2 1 o HEROES OF INVENTION AND DISCO VERY. 



did not catch his enthusiasm so readily; and it was not till 

 after many experiments and many delays, that must have been 

 very irksome to the active Ericsson, that they finally adopted it 



Ericsson completely revolutionised naval warfare ; and, as in 

 all revolutions of a like kind, many prejudices had to be over- 

 come, in this case matters were hastened by the practical issue 

 of a fight between Ericsson's boat the Monitor and the 

 Merrimack in Hampton Roads, 9th March, 1862, resulting in 

 the defeat of the latter. After this time the Monitors were 

 adopted by Sweden, Norway, and Russia. luigland was the 

 last to be convinced of their superiority. The introduction of 

 vessels for conducting submarine warfare is now engaging the 

 attention of the great engineer, and he has completed, at his 

 own expense, the Destroyer^ a vessel for discharging torpedoes. 

 Ericsson deserved much at the hands of his adopted country ; 

 he himself asked little, and, we regret to say, got what he asked. 



Honour has, however, been done to him by many distinguished 

 scientific societies, both in Europe and America. In addition 

 to the monument at his birthplace in Sweden, already men- 

 tioned, another was erected on the roadside near the ironworks 

 of Langbanshyttan bearing his own and his brother's name and 

 the words : " ]5oth of whom have served and honoured their 

 native land. Their way through work to knowledge and 

 lasting fame is open to every Swedish youth." On the reverse 

 side is the suggestive inscription : "The way to the schoolhouse 

 of Langbanshyttan." 



Although absent from his native hind, it has not been 

 forgotten by him. lie I)uilt at his own cost, and presented to 

 the Swedish Government, the machinery of a gun-boat as a 

 model for a fleet of gun-boats, to be manoeuvred by hand 

 independently of steam. Of his personal history there is little 



