ill THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



with, regret of his not having been graduated from some tech- 

 nological institute, he answered that the fact, on the other hand, 

 was very fortunate. If he had taken a course at such an institu- 

 tion, he would have acquired such a belief in authorities that he 

 would never have been able to develop originality and make his 

 own way in physics and mechanics. 



When John was eleven years old he and his brother became 

 pupils in engineering of Captain Edstrom, who had been sent to 

 England to study the most approved methods in canal construc- 

 tion. He was so pleased with their work that he recommended 

 them to Count Platen, President of the Gotha Ship Canal. This 

 officer had been shown specimens of what John had done, and, 

 receiving him, predicted that if he continued as he had begun, he 

 would some day produce something extraordinary. When twelve 

 years old John was employed, under the direction of his chief, in 

 drawing profile maps and plans for use on the canal, and to be 

 filed in the archives of the company ; in the next year he was 

 assistant to the niveleur (or leveler) in charge of the station of 

 Biddarhagen ; and in another year, when only fourteen years old, 

 and obliged to stand on a stool to reach the eyepiece of his sur- 

 veyor's level, he was put in charge of the Rottkilms station, 

 where he had to give directions daily to six hundred men. About 

 this time he became assistant to the chief of the work. While 

 engaged as leveler he made drawings of the Sunderland iron 

 bridge, which Count Platen admired very much. He drew for 

 his private use maps and sketches of important parts of the canal 

 and of the machinery used in its construction, which he began to 

 publish several years afterward, inventing an engraving machine 

 to enable the work to be more speedily done. He found, however, 

 that the machinery illustrated by his drawings was being super- 

 seded in the rapid progress of improvement in mechanical con- 

 struction, and discontinued this enterprise. 



In 1820, when Ericsson was seventeen years old, after his 

 father had died, he entered the military service of Sweden, and 

 was appointed an ensign in the Royal Field Chasseurs of Jamt- 

 land, and stationed at Froson, near Ostersund. The step was 

 taken against the protest of Count Platen, and was the occasion 

 of a breach between them. Soon after joining his regiment he 

 was recommended for promotion, but his colonel was out of favor 

 at court, and the recommendation would not have been heeded, 

 had not the Duke of Upland, son of King Bernadotte, pleaded for 

 him. The duke showed his Majesty one of Ericsson's military 

 maps, whereby the promotion was secured, and the king's atten- 

 tion was directed to Ericsson's skill as an engineer. Ericsson 

 was subsequently commissioned to draw maps to illustrate the 

 campaigns of Bernadotte as marshal of Napoleon. He passed the 



