made himself4 ,he could procure no wire in ,savannah for constructing his machine1 and was compelled to make his own1 which he did with much perseverance and skill4 ,in #agic the gin was sufficiently completed to convince the inventor that it would be a complete success4 ,mrs4 ,greene invited a number of distinguished planters and merchants to witness the working of the machine4 ,the spectators were not slow in realizing the success and the significance of the invention4 ,they saw that with this little machine one man could separate as much cotton from the seed in one day as he could separate by hand in a whole winter4 ,with the gin the cotton grown on a large plantation could be separated in a few days2 by hand1 the separation would require a hundred workmen for several months4 ,one dark night some unscrupulous persons broke open the shed in which the unfinished machine had been placed and carried it away4 ,filled with rage and despair at the wrong which had been done him1 ,whitney left ,georgia and went to ,connecticut to complete his invention4 ,but he had scarcely left ,savannah when two other claimants for the honor of the invention appeared in ,georgia4 ,a few weeks later a gin very closely resembling ,whitney's came out4 ,his stolen gin was doubtless used as a model by these false claimants4 ,on ,march #ad1 #agid1 ,whitney received a patent on his gin4 ,phineas ,miller1 who had become the husband of ,mrs4 ,greene1 entered into a partnership with ,whitney for managing the new invention4 ,whitney was to manufacture the gins in the ,north and ,miller was to furnish the capital and attend to the interests of the business in the ,south4 ,they planned not to sell machines or patent rights1 but to make and own the gins1 loaning them to planters for a rental of one pound in every three pounds of cotton ginned4 ,they would have been wiser if they had manufactured and sold the machines outright4 ,in the first place1 it required a larger capital than the firm had to manufacture the necessary number of machines4 ,in the second place1 no one firm could make gins fast enough to supply the rapidly increasing demand1 and consequently great encouragement was given to infringements on the patent rights4 ,unending troubles beset the new firm4 ,whitney himself was a victim to severe illness in the winter of #agid4 ,scarlet fever raged that year in ,new ,haven1 ,connecticut1 where the manufacturing was being done1 and many of the workmen in the gin factory were unable to work4 ,in #agie ,whitney was again seized with severe sickness1 and to add to the vexations of the business1 the books1 papers1 and machinery were destroyed by fire4 ,besides all this1 rival claimants circulated a report that ,whitney's gin ruined the fiber of the cotton1 and that for this reason cotton ginned by the patent process was discriminated against in the markets of ,england4 ,another gin which did its work by crushing the seeds between rollers and leaving the crushed seeds in the fiber was represented as superior to ,whitney's machine4 ,illustration3 ,,eli ,,whitney ,in speaking of his troubles ,whitney said3 ,the difficulties with which ,i have had to contend have originated principally in the want of a disposition in mankind to do justice4 ,my invention was new and distinct from every other2 it stood alone4 ,it was not interwoven with anything before known2 and it can seldom happen that an invention or improvement is so strongly marked1 and can be so clearly and specifically identified2 and ,i have always believed that ,i should have had no difficulty in causing my rights to be respected1 if it had been less valuable and been used only by a small portion of the community4 ,but the use of this machine being immensely profitable to almost every planter in the cotton districts1 all were interested in trespassing on the patent right1 and each kept the other in countenance4444 ,at one time but few men in ,georgia dared to come into court and testify to the most simple facts within their knowledge relative to the use of the machine4 ,in one instance ,i had great difficulty in proving that the machine had been used in ,georgia1 although at the same moment there were three separate sets of this machinery in motion within fifty yards of the building in which the court sat1 and all so near that the rattle of the wheels was distinctly heard on the steps of the court house4 ,whitney never received fair and proper compensation for his invention4 ,the machine itself was stolen2 others sought to rob him of his honor2 he was opposed by an unlimited train of vexations2 and after the expiration of his patent he was never able to secure a renewal4 ,the effect of the invention of the cotton-gin was far-reaching1 industrially and historically4 ,in #ahjg1 at a session of the ,united ,states ,district ,court held in ,savannah1 ,georgia1 the inventor finally obtained judgment against the persons who had stolen his invention4 ,in the opinion rendered in favor of ,whitney1 ,judge ,johnson said of the cotton-gin3 ,is there a man who hears us who has not experienced its utility8 ,the whole interior of the1 ,southern states was languishing1 and its inhabitants were emigrating for the want of some object to engage their attention and employ their industry1 when the invention of this machine at once opened new views to them which set the whole country in active motion4 ,individuals who were depressed with poverty and sunk in idleness have suddenly risen to wealth and respectability4 ,our debts have been paid off1 our capitals have increased1 and our lands have trebled themselves in value4 ,we cannot express the weight of the obligation the country owes to this invention4 ,the extent of it cannot now be seen4 ,some faint presentiment may be formed from the reflection that cotton is rapidly supplanting wool1 flax1 silk1 and even furs1 in manufactures1 and may one day profitably supply the use of specie in our ,east ,india trade4 ,our sister states also participate in the benefits of this invention2 for besides affording the raw material for their manufactures1 the bulkiness and quantity of the article afford a valuable employment for their shipping4 ,in the ,south ,cotton is king4 ,the rise of the cotton industry dates from the invention of ,eli ,whitney's cotton-gin4 ,before its invention the labor of removing the seed from the fiber was so tedious that the growth of the cotton was not profitable4 ,partly because of this fact and partly because the ,revolutionary ,war was just over1 the ,south lay dormant2 its plantations were heavily mortgaged1 its people were moving away in streams4 ,then came a little machine that awoke the ,south from its sleep and made it rouse itself4 ,it brought energy1 hope1 and prosperity1 where before were languor1 indifference1 and stagnation4 ,it increased the exportation of ,american cotton from less than #aij1jjj pounds in #agia to #da1jjj1jjj pounds in #ahjc4 ,from the historical point of view the invention of the cotton-gin was tremendous in its influence4 ,this machine multiplied by many times the demand in the ,south for slave labor and made slaves far more profitable4 ,one writer has said of ,whitney3 ,he was1 through his invention1 probably one of the most potent agencies for the extension of slavery and the terrible struggle that marked the first half-century of our nation's existence4 ,while he was quietly sleeping in his grave1 the very earth was shaken with the tread of contending armies that he had done more than any other one man to call forth to battle2 for there is little doubt that but for the invention of the cotton-gin slavery would not have lived out the century of the ,revolution4 ,macaulay says3 ,what ,peter the ,great did to make ,russia dominant1 ,eli ,whitney's invention of the cotton-gin has more than equaled in its relation to the power and progress of the ,united ,states4 ,in the light of the wonderful1 widespread material growth and prosperity that have come to the whole of our country in recent years1 ,macaulay's statement is overdrawn4 ,but as matters were when it was written by the great ,englishman1 it was probably true4 ,whitney achieved much success as the inventor of improved methods of manufacturing firearms4 ,he was the first to conceive the plan of making the different parts of firearms by machinery1 so that any part of a weapon would fit any other like weapon equally well4 ,this principle has made possible the production of cheap watches1 clocks1 and sewing machines4 ,he died in ,new ,haven1 ,connecticut1 ,january #h1 #ahbe4 ,,chapter ,x ,,anaesthetics ,if those inventions and discoveries out of which have come widespread safety1 happiness1 or prosperity to mankind are to be considered great1 then ,dr4 ,morton's discovery of anaesthetics and its application to surgery is entitled to a high place among the world's discoveries and inventions4 ,the pain that has been destroyed1 the lives that have been saved1 the sorrow that has been averted1 give their testimony to the value of this discovery to humanity4 ,an anaesthetic is administered to produce temporary insensibility to pain4 ,at least something of anaesthetics was known to the ancients4 ,homer mentions nepenthe1 a potion which was said to make persons forget their pains and sorrows4 ,the word appears occasionally in literature4 ,in ,evangeline ,longfellow refers to it in this line3 ,crown us with asphodel flowers1 that are wet with the dews of nepenthe4 ,virgil and other classical writers mention a mythical river ,lethe which was supposed to surround ,hades4 ,souls passing over to the happy fields of ,elysium first drank from this river1 whose waters caused them to forget their sorrows4 ,milton speaks of the mythical stream in the following passage from ,paradise ,lost3 ,far off from these a slow and silent stream1 ,lethe1 the river of oblivion1 rolls her watery labyrinth4 ,herodotus wrote that it was the practice of the ,scythians to inhale the vapors of a certain kind of hemp to produce intoxication4 ,the use of the mandrake plant as an anaesthetic is spoken of as far back as ,pliny1 the ,roman historian4 ,the sleep-producing effects of the mandragora or mandrake are alluded to by ,shakespeare4 ,he also frequently mentions in a general way draughts that act as anaesthetics1 without making clear their specific natures4 ,an old ,chinese manuscript indicates that a physician of that country named ,hoa-tho in the third century after ,christ used a preparation of hemp as an anaesthetic in surgical operations4 ,although the ancients had knowledge of anaesthetics of one kind or other1 the practice of anaesthesia never became general1 and surgeons of the ancient world appear to have looked upon it with disfavor4 ,when in modern times ,joseph ,priestley1 the ,english scientist 7born in #agcc1 died #ahjd7 gave great impetus to chemical research by his discoveries in that science1 the nature of gases and vapors was more and more closely studied4 ,the belief soon sprang up that many gases and vapors would ultimately become of great value in medicine and surgery4 ,in #ahjj ,sir ,humphry ,davy experimented with nitrous oxide gas1 called laughing gas1 and discovered its anaesthetic qualities4 ,he suggested its use in surgery1 but for practically half a century his suggestion passed unheeded4 ,other scientists experimented with greater or less success1 seeking to find something that would alleviate physical pain2 but to ,dr4 ,william ,t4 ,g4 ,morton1 an ,american1 belongs the credit for the practical introduction of anaesthetics into modern surgery4 ,dr4 ,morton was born in ,charlton1 ,massachusetts1 ,august #i1 #ahai4 ,his ancestors were of ,scotch extraction4 ,he passed his early years in farm work4 ,at the age of thirteen he entered an academy at ,oxford1 ,massachusetts1 where he remained only a few months1 attending school thereafter at ,northfield and ,leicester4 ,his father's financial condition caused him to leave school in #ahcf and enter the employ of a publishing firm in ,boston4 ,deciding to engage in the practice of dentistry1 in #ahdj he took a course in the ,baltimore ,college of ,dental ,surgery4 ,two years afterward he began the practice of his profession in ,boston4 ,as dentistry at that time was in its beginnings as a distinct profession1 ,dr4 ,morton took up1 in addition to it1 the study of general medicine and surgery in the ,harvard ,medical ,school4 ,in the days prior to the use of anaesthetics1 the operations of dental surgery were attended by much pain4 ,dr4 ,morton began seeking some means for alleviating it4 ,in the course of his investigations he became acquainted with the effects of sulphuric ether as a local anaesthetic1 and frequently used this drug in minor operations4 ,on one occasion he applied it with unusual freedom in the treatment of a very sensitive tooth4 ,observing how completely the tissues were benumbed by the ether1 he conceived the idea of bringing the entire system under its influence1 thereby producing temporary insensibility in all the sensory nerves4 ,the most serious problem with which he had to deal was the manner of applying the ether4 ,although the soporific tendencies of both ether and nitrous oxide gas were well known1 it had not been proved that they could be inhaled in sufficiently large quantities1 or1 if so1 that they would produce perfect insensibility4 ,after a long series of experiments with various animals1 ,dr4 ,morton succeeded in fully establishing the narcotic power of ether4 ,on ,october #af1 #ahdf1 he made his first public demonstration of the new discovery in the operating room of the ,massachusetts ,general ,hospital1 in ,boston1 when he painlessly removed a tumor from the jaw of a patient4 ,this operation was wholly convincing to the medical profession1 and created profound public interest4 ,dr4 ,morton was brought into immediate prominence4 ,a meeting of the leading physicians of ,boston was held to choose an appropriate name for the new process4 ,a long list of words was presented1 from which ,dr4 ,morton selected the term letheon1 related to the ,lethe of ,virgil and the classical writers4 ,the words anaesthetic and anaesthesia were coined from the ,greek by ,dr4 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes1 the ,american poet and physician1 who was then living in ,boston4 ,the words proposed by ,dr4 ,holmes have become the established terms of the subject1 superseding the letheon of the discoverer4 ,illustration3 ,,dr4 ,,william ,t4 ,g4 ,,morton ,dr4 ,morton secured a patent on his discovery1 but derived little pecuniary profit from it4 ,although he permitted the free use of his anaesthetic in charitable institutions1 his patent was frequently infringed4 ,he vainly applied to ,congress for compensation in #ahdf and #ahdi4 ,a bill to give him one hundred thousand dollars as a national testimonial of his contribution to the welfare of the race was introduced into ,congress in #aheb and defeated4 ,measures in his behalf at sessions of ,congress in #ahec and #ahed were likewise voted down4 ,the only money that ever came to ,dr4 ,morton for his discovery was a small prize from the ,french ,academy of ,sciences and the sum of one thousand dollars from the trustees of the ,massachusetts ,general ,hospital4 ,the governments of ,russia and of ,norway and ,sweden conferred upon him certain awards of honor in recognition of his great contribution to science4 ,he died in ,new ,york ,city1 ,july #ae1 #ahfh1 and was buried in ,mount ,auburn ,cemetery1 ,cambridge1 ,massachusetts1 perhaps the most beautiful and illustrious of ,american burial places4 ,the monument of ,dr4 ,morton in ,mount ,auburn bears this inscription3 ,william ,t4 ,g4 ,morton1 inventor and revealer of anaesthetic inhalation1 by whom pain in surgery was averted and annulled2 before whom1 in all time1 surgery was agony2 since whom1 science has control of pain4 ,he is included among the fifty-three illustrious sons of ,massachusetts whose names are inscribed upon the dome of the new ,hall of ,representatives in the ,state ,house at ,boston2 and is among the five hundred noted men whose names adorn the facade of the ,boston ,public ,library4 ,the news of ,morton's discovery reached ,england ,december #ag1 #ahdf4 ,within five days ether was in use as an anaesthetic by the ,english dentists and surgeons4 ,a year later ,sir ,j4 ,y4 ,simpson1 of ,edinburgh discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform1 which has since that time been the preferred anaesthetic in ,europe4 ,ether has continued in general use in ,america4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,steel ,,and ,,rubber ,it has been shown already in this volume that the materials from which man has made his tools1 and those tools themselves1 are the best means of determining his advance in civilization4 ,man passed from the ,stone ,age with its few1 crude implements into the ,bronze ,age1 and from this into the ,iron ,age1 with each succeeding step increasing the number and efficiency of his tools4 ,the race has lately passed into an age which might well be named the ,age of ,steel4 ,the discovery or invention of this metal--for there is in it the nature of both invention and discovery--is sufficiently important to mark a distinct era in human progress4 ,steel is not found native1 but is a compound of iron and carbon and is produced artificially4 ,the great value of steel lies in the fact that it can be made so hard that it can cut and shape almost every other substance known to man1 and yet this very quality of hardness can be so modified as to make the metal capable of cutting and otherwise shaping itself4 ,steel can be made nearly as hard as the diamond1 or so soft that it can be cut1 bent1 or hammered into this shape or that1 rolled into sheets1 or drawn out into the finest wire4 ,nearly the whole of the compound is iron1 the carbon ranging from one-fourth of one per cent to two and one half per cent4 ,ordinary steel contains certain other chemicals1 such as silicon1 manganese1 sulphur1 and phosphorus1 but these are mere natural impurities existing in the metal4 ,the essential ingredients are iron and carbon4 ,steel is hardened by being heated to a high temperature and then suddenly cooled by contact with cold water1 or in other like ways4 ,fixing the degree of hardness in a piece of steel is called tempering4 ,the degree of hardness is dependent upon the suddenness of cooling4 ,the widespread use of steel and its importance in the life of to-day are due to ,sir ,henry ,bessemer1 an ,english inventor1 who was born ,january #ai1 #ahac1 and died ,march #ae1 #ahih4 ,the substance was known1 made1 and used before the time of ,bessemer1 but its production was so costly that it was little used4 ,by his process of production the cost was greatly reduced and steel consequently came into much wider usage4 ,by the ,bessemer process molten iron is poured into a vessel with holes in the bottom4 ,air at a powerful pressure is forced through these openings1 so that the pressure of the air prevents the melted metal from running out4 ,the air removes the carbon from the molten iron4 ,afterward the required amount of carbon is admitted to the iron1 and the result of the union is a piece of steel4 ,the process of ,bessemer was patented in #ahef4 ,steel is used in the construction of great modern buildings1 bridges1 and battleships2 and in making cannon1 railroad cars and rails1 pipe1 wire1 bolts and nails1 swords1 knives1 saws1 watch-springs1 needles1 and innumerable tools and articles of every-day usage4 ,manifestly a material that is used in the manufacture of articles ranging from a needle to a great city sky-scraper or a battleship must be of prime importance to the human race4 ,illustration3 ,,steel ,,framework ,,of ,,the ,,flatiron ,,building1 ,,new ,,york ,,city ,the ,united ,states ,steel ,corporation is the largest combination of capital in the world4 ,it was organized in ,march1 #aija1 under the laws of ,new ,jersey1 for the manufacture and sale of steel products4 ,this giant corporation was formed by the union of ten large corporations1 each of which was1 in turn1 made up of smaller companies4 ,its total capitalization is #a1djd1jjj1jjj1 or one half of all the money in the ,united ,states4 ,its property consists of #adi steel works1 with an annual capacity of #i1jjj1jjj tons2 #ah1jjj coke furnaces2 over #ajj1jjj acres of land2 and #abe lake vessels and several small railroads4 ,the ,corporation employs over #aej1jjj men1 to whom it pays in ,wages annually over #abj1jjj1jjj4 ,when on a wet morning one puts on rubbers and a rain coat1 one scarcely wonders about the history of the articles that give so much protection and comfort4 ,the story of rubber is an interesting one4 ,the substance at first was called elastic gum4 ,about #aggj it was discovered that the gum would rub out lead pencil marks4 ,it was imported into ,great ,britain and sold for this purpose1 and because of this property its name was changed to rubber4 ,the correct name of the material now is caoutchouc1 though its common name is ,india-rubber or simply rubber4 ,it is obtained from the sap of certain tropical trees and shrubs4 ,the best quality of rubber comes from ,brazil1 though supplies are procured from other parts of ,south ,america1 from ,central ,america1 the ,west ,indies1 ,africa1 and parts of tropical ,asia4 ,the details of collecting the sap and preparing it for market vary somewhat according to locality and the nature of the trees or shrubs from which it comes4 ,in the region of the ,amazon1 when the sap is to be obtained from a tree1 cuts are made each morning in the bark4 ,the milky sap that exudes is collected in little tin or clay cups fastened to the trunk4 ,at the end of about ten hours these cups are emptied into larger ones1 and on the morning of the following day new incisions are made in each tree1 about eight inches below the old ones4 ,this process is continued until incisions have been made in the bark from a height of about six feet down to the ground2 the lower down on the trunk of the tree1 the better is the quality of the sap4 ,for the evaporation of the sap1 a fire is built of material yielding dense volumes of smoke4 ,workmen dip wooden paddles into the liquid and hold them in the smoke until the sap solidifies and acquires a slightly yellow tinge4 ,they repeat the process of dipping the paddle into the sap and holding it in the smoke1 until the paddle is covered with a layer of the dried gum about an inch and a half in thickness4 ,this layer is then removed from the paddle and hung up to dry2 and the process of evaporation is commenced anew4 ,the raw material1 which is an elastic1 yellowish1 gum-like substance1 is sent away to be vulcanized4 ,from the vulcanized product are made the rubber goods of commerce4 ,as far back as #afae ,a4,d4 the ,spaniards used rubber for waxing canvas cloaks so as to make them water-proof4 ,but it was not until two centuries later that caoutchouc began to attract general attention4 ,charles ,goodyear1 an ,american inventor1 found a way for making it commonly useful1 and brought about its practical and widespread utility4 ,the story of ,goodyear's life is pathetically interesting4 ,he was born in ,new ,haven1 ,connecticut1 ,december #bi1 #ahjj4 ,his father was ,amasa ,goodyear1 a pioneer hardware manufacturer1 from whom the son inherited much of his inventive ability4 ,charles ,goodyear was educated in the schools of ,new ,haven1 and spent much of his time on his father's farm and in the factory1 where the father manufactured steel implements and pearl buttons1 the first ever made in ,america4 ,the son intended to become a preacher1 but obstacles arose and he abandoned his purpose4 ,though he was not to minister to man's spiritual needs1 yet he was to bring to the race a material blessing of great value4 ,goodyear entered into the hardware business with his father in ,connecticut and at ,philadelphia1 but their business failed4 ,during the ten years extending from #ahcj to #ahdj he was frequently imprisoned for debt4 ,all this time he was working to perfect unfinished inventions in order that his creditors might be paid4 ,while a boy on his father's farm1 he one day picked up a scale of rubber peeled from a bottle1 and conceived the notion that this substance could be turned into a most useful material if it were made uniformly thin and prepared in such way as to prevent its melting and sticking together in a solid mass4 ,when he was first imprisoned for debt1 the use of rubber was attracting general attention4 ,he became strongly interested in finding a way for making the article more useful4 ,the chief difficulty in treating rubber lay in its susceptibility to extremes of temperature2 it melted in summer and became stiffened in winter4 ,strenuous effort had been expended in attempting to overcome this difficulty1 but without success4 ,goodyear dedicated his energies to a solution of the problem4 ,his experiments were conducted in ,philadelphia1 in ,new ,york1 and in ,massachusetts towns4 ,during this period he and his family lived literally from hand to mouth1 and more than once subsisted upon what was virtually the charity of friends4 ,sometimes it was necessary to sell the children's books and articles of household furniture to drive the wolf of hunger from the door4 ,much of his experimentation was carried on in prison1 with no encouragement from any source to cheer him on4 ,at times his hopes arose as victory seemed near2 they soon fell1 as what he had mistaken for triumph proved to be defeat4 ,he became the butt of those who did not share his own constant faith in the ultimate success of his labors4 ,he was calm in defeat1 patient in ridicule1 and always bore himself with magnificent fortitude4 ,illustration3 ,,charles ,,goodyear ,in the early months of #ahci ,goodyear could shout with the old ,syracusan mathematician1 ,eureka6--,i have found it6 ,he had discovered that rubber coated with sulphur and then heated to a high degree of heat is rendered uniformly elastic in all temperatures4 ,he had solved the problem1 but it was two long years before he could convince any one of the fact4 ,william ,rider1 of ,new ,york1 finally furnished capital for carrying on the business of manufacturing rubber goods according to the new process4 ,the firm was successful and ,goodyear had soon paid off thirty-five thousand dollars of indebtedness owed to creditors of his old business that had failed ten or fifteen years before4 ,the new process was called vulcanizing4 ,vulcan was the old ,roman god of fire and metal working1 and was patron of handicrafts generally4 ,the word volcano is derived from vulcan1 and melted sulphur is associated with volcanoes4 ,the term vulcanize1 therefore1 is traceable either directly or indirectly1 through the fire or the sulphur employed in the process1 to the name of the ,roman god4 ,according to the relative amount of sulphur used and the temperature to which the compound is raised1 either soft or hard rubber may be produced4 ,hard rubber contains a greater quantity of sulphur and is heated to a higher temperature4 ,the heat used in vulcanization reaches as much as three hundred degrees ,fahrenheit4 ,goodyear's first patent was taken out in #ahdd1 the year in which ,samuel ,f4 ,b4 ,morse invented the telegraph4 ,about this time he was imprisoned for debt for the last time in the ,united ,states1 though he suffered a jail sentence for debt in ,france later4 ,his patents were repeatedly infringed in this country1 and he could not secure any patents in ,great ,britain or ,france4 ,the ,united ,states ,commissioner of ,patents said of ,goodyear1 ,no inventor1 probably1 has ever been so harassed1 so trampled upon1 so plundered by pirates as he1 their spoliations upon him having unquestionably amounted to millions of dollars4 ,daniel ,webster was the lawyer employed in the trial in which ,goodyear's legal right to the honor and profits of his invention was established4 ,for his services in this case ,webster received a fee of twenty-five thousand dollars4 ,goodyear himself made no very large sum of money from his invention1 though he added to life not merely a new material but a new class of materials1 applicable to many cases4 ,before his death he had seen rubber put to more than five hundred different uses1 and thousands of persons engaged in manufacturing the various articles fashioned from it4 ,goodyear died in ,new ,york ,city1 ,july #a1 #ahfj4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,stenography ,,and ,,the ,,typewriter ,it is difficult to see how man could now dispense with any of the great inventions and discoveries that give him power over time and space4 ,not one of them could be sacrificed without corresponding loss of power4 ,among the great devices that economize time are stenography and the typewriter4 ,stenography is the world's business alphabet2 the typewriter1 its commercial printing press4 ,the word stenography is derived from the ,greek adjective stenos meaning narrow or close1 and the ,greek verb graphein signifying to write4 ,stenography1 therefore1 is the art of close or narrow writing1 so named1 perhaps1 from the great amount of meaning that by its use is packed into a narrow compass4 ,it is a phonetic system in which brief signs are used to represent single sounds1 groups of sounds1 whole words1 or groups of words4 ,the idea of stenography or shorthand writing originated in ancient times4 ,antiquarians have tried to show1 with more or less plausibility1 that it was practised more than a thousand years before the birth of ,christ by the ,persians1 ,egyptians1 and ,hebrews4 ,abbreviated writing1 for taking down lectures and preserving poems recited at the ,olympic and other games1 was used by the ,greeks4 ,the first known practitioner of the art of shorthand writing was ,tiro1 who lived in ,rome #fc ,b4,c41 and who was the stenographer of the great orator ,cicero4 ,he took down in shorthand the speeches of his master1 by whom they were afterward revised4 ,plutarch says that when the ,roman ,senate was voting on the charge which ,cicero had preferred against ,catiline1 ,cicero distributed shorthand reporters throughout the ,senate ,house for the purpose of taking down the speeches of some of the leading ,senators4 ,at the close of ,st4 ,paul's letter to the ,colossians there is a note to the effect that the ,epistle was written from ,rome by ,tychicus and ,onesimus4 ,it has been supposed that ,tychicus acted as shorthand writer and ,onesimus as transcriber4 ,certain it is that the early ,christian fathers employed a system of shorthand writing4 ,saint ,augustine refers to a church meeting held at ,carthage in the fourth century of the ,christian era1 at which eight shorthand writers were employed1 two working at a time4 ,charlemagne1 the great king of the ,franks1 who died in #had ,a4,d41 delved deep into the art of shorthand writing as practised by ,tiro1 ,cicero's stenographer4 ,in ,chapter xxxviii of ,david ,copperfield1 ,charles ,dickens describes his own experience with shorthand thus3 ,i bought an approved scheme of the noble art and mystery of stenography 7which cost me ten and sixpence71 and plunged into a sea of perplexity that brought me1 in a few weeks1 to the confines of distraction4 ,the changes that were rung upon dots1 which in such a position meant such a thing1 and in such another position something else1 entirely different2 the wonderful vagaries that were played by circles2 the unaccountable consequences that resulted from marks like flies' legs2 the tremendous effects of a curve in a wrong place--not only troubled my waking hours1 but reappeared before me in my sleep4 ,when ,i had groped my way1 blindly1 through these difficulties1 and had mastered the alphabet1 which was an ,egyptian temple in itself1 there then appeared a procession of new horrors1 called arbitrary characters1 the most despotic characters ,i have ever known2 who insisted1 for instance1 that a thing like the beginning of a cobweb meant expectation1 and that a pen-and-ink sky-rocket stood for disadvantageous4 ,when ,i had fixed these wretches in my mind1 ,i found that they had driven everything else out of it2 then1 beginning again1 ,i forgot them2 while ,i was picking them up1 ,i dropped the other fragments of the system2 in short1 it was almost heart-breaking4 ,till near the middle of the last century all systems of shorthand writing were more or less crude and illogical4 ,about #ahcg ,isaac ,pitman1 an ,englishman1 put stenography upon a phonetic basis and therefore a scientific basis4 ,as there are in the ,english language forty-three different sounds represented by twenty-six letters1 ,pitman adopted a shorthand alphabet in which consonants were represented by simple straight or curved strokes1 the light sounds denoted by light strokes and the heavy sounds by heavy strokes4 ,the leading heavy vowels are represented by six heavy dots and a like number of heavy dashes1 placed at the beginning1 middle1 or end of the strokes1 and before or after as they precede or follow the consonants4 ,the same course is followed with the light vowels4 ,diphthongs are provided for by a combination of dash forms1 and by a small semicircle1 differently formed and placed in different positions4 ,circles1 hooks1 and loops are employed in distinct offices4 ,pitman's invention of a phonographic alphabet for shorthand was the beginning of verbatim reporting that has spread to every land which ,anglo-,saxon civilization has touched4 ,there is scarcely a legislative body1 a court of importance1 or a great convention of any kind1 whose proceedings are not taken down on the spot in shorthand1 accurately and at once1 to say nothing of the very wide use of stenography in private business4 ,in this bewildering commercial whirl of the twentieth century time is money1 and stenography is time4 ,the typewriter1 invented about forty years ago1 is parallel to stenography in importance4 ,the daily volume of the world's business could not be accomplished without it4 ,and1 as in the case of all the great inventions1 men do not see how they got on before it came4 ,the world owes the typewriter to two ,americans1 ,john ,pratt and ,christopher ,l4 ,sholes4 ,pratt was born in ,unionville1 ,south ,carolina1 ,april #ad1 #ahca4 ,in #ahfg1 while in ,england1 he produced the first working typewriter that ever secured a sale4 ,a description of his machine in one of the ,english periodicals attracted the attention of ,sholes1 who was born in ,pennsylvania in #ahai1 but who at that time was living in ,milwaukee1 ,wisconsin4 ,he began working at the idea of the typewriter borrowed from ,pratt1 and in the same year that ,pratt's machine was first made1 ,sholes produced a typewriter that was practically successful and started the manufacture of a machine that was to become increasingly useful1 and finally indispensable4 ,no business in recent years has grown more rapidly than the typewriter industry4 ,from nothing forty years ago1 it has grown into an industry producing nearly a quarter of a million machines a year and employing thousands of workmen4 ,american manufacturers not only supply the home trade with their output1 but export machines to every part of the civilized world1 making this country the home and center of the world's typewriter industry4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,the ,,friction ,,match ,the biggest things are not always the most important4 ,a little article1 used many times in the course of every day and familiar to every person1 is one of the world's great inventions4 ,it is the friction match4 ,fire is one of man's absolute necessities4 ,without it civilization would have been impossible1 and life could scarcely continue4 ,the story of man's power to produce and use fire is practically the story of civilization itself4 ,so far as history can reveal there has never been in any time a people who were without the knowledge and use of fire2 which1 on its beneficent side1 is man's indispensable friend2 and in its wrath1 a terrible destroyer4 ,a mass of mythological stories has come down from the days of antiquity regarding the origin of fire4 ,the ,persian tradition is that fire was discovered by one of the hero dragon-fighters4 ,he hurled a huge stone at a dragon1 but missed his aim4 ,the stone struck another rock4 ,according to the story1 the heart of the rock flashed out in glory1 and fire was seen for the first time in the world4 ,the ,dakota ,indians of ,north ,america believed that their ancestors produced fire from the sparks which a friendly panther struck with its claws in scampering over a stony hill4 ,finnish poems describe how fire1 the child of the sun1 came down from heaven1 where it was rocked in a tube of yellow copper1 in a large pail of gold4 ,some of the ,australian tribes have a myth that fire came from the breaking of a staff held in the hands of an old man's daughter4 ,in another ,australian legend fire was stolen by a hawk and given to man2 in still another a man held his spear to the sun and thus procured fire4 ,according to ,greek mythology1 fire was stolen from heaven by ,prometheus1 friend of men1 and brought to them in a hollow stalk of fennel4 ,as the legend runs1 he took away from mankind the evil gift of foreseeing the future1 and gave them instead the better gifts of hope and fire4 ,for the bestowing of these gifts upon the human race1 ,prometheus was sorely punished by ,zeus1 king of the gods4 ,the myth that fire was stolen from heaven by a hero is not confined to the ,greeks2 it is scattered among the traditions of all nations4 ,it is not strange that primitive man should ascribe the origin of fire to supernatural causes4 ,before he learned how to use and control it1 he must have been strangely impressed with its various manifestations--the flash of the lightning1 the hissing eruption of the volcano1 the burning heat of the sun1 and perhaps the wild devastation of forest and prairie fires caused by spontaneous combustion4 ,because of its mysterious origin and its uncontrollable power for good or ill1 fire was supposed from the earliest times to be divine4 ,the ,bible tells us that the ,lord went before the children of ,israel in their journey from ,egypt to the ,promised ,land in a pillar of fire by night4 ,from the earliest hours of religious history the sun has been worshiped as a god4 ,all the tribes of antiquity had a fire god4 ,it was ,agni in ancient ,india2 ,moloch among the ,phoenicians2 ,hephaestus in ,greece2 ,vulcan among the ,romans2 ,osiris in ,egypt2 and ,loki among the ,scandinavians4 ,in ancient religious belief fire and the human soul were supposed to be one and the same in substance4 ,in some instances fire was held to be the very soul of nature1 the essence of everything that had shape4 ,from ,jupiter to the fly1 from the wandering star to the tiniest blade of grass1 all beings owed existence to the fiery element4 ,this theory was believed by the ,aztecs1 who invoked in their prayers fire the most ancient divinity1 the father and mother of all gods4 ,of these ancient fire-divinities some were good and some evil2 just as fire itself is both beneficent and malignant4 ,among some peoples fire was used for purification from sin and the cure of disease4 ,it also burned upon the tombs of the dead to dispel evil spirits4 ,greek colonists1 in setting out from the mother country for the purpose of founding new homes1 took fire from the home altar with which to kindle fires in their new homes4 ,upon some altars fires were kept constantly burning1 and their extinguishment was considered a matter of great alarm4 ,if by chance the fire that burned in the ,roman temple of ,vesta went out1 all tribunals1 all authority1 all public and private business had to stop immediately until the fire should be relighted4 ,the ,greeks and the ,aztecs received ambassadors of foreign countries in their temples of fire1 where at the national hearth they prepared feasts for their guests4 ,in some cases ambassadors were not received until they had stood close to fire in order that any impurities they might have brought should be singed away4 ,no ,greek or ,roman army crossed a frontier without taking an altar whereon burned night and day fire brought from the public council hall and temple at home4 ,the ,egyptians had a fire burning night and day in every temple1 and the ,greeks1 ,romans1 and ,persians had such a fire in every town and village4 ,among our ,anglo-,saxon ancestors the ordeal by fire was one of the modes of trying cases of law4 ,the accused was compelled to walk blindfolded over red-hot plowshares4 ,if these burned him1 he was adjudged guilty2 if not1 he was acquitted1 for it was supposed that the purity of fire would not permit an innocent man to suffer4 ,the custom of the ,north ,american ,indians was to discuss important tribal affairs around the council fire4 ,each sachem marched around it thrice1 turning to it all sides of his person4 ,among peoples in both hemispheres it has been the practice to free fields from the demons of barrenness by lighting huge fires4 ,the fields were supposed to be made fertile as far as the flames could be seen4 ,in ,bavaria seeds were passed through fire before they were sown to insure fertility4 ,in some places children were held over the flame of an altar fire for purposes of purification4 ,nothing has played a more important part in the history of the race than fire4 ,human culture began with the use of it1 and increased in proportion as its use increased4 ,for ages man felt his helplessness before fire2 he did not know how to produce it1 or to turn it to good account4 ,by and by the secret was discovered2 mind began to gain the mastery over this great force4 ,the most primitive method of producing fire artificially was by rubbing two sticks together4 ,this method was probably discovered by accident4 ,fire from friction was caused also by pushing the end of a stick along a groove in another piece of wood1 or by twirling rapidly a stick which had its end placed perpendicularly in a hole made in another piece of wood4 ,focusing the rays of the sun powerfully upon a given point by means of a lens or concave mirror1 was another method used for starting fire4 ,the story is told that when the ancient city of ,syracuse in ,sicily was being besieged1 the great mathematician ,archimedes1 who was a resident of that city1 set on fire the enemy's ships by focusing the sun's rays upon them with a mirror4 ,in ,china the burning-glass was widely used not very long ago4 ,when iron came into use1 it was employed for making fire4 ,a piece of flint was struck against an iron object4 ,the concussion produced a spark1 which fell into a box containing charred cotton called tinder4 ,the tinder took fire but did not burst into flame4 ,the flame came by touching the burning tinder with a strip of wood tipped with sulphur4 ,this flint-and-steel method was used for producing fire until less than a century ago4 ,no attempt was made to produce fire by chemical means until #ahje4 ,in that year ,m4 ,chancel1 a ,paris professor1 invented an apparatus consisting of a small bottle containing asbestos1 saturated with sulphuric acid1 and wooden splints or matches coated with sulphur1 chlorate of potash1 and sugar4 ,the wooden splint1 when dipped into the bottle1 was ignited4 ,the first really successful friction matches were made in #ahbg by ,john ,walker1 an ,english druggist4 ,they consisted of wooden splints coated with sulphur and tipped with antimony1 chlorate of potash1 and gum4 ,they were sold at a shilling or twenty-four cents per box1 each box containing eighty-four matches4 ,the modern phosphorus friction match came into use about #ahcc4 ,it is not possible to ascertain precisely who the inventor was4 ,but in that year ,preschel had a factory in ,vienna1 ,austria1 for the manufacture of friction matches with phosphorus as the chief chemical4 ,for years ,austria and the ,states in the south of ,germany were the center of the match industry4 ,phosphorus is still used as the principal chemical ingredient in the manufacture of matches4 ,the first patent in the ,united ,states for a friction match was issued ,october #bd1 #ahcf1 to ,alonzo ,d4 ,phillips1 of ,springfield1 ,massachusetts4 ,the safety match1 which will not ignite unless brought into contact with the side of the box in which it is packed1 was invented by ,lundstrom of ,sweden1 in #ahee4 ,the match industry in ,norway and ,sweden has developed during the last few years with great rapidity4 ,about sixty factories are in operation in these countries4 ,one town alone contains six thousand matchmakers4 ,in ,france the government has the sole right to manufacture matches4 ,phosphorus is very poisonous1 and the early manufacture of phosphorus matches was attended with loss of life and great suffering4 ,inhalation of phosphorus fumes produced necrosis1 or decay of the bone1 usually of the lower jaw4 ,in the first years of phosphorus match making1 the business was chiefly carried on by the poorer people in large cities4 ,the work was done in damp1 foul cellars2 and the peculiar disease of the bone caused by the phosphorus fumes became so widespread that the different governments drove the match factories out of the cellars and ordered that the business be conducted in better ventilated buildings4 ,but the discovery of red phosphorus1 which never produces the disease1 the use of lessened quantities of the ordinary phosphorus1 and better ventilation have all combined to make the malady now very rare4 ,the first matches were made by hand1 one by one1 and were of necessity few and costly4 ,matches are now made and boxed by machinery4 ,one million splints can be cut in an hour with the machinery in use4 ,some single manufacturing firms make as many as one hundred millions of matches in a day4 ,with diminished cost of production have come decreased prices1 so that now a large box can be purchased for a very few cents4 ,until about #ahfj railroads in the ,united ,states would not receive matches for transportation1 owing to the danger involved4 ,the distribution before that year was mainly by canal or wagon4 ,a match is a little thing1 but it is one of the world's really great inventions4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,photography ,photography is one of the many triumphs of the human mind over time and space4 ,thousands of miles are between you and the wonderful ,taj ,mahal4 ,you may never be able to go to it4 ,but as the mountain would not go to ,mohammed and ,mohammed therefore went to the mountain1 so photography brings the ,taj ,mahal to you4 ,the chief struggle for civilization is with these two abstract antagonists--time and space4 ,in this struggle the achievements of photography are such as to win it a place among the world's great inventions and discoveries4 ,here1 again1 we borrow words from the ,greeks4 ,photography comes from the ,greek noun phos meaning light and the ,greek verb graphein signifying to write1 already referred to several times in this volume4 ,photography is therefore the science and the art of writing or reproducing objects by means of light4 ,the science of photography depends upon the action of light on certain chemicals1 usually compounds of silver4 ,these chemicals are spread upon a delicately sensitized metallic plate1 which is exposed to light4 ,the action of light fixes the object desired upon this plate1 from which copies of the picture are made on paper of suitable kind4 ,like most of the great discoveries and inventions1 photography is not old4 ,it had its beginning in #aggg1 when the ,swedish chemist ,scheele began to inquire scientifically into the reason and effect of the darkening of silver chloride by the rays of the sun4 ,the first picture ever made by the use of light on a sensitive surface was made in #agia by ,thomas ,wedgewood1 an ,englishman4 ,the principle of the photographer's camera was discovered in #aefi by ,della ,porta1 of ,naples4 ,to ,nicephore ,niepce1 a ,frenchman1 belongs the honor of producing the first camera picture4 ,this was in #ahbg after thirteen years of experimenting4 ,he called his process heliography1 helios being the ,greek word for sun4 ,his process consisted of coating a piece of plated silver or glass with asphaltum or bitumen1 and exposing the plate in the camera for a time varying in length from four to six hours4 ,the light acted on the asphaltum in such a way as to leave the image on the plate4 ,the predecessor of the modern photograph was the daguerreotype4 ,it was named for its inventor1 ,louis ,daguerre1 a ,french scene-painter1 who was born in #aghi4 ,in #ahbi he formed a partnership with ,niepce1 and together they labored to advance the art of photography4 ,the discovery of the daguerreotyping process was announced in ,january1 #ahci4 ,the process of ,daguerre consisted in exposing a metal plate covered with iodide of silver for a suitable time in a photographic camera1 the plate being afterwards transferred to a dark room1 and exposed to the vapor of mercury1 which develops the latent image1 it being afterwards fixed4 ,although this process has become almost obsolete1 it was really the first which was of any practical value1 and experts all agree that no other known process reproduces some subjects--for example1 the human face--with such fidelity and beauty4 ,a little while before the daguerreotyping process was announced1 ,fox ,talbot1 a ,british investigator1 discovered a method of making pictures by means of the action of light on chemically prepared paper instead of metal1 as in the case of ,daguerre4 ,talbot originated the terms negative and positive which are still used in photography4 ,daguerre in ,france and ,talbot in ,great ,britain had independently achieved success in producing pictures1 but neither had discovered a way to make photographs permanent4 ,in the course of time the pictures faded4 ,in #ahci ,sir ,john ,herschel of ,england found a chemical process for making photographs permanent1 by removing the cause for their fading4 ,the first sunlight photograph of a human face was that of ,miss ,dorothy ,catherine ,draper1 made by her brother1 ,prof4 ,john ,william ,draper1 of the ,university of the ,city of ,new ,york1 early in #ahdj4 ,various chemical discoveries for improving photographs have been made by different persons from time to time1 until the art of photography has now reached a high state of development4 ,an important improvement is in the lessening of the time of exposure to light necessary for producing a photograph4 ,formerly hours were required1 but under improved conditions only the shortest instant of time is requisite4 ,in #aijf a photographic paper for producing prints in color from an ordinary negative was placed on the market4 ,this paper is coated with three layers of pigmented gelatin1 colored respectively red1 yellow1 and blue4 ,after being exposed to the daylight in the usual way1 the paper is placed in hot water1 where the image is developed4 ,the grays and blacks of the negative are translated into the colors they represent in the object4 ,the brothers ,lumiere of ,paris have found a method of producing a photograph on a sensitive plate which1 viewed as a transparency1 shows the object in its original colors4 ,no prints can be taken from this plate1 and the picture cannot be viewed by reflected light1 but the colors are true and brilliant4 ,the cinematograph is an instrument by which about fifteen photographs per second can be received on a film1 each representing the photographed group at a different instant from the others4 ,the advantages of this mode of photographing and of throwing pictures on a screen over the older methods are obvious4 ,by controlling the rate at which the pictures are represented on the screen1 movements too rapid to be analyzed by the eye may be made slow enough to permit observation2 and1 similarly1 movements too slow for comprehension or rapid observation may often be quickened4 ,the busy life of a city street1 the progress of races or other competitions1 many scenes in nature1 and even the growth of a plant from seed to maturity1 may be shown by means of a moving picture4 ,photography is a noble servant of mind and soul4 ,it brings to us likenesses of eminent persons and objects of nature and art which perhaps we should never be able to see otherwise4 ,it has been used in measuring the velocity of bullets and in showing the true positions of animals in motion4 ,photography has created the new astronomy4 ,immediately after its discovery1 photography was applied to the science of the stars1 and it has been ever since of incalculable service in this field of inquiry4 ,photographs of the moon were made as early as #ahdj1 and much that is known to-day of the sun has been revealed by photography4 ,so sensitive is the modern photographic plate to the influence of light1 that photography has discovered and located stars which are invisible through a strong telescope4 ,astronomers are now engaged in making a photographic chart of the sky4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,clocks ,the matters of every-day life1 much less the affairs of a complex civilization1 could scarcely be carried on without some accurate and uniform system of measuring time4 ,nature herself furnishes measurements for certain divisions of time4 ,the two great lights that ,god made1 as the ,bible tells us1 were designed for signs1 and for seasons1 and for days and for years4 ,the revolution of the earth around the sun marks the year2 the revolution of the moon around the earth determines the month2 the rotation of the earth on its axis causes and measures day and night4 ,but no object of nature distinguishes the hours of the day or the divisions of the hour4 ,man requires a smaller unit of time than the day4 ,he must divide the day into hours2 the hours into minutes2 the minutes into seconds4 ,the division of the day into twenty-four hours is as old as authentic history4 ,but the means for determining the hours and their subdivisions were at first quite crude and inefficient4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,sun ,,dial ,perhaps the most primitive of all time-measuring devices was a stick or pole planted upright in a sunny place4 ,the position of the shadow which it cast marked time4 ,the sun-dial was a development of this simple device4 ,it consisted essentially of two parts3 a flat plate of metal marked off much like the dial of a modern clock or watch1 and an upright piece1 usually also of metal1 fastened to the center of the dial4 ,to make the direction of the shadow uniform for any given hour throughout the year1 the upright piece was made parallel to the axis of the earth4 ,as the earth rotated on its axis the shadow cast by the upright piece moved from point to point on the dial1 measuring the flight of time4 ,the sun-dial was in use among the earliest nations4 ,herodotus is authority for the statement that the ,greeks borrowed it from the ,babylonians4 ,the sun-dial was obviously of no use on cloudy days or dark nights1 and even in sunny weather it could not accurately or delicately indicate the passage of time4 ,however1 it continued in use so long that to the end of the seventeenth century the art of dialling was considered a necessary element of every course in mathematics4 ,another ancient invention for measuring time was the water-clock4 ,water was permitted to drop from a small orifice in a containing vessel4 ,the period required for emptying the vessel marked a unit of time4 ,its principle was the same as the common hour-glass1 according to which time is measured by the slow dropping of sand from one receptacle into another4 ,the water-clock was used by the ancient ,chaldeans and the ,hindoos1 and also by the ,greeks and ,romans4 ,demosthenes mentions its use in the courts of justice at ,athens4 ,in order to mark the hours of the day1 the ,saxon ,king ,alfred the ,great is said to have made wax candles twelve inches in length1 each marked at equal distances4 ,the burning of six of these candles in succession consumed1 roughly1 just twenty-four hours4 ,to prevent the wind from extinguishing them they were inclosed in cases of thin1 white1 transparent horn4 ,the candles thus inclosed were the ancestors of the modern lantern4 ,our word clock comes from the ,anglo-,saxon verb clocean meaning to strike1 to give out a sound4 ,it is impossible to ascertain by whom clocks were invented1 or when or where4 ,it is fairly clear1 however1 that a ,benedictine ,monk named ,gerbert1 who afterward became ,pope ,sylvester ,,ii1 made a clock for the ,german city of ,magdeburg a little before the year #ajjj ,a4,d4 ,clocks may have been made before this1 but if so it would be hard to establish the fact4 ,in ,gerbert's clock weights were the motive power for the mechanism4 ,weight clocks were used in the monasteries of ,europe in the eleventh century1 but it is probable that these early clocks struck a bell at certain intervals as a call to prayer1 and did not have dials for showing the time of day4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,grandfather',s ,,clock1 ,,belonging ,,to ,,william ,,penn ,the first clocks were comparatively by large and were stationary4 ,portable ones appeared about the beginning of the fourteenth century1 though the inventor is not known1 nor the exact time or place of invention4 ,when portable clocks were invented1 the motive power must have been changed from weights to main-springs1 and this change in motive force marks an era in the development of the clock4 ,the introduction of the pendulum as a regulating agent was1 however1 the greatest event in clock development4 ,this invention has been credited to ,huygens1 a ,dutch philosopher1 who was certainly1 if not the discoverer of the pendulum1 the first to bring it into practical use1 about #afeg4 ,credit for inventing the pendulum is also claimed for ,harris1 a ,london clockmaker2 for ,hooke1 the great ,english philosopher2 for a son of ,galileo1 the celebrated ,italian scientist2 and for others4 ,the modern watch is in reality but a developed type of the clock4 ,watches were made possible by the introduction of the coiled spring as motive power1 instead of the weight4 ,the coiled spring came into use near the end of the fifteenth century1 though it is not known where or by whom it was invented4 ,watches were not introduced into general use in ,england until the reign of ,elizabeth1 and then on account of the cost they were confined to the wealthy4 ,at first watches were comparatively large and struck the hours like clocks4 ,after the striking mechanism was abandoned1 they were reduced in size and for a time were considered ornamental rather than useful4 ,they were richly adorned with pictures in enamel and with costly jewels4 ,they were set in the heads of canes1 in bracelets1 and in finger-rings4 ,watches and clocks had originally only one hand1 which indicated the hour4 ,minute and second hands were added later4 ,devices have been introduced to counteract the effect of temperature on the mechanism of time-pieces1 so that they run uniformly in all kinds of weather4 ,within recent years clocks operated with electricity have been invented4 ,with the advent of clock and watch manufacture by machinery1 the cost has been so reduced that practically any one may own an accurate time-piece4 ,the ,united ,states is one of the foremost countries of the world in the manufacture and sale of clocks and watches4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,some ,,machines ,,the ,,sewing ,,machine ,civilization owes the invention of the sewing machine to ,elias ,howe1 an ,american4 ,howe was born at ,spencer1 ,massachusetts1 ,july #i1 #ahai4 ,his father was a miller1 and work in the mills gave the son's mind a bent toward machinery4 ,one day in #ahci while ,howe was working in a machine-shop in ,boston1 he overheard a conversation among some men regarding the invention of a knitting machine4 ,what are you bothering yourselves with a knitting machine for8 ,why don't you make a sewing machine8 asked one4 ,i wish ,i could1 was the reply1 but it can't be done4 ,oh1 yes it can1 said the first1 ,i can make a sewing machine myself4 ,well1 you do it1 replied the second1 and ,i'll insure you an independent fortune4 ,this conversation impressed ,howe with the idea of producing a sewing machine4 ,the hope of relieving his extreme poverty set him to work on the invention in earnest in the year #ahdc4 ,george ,fisher1 a coal and wood dealer of ,cambridge1 ,massachusetts1 who was a former schoolmate of ,howe1 formed a partnership with him for producing the invention4 ,in ,december1 #ahdd1 ,howe moved into ,fisher's house1 set up his shop in the garret1 and went to work4 ,in the following ,april he sewed the first seam with his new machine1 and by the middle of ,may he had sewed all the seams of two suits of clothes1 one for himself and one for his partner4 ,on ,september #aj1 #ahdf1 a patent on the sewing machine was issued to ,howe from the ,united ,states ,patent ,office at ,washington4 ,the tailors of ,boston1 believing that a sewing machine would destroy their business1 waged fierce warfare against it4 ,in the spring of #ahdf1 seeing no prospect of revenue from his invention1 ,howe took employment as a railroad engineer on one of the roads entering ,boston1 but this labor proved too hard for him and he soon gave it up4 ,howe's partner1 ,fisher1 could see no profit in the machine and became wholly discouraged4 ,howe then determined to try to market his invention in ,england1 and sent a machine to ,london4 ,an ,english machinist examined it1 approved it1 and paid #bej for it1 together with the right to use as many others in his own business as he might desire4 ,howe was afterward of the opinion that the investment of this #bej by the ,english machinist brought ultimately to that man a profit of one million dollars4 ,illustration3 ,,elias ,,howe ,during all this time ,howe was extremely poor4 ,he and his wife and children had gone to ,england1 but on account of poverty he was compelled to send his family back to ,america4 ,his fourth machine1 which he had constructed in ,england1 he was obliged to sell for #e pounds 7about #be71 although it was worth ten times as much1 in order to procure money enough to pay his return passage to ,america4 ,he also pawned his first-made machine and his patent on the invention4 ,in ,april1 #ahdi1 he landed at ,new ,york with only an ,english half-crown in his pocket4 ,procuring employment in a machine-shop1 the inventor took up his abode in one of the cheapest emigrant boarding-houses4 ,at this time his wife lay dying in ,cambridge1 ,massachusetts1 and his father had to send him ten dollars to enable him to go to her4 ,finally the sewing machine began to succeed commercially4 ,the inventor's long night of discouragement was breaking on a day of assured prosperity4 ,in #ahej ,howe was in ,new ,york superintending the manufacture of fourteen sewing machines4 ,his office was equipped with a five-dollar desk and two fifty-cent chairs4 ,a few years later he was rich4 ,isaac ,merritt ,singer became acquainted with his machine1 and submitted to him the sketch of an improved one4 ,it was ,singer who first forced the sewing machine upon the attention of the ,united ,states4 ,howe charged that ,singer was infringing his patent rights4 ,litigation ensued4 ,judge ,sprague of ,massachusetts decided in favor of ,howe4 ,in his opinion he stated that there is no evidence in this case that leaves a shadow of doubt that1 for all the benefit conferred upon the public by the introduction of a sewing machine the public are indebted to ,mr4 ,howe4 ,from this time ,howe began to reap the financial reward of his labors4 ,his revenues from the sewing machine amounted ultimately to more than #bjj1jjj a year4 ,he spent vast sums1 however1 in defending his patent rights1 and many others of the sewing machine kings were wealthier than he4 ,howe died at ,brooklyn1 ,new ,york1 ,october #c1 #ahfg4 ,the sewing machine is used not only for sewing cloth into all kinds of garments1 but for making leather into boots1 shoes1 harness1 and other necessary articles of daily life4 ,great improvements have been made in the sewing machine since its invention1 but its essential principles to-day are for the most part those that the inventor discovered and brought into successful operation in his first machine4 ,it is agreed by disinterested and competent persons that ,howe carried the invention of the sewing machine further toward its complete and final utility than any other inventor before him had ever brought a first-rate invention at the first trial4 ,,the ,,reaper ,in the ,louvre at ,paris is one of the noblest and most famous paintings of modern art1 purchased some years ago at a cost of three hundred thousand francs4 ,it is ,the ,gleaners from the brush of the ,french artist ,jean ,francois ,millet4 ,it pictures three peasant women who have gone out into the fields to glean at the end of the harvest4 ,they are picking up the grain left by the reapers1 seeking the little that is left on the ground4 ,in the background are the field1 the groups of reapers1 the loaded wagons and the horses bringing the garnered sheaves to the rick1 the farmer on horseback among his men1 and the homestead among the trees4 ,the transparent atmosphere of the summer day1 the burning rays of the sun1 and the short yellow stubble are all as if they were nature and not art4 ,in the foreground are the three gleaners1 heroic types of labor fulfilling its task until 'the night cometh when no man can work4' ,one of the most beautiful stories of the ,bible is the tale of ,ruth1 the ,moabitess1 who went out into the fields of ,palestine to glean4 ,and she went1 and came1 and gleaned in the field after the reapers2 and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto ,boaz1 who was of the kindred of ,elimilech4 ,according to the old ,english law1 gleaners had the right to go into the fields and glean4 ,and those needy ones who went for the leavings of the reapers could not be sued for trespass4 ,but it is not with reaping in art1 literature1 or law that we are here concerned1 but with the reaper as a machine1 a concrete thing1 a tool1 an instrument of civilization4 ,from the earliest times until nearly the middle of the last century the cutting of grain was done by means of a hand sickle or curved reaping-hook4 ,the sickles used by the ancient ,jews1 ,egyptians1 and ,chinese differed very little from those of our own ancestors4 ,this tool was only slightly improved as the centuries went by1 and to this day the sickle may be seen in use4 ,in many parts of the ,british ,isles the reaping-hook gave place to the scythe in the earlier part of the nineteenth century4 ,an attempt to trace the idea of a machine for reaping would carry us far back into the early stages of agriculture2 ,pliny1 the ,roman writer1 born early in the first century of the ,christian era1 found a crude kind of reaper in the fields of ,gaul4 ,for the great modern invention of the reaping machine1 civilization is indebted to ,cyrus ,hall ,mc,cormick1 an ,american4 ,mc,cormick was born in ,rockbridge ,county1 ,virginia1 ,february #ae1 #ahji4 ,his father1 ,robert ,mc,cormick1 a farmer of inventive mind1 worked long to produce a reaper4 ,in #ahca he put a reaping machine in the field for trial1 but it failed to work and its inventor was completely discouraged4 ,against the counsel of his father1 ,cyrus ,mc,cormick began a study of the machine that had failed1 to determine and to overcome the causes of failure4 ,he produced another reaper1 and in the late harvest of #ahca he tested it in the wheat fields of his father's farm and in some fields of oats belonging to a neighbor4 ,the machine was a success4 ,mc,cormick's invention1 soon destined to revolutionize agriculture1 was combated for the alleged reason that it would destroy the occupation of farm laborers during the harvest season4 ,it was some years before ,mc,cormick himself realized the importance of his invention1 and he did not take out a patent on it until ,june #ba1 #ahcd4 ,it was not until #ahdj that he began manufacturing reapers for the market4 ,in that year he constructed one and sold it to a neighbor4 ,for the harvest of #ahdc he made and sold twenty-nine machines4 ,these had all been built upon the home farm by hand1 the workmen being himself1 his father1 and his brothers4 ,in #ahdd he traveled with his reaper from ,virginia to ,new ,york ,state1 and from there through the wheat fields of ,wisconsin1 ,illinois1 ,ohio1 and ,missouri1 showing the machine at work in the grain and enlisting the interest of agricultural men4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,modern ,,reaper ,this machine cuts1 threshes1 winnows1 and sacks the wheat ,in #ahdg and #ahdh ,chicago was but a trading village4 ,mc,cormick1 foreseeing its future growth1 located his reaper factory there4 ,in that factory he constructed about nine hundred reapers for the harvest of #ahdh4 ,in #ahea he exhibited his invention at the ,world's ,fair in ,london4 ,the ,london ,times facetiously called it a cross between a wheel-barrow and a flying machine4 ,later the same paper said of the reaper that it was the most valuable contribution to the ,exposition1 and worth to the farmers of ,england more than the entire cost of the ,exposition4 ,in #ahdh ,mc,cormick's patent on the reaper expired4 ,although his claim as the inventor was clearly established1 and the commissioner of patents paid him the highest compliments in words for his invention1 a renewal of the patent was denied4 ,other reapers had been made in the meantime1 and others have been brought out subsequently4 ,it is an historical fact1 however1 and one now seldom questioned1 that every harvesting machine which has ever been constructed is in its essential parts the invention of ,cyrus ,hall ,mc,cormick4 ,besides being a great inventor and successful business man1 ,mc,cormick was a liberal philanthropist4 ,he gave freely to educational and religious institutions4 ,he died at his home in ,chicago1 ,may #ac1 #ahhd4 ,an improved type of the ordinary reaper of ,mc,cormick is the self-binder1 now in common use1 a machine which not only reaps the stalks of grain but binds them together in sheaves4 ,the most primitive method of threshing grain from the straw was doubtless by beating it with a stick4 ,the ancient ,egyptians and ,israelites spread out their loosened sheaves upon a circular plot of earth and threshed out the grain by driving oxen back and forth over it4 ,later a threshing-sledge was dragged over the sheaves4 ,the ,greeks and the ,romans beat out grain with a stick1 trod it out with men or horses1 or used the threshing-sledge4 ,the primitive implement for threshing in northern ,europe was the stick4 ,a modification of this was the flail1 made of two sticks loosely fastened together at one end by means of stout thongs4 ,this implement was used by our ancestors in ,america and has not yet entirely disappeared from all parts of the world4 ,the threshing machine was invented in #aghg by ,andrew ,meikle1 a ,scotchman4 ,only a few years ago threshing machines were drawn by horses1 but of late years they have been moved with self-propelling steam engines1 commonly called traction engines4 ,a remarkable combination machine has come into use recently1 particularly in the vast wheat fields of ,california1 eastern ,washington1 and the ,west4 ,this machine is drawn by as many as thirty-two horses4 ,at one operation it cuts the grain1 threshes it1 winnows it1 and puts it into bags ready for the market4 ,,spinning ,,and ,,weaving ,,machines ,the low1 monotonous hum of the spinning-wheel in the old farmhouse on winter evenings1 as the housewife spun the yarn which she was afterward to knit into warm stockings for the family1 has not entirely passed away from the memory of the older generation of to-day4 ,thomas ,buchanan ,read has a pathetic allusion to the old spinning-wheel in one of his best poems1 ,the ,closing ,scene4 ,and who has not felt the charm of the spinning-wheel scene in ,longfellow's ,the ,courtship of ,miles ,standish1 which pictures ,john ,alden as he sits clumsily holding on his hands the skein which ,priscilla winds for knitting4 ,there are two essential principles in the art of spinning3 first1 the drawing out of uniform quantities of fiber in a continuous manner2 and second1 the twisting of the fiber so as to give it coherency and strength4 ,the earliest spinning apparatus1 and for ages the only one1 was the distaff and spindle4 ,the former was a staff upon which was loosely bound a bundle of the fiber to be spun4 ,it was held in the left hand or was fastened in the belt4 ,the spindle1 a tapering rod smaller than the distaff1 was held in the right hand4 ,the rotation of the spindle gave the necessary twist to the thread1 and around the spindle the thread was wound as it was twisted4 ,the next development in spinning machinery was the spinning-wheel1 which has continued in use in some rural parts of the world practically to the present day4 ,the series of inventions that overthrew hand spinning1 and made this industry possible on a large scale1 really began in #agch when ,lewis ,paul1 an ,english inventor1 discovered a process for drawing out and attenuating threads of wool or cotton by passing the fiber through successive pairs of rollers4 ,to-day this principle forms a fundamental feature of all spinning machinery4 ,in #agfd ,james ,hargreaves1 an illiterate weaver and carpenter of ,lancashire1 ,england1 invented the spinning-jenny1 a device by which eight threads could be spun at once4 ,with a little improvement in this invention1 eighty threads were produced as easily as eight4 ,the idea of the spinning-jenny is said to have been accidentally suggested to its inventor by watching the motions of a common spinning-wheel which one of his children had unintentionally upset4 ,hargreaves is another in the long list of those who have suffered persecution because of having done something to make the world better4 ,his fellow-spinners1 filled with prejudice toward his invention because they feared it might rob them of employment1 broke into his house and destroyed his machine4 ,he then moved to ,nottingham1 where he erected a spinning mill4 ,in #aggj ,hargreaves took out a patent on his invention1 but the patent was subsequently annulled on the ground that he had sold a few machines before patenting the invention4 ,valuable as was the spinning-jenny of ,hargreaves1 it was adapted only to producing the transverse threads1 or the woof4 ,it could not produce sufficient firmness and hardness for the longitudinal threads1 or the warp4 ,in #agfg ,richard ,arkwright1 another native of ,lancashire1 invented the spinning-frame1 which was able to yield a thread fine enough and firm enough to make the warp4 ,at the time of his invention ,arkwright was so poor that he had to be furnished with a suit of clothes before he looked respectable enough to appear at an election4 ,like ,hargreaves1 he also was persecuted4 ,both were driven out of ,lancashire to ,nottingham to escape popular rage4 ,arkwright's patent was annulled1 and at one time his factory was destroyed by the populace in the presence of a powerful military and police force1 who did nothing to restrain it4 ,and why were ,hargreaves and ,arkwright driven out of ,lancashire8 ,they had invented machines that would produce more and cheaper clothing2 that would give powerful impetus to the cotton and the woolen industries2 that would lift the race higher in the path-way of civilization4 ,what was the reason8 ,misunderstanding1 prejudice1 and selfishness4 ,the interests of the few were shutting out the interests of the world4 ,and these interests of the few were imaginary4 ,in spite of all opposition1 however1 ,arkwright succeeded1 and may be regarded as the founder of the modern factory system4 ,in #aggi ,samuel ,crompton1 another ,lancashire inventor1 produced an improved spinning machine called the spinning-mule4 ,this invention combined the good qualities of the spinning-jenny of ,hargreaves and the spinning-frame of ,arkwright4 ,its chief point of excellence lay in the fineness of the threads which it spun2 from this kind of thread could be made finer fabrics than were possible with the machines of ,hargreaves and of ,arkwright4 ,crompton was very poor4 ,by day he worked at the loom or on the farm to earn bread for himself1 his mother1 and his two sisters1 and at night he toiled away on his invention4 ,no sooner had he perfected his machine than he was beset by persons seeking to rob him of its benefits4 ,all kinds of devices were employed for learning the secret4 ,ladders were placed against his windows in order that unscrupulous spectators might get a view of the machine4 ,he did not dare to leave the house1 lest his secret be stolen from him4 ,he had spent his last farthing upon the invention and had no funds for securing a patent4 ,a manufacturer persuaded him to disclose to the trade the nature of his invention under promise of a liberal subscription2 but ,crompton received only a paltry sum amounting to less than #cej4 ,he finally saved up enough money to begin manufacturing on a small scale1 but his rivals had already out-distanced him4 ,he died in ,june1 #ahbg1 disspirited at the ill treatment he had received1 but not until he had seen his invention a powerful agency in ,british cloth manufacturing4 ,an interesting glimpse of the days when weaving was done by hand in ,england may be found in the first chapter of ,george ,eliot's ,silas ,marner1 the ,weaver of ,raveloe4 ,the hand-loom in weaving was superseded by the power-loom early in the nineteenth century4 ,the loom was the invention of the ,rev4 ,edmund ,cartwright1 an ,english clergyman1 poet1 and inventor4 ,the date of the invention was #aghe4 ,cartwright's first loom was very crude1 but he subsequently improved it4 ,the idea for the invention of his power-loom came to ,cartwright after a visit to the spinning mills of ,arkwright4 ,he too was subjected to opposition from the weavers on account of his invention4 ,at one time he was associated with ,robert ,fulton in his experiments in applying steam to navigation4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,aeronautics ,to fly in the air has been the dream of all peoples in all ages4 ,oh that ,i had wings like a dove6 ,then would ,i fly away and be at rest6 sang the ,psalmist4 ,it would seem from the recent inventions in the science of aeronautics that this dream is to become in the near future a practical experience of our every-day lives4 ,a balloon is an apparatus with an envelope filled with gas1 the specific gravity of which is less than that of the atmosphere near the surface of the earth4 ,it is practically at the mercy of air-currents4 ,the science of balloon aeronautics dates definitely from #aghc1 when the ,montgolfier brothers at ,angonay in ,france constructed their first balloons4 ,these ,frenchmen and their successors developed the spherical balloons to a state of efficiency which has scarcely been improved upon to this day4 ,the balloon in time came to be adopted throughout ,europe for military uses1 mainly for the purpose of spying out the enemy's position and defenses4 ,a dirigible balloon usually has an elongated envelope and is equipped with a motor and a rudder by which it can be steered at will against a moderate wind4 ,balloon aeronautics became popular in #ahih1 when ,santos-,dumont1 a wealthy young ,brazilian1 performed a series of spectacular feats with his dirigible balloon4 ,immediately ballooning became the sporting fad in ,france and the craze spread rapidly over the ,continent and to ,england4 ,numerous airships of the dirigible type made their appearance and many balloon factories were established4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,wright ,,biplane ,by ,courtesy of ,brooks ,brothers ,in ,germany every community has its aero club4 ,in the ,united ,states there are about #cjj1jjj club members scattered throughout the land who individually or collectively own over #bjj balloons4 ,all of the great nations own one or more aerial warships of the dirigible type1 as well as numerous spherical balloons4 ,an aeroplane1 as commonly known1 is a machine which is sustained in the air by one1 two1 or three sets of rigid surfaces or planes4 ,unlike the balloon1 it is heavier than air1 and it must therefore maintain its position in the air by some form of mechanical propulsion4 ,it must1 in other words1 fly like a bird4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,bleriot ,,monoplane ,the first aeroplane was invented by ,henson1 an ,englishman1 who in #ahdc flew his machine1 using a two-horse-power steam engine4 ,in #ahhh and in #aijj two other practically successful models appeared1 one made by a ,french and the other by an ,english inventor4 ,langley1 an ,american1 who began experimenting in #ahhe1 managed to fly over the ,potomac in #ahif4 ,the ,wright brothers made their initial flights under motor power in #aijc4 ,during the years since #aijc innumerable types of aeroplanes have been developed1 all based upon the lines laid down by ,langley1 ,henson1 ,maxim1 and other pioneers4 ,among the most successful experimenters have been ,farman1 ,delagrange1 ,bleriot1 ,curtiss1 and the ,voisins4 ,the flapping-wing machine is called an orthopter 7orthos1 straight1 ptera1 wing7 and is supposed to copy bird flight4 ,screw-flyers1 called helicopters1 lift themselves from the ground by the thrust of varying numbers of rapidly moving propellers1 revolving horizontally4 ,some startling feats have been performed in the field of aeronautics4 ,on ,august #g1 #aiaj1 ,john ,b4 ,moisant1 an ,american1 flew in a ,bleriot monoplane across the ,english ,channel1 a distance of about twenty-five miles1 in thirty-two minutes4 ,he carried one passenger4 ,on ,september #ab1 #aiaj1 ,claude ,grahame-,white1 an ,englishman1 flew in a ,farman biplane thirty-three miles in thirty-four minutes1 near ,boston1 winning a prize of ten thousand dollars4 ,every day new ideas take shape and are developed in some form that promotes the pleasure1 comfort1 or safety of mankind4 ,there seems to be literally no limit to man's inventive power4 ,his brain teems with thoughts and his hands labor incessantly to force his thoughts into material forms4 ,he mounts higher and higher on the scale of civilization1 casting away old ideas1 inefficient methods1 and worn-out machines1 and substituting the new and wonderful things which he has achieved4 ,graded ,supplementary ,reading ,series ,classic ,fables4 ,for ,first and ,second ,grades4 ,selected and edited by ,edna ,henry ,lee ,turpin4 #abg pages1 #abmo1 cloth #cj cents ,grimm's ,fairy ,tales4 ,for ,second and ,third ,grades4 ,selected and edited by ,edna ,henry ,lee ,turpin4 #bjg pages1 #abmo1 cloth #dj cents ,andersen's ,fairy ,tales4 ,for ,third and ,fourth ,grades4 ,selected and edited by ,edna ,henry ,lee ,turpin4 #bec pages1 cloth #dj cents ,stories from ,american ,history4 ,for ,fourth and ,fifth ,grades4 ,selected and edited by ,edna ,henry ,lee ,turpin4 #aia pages1 #abmo1 cloth #dj cents ,stories from ,greek ,history4 ,for ,fourth and ,fifth ,grades4 ,by ,louise ,diman4 #bci pages1 #abmo1 cloth #dj cents ,heroes of ,history4 ,for ,fifth and ,sixth ,grades4 ,by ,ida ,prentice ,whitcomb4 #ddh pages1 #abmo1 cloth #fj cents ,brief ,biographies from ,american ,history4 ,for ,fifth and ,sixth ,grades4 ,by ,edna ,henry ,lee ,turpin4 #bii pages1 #abmo1 cloth #ej cents ,part ,i4 ,for ,fifth ,grade4 #adb pages1 #abmo1 cloth #ce cents ,part ,,ii4 ,for ,sixth ,grade4 #afc pages1 #abmo1 cloth #ce cents ,english ,history ,stories4 ,for ,sixth and ,seventh ,grades4 #cbj pages1 #abmo1 cloth #ej cents ,the ,young ,american4 ,a ,civic ,reader4 ,for ,sixth1 ,seventh and ,eight ,grades4 ,pratt ,judson1 ,,ll4,d4 #bei pages1 #abmo1 cloth #ej cents