the general public may be mentioned Franklin's experiments with heat at
a time when a thermometer was a scientific curiosity. The manner in
which he proved that black cloth was not so good a covering for the body
in hot weather as white, shows the simplicity of his methods and his
faculty for making small means subserve great ends: "I took a number of
little square pieces of broadcloth from a tailor's pattern-card, of
various colors. There were black, deep blue, lighter blue, green,
purple, red, yellow, white, and other colors or shades of colors. I laid
them all out upon the snow in a bright sunshiny morning. In a few hours
the black, being warmed most by the sun, was so low as to be below the
stroke of the sun's rays; the dark blue almost as low, the lighter blue
not quite so much as the dark, the other colors less as they were
lighter, and the quite white remained on the surface of the snow, not
having entered it at all. What signifies philosophy that does not apply
to some use? May we not learn from hence that black clothes are not so
fit to wear in a hot, sunny climate or season as white ones?" That all
summer hats, particularly for soldiers, should be white, and that garden
walls intended for fruit should be black, were suggestions put forth as
a result of this experiment.
Dr. Small assigns to Franklin the credit of having discovered that
repeated respiration imparts to air a poisonous quality similar to that
which extinguishes candles and destroys life in mines and wells. "The
doctor," he records, "breathed gently through a tube into a deep glass
mug, so as to impregnate all the air in the mug with this quality. He
then put a lighted _bougie_ (candle) into the mug, and upon touching the
air therein the flame was instantly extinguished; by frequently
repeating this operation, the _bougie_ gradually preserved its light
longer in the mug, so as in a short time to retain it to the bottom of
it, the air having totally lost the bad quality it had contracted from
the breath blown into it." Upon being consulted with regard to the
better ventilation of the House of Commons, he advised that openings
should be made near the ceiling, communicating with flues running
parallel with the chimneys and close enough to them to be kept warm by
their heat. These flues, he recommended, should begin in the cellar,
where the air was cool, and the flues being warmed by the hot air of the
chimneys, would cause an upward current of air strong enough to expel
the vitiated air in the upper part of the house. Franklin's letters at
this time are full of the importance of ventilation. Unquestionably, he
was among the first who called attention to the folly of excluding fresh
air from hospitals and sick-rooms, particularly those of fever patients.
As Mr. Parton expresses it, he cleared the pure air of heaven from
calumnious imputation and threw open the windows of mankind.
Some inventions of Franklin's have not met with the approval of
posterity. For instance, he seems to have had no more success with a
reformed spelling of his own devising than laborers in the same field
who came after him. He used to say that they alone spelt well who spelt
ill, since the so-called bad speller used the letters according to their
real value. The illiterate girl who wrote of her _bo_ was more correct,
he thought, than the young lady who would blush to omit a superfluous
vowel. What was the use of the final letter in muff, and why take the
trouble to write _tough_ when _tuf_ would do as well? Had he lived to
see Dr. Webster's Dictionary, the lexicographer would have found in him
an ardent champion. His reformed alphabet and spelling is an interesting
curiosity, but hardly more. Some letters of our alphabet he omitted,
only to add new ones. He also changed their order, making _o_ the first
letter and _m_ the last. In this connection it may be well to say that
Franklin was perhaps the first and foremost American champion of the
movement, now so powerful, looking to the displacement of Latin and
Greek as the foundations of education. At the very close of his life, in
1789, he issued his famous protest against the study of dead languages.
He is reported to have said one evening, when talking about this matter:
"When the custom of wearing broad cuffs with buttons first began, there
was a reason for it; the cuffs might be brought down over the hands and
thus guard them from wet and cold. But gloves came into use, and the
broad cuffs were unnecessary; yet the custom was still retained. So
likewise with cocked hats. The wide brim, when let down, afforded a
protection from the rain and the sun. Umbrellas were introduced, yet
fashion prevailed to keep cocked hats in vogue, although they were
rather cumbersome than useful. Thus with the Latin language. When nearly
all the books of Europe were written in that language, the study of it
was essential in every system of education; but it is now scarcely
needed, except as an accomplishment, since it has everywhere given
place, as a vehicle of thought and knowledge, to some one of the modern
tongues."
With all his love of the practical, Franklin was not deficient in a
rather delicate wit. I have already had occasion to quote at the
beginning of this paper his disclaimer of the honors conferred upon him
by Turgot's famous Latin line. Instances of this dry humor may be found
all through Sparks's exhaustive biography. I remember one in particular.
The merchants of Philadelphia, being at one time desirous to establish
an assembly for dancing, they drew up some rules, among which was one
"that no mechanic or mechanic's wife or daughter should be admitted on
any terms." This rule being submitted to Franklin, he remarked that "it
excluded God Almighty, for he was the greatest mechanic in the
universe."
Benjamin Franklin's services to the cause of invention by no means ended
with his own inventions. One of his greatest services was the part he
took in the foundation of the American Philosophical Society, whose
object was to bring into correspondence with a central association in
Philadelphia all scientists, philosophers, and inventors on this
continent and in Europe. Franklin's share in the foundation of this
society, which has proved of such vast use, seems to have been largely
overlooked by his biographers. Mr. Parton, having mentioned that
Franklin founded the society in accordance with his proposal of 1743,
adds: "The society was formed and continued in existence for some years.
Nevertheless, its success was neither great nor permanent, for at that
day the circle of men capable of taking much interest in science was too
limited for the proper support of such an organization." The recent
historian of the society, Dr. Robert M. Patterson, agrees, however, with
Sparks in tracing the origin of the Philosophical Society, which grew
into prominence about 1767, back to Franklin's proposal of 1743. After
describing the Junto, or Leather Apron Society, formed among Franklin's
acquaintance, a sort of debating club of eleven young men, Sparks says:
"Forty years after its establishment it became the basis of the American
Philosophical Society, of which Franklin was the first president, and
the published transactions of which have contributed to the advancement
of science and the diffusion of valuable knowledge in the United
States." In his first proposal Franklin gave a list of the subjects that
were to engage the attention of these New World philosophers. It
included investigations in botany; in medicine; in mineralogy and
mining; in chemistry; in mechanics; in arts, trades, and manufactures;
in geography and topography; in agriculture; and, lest something should
have been forgotten, he adds that the association should "give its
attention to all philosophical experiments that let light into the
nature of things, tend to increase the power of man over matter and
multiply the conveniences or pleasures of life." The duties of the
secretary of the society were laid down and were arduous, including much
foreign correspondence, in addition to the correcting, abstracting, and
methodizing of such papers as required it. This office Franklin took
upon himself.
[Illustration: Franklin's Grave.]
While he lived the proceedings of the society scarcely ever failed of a
useful end. Unlike so many original and inventive geniuses, his eminent
common sense was as marked as his originality. In the language of his
most recent biographer, John Bach McMaster, "whatever he has said on
domestic economy or thrift is sound and striking. No other writer has
left so many just and original observations on success in life. No other
writer has pointed out so clearly the way to obtain the greatest amount
of comfort out of life. What Solomon did for the spiritual man, that did
Franklin for the earthly man. The book of Proverbs is a collection of
receipts for laying up treasure in heaven. 'Poor Richard' is a
collection of receipts for laying up treasure on earth."
II.
ROBERT FULTON.
[Illustration: Robert Fulton.]
Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, or at least the first man
to apply the power of the steam-engine to the propulsion of boats in a
practical and effective manner, was born in Little Britain, Lancaster
County, Pa., 1765, of respectable but poor parents. His father was a
native of Kilkenny, Ireland, and his mother came of a fairly well-to-do
Irish family, settled in Pennsylvania. He was the third of five
children. As a child he received the rudiments of a common education.
His vocation showed itself in his earliest years. All his hours of
recreation were passed in shops and in drawing. At the time he was
seventeen he had become so much of an artist as to make money by
portrait and landscape painting in Philadelphia, where he remained until
he was twenty-one. After this he went to Washington County and there
purchased a little farm on which he settled his mother, his father
having died when he was three years old. He returned to Philadelphia,
but on his way visited the Warm Springs of Pennsylvania, where he met
with some gentlemen who were so much pleased with his painting that they
advised him to go to England, where they told him he would meet with
West who had then attained great celebrity. Fulton took this advice, and
his reception by West, always kindly toward Americans, was such as he
had been led to expect. The distinguished painter was so well pleased
with him that he took him into his house, where he continued to live for
several years. For some time Fulton made painting his chief employment,
spending two years in Devonshire, near Exeter, where he made many
influential acquaintances, among others the Duke of Bridgewater, famous
for his canals, and Lord Stanhope, a nobleman noted for his love of
science and his attachment to the mechanic arts. With Lord Stanhope,
Fulton held a correspondence for a long time upon subjects in which they
were interested.
In 1793, Fulton was engaged in a project to improve inland navigation.
Even at that early day it appeared that he had conceived the idea of
propelling vessels by steam, and he speaks in his letters of its
practicability. In 1794 he obtained from the British Government a patent
for improvements in canal locks, and his pursuits at this time appear to
have been in this direction. In his preface to a description of his
Nautilus, or "plunging" boat, a species of submarine boat, he says that
he had resided eighteen months in Birmingham where he acquired much of
his knowledge of mechanics. In later years, when in Paris, Fulton sent a
large collection of his manuscripts to this country. Unfortunately, the
vessel in which they were sent was wrecked, and, while the case was
recovered, only a few fragments of the manuscripts could be used. It is
owing to this misfortune that we have so few records of Fulton's work at
this time.
[Illustration: Birthplace of Robert Fulton.[1]]
[Footnote 1: This illustration and the four following are from Knox's
"Life of Fulton," reproduced by permission of the publishers, G.P.
Putnam's Sons.]
We know, however, that in 1794 he submitted to the British Society for
the Promotion of Arts and Commerce an improvement of his invention for
sawing marble, for which he received the thanks of the society and an
honorary medal. He invented also, it is thought, about this time, a
machine for spinning flax and another for making ropes, for both of
which he obtained patents from the British Government. A mechanical
contrivance for scooping out earth to form channels for canals or
aqueducts, which is said to have been much used in England, was also
his invention. The subject of canals appears to have chiefly engaged his
attention during these years of the end of the century. He called
himself a civil engineer, and under this title published his work on
canals, and, in 1795, many essays on the same subject in one of the
London journals. He recommended small canals and boats of little burden
in a treatise on "Improvement of Canal Navigation," and inclined planes
instead of locks, as a means of transporting canal boats from one level
to another. His plans were strongly recommended by the British Board of
Agriculture. Throughout his course as civil engineer his talent for
drawing was of great advantage to him, and the plates annexed to his
works are admirable examples of such work. He seems to have neglected
his painting till a short time before his death, when he took up the
brush again to paint some portraits of his family. During his residence
in England he sent copies of his works to distinguished men in this
country, setting forth the advantages to be derived from communication
by canals.
Having obtained a patent for mill improvements from the British
Government, he went to France with the intention of introducing his
invention there; but, not meeting with much encouragement, he devoted
his time to other matters. Political economy had also some attraction
for him, and he wrote a book to show that internal improvements would
have a good effect on the happiness of a nation. He not only wished to
see a free and speedy communication between the different parts of a
large country, but universal free trade between all countries. He
thought that it would take ages to establish the freedom of the seas by
the common consent of nations, and believed in destroying ships of war,
so as to put it out of the power of any nation to control ocean trade.
In 1797 he became acquainted with Joel Barlow, the well-known American,
then residing in Paris, in whose family he lived for seven years, during
which time he learned French and something of German, and studied
mathematics and chemistry. In the same year he made an experiment with
Mr. Barlow on the Seine with a machine he had constructed to give
packages of gunpowder a progressive motion under water and then to
explode at a given point. These experiments appear to have been the
first in the line of his submarine boats, and are unquestionably the
germ of all subsequent inventions in the direction of torpedo warfare.
Want of money to carry out his designs induced him to apply to the
French Directory, who at first gave him reason to expect their aid, but
finally rejected his plan. Fulton, however, was not to be discouraged,
but went on with his inventions, and having made a handsome model of his
machine for destroying ships, a commission was appointed to examine his
plans, but they also rejected them. He offered his idea to the British
Government, still again without success, although a committee was
appointed to examine his models. The French Government being changed,
and Bonaparte having come to the head of it, Fulton presented an address
to him. A commission was appointed, and some assistance given which
enabled him to put some of his plans into practice. In the spring of
1801 he went to Brest to make experiments with the plunging boat that he
had constructed in the winter. This, as he says, had many imperfections,
to be expected in a first machine, and had been injured by rust, as
parts which should have been of copper or brass were made of iron.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, he engaged in a course of
experiments which required no less courage than perseverance. From a
report of his proceedings to the committee appointed by the French
Government we learn that in July, 1801, he embarked with three
companions on board of this boat, in the harbor of Brest, and descended
to the depth of twenty-five feet, remaining below the surface an hour,
in utter darkness, as the candles were found to consume too much of the
vital air. He placed two men at the engine, which was intended to give
her motion, and one at the helm, while he, with a barometer before him,
kept her balanced between the upper and lower waters. He could turn her
round while under the water, and found that in seven minutes he had gone
about a third of a mile. During that summer Fulton descended under water
with a store of air compressed into a copper globe, whereby he was
enabled to remain under water four hours and twenty minutes. The success
of these experiments determined him to try the effect of his invention
on the English war-ships, then daily near the harbor of Brest--France
and England being then at war. He made his own bombs. For experimental
purposes a small vessel was anchored in the harbor, and with a bomb
containing about twenty pounds of powder, he approached within about two
hundred yards, struck the vessel, and blew her into atoms. A column of
water and fragments were sent nearly one hundred feet into the air. This
experiment was made in the presence of the prefect of the department and
a multitude of spectators. During the summer of 1801 Fulton tried to use
his bombs against some of the English vessels, but was not successful in
getting within range. The French Government refused to give him further
encouragement.
The English had some information concerning the attempts that their
enemies were making, and the anxiety expressed induced the British
Minister to communicate with Fulton and try to secure to England his
services. In this he was successful, and Fulton went to London, where he
arrived in 1804, and met Pitt and Lord Melville. When Mr. Pitt first saw
a drawing of a torpedo with a sketch of the mode of applying it, and
understood what would be the effect of the explosion, he said that if it
were introduced into practice it could not fail to annihilate all
navies.
[Illustration: Fulton Blowing Up a Danish Brig.]
But from the subsequent conduct of the British ministry it is supposed
that they never really intended to give Fulton a fair opportunity to
try the effect of his submarine engines. Their object may have been to
prevent these devices getting into the hands of an enemy. Several
experiments were made, and some of them were failures, but on October
15, 1805, he blew up a strong-built Danish brig of two hundred tons
burden, which had been provided for the experiment and which was
anchored near the residence of Pitt. The torpedo used on this occasion
contained one hundred and seventy pounds of powder. In fifteen minutes
from the time of starting the machinery the explosion took place. It
lifted the brig almost entire and broke her completely in two; in one
minute nothing was to be seen of her but floating fragments.
Notwithstanding the complete success of this experiment, the British
ministry seems to have had nothing to do with Fulton. The inventor was
rather discouraged at this lack of appreciation and, after some further
experiments, he sailed for New York in December, 1806.
In this country Fulton devoted himself at once to his project of
submarine warfare and steam navigation. So far from being discouraged by
his failure to impress Europe with the importance of his torpedoes, his
confidence was unshaken, because he saw that his failures were to be
attributed to trivial errors that could easily be corrected. He induced
our Government to give him the means of making further experiments, and
invited the magistracy of New York and a number of citizens to
Governor's Island where were the torpedoes and the machinery with which
his experiments were to be made. In July, 1807, he blew up, in the
harbor of New York, a large brig prepared for that purpose. He also
devised at this time a number of stationary torpedoes, really casks of
powder, with triggers that might be caught by the keel of any passing
vessel. In March, 1810, $5,000 were granted by Congress for further
experiments in submarine explosions. The sloop of war, Argus, was
prepared for defence against the torpedoes after Fulton had explained
his mode of attack. This defence was so complete that Fulton found it
impracticable to do anything with his torpedoes. Some experiments were
made, however, with a gun-harpoon and cable cutter, and after several
attempts a fourteen-inch cable was cut off several feet below the
surface of the water.
Fulton was, during all these experiments, much pressed for money, and
apparently was making no headway toward the use of his submarine engines
in a profitable way. It was in despair of getting our Government to make
an investment in this direction that he finally turned to the problem of
navigation by steam. He had the valuable co-operation in his new work of
Chancellor Livingston, of New Jersey, who, while devoting much of his
own time and means to the advancement of science, was fond of fostering
the discoveries of others. He had very clear conceptions of what would
be the great advantages of steamboats on the navigable rivers of the
United States. He had already, when in Paris, applied himself at great
expense to constructing vessels and machinery for that kind of
navigation. As early as 1798 he believed that he had accomplished his
object, and represented to the Legislature of New York that he was
possessed of a mode of applying the steam-engine to a boat on new and
advantageous principles; but that he was deterred from carrying it into
effect by the uncertainty of expensive experiments, unless he could be
assured of an exclusive advantage should it be successful. The
Legislature in March, 1798, passed an act vesting him with the exclusive
right and privilege of navigating all kinds of boats which might be
propelled by the force of fire or steam on all the waters within the
territory of New York for the term of twenty years, upon condition that
he should within a twelve-month build such a boat, whose progress
should not be less than four miles an hour.
[Illustration: John Fitch's Steamboat at Philadelphia.]
Livingston, as soon as the act had passed, built a boat of about thirty
tons burden, to be propelled by steam. Soon after he entered into a
contract with Fulton, by which it was agreed that a patent should be
taken out in the United States in Fulton's name. Thus began the
preparations for the first practical steamboat. All the experiments were
paid for by Chancellor Livingston, but the work was Fulton's. In 1802,
in Paris, he began a course of calculations upon the resistance of
water, upon the most advantageous form of the body to be moved, and upon
the different means of propelling vessels which had been previously
attempted. After a variety of calculations he rejected the proposed plan
of using paddles or oars, such as those already used by Fitch; likewise
that of ducks' feet, which open as they are pushed out and shut as they
are drawn in; also that of forcing water out of the stern of the vessel.
He retained two methods as worthy of experiment, namely, endless chains
with paddle-boards upon them, and the paddle-wheel. The latter was found
to be the most promising, and was finally adopted after a number of
trials with models on a little river which runs through the village of
Plombières, to which he had retired in the spring of 1802, to pursue his
experiments without interruption.
[Illustration: Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle-wheels.]
It was now determined to build an experimental boat, which was completed
in the spring of 1803; but when Fulton was on the point of making an
experiment with her, an accident happened to the boat, the woodwork not
having been framed strongly enough to bear the weight of the machinery
and the agitation of the river. The accident did the machinery very
little injury; but they were obliged to build the boat almost entirely
anew. She was completed in July; her length was sixty-six feet and she
was eight feet wide. Early in August, Fulton addressed a letter to the
French National Institute, inviting the members to witness a trial of
his boat, which was made before the members, and in the presence of a
great multitude of Parisians. The experiment was entirely satisfactory
to Fulton, though the boat did not move altogether with as much speed as
he expected. But he imputed her moving so slowly to the extremely
defective machinery, and to imperfections which were to be expected in
the first experiment with so complicated a machine; the defects were
such as might be easily remedied.