HENRY DEACON 173 



ments of other men's designs they are 

 profoundly original in conception and in execu- 

 tion. They are the outcome of philosophical 

 reasoning and of scientific hypotheses, as 

 well as of patient and masterly investiga- 

 tion and experiment. The subjects which he 

 treated are not exhausted ; a minute and 

 careful examination of some of Deacon's 

 inventions will show that he only broke 

 ground for a future generation, and has left 

 the promise of a rich reward to the men who 

 are capable of following in his footsteps. 



It is as no mere useless inventory of in- 

 vention that we give the following record of 

 his discoveries as they were patented : 



No. 1,504. 12 December, 1854. This is 

 Deacon's patent, although taken out in the 

 name of his patent agent, John Henry 

 Johnson, London. This invention relates to 

 the application of the gases arising from the 

 combustion of fuel or fuel gases in the manu- 

 facture of carbonated compounds of soda, by 

 double decomposition with corresponding 

 compounds of ammonia, as is well under- 

 stood by practical men. The fuel gases and 

 ammonia in any convenient form are intro- 

 duced into suitable vessels containing the salt 



