Note

	PAGE
Alchemists, The Last of the	110
Alpine Perils—Professor Forbes on	30
Amber an Article of International Trade	66
Amsterdam Pile, The	150
Antiquity of Lightning Conductors	67
Antiquity of Refined Sugar	87
Arkwright’s Spinning Frame	128
Art of Stereotype, The	105
Artesian Well of Grenelle, The	132
Ascent of the Jungfrau Alp, by Forbes, &c.	44
Astronomical Shoemaker, An	51
Babbage’s Calculating Machine	59
Balloon Travelling, Rate of	103
Balloon Voyage from London to Nassau	86
Banks’, Sir Joseph, Balance	37
Benefit of a Wife to an Author	40
Black, Dr., The Death of	133
Brindley the Engineer	43
Brongniart’s Early Life	33
Brougham’s, Lord, Scientific Blunders	90
Buckingham Palace Gates	37
Burning Mirrors of Archimedes, The	140
Carnot when a Child	23
Catching Electric Eels	74
Character of Engineers in their Works	43
Clearness of the Sky at the Cape of Good Hope	88
Coal Gas in Balloons, Use of	21
Cocoa-Nut Crab, The	50
Coffee-Tree, Transportation of the	127
Columbus’ own Ship-Journal	70
Crawshays of Merthyr Tydvil, The	15
Cuvier and Napoleon	21
Cuvier, Childhood of	25
Cuvier, Homage to	14
Cuvier in London	39
Davy, Sir Humphry, Death of	13
Davy, Sir Humphry, as an Angler	93
Deaf, The, How they may Hear	68
Decline of Science, The	52
Dee, Dr., The Necromancer	117
Descartes’ “Wooden Daughter”	51
Descent in a Diving-Bell, A	92
Diamonds, Celebrated	114
Discoveries Anticipated	54
Diving-Bell, First Use of the	103
Drummond Light, The	62
Drying Wood for Violins	69
Drymaking in Holland, A	137
Early Incitements (Humboldt’s) to Study of Nature	72
Earthquakes, in Chile	38
Earthquakes, How to Measure	62
Electricity, The Velocity of	155
Electrifying Machine in Persia, An	60
El Dorado of Sir Walter Raleigh	65
Elgin Marbles, The	58
Experiments with an Electric Eel	79
False Anticipations of Railway Speed	14
Faraday as a Lecturer	88
Female Mathematician, A French	56
Ferguson, The Wife of James	92
Fire-proof House on Putney Heath	109
“Fossil Rain”	104
Fourdrinier’s Paper-making Machinery	48
Fourier’s Independence	56
Franklin’s Discoveries	22
Gold in Siberia	83
Gutta-percha, Discovery of	20
Herschel’s Love of Music	59
Herschel, his First Telescope	75
Herschel, his Sister	94
Holding a “Craw’s Court”	30
Hyena, A Tame	107
India Rubber 150 Years Since	85
Indian Jugglers’ Secret, The	105
Invention of Gun Cotton	35
Invention of the Diving-Bell	78
Invention of the Hand Gear	130
Invisible Despatch, The	107
Jesuit’s Bark, The First Use of	51
Kaleidoscope, Combinations of the	84
Kaleidoscope, Sir D. Brewster’s	120
Kaleidoscope, The First	91
Leaning Tower of Pisa, The	29
Leibnitz’s Last Moments	21
Lifting Heavy Persons	124
Lighthouses, Reflecting, The Origin of	123
Lion Eaten as Food, The	101
Lithography, The Discovery of	159
London as a Port	48
Longevity of the Beetle	102
Magnetic Correspondence in the 17th Century	142
Mariner’s Compass, The	156
Marvels of the Alchemists	129
“Means to the End,” The	84
Mechanical Triumphs	57
Monochromatic Painting	156
Moon Seen through Lord Rosse’s Telescope, The	101
Mythology of Science, The	64
Navigation before the Compass	144
Necessity the Mother of Invention	136
Newton’s Finger-Magnet	20
Nice Robbery, A	55
Observatory, Ancient, in Persia	47
Old St. Paul’s, A Wrench to	146
Origin of Post Paid Envelopes	42
Ostrich, Enemies of the	108
Parachute Descent, A Safe	104
Pascal’s Childhood	18
Pascal, How He Weighed the Atmosphere	28
Perils of Chemical Experiment	151
Philosophical Enthusiasm	31
Poetic Prophecies of Darwin and Milton	⁹
Poker across the Fire, The	130
Potato, Introduction of the, into France	88
Power of the Lever	59
Railway System Suggested, The	89
“Raining Trees” at the Cape	106
Raleigh, Sir Walter, a Chemist	58
Rapid Manufacture of a Coat	54
Reason for Silence, Fontaine’s	44
Rosse’s, Lord, Telescope	121
Rust, Protection by	100
St. Pierre’s “Paul and Virginia”	62
Scientific Pilgrim, A	139
Self-taught Mechanist, A	149
Semaphore v. Electric Telegraph	146
“Shepherd to the King of England for Scotland”	32
Siberian Mammoth Remains, The	152
Smeaton’s Independence,	23
Smeaton, his Reproof of Gaming	34
Snow Spectacles of the Esquimaux	148
Society of Arts, Origin of the	125
Spinning Feats	128
Steam-Gun in the 15th Century	46
Strychnine a Remedy for Paralysis	54
Sun, Total Eclipse of the, at Cuba,	102
Sun, Vast Spot on the	12
Talent and Opportunity	80
Tea, Identity of Black and Green,	99
Tea, The First Cup of, Drunk in England	40
Tebreez, Variable Climate of	52
Telegraph, Origin of the Electric	134
Telescope, Invention of the	97
Thames Tunnel, Construction of the	10
Travelling Carriage, A Novel	108
Travelling in the Himalaya Mountains	82
Travels of Volcanic Dust	33
Tropical Delights, Sydney Smith’s	79
Tycho Brahe, Credulity of	97
Vast Mirrors Made in Russia	127
Vicissitudes of Mining in Mexico	79
Voyages of Manufactures	119
Waste of Human Life	123
Watch Melted by Lightning, A	105
Watt’s Discovery of the Composition of Water	26
Weighing-Machine at the Bank of England	17
“Wet the Ropes!”	131
Whitebait, The Rights of	73
Who First Doubled the Cape?	91
Wonders of Australia, Sydney Smith on the	76
World in a Drop of Water, The	42

In the annals of Invention and Discovery, it may be said without undue boasting, no nation of modern times can lay claim to such an eminent position as Great Britain; and her many ingenious and intrepid adventurers into what they found unknown regions of the arts, the sciences, and the earth’s surface, have so largely contributed to raise her to her great place and power, that it is mere justice and self-interest to bestow on them grateful rewards in life, and renown after death. In this little volume are brought together a number of sketches and memoranda, illustrating the history of discovery, and the lives and labours of inventors and explorers, not of our own country alone, but of others—for knowledge is of no country, but of all. The object of the collector has been rather to present the popular than the strictly scientific side of his subject—to furnish materials of interest and amusement, as well as instruction; and if now and then he has been tempted to stray into bye-paths of anecdote and gossip, excuse may readily be found in the fact that the private life of our men of science, often singularly noble and full of character, is apt to be altogether obscured by the brilliancy of the results of their secret and silent toil. This volume will have served its purpose, if it excites an appetite for fuller and deeper inquisition into the sources of British greatness and of modern civilisation.

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