SCIENCE, INVENTION, DISCOVERY. 



353 



sold at wholesale -were sold for ($36, in 1820, at 

 Birmingham. In 1830 the price was $2 ; in 

 1832, $1.50; in 1860, 12 cents; while an ar- 

 ticle as good as those manufactured in 1820 

 was sold at 4 cents. The annual production 

 of steel pens in Birmingham alone ranges from 

 8,000,000 to 15,000,000 gross. 



Stenography. The art of writing in 

 shorthand is said to have been practiced by the 

 ancients. It is said to have followed from the 

 hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. It is also at- 

 tributed to the poet Ennius, to Tyro, and still 

 more to Seneca. The Ars Scribendi Charac- 

 teris, written about 1412, is the oldest system 

 extant. Dr. Timothy Bright's " Characterie, 

 or the art of short, swift, and secret writing," 

 published in 158 S, is the first English work on 

 shorthand. Peter Bales, the famous penman, 

 wrote on stenography in 1590. There are 

 now numerous systems of it, many of them of 

 easy acquirement and great simplicity. By- 

 rom's system was invented, 1767 ; Guerney's, 

 1710; Mason's, 1750; Taylor's, 1786; Ma- 

 vor's, 1789; Pitman's (phonographic), 1837. 



Stereotyping'. The papier-mache process, 

 which is the most general, was first used in 

 France in 1848. It is extremely simple. The 

 types being set, corrected, made into pages, 

 and fixed in a frame, are laid upon the stone 

 or table used, face upward, and a little fine oil 

 is brushed over them to prevent the papier- 

 mache' from adhering to the face of the types. 

 This papier-mache', which is used for making 

 the matrix or mold, is formed by pasting upon 

 a sheet of tough brown paper, several sheets 

 of tissue paper, and a sheet of soft, absorbent 

 white paper. It is made in sheets, and usu- 

 ally, to make a matrix of the desired thick- 

 ness, several sheets are used. It is kept moist 

 for use, and is lightly covered with pulverized 

 French chalk when laid upon the face of the 

 types. Then it is beaten with a stiff brush to 

 force the soft paper into all the interstices of 

 the types. Other sheets of prepared paper are 

 added to secure the desired thickness, and the 

 whole is then covered with a woolen blanket 

 and put into a press, the bed of which is mod- 

 erately heated, and the press is screwed down. 

 The heat soon dries the matrix, which, when 

 taken out of the press, is a stiff card, showing 

 a perfect reversed impression of the types. A 

 mold of metal is then taken from the matrix, 

 in which the exact face of the types are repro- 

 duced for printing. When the plate is to be 

 run on a rotary press, it is cast in a box which 

 is curved inside, so that the form of the plate 

 will fit the cylinder of the press. By this 

 method an entire large plate can be made in a 

 quarter of an hour, or even less time. For 

 fine book work the matrices are made of plaster 



of paris, which is a much slower and more 

 costly way, but produces a finer and cleaner 

 plate when finished. This process was in- 

 vented about 1731. 



Suez Canal, The, is the most important 

 shipping enterprise known to history. It en- 

 ables two ships to do the work of three in 

 trading between Europe and the East. From 

 London to Bombay, by way of the Cape, is 

 10,595 miles; by the canal, 6,330. It cost 

 17,000,000, was begun in 1856, and finished 

 in 1869. Its length is ninety-two miles, 

 depth, twenty-six feet ; the tolls average 800 

 per vessel, or eight shillings per ton of net 

 tonnage. The estimated saving to commerce 

 is 5,000,000 a year. In 1889, 3,425 vessels 

 went through, the mean time of passing being 

 twenty-seven hours. Electric lights are now 

 used to enable ships to pass at night as readily 

 as in the daytime. 



Sugar is supposed to have been known to 

 the ancient Jews. Found in the East Indies 

 by Nearchus, admiral of Alexander the Great, 

 325 B. C. An oriental nation in alliance 

 with Pompey used the juice of the cane as a 

 common beverage. It was prescribed as a 

 medicine by Galen, second century. Brought 

 into Europe from Asia, A. D. 625 ; in large 

 quantities, 1150. Its cultivation was attempted 

 in Italy, but not succeeding the Portuguese 

 and Spaniards carried it to America about 

 1510. Sugar cane first grown in the territory 

 now constituting the United States, 1751. 

 First American sugar mill built near New 

 Orleans, 1758. Sugar refining was made 

 known to Europeans by a Venetian, 1503 ; and 

 was first practiced in England in 1659. The 

 invaluable vacuum pan was invented by How- 

 ard, 1812, and Dr. Scoffern's processes were 

 patented in 1848-50. 



Technical Terms in Printing. Al- 

 ley. The space between two stands. 



Ascending letters. Letters that ascend into 

 the upper shoulder; as,, b, d, 1, etc., and all 

 the capitals. 



Author's proof. The clean proof sent to an 

 author after the compositors' errors have been 

 corrected. 



Bank. A table about four feet high, to lay 

 sheets on at press. 



Bastard title. A short title preceding the 

 general title of a work. 



Bastard type. Type with a face larger or 

 smaller than its regular body : as Nonpareil on 

 Minion body, or Minion on Nonpareil body. 



Batter. Types accidentally injured in a form. 



Beard of a letter. The outer angles support- 

 ing the face of a type and extending to the 

 shoulder. 



Bearer. A strip of reglet to bear off the im- 



