of wireless telegraphy, Finsen demonstrated the usefulness of certain
rays of the spectrum for treating certain skin diseases, and Becquerel
discovered what have since been called the Becquerel rays. In
experimenting with X-ray photography, he found that a sensitized plate,
though covered with black paper, was acted on not only by X-rays, but
also by the metal uranium and certain of its salts; and he also found
that the mere presence of uranium made the contiguous air a conductor,
as did the X-or Röntgen rays. The amazement caused by the discovery of
such undreamed-of properties, especially in so commonplace a substance
as uranium had been supposed to be, can easily be imagined; and it is
plain why strenuous efforts were made at once by scientific people,
to see if other substances did not possess those properties also. As
a result, it was soon found that other bodies did possess them. To
those bodies that seem to possess the quality of radiating activities
of certain kinds, the adjective _radio-active_ has been applied. The
most important radio-active elements are uranium, thorium and radium,
of which the last is immeasurably the most active and important.
Radium was discovered in 1898 by M. and Madame Curie and M. Bémont,
while experimenting with the uranium mineral pitchblende. It seemed to
some people at the time to challenge the theory of the conservation
of energy, and to threaten the destruction of the whole science of
Physics, by emanating energy without loss to itself. It has since been
found, of course, that radium does give up part of its substance; that
it disintegrates in fact, as a result of its emanations.
How great an influence the discovery of radium is going to exert, it
is now impossible to predict with confidence; but it is manifest that
the three successive and allied discoveries of cathode rays, X-rays
and radium have introduced a new and growing science into the Machine;
and it is seemingly possible that that science may, soon or tardily,
ascertain the nature of the atom, and even teach us to divide it.
It seems that an atom of radium does actually disintegrate, and by
disintegrating give out energy. The energy it gives out is so enormous
in proportion to the mass which gives it out, as to suggest to us an
almost infinite source of available power, if other substances can be
made to disintegrate. It is said that one gramme of radium can emit
a quantity of heat of about 100 calories per hour; that is enough
heat to raise 100 grammes of water a 1° centigrade in temperature,
_by simply existing_. It is true that radium is the most expensive
article in the world; but that is only because of the difficulties of
obtaining it at present. Now if radium is so potentially powerful and
disintegrates so easily, it seems possible that other substances less
easily disintegrable could emit greater energy, if (or when) a means is
discovered for disintegrating them.
The interesting question now suggests itself of what would happen
if some man should some day discover accidentally a means of
disintegrating--say carbon--and should unintentionally disintegrate
a few tons of coal in Wall Street. We know what has happened at
times when piles of explosives have been accidentally detonated. But
explosives are merely chemical compounds, and, compared to atoms of
radium are relatively microscopic in the energy developed when broken
up. We remember the story of the commotion caused by the monk's
experiment in making powder, when the mixture exploded and hurled the
pestle out of the mortar and across the room. Imagine a few tons of
carbon atoms exploding.
In 1894 a war, long presaged, broke out between China and Japan. In
1854, when Commodore Perry went to Japan, and gave a virtual ultimatum
that resulted in Japan's opening her seaports to the commerce of the
world, China and Japan were on the same plane of civilization, though
China was many times greater in area and population. But the people
of Japan were different from those of China in the essential mental
characteristic of imagination,--at least their rulers were. For those
rulers, noting the superior power of the foreign war-ships as compared
with theirs, and reasoning from this to the conditions of the countries
that produced those war-ships, and that produced also the implements of
war on board that were so much superior to the Japanese, made a mental
picture of what would happen to Japan some day, when those war-ships
should come to Japan and demand submission. To make such a picture did
not require much imagination, maybe; but the fact seems to be that no
other Asiatic nation, and no African nation, made it. Then the Japanese
made another picture, that required imagination of a brilliant kind;
and that was a picture of Japan learning the arts of the foreign devil,
and then utilizing those arts to keep the foreign devil himself at bay.
To us, looking back on the perfectly clear record of performance
that Japan has made since then, that performance may seem not very
difficult either to attempt or to achieve. But no other nation in the
history of the world has ever paralleled it, or even approximated
it. To appreciate it, one must exert all the imagination of which he
is capable, and see himself in Japan as Japan was in 1854, amid all
the influences of the history and environment then prevailing, with
all their accompaniments of ignorance, prejudice, inertia and racial
pride. It is the consensus of opinion throughout the world that the
performance of Japan since 1854 has been amazing. It is part of the
humble effort of this book to show that, in all great achievements, the
result should be attributed mainly to the estimate originally formed of
the situation, and the decision (invention) made to meet it. "C'est le
_premier_ pas qui coute": the rest follow as results.
The war between China and Japan, and in greater degree the result of
that war, give clear and impressive demonstrations of the influence of
invention on history; because the victors were victors simply because
they had taken advantage of the inventions made in Europe and America.
There was no marked difference physically in favor of the Japanese.
Whether there was morally, we have no means of judging. Was there a
difference mentally? We have an excellent means of judging this,--the
fact that the Japanese had made a correct estimate of the situation and
come to a correct decision, while the Chinese had not.
In the war that occurred ten years later, between Japan and Russia, the
influence of invention was even more clear and striking, for the reason
that Japan was a virtually semi-barbarous country in 1854, while Russia
was one of the five great powers of civilization and Christendom; and
yet in exactly fifty years, Japan demonstrated her equality with Russia
in the decisive court of war on land, and beat her ignominiously in the
equally decisive court of war on sea.
Why? Because during that fifty years Japan had availed herself of the
aid of invention more than Russia had done; with the result that when
they went before the supreme tribunal, Japan had better methods, better
equipment, better plans, better soldiers, better ships, better _tout
ensemble_. The most important single item was the naval telescope sight
invented by the author. That was the cause of the immeasurably superior
gunnery of the Japanese at the decisive naval battle of Tsushima.
Concerning Japan's war with China in 1894, the same truths may be
uttered, though not with quite so much emphasis; for the results had
not been so startling. Both wars demonstrate the same principles,
though in unequal degrees of convincingness. Both wars show that
the influence of invention has been to build up a Machine which is
powerful not only for peace but for war; to assist those nations the
most that avail themselves of it with the greatest skill and energy,
and therefore to spur ambitious and far-seeing people to the study of
whatever knowledge the world affords. The study most clearly indicated
is that of the resources of physics and chemistry, and the experiences
recorded in history.
In 1897, Henry A. Wise Wood invented the autoplate, a machine for
making printing plates previously made by hand, which multiplied
fourfold the reproduction of the type page in printing plates. This
invention facilitated and cheapened the cost of printing, and was
therefore a valuable addition to the Machine.
In 1898 a war, giving us lessons similar to those of the Japanese wars,
broke out between the United States and Spain. The disproportion of
material resources was great, and was in favor of the United States.
Yet in the early part of the sixteenth century, Spain had been esteemed
by many to be the greatest of all the powers, while the territory later
held by the United States was the wild domain of savages. Why had Spain
fallen so far below a country so new, living three thousand miles away
from the civilization of Europe? Because she had lost her vision;
because she had become infected with the disease of sordidness which
quickly-gotten wealth, especially ill-gotten wealth, has often brought
to nations; because she had ceased to encourage such bright visions as
she had encouraged in the days of Columbus and Magellan, and settled
down in the torpor of unimaginativeness. The United States, on the
other hand, had been seeing such visions and following them to learn
what lay beyond; and had been embodying all that could be embodied in
practical projects and machines and methods and instrumentalities of
all kinds. The United States had been taking all possible advantage of
the potentialities of invention, but Spain had not.
An important result of this war was the proof, and its utilization on
a large scale in Cuba and other Spanish-American countries, that the
mosquito is a carrier of the infections of yellow fever and many other
diseases.
Hardly had this war finished, when a war broke out in 1899 between
Great Britain and the Boer Republic in South Africa. It is an evidence
of the important influence of invention that it was possible for Great
Britain to wage effective war so far away, and finally to triumph. She
triumphed mainly because of the superior power of her military machine;
but she had been able to construct and to improve it continually by
her persistent utilization of the possibilities of invention. The
possibilities that she had utilized became especially conspicuous when
the necessity came for transporting the necessary troops and guns and
munitions and supplies over the vast ocean spaces intervening, and
for handling them on a foreign soil; under conditions very novel, and
against a wary and yet skilfull and aggressive foe.
This war had not closed when the Boxer rebellion broke out in China,
and a lesson even more clearly marked was given to the world. For
the Chinese Government was perhaps the oldest in the world and the
Chinese nation the most numerous. The revolt grew out of a series of
aggressions by certain European powers, especially Great Britain,
Germany, France and Russia, that consisted in virtually appropriating
under various pretexts, certain important positions and valuable pieces
of territory in China. Because of the fact that China had lost her
vision, and had not even been stimulated to realizing facts by the
example of Japan, China was at this time an incoherent aggregation of
separate states and organizations; though she was supposed to be a
coherent nation, under the emperor in Pekin. Because of a lack of such
a nervous system as was given to each civilized nation by its railways,
mails, newspapers, telegraphs and telephones, China was a soft and
almost amorphous mass; with no definite purpose and no strength, either
external or internal. China was not a machine in any proper sense of
the word, and was therefore incapable of any action of an effective
kind. The result was that, although the cause of the Boxers was not
only just but laudable, the whole movement resulted in a series of
pitiful atrocities committed by the Boxers in Pekin, followed by a
forced entry into that ancient capital by a few thousand troops from
the principal civilized nations, and a quick and complete suppression
of the entire revolt.
There, in Pekin, in the closing days of the year 1900, could be seen,
in two contrasting groups, peoples representing the highly organized
and effective Machine of Civilization on one side and its crude and
ineffective predecessor on the other side. What was the cause of the
enormous difference between the groups? In physical strength and size
and courage, little difference if any was observable;--yet one went
down before the other, like tenpins before a bowling ball. Some may say
that the difference was due to the difference in race. Yet the Japanese
were of the same race as the Chinese, and the Japanese troops were
as markedly superior to the Chinese as were the troops of any other
nation: in fact, it was the consensus of opinion that the Japanese
troops were superior to all the others, except the German. Some may
say it was because of the difference in religions. Yet the Japanese
were of virtually the same religion as the Chinese. Of course, the
paramount difference was in the degree of civilization. What was this
difference in civilization due to? Clearly, it was due to numberless
causes; but there seem to be two causes more important than the others:
a difference in attitude toward the possibilities of invention, and a
difference in what has been called "the fighting spirit."
But the fighting spirit and a receptive attitude toward invention are
usually found together, though the fighting spirit may sometimes lie
dormant in inventive and enterprising people; may lie dormant, even
for considerable periods, when conditions are peaceful, and prosperity
prevails. But Achilles--(so the legend runs)--dwelt at one time in
hiding, dressed in woman's garb, quiet and unsuspected. Yet when
suddenly the bugle rang, he grasped the sword and shield. So, in 1914,
and for some years before, Great Britain, the United States and France
slumbered under the narcotic spell of pacifism; yet when suddenly
the German War Machine advanced upon them, each nation and all three
nations together rose in quick and yet majestic armed reply, and proved
their fighting spirit was not dead, although it had been sleeping.
CHAPTER XIV
THE FRUITION OF INVENTION
The twentieth century was the fruition of all that invention had
achieved during the ages of the past. When it opened, the world was a
world far different from what it had been, even in times not long gone
by. It was far different from the world of 1850, or even 1875; for many
inventions had been made and utilized during the passing years.
The last quarter of the nineteenth century, the interval between 1875
and 1900, has been called the "industrial age," because of the great
advances made in all industrial appliances, and the consequent advance
made in the size and wealth and power of industrial organizations of
all kinds. In especial, the organizations dealing with systems of
transportation and communication, and with manufacturing the many
appliances needed by them had expanded greatly. Other organizations
had expanded also; for the improvement and extension of the means of
transportation and communication rendered possible the existence and
successful operation of organization in many branches of effort, to
a degree impossible before. Cities grew in area and population; the
buildings in size and especially in height; railroads increased in
number, length of route and speed of travel; locomotives and cars
grew commensurately; colleges, hospitals, churches, clubs, scientific
bodies, benevolent societies--all seemed to take a start about 1875 and
to grow at increasing speed, as year succeeded year. But the greatest
single advance was made in ocean transportation; for the sea, by the
year 1900, had become a plane across which steamers moved with a speed
and a certainty and a safety, rivaling that of railway trains on land.
The factors most immediately and importantly to be credited with all
these advances were the improvements in the steam engine, the electric
telegraph, and the manufacture of steel; also the invention of the
dynamo-electric machine, the electric light and the telephone. These
factors had given such power and certainty and speed to the Machine of
Civilization that the nations which joined it and became contributory
parts of it, advanced rapidly in prosperity and wealth, both actually
and also relatively, as compared with nations that did not.
In the year 1900, the great nations of the world were Great Britain,
France, Germany, the United States and Japan. Of these Japan had
advanced the most in civilization during the preceding half century,
then the United States, then Germany, then Great Britain, and then
France. The nation that had increased the most in territorial extent
was Great Britain. In 1900, the British Empire, including India,
covered about one-fourth of the whole surface of the earth. It
comprised, besides Great Britain and Ireland, five self-governing
colonies, the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the
Union of South Africa, New Foundland and New Zealand, in addition to
the 1,800,000 square miles of British India and her three hundred
million people. France had "expanded" in both Africa and Asia; that is,
she had conquered territory in those partially civilized continents.
Germany had done similarly; and Russia had subjugated the nomadic and
semi-nomadic tribes of Central Asia. The United States had taken only
a little territory, that included in the Philippines and Porto Rico;
for she had expanded her constructive energy and skill in developing
the vast and fertile area within her own boundaries. Japan had expanded
only slightly in actual territory; the exercise of her constructive
talents being urgently required at home.
It may be declared that invention should not be credited with any of
this expansion, for the reasons that to increase one's possessions is
an instinct of human nature, and that the colonization of savage and
barbarous lands has been a favorite activity with great nations always.
True: but the inventions enumerated in this book, and the agencies
which they supplied for going quickly, surely and safely to places far
away; of taking to those places certain tools of conquest, such as guns
and powder; and of supplying afterward to the conquered people finer
conveniences of living, juster laws and better government of every
kind, have been the effective means to an end that could not have been
attained without them.
It may be objected that the principal factors in all of these
achievements have been omitted, the commercial enterprise of the
merchants, the farseeing wisdom of the statesmen, the valor and skill
of the strategists, and (back of all) the courage and enterprise
of the original explorers. That these have been omitted, is true;
for the reason that this discussion is intended to point out only
what invention has done. It is obvious that the main incentive of
colonization has been commercial gain, and that the initiators of
colonization schemes have usually been merchants. It is equally obvious
that the statesmen are to be credited with the framing and execution
of the measures needed to make any colonization scheme effective; and
it is equally obvious that strategists and explorers did work without
which no expansion whatever would have been possible. Nevertheless, it
must be clear that the essential difference between the conquerors and
the conquered, by reason of which the uncivilized were conquered by
the civilized, lay in the aids which civilization had supplied to the
civilized. Colonization and conquest have been going on ever since the
beginning of recorded history and before; but from the days of Thutmose
III in ancient Egypt until now, the conqueror and the colonizer have
in almost every case been more civilized than were their victims. It
is true also that savages have sometimes overrun civilized countries,
and even conquered them, for Alaric captured even Rome: but up to the
present time, the fruits of such conquests have not been permanent,
whereas the fruits of colonization have been.
In 1900, then, the Machine of Civilization was in operation in all
parts of the world; in the dark continent of Africa, the deserts of
Asia, the wild regions of Australia, and even on the ocean. In fact,
it was on the ocean that the Machine was operating with the most
efficiency and effectiveness; for nowhere else are the power and the
harmony of machinery of all kinds, inert and human, seen in such
perfection as in great steamships on the sea.
We seem safe in concluding, therefore, that while invention was only
one of many factors in bringing about the world-wide conditions
that prevailed in 1900, invention was the initiating factor. It was
invention that suggested to the explorer that he explore; to the
merchant that he launch his enterprise; to the statesman that he
encourage the merchant and assist him with wise laws; to the strategist
that he make such and such plans, to meet the emergencies that arose.
Finally, it was invention that made possible the actual transportation
of explorers and merchants and troops to designated spots, and made
successful the operations which ensued there.
But the Machine still continued growing. In 1900 Hewitt invented his
beautiful mercury-vapor electric light, and in 1901 Santos-Dumont
invented his air-ship and demonstrated its practicability by going
around the Eiffel Tower in Paris in it and returning to the spot from
which he started. This feat began that great succession of feats with
dirigible balloons with which we are so familiar now, and which promise
to be succeeded by a condition of world-wide transportation through the
air.
In 1900, the author of this book patented the method of controlling the
movements of vessels, which consists in using radio telegraphy. This
invention has recently been brought to the stage of practicality by the
United States Navy. It was utilized in July, 1921, for steering the
Iowa when bombed by airplanes.
In 1903 came the first successful flight by aeroplane, which was
made by the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, North
Carolina. This was an epochal adventure; it inaugurated an age which is
already called the Aerial Age, and which will bring about changes so
vast that our imagination cannot picture them.
An interesting and instructive fact connected with this flight,
and with the aeroplane in general, is that the aeroplane was
not practicable and could not be made practicable before the
internal-combustion engine had been invented and developed; because
all preceding engines had been too heavy. This illustrates the
fact occasionally adverted to in this book, that one of the most
important factors in the influence of invention is that each new
invention facilitates later inventions. _The influence of invention is
cumulative._
In 1905, Elmer Sperry invented his gyroscopic compass which is
unaffected by terrestrial magnetism and points to the true north. In
1907, he invented his gyroscopic stabilizer which reduces greatly the
rolling of ships, aeroplanes, etc.
Meanwhile, the endeavor to accomplish photography in color had been
receiving persistent attention from many scientific experimenters, but
without much practical success. The achievements of Becquerel, Lippman,
Joly, Lumière, Finlay and others have doubtless laid the initial
stepping stones; for color-photography by their efforts has been made
an accomplished fact. As yet, however, the art is still in its infancy,
and has not, therefore, reached the stage of maturity that enables us
to estimate what importance it will eventually assume.
In 1908 Goldschmidt invented the thermit process of welding; thermit
being a mixture of aluminum with some metallic oxide such as oxide of
iron. When this mixture is ignited, the oxygen leaves the iron and
unites with the aluminum, causing an enormous rise of temperature, and
the consequent formation of molten iron. This molten mass being poured
around the ends of two pieces of iron, welds them together at once. In
the following year, Hiram Maxim invented his silencer for fire arms,
by means of which the noise resulting from firing a gun is greatly
lessened. How valuable a contribution this will be to the Machine, it
is impossible at the moment to predict with confidence.
In 1910, Henry A. Wise Wood invented his printing press that more than
doubled the speed of printing, produced a thousand newspapers of the
largest size per minute, and directly enhanced the solidarity of the
Machine.
In 1911 Glenn Curtiss produced his epochal flying-boat, Just and
Hanaman invented the tungsten electric light, and Drager his pulmotor,
for reviving persons who have been asphyxiated or partially drowned,
by forcing oxygen into their lungs. The pulmotor has come into use
to a surprising degree, and has already been established as a part
of the Machine with a recognized value. It belongs in the class of
remedial agents, about which nobody questions the beneficence, and for
which everyone recognizes the debt of gratitude owed by mankind to the
inventors.
In 1912, the author of this book invented the torpedoplane, a simple
combination of the automobile-torpedo with the aeroplane, so designed
that an aeroplane can carry a torpedo to a predetermined point near
an enemy's ship and then drop it, while simultaneously operating the
torpedo's starting mechanism: so that the torpedo will fall into the
water, and then continue under its own power toward its victim. As
the torpedoplane combines the most powerful weapon with the swiftest
means of transportation, many Navy officers think it an invention
of the first rank of importance, that threatens to wipe all surface
fighting vessels off the seas. During the World War, it played only a
subordinate part, though it was used effectively by the British and the
Germans. Our Navy did not use it at all, as Secretary Daniels rejected
it. The British Navy has already adopted it as a major instrument of
war, and constructed two especially designed fast vessels, each of
which carries twenty torpedoplanes. It seems obvious that such a ship,
if sufficiently fast to keep out of the range of a battleship's guns,
could sink her without much trouble.
In the same year Flexner discovered his antitoxin for cerebro-spinal
meningitis, and Edison invented the kinetophone, a combination of the
phonograph and the kinetoscope. As yet, this has not been made to work
with such complete success as to warrant its introduction into use. The
probabilities seem to be that someone will eventually supply the link
that is evidently necessary, and make the voice and the picture on the
screen cooperate in unison as they should. Two years later, Flexner
isolated the bacillus of infantile paralysis and Plotz that of typhus
fever.
The World War that broke out in August, 1914, was marked with far
greater utilization of new inventions than had marked any war before,
and foreshadowed even greater utilization of new inventions in the next
war.
The first evidence of any new appliance was a rain of heavy projectiles
on the tops of the Belgian forts; the forts having been designed to
resist projectiles on their sides. The projectiles, it was discovered
later, came from mortars of a kind the existence of which had not
been suspected. Soon after, the German submarines showed qualities of
endurance and radius of action that bespoke new appliances; and then
came attacks on the Allied troops with poison-gas that almost were
successful. The Allies replied with new inventions, especially in
wireless telegraphy and telephony, mines, "depth-bombs" and "listening
devices;" the latter being employed under water to detect the movements
of submarines. Many other inventions were almost on the point of
practicality when the Armistice was signed, but were not quite ready;
showing what had often been shown before, that inventions for use in
war, like all other preparations for war, should be complete ready for
use, before the war begins.
As soon as the war broke out in Europe, the present author began to
urge that the United States develop naval and military aeronautics
to the utmost; in order that, when we should finally enter into the
war, we should have available a large force of bombing aeroplanes
and torpedoplanes. When we finally entered into the war, in April,
1917, he urged continually that we develop a great aeronautical force
and send it to Europe to prevent the exit of German submarines from
their bases, to destroy those bases and to sink the ships of the
German fleet. These suggestions were rejected by Secretary Daniels as
impracticable; but subsequent developments have proved that they were
thoroughly practicable; in fact, an expedition was organized in England
to carry them out, when the Armistice was signed.
It is interesting to consider what would have been the effect on the
war (and, therefore, on all subsequent history) if the United States
had sent a large force of bombing aeroplanes and torpedoplanes to
Europe shortly after we entered the war in the Spring of 1917. This we
easily could have done, if we had started to get them ready, when the
suggestion was first made; or even at a considerable time thereafter.
Certainly, the war would have been greatly shortened, and much
suffering averted.
The inventions and discoveries made since the Great War began, though
some are evidently important, are so recent that we cannot state with
any confidence what their effect will be; and for this reason the
author craves permission to close his brief story at this point.
* * * * *
A noteworthy fact observable in the history of invention is that it has
been confined almost wholly to Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, China, Persia,
Greece, Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States,
and to a few men in those countries. Now it is in those countries that
the highest degree of civilization has been developed, and _it is from
them that other nations have drawn theirs_. The almost total absence of
invention in women is more noteworthy still; for Mrs. Eddy and Madame
Curie seem to be the only women who have contributed really original
and important work.
Another noteworthy fact is that the idea-germs from which all
inventions have been developed have been very few and very tiny. But
what a numerous and important progeny has been brought forth; and how
wholly impossible civilization would be now, had it not been for a
few basic inventions and certain improvements made upon them! We can
realize this, if we try to imagine the effect of removing a single one
of the basic inventions (and even of certain derived inventions) from
the Machine of Civilization.
Try to imagine what would happen if the invented art of--say
writing--for instance were suddenly lost. Would not the whole civilized
world be thrown into chaos as soon as the fact were realized? A like
disorder would be occasioned, though possibly not so quickly, if men
should suddenly forget how to print, or even how to use the telegraph,
telephone or the comparatively unimportant typewriter. Try to imagine
what would happen in even one city,--say New York--if the typewriter
were suddenly to be withdrawn! Would not all the business of New York
be paralyzed in a single day? Or fancy that all the machines for making
and utilizing electricity for supplying light and power should suddenly
become inoperative. Would there not be a panic within twenty-four hours
or less? Fancy that all the elevators should have to stop. Imagine what
would happen if the steam engine should suddenly cease to operate, and
all the steamships and railroad trains should stop, and the countless
wheels of industry that are turned directly or indirectly by steam
should cease to turn. Imagine that gunpowder should cease to function,
and that savages could meet modern armies on equal terms.
Some one may declare that this line of argument does not prove as
much as it seems to prove regarding the influence of invention, for
the reason that it includes a sudden change, and that every sudden
change produces results which are caused merely by the suddenness of
the change. So let us grant this, and then imagine that the changes
suggested would not take place suddenly, but very slowly. Imagine, for
instance, that we should discover that the various inventions noted in
this book were gradually to cease to operate, but that they would not
cease altogether for twenty years, or even forty. _Is it not certain
that the human race would revert to savagery, after those inventions
had ceased to operate?_
CHAPTER XV
THE MACHINE OF CIVILIZATION, AND THE DANGEROUS IGNORANCE CONCERNING IT,
SHOWN BY STATESMEN
The originating work of inventors of all kinds, and the assistance
rendered by countless wise and good men and women, have built up a
Machine of Civilization that is surpassingly wonderful and fine.
To keep the great Machine in order and to handle it, large numbers of
men have been educated in specialties pertaining to its various parts.
The first men were probably the warriors, who defended whatever little
Machines the various tribes had built up, in their little villages
and towns. Next, probably, came the kings or rulers who commanded
the warriors; and then, the priests who inculcated in the people the
various virtues, such as loyalty, courage, honesty, etc., that tended
toward the discipline of the individual and the consequent solidarity
of the tribe. Probably agriculturists came next, who tilled the
soil; and then came the inventors, who assisted the warriors and the
agriculturalists by devising implements to help them do their work.
It seems probable that the artisans came next; and that it was by the
co-operative working of them with the inventors, that the conceptions
of the inventors were embodied in implements of practical usefulness
and value. As time went on, and implements were produced that consisted
of two or more parts, the activities of the artisans were enlarged, so
as to take care of those implements and keep them in adjustment. The
bow and arrow, for instance, would not work well, unless the cord were
maintained at the correct degree of tension, the feathers on the arrows
were kept straight, the ends of the cords properly secured to the
bow, etc. Similarly, the mechanisms made for spinning and weaving and
fabricating pottery had to be kept in proper condition and adjustment;
and if we could realize the small amount of mechanical knowledge extant
in primeval days, we would probably also realize that the difficulties
of keeping these crude appliances in good working order were as
great as are the like difficulties now, with the most complicated
printing-press.
Furthermore, it was not only for keeping mechanisms in good condition
that artisans were needed: a higher degree of skill was needed for
operating them. We are forced to the conclusion that, as soon as
mechanisms were produced, the need of artisans trained to operate them
was felt. Not only this: the fact that the mechanisms were operated,
the facts that flax was spun and textures were woven, and pottery was
fashioned and baked, and that bows and arrows were used in battle,
prove that operators were actually trained to skill in the various
arts. This means that, as soon as the Machine of Civilization was
begun, operators skilled in the kinds of work which that Machine
required were trained in their various parts, and did their appointed
work.
It was not only machines of brass and iron and wood, moreover, that
required skilled operators: the individual human machines were
continually getting out of order, and men were trained in whatever
knowledge the world contained, to keep them in good order. Hence the
physician came into being.
The merchant must have been developed shortly after the agriculturist
and the artisan, to act as the agent for placing the products of the
soil and the products of the mechanisms in the possession of the
consumers.
As a tribe or nation increased in size, laws had to be formed to
regulate the mode of living of its members, decide disputes, punish
offences, and regulate conduct in general. Hence the lawyer was
gradually developed.
It seems probable, therefore, that even in prehistoric times, warriors,
rulers, priests, physicians, agriculturists, inventors, artisans,
merchants, and lawyers were at work, and that the activities of men
were divided mainly among those classes.
The activities of men are similarly divided now. In fact, it is by
these separate activities that the _separate parts_ of the Machine are
handled. That these separate parts are handled well, the progress made
in those parts convincingly testifies.
Despite this fact, however, no book on invention would be complete
which did not point out that the Machine, _as a whole_, is not being
handled well.
The Machine in each country is, of course, handled by the ruler and his
assistants. Originally the ruler handled it alone; but, as it increased
in complexity and size, the task became too great for one man, and
advisers and ministers were appointed to assist him. Men fulfilling
such tasks and allied tasks we now call statesmen.
Now it is to the hands of the statesmen of each country that the actual
management of the Machine of Civilization is committed. Yet it is a
well-known fact that although there are but few men in the world so
wise and learned that they know much about the Machine or any of its
parts, yet it is not from the wise and learned class that the great
officials of governments are selected!
The truth of this statement cannot reasonably be denied. That the
whole safety of the Machine of Civilization is in the hands of men
untrained in statesmanship is incontrovertible. In fact, the whole
status of statesmanship is disconcertingly vague; for in all the
grand progress of mankind, no science of statesmanship seems to have
developed, or any system of training to practice it. There seem to
be no fixed principles of statesmanship, no literature except of an
historical kind, and little activity save of an opportunistic sort.
No special education seems to be thought necessary in a statesman, or
any record of achievement; for in all countries, irrespective of their
form of government, men are placed in positions carrying the utmost of
human power for good and for evil, with little previous experience or
training, and without having to pass any examinations of any kind!
This fact demands attention. Of what avail is it to train men to handle
the separate parts of the Machine, if the Machine as a whole is to
be handled by untrained men? Of what avail is it to train engineers,
warriors, priests, physicians, lawyers and merchants to handle their
several parts, if the Machine as a whole is to be handled by statesmen
who have not been trained to handle it? It must be obvious that no men
can handle the Machine as a whole, unless they comprehend the Machine
as a whole, and also understand all its parts enough to realize their
relation to the whole. _No man can well handle any machine, be it
large, or be it small, without such knowledge._ No man can be a good
captain of a battleship, for instance, until he has spent many years
mastering the necessary knowledge. Ignorance of the parts and the
whole of a battleship is not permitted in a captain of a battleship.
Why is ignorance of the parts and the whole of their respective
responsibilities permitted in officials occupying higher places in the
governments?
That there are few men in the world who understand enough of all the
various parts of the Machine to understand the Machine as a whole is
certainly unfortunate; that almost none of these few men are selected
to fill the positions of statesmen is dangerous to the last degree.
For the Machine has grown to be extremely complicated; and it has the
quality, which all machines have in common, that an injury to any
part affects the whole. This quality is highly valuable, in fact it
is essential; but it carries with it a menace to the entire machine,
if it is operated by unskilled men. The Machine of Civilization came
very near to being smashed in the World War; because the statesmen of
France and Great Britain were so inefficient in the most important
part of their work (that of guarding the Machine as a whole) that they
permitted Germany to catch them unprepared.
The longer this condition continues to prevail, the greater the danger
to the Machine of Civilization will become. The resources of invention
are infinite. The resources of invention are almost untouched. Every
new discovery or invention prepares the road for a multitude of others.
These inventions and discoveries improve and enlarge the Machine; but
they complicate it more and more, and demand greater knowledge in
statesmen; just as increase in complexity of ships demands greater
knowledge in captains.
It can be mathematically proved by the Theory of Probabilities that, if
there be any chance that a certain accident may occur, it will surely
occur some day if the predisposing causes are suffered to continue; and
that therefore, any machine committed to unskilful handling will be
wrecked some day, if the unskilful handling is suffered to continue.
This establishes the probability that our Machine of Civilization will
be wrecked some day, unless statesmen be trained to handle it.
An invention seems to be needed that will insure adequate knowledge
in high officials in governments. But such an invention is not really
needed, because it is merely necessary to utilize an invention made
and used in Greece many centuries ago. This invention consisted in
conceiving, developing and producing a system whereby every candidate
for any office was required to show adequate knowledge of matters
coming within the jurisdiction of that office, by passing a rigid
examination.
Such a system may be deemed impracticable in modern representative
governments. _Why?_ It is followed in all civilized armies and navies.
If it be really impracticable, then it is impracticable to assure that
wise and able men shall manage the complex Machine of Civilization.
This means, if history has any lessons for us, that sooner or later, it
will again go down in ruin;--as it has gone down at different periods
of the past, in Egypt and Assyria and Babylon and Rome.
That influences are already at work which impair the functioning of
the Machine in the present and threaten its continuance in the future,
cannot reasonably be denied. Of these, the two most powerful may be
classed under the general heading "bolshevistic" and "pacifistic."
At the bottom of the bolshevistic movement is, of course, the thirst
for wealth and power; the thirst for opportunities for handling and
using the Machine and its various parts, by men who have done no work
in designing, or building, or caring for it. At the bottom of the
pacifistic movement is effeminacy: a desire for mere ease and luxury
and softness, a shirking of responsibility and discipline and sacrifice.
These two influences, unlike though they are, combine to threaten the
Machine; the bolshevistic by assault, the pacifistic by insuring
weakness of resistance to assault. Of these, the pacifistic is the
more dangerous, because the more insidious; for the same reason that
a disease hidden inside is more dangerous than an attack made openly
outside. The most potent cause of pacifism is the effeminacy caused
by the combination of prosperity and long-continued peace, with its
resulting division of a population into a vulgarly ostentatious rich
minority and a more or less envious poor majority. When a division like
this has come to pass, hostile conflict has usually ensued. Such a
conflict produced the French Revolution, and almost wrecked the Machine
in France. Such a conflict is now in progress in Russia, and threatens
some parts of Europe.
Unfortunately, the progress of invention, by enlarging the scope and
speed of communication and facilitating the acquiring of superficial
knowledge, has put into the hands of men possessing merely the
natural gift of eloquence the power to influence large numbers of
people, without possessing knowledge or skill in statesmanship. It
has facilitated demagoguery:--and herein lies the root of the danger
to the Machine; for without the demagogue, the bolshevist and the
pacifist would be unable to get their civilization-destroying doctrines
presented attractively to the people.
Fortunately, the Great War, though it caused tremendous suffering,
broke up many visionary notions that were crystallizing into beliefs,
and brought the world face to face again with realities. And although
the violent disturbance of society's always unstable equilibrium is
still evident in the world-wide unrest among the poorer classes, yet
the unrest seems gradually to be dying down, with the realization that
better conditions of living will be theirs in future.
And as every nation that is not wholly degenerate, possesses the power
within itself to save itself, and as the great nations of the earth
are very far indeed from being degenerate, we are warranted in assuming
that each nation will take the necessary steps, not only to guard the
Machine of Civilization, but to increase its power and excellence.
CHAPTER XVI
THE FUTURE
The fact that invention has not only been increasing during the past
one hundred years, but that its speed of increase has been increasing
and is still increasing, is well recognized. There seems to be a
constant force behind invention that imparts to it an acceleration,
comparable to that of gravity in accelerating the descent of a falling
stone. Such a phenomenon would be thoroughly conformable to modern
theories; and that there is a force, impelling people to invent, must
be a fact; for otherwise, they would not invent. If that force be
constant, the acceleration imparted to invention will be constant. If
the force be variable, the acceleration imparted to invention will be
variable. In other words, the future speed of invention, like that of
every moving body, must be governed by the force behind it and the
resistances opposed.
At the present moment, the resistance to invention is being gradually
lessened because the benefits coming from invention are being realized.
Simultaneously, the facilities for inventing are being increased.
These facilities are mainly in instruments of measurements and
research. So many of these are there now, that it would only complicate
matters to enumerate them and describe their spheres. Two of the most
important are the spectroscope and the photographic camera. By means of
the spectroscope, the astronomer can ascertain the chemical elements
of far distant stars, the temperature and pressure under which they
exist, the stage of progress of the star, and its speed and direction
of movement, whether toward us or away. By means of the photographic
camera, not only can records be made of stars so far away and faint
that light-waves from them cannot be noted by the eye, even with the
assistance of the most powerful telescope,--but a virtually unlimited
number of permanent records can be made.
All fields of research now feel the assistance imparted by new
instruments and methods. Even the chemist realizes the aid of
instruments invented by the physicist; while every physicist welcomes
the aid that comes to him from chemists. The chemists and the physicist
are now working together in harmony and with enthusiasm, engaged in
a friendly rivalry as to which shall help the other most. And, as
discovery succeeds discovery, and invention succeeds invention, they
find themselves--although the domain of each is widening--not drifting
farther apart, but drawing closer together. For it seems to be coming
more and more assured that the Laws of Nature are simpler than we
thought, that chemistry and physics are more alike than we supposed.
Many startling generalizations have been suggested, with much reason;
such as, that matter and energy are one, that space and time are one,
and that even the mind of man may be subjected to physical methods and
analysis. In fact, some of the greatest advances made during the past
twenty-five years have been in psychology, and achieved largely by
the use of physical apparatus. Many subjects, formerly included with
alchemy and astrology in the class of occult if not deceitful arts,
are now being developed apparently toward more or less exact sciences;
as alchemy was developed into chemistry, and astrology into astronomy.
Efforts are even being made to communicate with distant planets and
with the spirits of the dead.
That much is being attempted that may not be realized is true. But if
we realize that the universe is now supposed to be many millions of
years old, it seems only yesterday that the phenomena of electrical and
magnetic attraction and repulsion were confusing the minds of even the
wisest: and now electricity and magnetism are harnessed together, and
working together in perfect harmony and marvelous effectiveness, for
the good of man.
That the future of invention is to be as brilliant as its past,
every omen indicates. In what direction will it proceed? Probably in
all directions. But the line of direction that will occur the first
to many, is probably in aerial flight. Doubtless it is in aerial
flight that the greatest advance has been made since flight was first
successfully accomplished in 1903; and doubtless it is in that line
that the greatest progress is being made now. The enormous speeds
already achieved; the growing size of both aeroplanes and dirigibles;
their increasing speed, safety and convenience; the fact that roads
are not needed for aerial transportation as they are for carriages
and railway trains, or deep water channels as for water craft; and
the comparative cheapness with which people and light packages can
be carried swiftly and far, all point to a vast increase in aerial
transportation, and a great modification in all our modes of living in
consequence.
Akin to transportation is communication:--but in communication, one
may reasonably feel that we have arrived almost at the boundary line,
not only of the possible but even the desirable. For we have almost
instantaneous communication all over the surface of the earth and under
almost all the ocean, by the telegraph and telephone, using wires and
cables; and nearly equally good communication by radio telegraph, using
no material connection whatever. The wireless telephone is following
fast on the heels of the wireless telegraph; and by it we can already
telephone hundreds of miles between stations on land and sea, and carry
on conversation for several miles between fast moving aeroplanes.
But progress is going on rapidly also in the older fields of invention.
The ocean steamship, especially the battleship, is growing in size,
speed and safety; so is the locomotive, so is the automobile. Because
of the progress in all the useful arts and sciences, buildings of all
kinds are being constructed higher and larger, and more commodious
and safe; civil engineering works of all description--roads, canals,
bridges and tunnels are setting their durable marks of progress all
over the earth; the uses of electricity are growing, and showing every
indication that they will continue so to do; and so are the uses of
chemistry and light and heat. And through all the industrial world,
in manufactures of every kind, we see the same unmistakable signs of
progress, increasing progress and increasing rate of progress.
In the field of pure science, we note the same signs of progress,
increasing progress, and increasing speed of progress. Naturally,
however, it is far more difficult to predict with confidence the
direction which future progress will take in this field than in the
field of the practical application of pure science, in which invention
usually bestirs itself. The fact, however, that any actual advance has
begun in any new science gives the best possible reason for expecting
that the advance is going to continue. Therefore, we may expect
continuing progress in all branches of pure science: for the near
future, for instance, in biology, psychology and what is loosely called
"psychics," which seems to be a virtual excursion of psychology into
the hazy realms of telepathy, clairvoyance, spiritualism, and so forth.
That invention and research are concerning themselves more and more
with immaterial subjects is a fact that is not only noticeable but of
vital importance to us, for signs are not lacking that man's material
comfort is already sufficiently well-assured; in fact, that perhaps
he is already too comfortable for his physical well-being. Already we
see that labor saving and comfort-producing appliances are impairing
the physical strength of men and women, and to such a degree that
artificial exercises are prescribed by doctors. Inasmuch as "the mind
is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of
heaven," it seems probable that the direction of effort in which the
greatest real benefit can be attained is in research and consequent
invention concerning the mind itself. But, for the reason that this
is probably the most difficult road, it seems probable that success
in it may come the latest. It seems probable also that even in that
road, progress will be achieved by means analogous to those by which it
has been achieved in other roads; that is by the use of physical and
chemical instruments and methods. Much has been done already by their
aid in psychology, and much more is promised in the not distant future.
The idea of influencing the mind directly to states of happiness,
and guarding it from unhappiness, is far from new; for what were
the epicureans, stoics, and others trying to do but that? Such
attempts, many systems of philosophy and many mystic sects distinctly
made. Of these sects, one of the most interesting was that of the
omphalopsychites, who were able to raise themselves to high states of
happiness by the simple and inexpensive process of gazing at their
navels. Some advantages of their system are obvious. Certainly it was
less costly than other means of gaining happiness, such as wearing
narrow-toed shoes, chewing tobacco, smoking cigarettes and drinking
whiskey; and there is no evidence that it ever caused ingrowing
toe-nails, delirium tremens, or Bright's disease.
That invention and progress have produced and may be relied upon to
continue to produce prosperity, may reasonably be predicted. But will
they together produce happiness?
The author respectfully begs to be excused from answering this
question. He requests attention, however, to the manifest facts that
invention is a natural gift, that the impetus to invention has always
been the desire to achieve prosperity of some kind, and that to employ
our natural gifts to satisfy our natural instincts can reasonably be
expected to further our happiness; unless, indeed, we suspect Nature of
playing tricks upon us.
That Nature sometimes seems to do this, and that it is dangerous to
follow our instincts blindly is of course a fact. But it seems to be
a fact also that the danger in following our instincts seems to come
only when we follow them blindly; and that, though there may be danger
sometimes in following them even under the guidance of our reason,
yet the only way in which we have ever progressed at all has been
by following our instincts under reason's guidance, and invention's
inspiration.
And since the civilized world is in virtual agreement that civilization
is a happier state than savagery, and since we have been impelled
toward civilization by invention mainly, there seems no escape from
the conclusion that it is to invention mainly that we must look for
increase of happiness in the future.
It may be, of course, that happiness does not come so much from a
condition or state attained as from the act of striving to attain it.
It may be suggested also by some one that life is merely a game, and
that happiness comes from playing the game and not from winning it,
just as children delight more in constructing a toy building with
their blocks than in the building when completed: for they no sooner
complete the building than they knock it down, and begin to build it up
again. But, even from this point of view, the desirability of fostering
invention would be apparent; because it would continually supply us
with new games to play, and new toys with which to play them.
But that any thoughtful person could really think life a game is an
impossibility. No man with a mind to reason and a soul to feel can
contemplate the awful suffering that has always existed in the world,
and think life a mere game. No man can think life a mere game, who with
an eye to see and an imagination to conceive, gazes upon the infinite
sea of stars visible to his unaided vision, realizes how many thousands
upon thousands of stars there are besides, that the photographic camera
records, and realizes also that, though light travels even through air
at a rate exceeding 186,000 miles per second, yet that some stars are
so distant that the light now reaching us from them started ages before
the dawn of history. And no man who is able to follow the teachings
of science, even superficially, can note the enormous development of
civilization during the last few thousand years, and realize that a
development similar though infinitely grander, must have been going on
in all the universe for countless centuries, without realizing also
that "through the ages an increasing purpose runs." He may even note a
likeness between it and the development on an infinitely smaller scale,
of the conception of a merely human inventor. Possibly, his fancy may
even soar still higher: possibly he may even wonder if all this great
creation may not be in effect a great invention, and God its Great
Creator, because its Great Inventor.
So, whether we fix our thought on what the scientists tell us of the
probable course of development of the universe during the countless
ages of the past, or consider merely the development of man since the
dawn of recorded history, we seem to find as the initiating cause of
both--invention.
Let us therefore utilize all means possible to develop this Godgiven
faculty, the chiefest of the talents committed to our keeping. That way
lie progress, prosperity and happiness. How far and how high it may
lead us, God only knows; for the resources of invention are infinite.
The End.
INDEX
A
Abel, 240
Acetylene gas, 219
Acheson, 312
Ægeans, 55, 56
Aerial Age, 326
Age of Bronze, 15
Age of Copper, 15
Age of Iron, 19
Age of Steam, 179 _et seq_
Air-brake, 278
Air-pump, 142, 143
Airships, 326
Alchemy, 208
Alexander, 69 to 97
Alexandria, 77
Alphabet, 58
Aluminum, 213, 302
Ampère, 198, 199
Analine dyes, 265
Antipyrene, 298
Antiseptic surgery, 274
Antitoxin, 328
Appleby, 292
Application of hot air to furnaces, 213
Arago, 198
Arc-light, 183, 235
Archimedes, 78, 79, 149, 176
Aristotle, 139
Arithmetic, 35
Arkwright, 172
Artificial limbs, 239
Artificial silk, 304
Assur, 38
Assyria, 39, 40
Astrology, 31
Astronomy, 24, 29
Atlantic cable, 266
Atomic Theory, 210
Atwood's machine, 163
Automatic arc-light, 235
Automatic car-coupler, 285
Automatic grain-binder, 273, 292
Automatic piano, 221
Autoplate, 318
B
Babbage, 201
Babbitt metal, 220
Babylonian measures, 32
Babylonian religion, 38
Bacillus of cholera, 298
Bacillus of diphtheria, 298
Bacillus of hydrophobia, 298
Bacillus of infantile paralysis, 329
Bacillus of lockjaw, 298
Bacillus of tuberculosis, 298
Bacillus of typhus fever, 329
Bacon, Francis, 139, 140, 162
Bacon, Roger, 124
Baldwin, 217
Balista, 44
Band wood-saw, 184, 302
Barbed-wire fence, 273
Barometer, 142
Battle of the Nile, 189, 190
Bazaine, 281
Bémont, 314
Becquerel Rays, 313, 314
Behel, 273
Bell, 287, 302
Berliner, 292
Bernoulli, 164
Bessemer's process, 248
Bicycle, 265
Bismarck, 283
Black, 171, 175
Blake telephone-transmitter, 294
Bonaparte, 177, 178
Bourdon, 244
Bow and arrow, 4, 5
Bowers, 302
Boyle, 141
Braithwaite, 214
Branca, 152
Brandenburg, 164
Branly's coherer, 305
Brewster, 186, 244
Britain, 91, 92
Brugnatelli, 182
Buddhism, 39, 263
Bullock, 274
Bunsen, 266
Burden, 218
Burleigh, 275
C
Cable-car, 265
Cæsar, 7, 85 to 95, 279
Calculating machine, 201
Carbide of calcium, 273
Carbolic acid, 218
Carbon telephone-transmitter, 292
Carborundum, 312
Carré, 269
Carthage, 83, 84, 85
Cartwright, 175
Cash-carrier, 286
Cash-register, 286
Catapult, 44
Cathode rays, 292
Caus, 151
Cavallo, 175
Cavendish, 170, 171, 175
Cawley, 153
Celluloid, 284
Cerebro-spinal meningitis antitoxin, 328
Channing, 246
Charlotte Dundas, 180
Chemistry, 208
Chloral hydrate, 217
Chloroform, 215
Christian Science, 277
Christianity, 50, 263
Chrome process of tanning, 302
Cigarette machine, 291
Circulation of blood, 140
Civil War in America, 269 _et seq_
Clay tablets, 24
Clerk Maxwell, 284, 285
Clermont, 180
Clock, 162
Coal-gas, 184
Cocaine, 248
Coins, 48
Color photography, 327
Colt, 219
Columbus, 125 _et seq_
Compressed-air rock drill, 275, 284
Confucianism, 39
Congress of Vienna, 260
Congress, U. S. S., 270, 271, 272
Constant battery, 219
Constantinople, 96, 97, 113
Constitution of the United States, 263
Cooke, 220
Copenhagen, 192
Copernicus, 132, 133, 134
Corliss cut-off, 244
Cornwallis, 174, 175
Cortez, 128, 129
Corvus, 84, 85
Cowles, 302
Craske, 269
Crawford, 220
Cretans, 48
Croesus, 48
Crookes, 292
Cumberland, U. S. S., 270, 271, 272
Cuneiform writing, 28
Curie, 314
Curtiss, Glenn, 327
Curved stereoplates, 269
Customs union, 261
Cyanide process, 303
Cyrus, 39
D
Dædalus, 57
Daguerre, 181, 182
Dalton, 210, 211
Daniell, 219
Daniels, 328, 330
Darius, 59
Davy, 181, 182, 183
Davy, Edmund, 219
De Chardonnet, 304
De Grasse, 174, 175
De Lesseps, 237
Decimal system, 32
Deisel Engine, 291
Della Porta, 151
Dennison, 242
Depth bomb, 339
Dewar, 201
Dias, Bartholomew, 125
Diet at Spires, 131
Diet at Worms, 131
Disc for polishing, 43
Divine Right of kings, 146, 147
Dodge, 274
Domestication of brutes, 13
Drager, 327
Draper, 221
Drebel, 142
Dry-plate photography, 265
Duodecimal system, 31, 32
Duplex telegraph, 285
Dynamics, 159
Dynamite, 277
Dynamo electric machine, 275
E
East India Company, 257
Eastman, 304
Eberth, 295
Eddy, 277
Edison, 123, 292, 310, 328, 285
Egyptian religion, 38
Electric light, 149
Telegraph, 215
Cautery, 239
Locomotive, 245
Candle, 290
Railway, first, 293
Welding, 302
Furnace, 312
Motor, 217, 218
Electrically propelled boat, 221
Electricity, 148 _et seq_
Electromagnetic theory of light, 284
Electron, 293
Electroplating, 182
Electrostatic induction, 247
Elevator, 272
Embalming, 35
Ericsson, 10, 68, 214, 220, 270, 271, 272
Ether as an anæsthetic, 221
F
Fahrenheit, 142
Faraday, 138, 199, 214, 247
Farmer, 246
Faure storage battery, 294
Feudal system, 145, 146
Field, Cyrus, 266
Finlay, 327
Finsen, 313
Fire alarm telegraph, 247
Fire, 5
First American locomotive, 217
First electric telegraph, 232
First successful aeroplane flight, 326
Fiske, 312, 326, 328
Fitch, 180
Flexner, 328, 329
Flute, 49
Flying boat, 327
Foucault, 235
Fox, Talbot, 247
Foy, 294
Franklin, 168, 169, 170, 256
Frederick the Great, 166 _et seq_
Frederick William, 165, 166, 279
French Revolution, 260
Friction matches, 213
Fulton, 180
G
Galileo, 135, 136
Galvani, 138, 200
Galvanization, 220
Galvanometer, 200
Gardner, 265
Gas engine, 291
Gas mantle, 302
Gatling gun, 273
Gaul, 86 to 95
Gaza, 73
Ged, 164
Geometry, 37
German Confederation, 261
Giffard, 265
Gilbert, 137, 138
Gimlet, 57
Goldschmidt, 327
Goodyear, 220, 284
Gorham, 286
Gorrie, 245
Gramme, 283
Graphophone, 302
Gravitation, Law of, 144
Great Eastern, 266
Greece, 45
Greek fire, 96, 97
Green, 269
Greener's hammerless gun, 294
Groves gas battery, 267
Guericke, 142, 143, 148, 149, 216
Gun carriage, 108
Gun-cotton, 240
Gun director system, 312
Gun, 101 to 110
Gunpowder, 39
Guthrie, 215
Guttenberg, 7, 111
Gyroscopic compass, 326
Gyroscopic stabilizer, 327
H
Hadley, 145
Hales, 184
Hall, 308
Hammurabi, 38
Hanaman, 327
Hand photographic camera, 298
Hannibal, 84, 85
Hargreaves, 172
Harvey, 140, 141
Harveyized armor, 304
Heat, a measure of work, 212
Hebrews, 45
Hellenistic civilization, 76, 77
Helmholtz, 246
Henry, 214, 216, 252
Herman, 247
Hero, 149, 150, 151
Hertz, 304, 305
Hewitt, 326
Hibbert, 244
High speed printing press, 327
Hoe, 235, 242
Holy Alliance, 260
Homer, 205
Hooke, 145, 162
Horseshoe machine, 218
Howe, 236
Huygens, 162
Hyatt, 284
Hydraulic dredge, 302
Hydraulic jack, 176
I
Ice machine, 245, 287
Illuminating water-gas, 286
Image making, 117, 118
Incandescent lamp, 292
Induced currents, 214
Induction transmitter, 293
Ingersoll, 284
Internal combustion engine, 291
Interrupted thread screw, 242
Invasion of England, 193, 194
Ironclads, 248
J
Jablochkoff, 290
Jacobi, 218, 221
James, 217
Janney, 285
Jansen, 135
Jewish religion, 45, 46
Joly, 327
Judaism, 263
K
Kaleidoscope, 186, 187
Kepler, 134
Kinetograph and kinetoscope, 310, 328
Kingsland, 265
Kirchoff, 266
Knitting machine, 184
Koch, 295, 298
Kodak camera, 304
König, 186
Königgratz, 280
Krag-Jorgensen rifle, 309
Krupp, 243
Kuno, 298
L
La Gloire, 265
Laennec, 197
Laplace, 209
Laughing gas, 234
Lavoisier, 171, 172, 208, 211
Laws of electrolysis, 247
Laws of electromagnetic induction, 247
Laws of electrostatic induction, 247
League of Armed Neutrality, 192
Lee magazine rifle, 294
Leges Juliæ, 85
Legion, 83
Leibig, 215, 217
Leupold, 153
Leyden jar, 168, 169
Liberal government, 255 _et seq_
Light, 235
Linde, 312
Link motion, 217
Linotype machine, 301
Lippman, 327
Liquefaction of air, 312
Liquefaction of gases, 201
Lister, 274
Lithography, 177
Locomotive, 185
Loeffler, 298
Long, 221
Loom, positive motion weaving, 284
Lowe, 286
Lumière, 327
Lundstrom, 247
Luther, 130 _et seq_
Lyall, 284
M
Machine for making barbed-wire, 286
Mack, 194
Maddox, 284
Magazine gun, 243
Magellan, 128
Magneto electric machine, 216, 217
Malleable iron castings, 184
Marathon, 59, 60
Marble, 302
Marconi, 306, 313
Martel, Charles, 110
Martin's steel process, 274
Match-making machine, 242
Matteson, 302
Maxim, 327
McCormick Reaper, 218
McMahon, 281
Melhuish, 247
Merchant adventurers, 257
Mercury-vapor light, 326
Mergenthaler, 301, 308
Merkle, 177
Merrimac, C. S. S., 68, 270, 271, 272
Metternich, 261, 262
Michoux, 265
Middlings purifier, 287
Militarism, 282
Military machine, 279 _et seq_
Miller, 180
Miltiades, 59, 60
Milton, 205
Miners' safety lamp, 183, 184
Mohammedanism, 263
Moltke, 279
Moncrief's disappearing gun-carriage, 276
Monitor, 68, 270, 271, 272
Monroe Doctrine, 256
Montgolfier, 175
Morse, 215, 232, 233, 234
Morton, 215
Motion, Laws of, 144
Multiphase currents, 303
Mungo Ponton, 221
Murdock, 184
Muschenbroek, 168
Musical telephone, 267
Muybridge, 310
Mythology, 53
N
Napier, 136, 137
Napoleon, 187 _et seq_, 257
Nasmyth, 221
Needle telegraph, 220
Nege, 277
Neilson, 213
Nelson, 190, 192, 194, 197
Newcomer, 153
Newton, Isaac, 143, 144, 145
Nicholson, 186
Nickel steel, 308
Nicolaier, 298
Niepce, 181
Nineveh, 39
Nitroglycerin, 241
Nobel, 277
O
Oersted, 198, 199, 200
Ohm, 213
Oleomargarine, 277
Omphalopsychites, 345
Open-hearth process for steel-making, 274
Ophthalmoscope, 245
Otis, 272
Otto, 291
P
Pacinnotti, 217, 283
Page, 245
Painting, 56
Paper, 101
Papin, 153
Papyrus, 25, 33
Parson's steam turbine, 309
Pasteur, 298
Patent office, 111
Paul, 172
Peloponnesian War, 63, 66
Pericles, 62
Perkins, 265
Perry, 315
Persian Gates, 74
Phalanx, 68, 69
Philip of Macedon, 66, 67
Phoenicians, 45
Phoenix, 181
Phonetic writing, 27
Phonograph, 291
Photographic roll films, 247
Photography, 181, 221
Photometer, 212
Pictet, 287
Picture-writing, 27
Pitt, 261, 262
Pixii, 216
Pizarro, 129
Planté, 266
Platinotype process, 285
Plotz, 329
Pneumatic caissons, 221
Pneumatic tire, 235
Pneumonia bacillus, 295
Poetry, 62
Portable fire engine, 214
Portland cement, 291
Porus, 75
Potassium, 182
Power-loom, 175
Prehistoric inventor, 23
Prescott, 302
Priestley, 171
Primeval weapons, 1 to 20
Princeton, U. S. S., 220
Principia, 143
Printing press, 186
Printing telegraph, 237
Printing, 110 to 115
Pulmotor, 327
Pump, 243
Punic Wars, 84, 85
Pyramids, 35, 36
Q
Quadruplex telegraphy, 285
R
Radio activity, 314
Radio control of moving vessels, 326
Radium, 314
Ramsay, 180
Rear driven chain for bicycles, 302
Reece, 298
Regenerative furnace, 265
Reis, 267
Renaissance, 112
Revolver, 219
Rock drill, 247
Rocket, 185
Röntgen, 293, 312
Rubicon, 94
Ruhmkorff coil, 246, 293
Ruin of the machine of civilization, 226-230
Rumford, 212
Runge, 218
Russian campaign, 196, 197
S
Sadowa, 280
Safety matches, 247
Sailing vessels, 47
Salamis, 61
Santos Dumont, 326
Sargon, 41
Savage, 241
Savannah, first ocean steamship, 202
Savery, 152, 153
Schmid, 298
Schneider, 308
Schonbein, 240
Schultz, 302
Schultze, 273
Schweigg, 200
Scott Archer, 245
Screw propeller, 220
Sculpture, 62
Secondary battery, 266
Seebeck, 200
Self-binding reaper, 286
Self-induction, 215
Selligne, 221
Senefelder, 177
Sennacherib, 41
Sewing-machine, 236
Sextant, 145
Seymour, 245
Seytre, 221
Shakespeare, 205
Shell ejector, 274
Shintoism, 263
Shoemaking machine, 269
Sholes, 276
Siemens, 216, 265, 275, 294
Silencer for fire arms, 327
Sleeping-car, 265
Smeaton, 153
Smith and Wesson revolver, 247
Smokeless gunpowder, 273
Sobrero, 241
Sodium, 182
Soubeiran, 215
Sparta, 62
Spectroscope, 266
Sperry, 326
Spinning machine, 172
Sprague electric railway and motor, 303
St. Vincent, 190
Statuary, 56
Steam engine, 150 _et seq_
Steam hammer, 221
Steam plough, 294
Steam presser gauge, 244
Steam saw-mill, 291
Steam whistle, 218
Steel pen, 184
Stephenson, 185, 218
Stereoscope, 244
Stereotyping, 164
Sternberg, 295
Stethoscope, 197, 246
Stevens, 181
Sturgeon, 217
Suez Canal, 237
Sulphite process, 276
Syphon, 286
Syria, 45
T
Tainter, 302
Talbot, 221
Talleyrand, 261, 262
Taoism, 39, 263
Taupenot, 265
Telephone, 287
Telescope sight for ships' guns, 312
Telescope, 135, 136
Tesla, 303
Themistocles, 61
Thermit welding, 327
Thermometer, 142
Thermopile, 200, 201
Thermos bottle, 201
Thompson, Elihu, 302
Thomson, Benjamin, 212
Thomson, Sir William, 286
Thorium, 314
Threshing-machine, 177
Thurber, 231
Tilghman, 276
Time-lock, 241
Torpedoplane, 328
Torricelli, 142
Toulon, 177
Trafalgar, 195
Triger, 221
Tubular boiler, 214
Tungsten electric light, 327
Turtle for printing presses, 245
Twine-binder, 286
Typewriter, 231, 276
Typhoid bacillus, 295
Tyre, 72, 73
Tyrian Dyes, 48
U
Ulm, 194
Uranium, 314
Use of collodion in photography, 245
Uxian pass, 74
V
Van Depoele, 302
Vasco da Gama, 128
Veneti, 90
Vercingetorix, 93, 94
Vieille, 273
Villeneuve, 193, 194
Visibility of objects, 116, 117
Volta, 138, 170, 171
Voltaic arc, 182, 183
Vulcanizing rubber, 220
W
Walker, 213
Walkers, 304
War-chariot, 42
Washington, 173 _et seq_
Watch, 162
Watch-making machine, 245
Water-gas, 221
Watt, 154 _et seq_
Webb-feeding printing press, 274
Wedgwood, 181
Wegmann, 286
Wells, 234
Welsbach, 302
Westinghouse, 278, 285
Wheatstone bridge, 285
Wheatstone, 220
Wheel, 42, 43
Whitehead torpedo, 275
Whitney, 177
Wilde, 275
Willis, 285
Wireless telegraph, 305, 306
Wöhler, 213
Wood pulp, 247
Wood, Henry A. Wise, 318, 327
Woodruff, 265
Worm, 245
Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 326
X
X-Rays, 293, 312, 313
Xerxes, 60
Z
Zankerode, 293
Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
quotation marks retained.
Inconsistent hyphenation, e.g., "co-operation" and "cooperation", has
been retained unless one form predominated.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
Page 174: "and sheet force of will" is misprint for "sheer".
Page 249: Several colons would be semi-colons in modern practice.
Index was not well-alphabetized; corrected here. Diacriticals and
ligatures have been alphabetized as plain letters.