1^ 
SCIENCE 
IS 
KNOWLEDGE. 
KNOWLEDGE 
IS 
POWER. 
A PRACTICAL JOURNAL OF 
HOME ARTS 
Vol. V. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST, 1882. 
No. 8. 
Scientific Drama. 
NE of the latest at- 
tempts to popular- 
ize science consists 
in the presentation 
of a drama which 
embodies the his- 
tory and illustrates 
the principles of 
some great scientific 
discovery. Figuier, 
so well known as a 
popular scientific writer, has written a 
historical play, in which is set forth the 
discovery of the steam engine, and the 
history of one of the early inventors, 
Denis Papin. From the Industrial Neios 
we quote the following account of this 
play: 
" It is illustrated in eight tableaux, and 
the author, while adhering to correct his- 
torical data for the principal events, has 
interwoven such details of romance as to 
satisfy the supposed requirements of a 
drama in the matter of a plot. Papin, the 
learned hero, being a Protestant, is by 
the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by 
Louis XIV. compelled to leave Paris. 
He goes to London and marries the 
daughter of a rich brewer, by whom he 
has two children. Pursued by a never 
ceasing desire for scientific discovery he 
forsakes his wife, and taking his daughter 
and an old servant with him, repairs to 
Germany to consult with the learned men 
of Marburg University. In the third 
scene we are introduced into Papin 's la- 
boratory, where he has already spent 
some years endeavoring to discover a 
'universal motor.' He has just tried 
gunpowder with only partial success, 
when the boiling of an iron pot full of 
soup suddenly turns his attention to 
steam. Assembling his colleagues Papin 
introduces a jet of steam into a long iron 
cylinder, and forthwith succeeds in rais- 
ing a heavy weight with a man hanging 
on to it. He next applies his invention to 
a boat, and intends sailing it down the 
Weser and over the ocean to England. 
And the historical fact is here introduced 
that the boatmen of the Weser, fearing 
that their business will be interfered with 
by that which they call an invention of 
