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TRIUMPHS OF
INVENTION AND DISCOVERY
IN ART AND SCIENCE.
[Illustration: GEORGE STEPHENSON'S HOME. Page 120.]
TRIUMPHS OF
INVENTION AND DISCOVERY
IN ART AND SCIENCE.
BY
J. HAMILTON FYFE.
"PEACE HATH HER VICTORIES NO LESS THAN WAR."
LONDON:
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;
EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.
1871.
Preface.
"_Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than war._"--MILTON.
It is not difficult to account for the pre-eminence, generally assigned
to the victories of war over the victories of peace in popular history.
The noise and ostentation which attend the former, the air of romance
which surrounds them,--lay firm hold of the imagination, while the
directness and rapidity with which, in such transactions, the effect
follows the cause, invest them with a peculiar charm for simple and
superficial observers. As Schiller says,--
"Straight forward goes
The lightning's path, and straight the fearful path
Of the cannon ball. Direct it flies, and rapid,
Shattering that it _may_ reach, and shattering what it reaches.
My son! the road the human being travels,
That on which blessing comes and goes, doth follow
The river's course, the valley's playful windings:
Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines,
Honouring the holy bounds of property!
And thus secure, though late, leads to its end."
The path of peace is long and devious, now dwindling into a mere
foot-track, now lost to sight in some dense thicket; and the heroes who
pursue it are often mocked at by the crowd as poor, half-witted souls,
wandering either aimlessly or in foolish chase of some Jack o' lantern
that ever recedes before them. The goal they aim at seems to the common
eye so visionary, and their progress towards it so imperceptible,--and
even when reached, it takes so long before the benefits of their
achievement are generally recognised,--that it is perhaps no wonder we
should be more attracted by the stirring narratives of war, than by the
sad, simple histories of the great pioneers of industry and science.
Picturesque and imposing as deeds of arms appear, the victories of
peace--the development of great discoveries and inventions, the
performance of serene acts of beneficence, the achievements of social
reform--possess a deeper interest and a truer romance for the seeing eye
and the understanding heart. Wounds and death have to be encountered in
the struggles of peace as well as in the contests of war; and peace has
her martyrs as well as her heroes. The story of the cotton-spinning
invention is at once as tragic and romantic as the story of the
Peninsular war. There were "forlorn hopes" of brave men in both; but in
the one case they were cheered by sympathy and association, in the other
the desperate pioneers had to face a world of foes, "alone, unfriended,
solitary, slow."
The following pages contain sketches of some of the more momentous
victories of peace, and the heroes who took part in them. The reader
need hardly be reminded that this brief list does not exhaust the
catalogue either of such events or persons, and that only a few of a
representative character are here selected.
In the present edition the different sections have been carefully
revised, and the details brought down to the latest possible date.
J. H. F.
Contents.
THE ART OF PRINTING--
1. John Gutenberg, 13
2. William Caxton, 28
3. The Printing Machine, 32
THE STEAM ENGINE--
1. The Marquis of Worcester, and his Successors, 53
2. James Watt, 63
THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON--
1. Kay and Hargreaves, 77
2. Sir Richard Arkwright, 81
3. Samuel Crompton, 90
4. Dr. Cartwright, 98
5. Sir Robert Peel, 104
THE RAILWAY AND THE LOCOMOTIVE--
1. "The Flying Coach," 111
2. The Stephensons: Father and Son, 116
3. The Growth of Railways, 133
THE LIGHTHOUSE--
1. The Eddystone, 141
2. The Bell Rock, 153
3. The Skerryvore, 160
STEAM NAVIGATION--
1. James Symington, 171
2. Robert Fulton, 176
3. Henry Bell, 183
4. Ocean Steamers, 186
IRON MANUFACTURE--
Henry Cort, 193
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH--
1. Mr. Cooke, 201
2. Professor Wheatstone, 204
3. The Submarine Telegraph, 209
THE SILK MANUFACTURE--
1. John Lombe, 221
2. William Lee, 225
3. Joseph Marie Jacquard, 227
THE POTTER'S ART--
1. Luca Della Robbia, 237
2. Bernard Palissy, 241
3. Josiah Wedgwood, 250
THE MINER'S SAFETY LAMP--
1. Sir Humphrey Davy, 263
2. George Stephenson's Lamp, 275
PENNY POSTAGE--
1. Sir Rowland Hill, 279
2. New Departments of the Postal System, 292
THE OVERLAND ROUTE--
1. Lieutenant Waghorn, 299
2. The Suez Canal, 309
The Art of Printing.
I.--JOHN GUTENBERG.
II.--WILLIAM CAXTON.
III.--THE PRINTING MACHINE.
The Art of Printing.
"A creature he called to wait on his will,
Half iron, half vapour--a dread to behold--
Which evermore panted, and evermore rolled,
And uttered his words a millionfold.
Forth sprung they in air, down raining in dew,
And men fed upon them, and mighty they grew."
LEIGH HUNT, _Sword and Pen_.