386 MEMOIR OF DANIEL TKEADWELL. 



than one quarter of the places of figures that he intended it to do, that is, it has but one 

 quarter of its work in, and instead of counting, say 1,000, it counts but 250, but it works 

 right as far as it goes. Nothing, or almost nothing, has yet been done to the part that is to 

 stamp the figures on the copper. Drawings of it have been made, and a few of the pieces 

 cast, and that is all. The stamping of the figures will require, as Babbage represents it, an 

 apparatus as complicated as that for making the calculations, and what is more, an apparatus 

 that must do actual labor, and, moreover, be actuated through the intei'vention of the delicate 

 calculating apparatus. These difficulties are not, in my opinion, likely to be overcome, and 

 would not be, even if Babbage were fresh in the harness, and the money were at his disposal ; 

 but this is not the case. Babbage indeed does not tire, (for he has lately commenced the 

 drawings of a machine of greater powers than that partly made,) but the government have 

 stopped the supplies, and the men on whose opinions the money was before given " begin to 

 doubt," so that there is no chance of the work being taken up at present ; in a word, the 

 wonder of the machine has passed, and it is considered as laid upon the shelf. Mr. Peter 

 Barlow, the Woolwich Professor, with whom 1 dined the other day, spoke of the whole quite 

 slightingly. " Its powers," said he, " if it were done, would be very confined as a calcu- 

 lator ; money enough lias been spent upon it, and it is time that it was given up as an im- 

 practicable scheme." Jly own opinion coincides with Barlow's, but I honor Babbage for his 

 ingenuity, as I consider tlie machine one of the greatest pieces of intricate conception ever 

 put into form. . . . 



In my letter to Adeline, I have said something of the lectures of Drs. Lardner and Richie and 

 of Mr. Brande, and of the rci)utation of Faraday. Is it not a little strange that men so clear and 

 excellent as writers and lecturers should be so unsound in practical things ? I am led to this 

 observation from learning their opinions on several practical subjects, one of which, a plan for 

 a railway, which is as absurd as can well be imagined, (and you would see it is so at once, if I 

 had room to describe it to you,) lias obtained opinions from Faraday and Lardner recommend- 

 ing it in the highest terms compatible with any semblance of discretion. It would seem that 

 there is a gulf between men of practice and men of books, or that books and household experi- 

 ments do not teach or lead to practical wisdom. My hundred times told opinion you know, 

 but here given with new instances. I ought, perhaps, to except two persons (you and I) from 

 the common lot of other men, for we contrive to straddle the gulf. 



Truly yours. 



Daniel Treadwell. 



Extracts from Mr. Treadwell's Journal. 



London, May 15, 1835. 



"Went to the Royal Institution to hear a lecture on gunpowder, but the gentleman who had 

 engaged to give the lecture having been taken ill, Mr. Faraday undertook to supply his jilace, 

 taking, however, another subject for his lecture. Mr. Faraday had notice of this at two o'clock. 

 He commenced by stating the circumstance as above, and said he had chosen the late discover- 

 ies of Savart in sound and on the ear for his evening's observations ; that he had been led to 

 this by a law of the mind, that was perhaps peculiar to him, that of feeling most confidence in 

 his powers in subjects with which he was least acquainted. 



Great approbation was shown of the lecture. It seemed impossible to me that it should 

 have been prepared after two o'clock, the time when he said he received the note communicat- 

 ing the indisposition of the person who was to have lectured. . . . Mr. Faraday speaks in a 



