250 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



apparatus and materials, more than sixty thousand 

 dollars. This does not relate, of course, to the 

 large working apparatus in our manufacturing 

 establishment, but solely to that needed in experi- 

 mental labor. Most of this is now thrown aside as 

 worthless, or retained only as interesting relics of 

 the past. 



The experimenter in some departments, as in 

 that of chemical manipulation, is constantly liable to 

 accidents which endanger life and limb. We can 

 look back upon a score of explosions and narrow 

 escapes from vapors and poisonous gases, and the 

 indelible scars remaining show how painful have 

 been some of these casualties. But, upon the 

 whole, the retrospective glances of an experimenter 

 are of the most interesting and pleasant character ; 

 and no youth who has the necessary qualifications, 

 the intelligence, the ingenuity, the perseverance, 

 the enthusiasm, should be deterred from entering 

 this field because of the exhausting, exacting, or 

 expensive nature of the labors. 



When we review in this way the experiments of 

 bygone years, several inventions and art processes, 

 regarded as very new and wonderful by the multi- 

 tude, seem quite old to us. We have watched the 

 progress and adventures of these art processes and 

 devices for many years with the same interest that 

 parents watch the career of their children, for the 



