INVENTION AND DISCOVERY. CURIOUS FACTS AND ILLUSTRATIVE SKETCHES. CONSTRUCTION OF THE THAMES TUNNEL. FALSE ESTIMATE OF RAILWAY SPEED. THE CRAWSHAYS OF MERTHYR TYDVIL. WEIGHING MACHINE AT THE BANK OF ENGLAND. THE DISCOVERER OF GUTTA PERCHA. WATT'S DISCOVERY OF THE COMPOSITION OF WATER. HOW PASCAL WEIGHED THE ATMOSPHERE. THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA. [2] "SHEPHERD TO THE KING OF ENGLAND FOR SCOTLAND." EARLY LIFE OF ALEXANDER BRONGNIART. THE FIRST CUP OF TEA DRUNK IN ENGLAND. BENEFIT OF A WIFE TO AN AUTHOR. ORIGIN OF POST-PAID ENVELOPES. THE STEAM-GUN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. ANCIENT OBSERVATORY IN PERSIA. FOURDRINIER'S PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY. STRYCHNINE A REMEDY FOR PARALYSIS. THE FIRST USE OF JESUIT'S BARK. MR. BABBAGE'S CALCULATING MACHINE. AN ELECTRIFYING MACHINE IN PERSIA. HOW TO MEASURE THE SHOCK OF AN EARTHQUAKE. ST. PIERRE'S "PAUL AND VIRGINIA." EL DORADO OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. AMBER, A SOURCE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE. ANTIQUITY OF LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. EARLY INCITEMENTS TO A SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF NATURE. SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL'S FIRST TELESCOPE. EXPERIMENTS WITH AN ELECTRIC EEL. TRAVELLING IN THE HIMALEH MOUNTAINS. COMBINATIONS OF THE KALEIDOSCOPE. INDIA RUBBER, A CENTURY AND A HALF SINCE. BALLOON VOYAGE FROM LONDON TO NASSAU. CLEARNESS OF THE SKY AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. WHO FIRST DOUBLED THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE? MISS CAROLINE LUCRETIA HERSCHEL. INVENTION OF THE TELESCOPE, AND EARLY DISCOVERIES WITH IT. IDENTITY OF BLACK AND GREEN TEA. THE MOON SEEN THROUGH LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPE. MELTING OF A WATCH BY LIGHTNING. FIRE-PROOF HOUSE ON PUTNEY HEATH. SIR DAVID BREWSTER'S KALEIDOSCOPE. LORD ROSSE'S LEVIATHAN TELESCOPE. ORIGIN OF REFLECTING LIGHTHOUSES. ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. TRANSPORTATION OF THE COFFEE-TREE. THE ARTESIAN WELL OF GRENELLE, AT PARIS. NECESSITY THE MOTHER OF INVENTION. THE BURNING MIRRORS OF ARCHIMEDES. MAGNETIC CORRESPONDENCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. NAVIGATION BEFORE THE COMPASS. SEMAPHORE v. ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches. glyph WM. W. SWAYNE, MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, CONTENTS.
NOTE.In the annals of Invention and Discovery, it may be said without undue boasting, no nation of modern times can lay claim to such an eminent position as Great Britain; and her many ingenious and intrepid adventurers into what they found unknown regions of the arts, the sciences, and the earth's surface, have so largely contributed to raise her to her great place and power, that it is mere justice and self-interest to bestow on them grateful rewards in life, and renown after death. In this little volume are brought together a number of sketches and memoranda, illustrating the history of discovery, and the lives and labours of inventors and explorers, not of our own country alone, but of others—for knowledge is of no country, but of all. The object of the collector has been rather to present the popular than the strictly scientific side of his subject—to furnish materials of interest and amusement, as well as instruction; and if now and then he has been tempted to stray into bye-paths of anecdote and gossip, excuse may readily be found in the fact that the private life of our men of science, often singularly noble and full of character, is apt to be altogether obscured by the brilliancy of the results of their secret and silent toil. This volume will have served its purpose, if it excites an appetite for fuller and deeper inquisition into the sources of British greatness and of modern civilisation. |