  INDIAN-RUBBER and GUTTA-PERCHA. THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF THE AGE. Transcriber's Note: The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. PLATE I. DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Who saw what ferns and palms were pressed Under the tumbling mountain’s breast, In the safe herbal of the coal? But when the quarried means were piled, All is waste and worthless, till Arrives the wise selecting Will, And, out of slime and chaos, Wit Draws the threads of fair and fit. Then temples rose, and towns, and marts, The shop of toil, the hall of arts; Then flew the sail across the seas To feed the North from tropic trees; The storm-wind wove, the torrent span, Where they were bid the rivers ran; New slaves fulfilled the poet’s dream, Galvanic wire, strong-shouldered steam. Emerson. DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS |
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