INVENTIO7S AM) DISCOVERIES. 



Society mentioned to the -writer, i afterwards translated the process; 



that, amongst scientific men, it is a 

 question whether the weighing- 

 machine of Mr. Cotton is not the 

 finest thing in mechanics ; and that 

 there is only one other invention 

 the envelope-machine of De la Rue 

 to be named with it. (Francis's 

 History of the Bank of England.) 



POETICAL PREDICTION OF RAILWAYS 

 AND STEAMBOATS. 



In Dr. Darwin's Botanic Garden, 

 first published in 1789, but written, 

 it is well-known, at least twenty 

 years before the date of its publi- 

 cation, occurs the following predic- 

 tion respecting steam : 



" Soon shall thy arm, unconquerM 



steam, afar 

 Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid 



car; 

 Or, on wide -waving wings expanded 



bear 

 The flying chariot through the fields of 



air, 

 Fair crews triumphant leaning from 



above, 

 Shall wave their fluttering 'kerchiefs as 



they move ; 

 Or warrior bands alarm the gaping 



crowd, 

 And armies shrink beneath the shadowy 



cloud : 



So mighty Hercules o'er many a clime 

 Waved his huge mace in virtue's cause 



sublime ; 

 Unmeasured strength with early art 



combined, 

 Awed, served, protected, and amazed 



mankind." 



FRANKLIN'S DISCOVERIES. 



Of all this great man's scientific 

 excellencies, the most remarkable 

 is the smallness, the simplicity, the 

 apparent inadequacy of the means 

 which he employed in his experi- 

 mental researches. His discoveries 

 were all made with hardly any 

 apparatus at all; and if, at any 

 time, he had been led to employ 

 instruments of a somewhat less or- 

 dinary description, he never rested 

 satisfied until he had, as it were, 



by resolving the problem with such 

 simple machinery, that you might 

 say he had done it wholly unaided 

 by apparatus. The experiments 

 by which the identity of lightning 

 and electricity was demonstrated, 

 were made with a sheet of brown 

 paper, a bit of twine or silk 

 thread, and an iron key! (Lord 

 Brougham.) 



SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S MAGNET. 

 The smallest natural magnets 

 generally possess the greatest pro- 

 portion of attractive power. Sir 

 Isaac Newton wore in his ring a 

 magnet which weighed only three 

 grains ; yet it was able to take up 

 746 grains, or nearly 250 times its 

 own weight whereas magnets 

 weighing above two pounds seldom 

 lift more than five or six times 

 their own weight. 



GUN-COTTON ANI> COLLODION. 



Cotton, after contributing to the 

 manufacturing prosperity of the 

 nation, promised a few years ago 

 to form a very important part of 

 its munitions of war. Professor 

 Schonbein, of Basle, discovered that 

 by combining cotton with nitric 

 acid, an explosive compound was 

 formed, capable of being substituted 

 for gunpowder. Its power in blast- 

 ing and mining, and its projectile 

 force in fire-arms, were satisfactorily 

 tested ; but gunpowder still main- 

 tains its supremacy. Gun-cotton 

 is remarkable for the low tempera- 

 ture at which it explodes. Hence, 

 when pure, it may be burnt on the 

 palm of the hand, without incon- 

 venience, on the application of a 

 moderately-heated wire. Professor 

 Schonbein attended the meeting 

 of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, held at 

 Southampton, in 1846, when the- 

 operation of this new power was 

 explained and .experimented with. 

 Subsequently,the professor attended 



