McAdam, MacIntosh, and Guillotin Examples
of Men Whose Inventions Transmit
Their Names to Posterity.
Many common words have been derived from proper names, just as many proper
names have been derived from common words. The London _Globe_ cites
several instances of men who have been immortalized by the application of
their names to inventions.
While the word "macadamize" was rapidly establishing its position in the
English language, no less an authority than Jeremy Bentham gave it a
helping hand on its way by declaring that "the success of Mr. McAdam's
system justified the perpetuation of his name in popular speech."
This is, perhaps, the most perfect example of a spontaneous popular
impulse whereby an inventor who had benefited mankind was embalmed, so to
say, in his own invention. His name, connected indissolubly with it, was
handed down to future ages with a certainty that it would endure as long
at least as the language continued to exist.
But, curiously enough, at almost the same time when the great roadmaker
was achieving immortality, another inventor, with a no less obviously
Scotch name, was treading the same path to linguistic fame.
The labors in the field of chemistry which enabled MacIntosh to perfect
and patent a new sort of clothing--and that in a time when traveling by
stage coaches rendered it particularly welcome--were almost as prolonged
as those which qualified his fellow countryman in a long life to solve the
problem of constructing a durable roadway for wheeled traffic.
A third notable specimen of the conversion of a name into a vernacular
word may be taken from France, where Dr. Guillotin found himself
effectually, though not perhaps very agreeably, immortalized in connection
with the lethal implement which still bears his name. The popular belief
that he perished by the machine which he had introduced appears to be
erroneous. This rather left-handed compliment was not paid him by the
authorities, but by the voice of public opinion, which insisted that the
association of the doctor with his invention should be thus commemorated.
This list might be extended by many names which have become descriptive of
their original owner's acts or theories. There is, for example, the case
of Captain Boycott. And more recently, of course, people have begun to use
the verb "to Oslerize."