Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1837-04-14
From the Gcnesse Farmer.
stNothing is beneath the attention of n Great
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once the workshop of Peter the Great; and
furnishes more than volumes of common de-
scription and history could do, an insight into
the character of the man who raised the Mus
coyites from the deepest barbarism to the rank
of civilization, and laid the foundation ofan ex-
tent of which the world seems as yet little able
to comprehend.
One of the most fatal errors to which men are
subject is the disposition TO treat small things
with contemptuous Indifference; forgetting that
great things are but an aggregate ofsma ones,
and that discoveries and events of the greatest
importance to the world can be traced to things
most insignificant in themselves. Nothing
more truly marks an original mind, and stamps
its possessor as truly great man, than the sez-
ure of circumstances which would pass unno-
ticed by the great multitude, and by snbectiug
them to the powerful analysis of his reasoning
powers, deducing differences of the greatest
practical results.
The power of the loadstone TO attract iron,
has been known from time immemoria; acci-
dent discovered the fact that a magnetized
needle would indicate the north; but for a long
time this truth was productive Of no results
In the hands of Flavia Giola of Amalh it pro-
duced the mariners compass, an instrument
which has changed the whole course OF com
merce, and opened America and Australia to the
rest of the world. To mention only one ofthe
things that the use of the compass in maratime
discovery has led tot has given the potatoe
to Europe, and thus trebled the means Of sub
sstence as well as doubled the population.
We owe the Gavanic or Voltac battery,
one of the most powerful instruments in advan-
cling science the world has yet seen, to Madame
Galvanis noticing the contraction ofthe muscles
ola skinned frog accidentally touched by per-
son on whom her husband was at the moment
making Some experiments in electricity. The
experiments of Galvani and Volta were follow
ed up by Davy, Hare, and Silliman, and effects
which have astonished and instructed the world,
have been the result The dry galvanic pile
in the hands of the discoverer, De Luc, was
nothing more than a scientific plaything. Sim
ger of London, mechanic of genius, saw the
pile, and applied the power thus generated to
move the machinery of a watch; and one con-
structcd by him has now run more than sixteen
years without winding or loss of motion.
A chemist was at works, in his laboratory
preparing powder for certain purpose. A
spark fell into this composition and it exploded;
and from that day gunpowder was discovered.
Some may question the utility Of this dscov
ery, but we do not. Gunpowder has materially
aided the miner, the founder, and the chemist;
but more than all, it has given internal order
and tranquility to the kingdoms of Europe by
knocking down those strong holds offeudal bar
barism and cruelty, the castles OF naughty
and domineerng nobility and placing the weak,
SO far as regards protection by law, and securi-
~ to person and property, on level with the
highest.
A German peasant carved letters on the back
Of the beech tree, and with them stamped char
acters on paper for the amusement OF his chill
dren. Nothing more was thought of them
but from them Faust conceived and executed
movable type and printing, an art that per-
haps has exercised greater influence on the
stiny of mankind than ony other, thus had
beginning.
Calico was in church at Florence where
drowsy Dominican was holding forth on the
merits of the Virgin, and the miracles of the
Holy Church; things about which the philoso-
pher cared very little. The principle lamp Of
The church had been left suspended in such a
manner that it swung to and fro in the slight
est breath and caught the eye of the philoso-
pher. The regularity of its oscillations struck
him, and the idea of employing such vibrations
to measure time occurred Calico left the
church and returned to his study, aud in a
short time the first pendulum ever made was
swinging.
Some children playing with glasses of a
Dutch spectacle maker, accidentally placed two
So that the steeple of church appeared much
nearer and turned bottom upwards. From
this small beginning was produced the tele-
scope; an instrument which more than any 9TH
er has enlarged the boundaries of the universe,
and given TO man more exalted ideas of that
Being who spake all these worlds into exis-
tence.
About one hundred and fifty years ago, an old
man might have been seen in his study, appar-
emily amusing himself by witnessing the escape
of steam from an old wine bottle and, then
checking it by instantaneously plunging il into
the cold water. There are multitudes who
would sneer at an observer of nature who
could stoop to notice such trhe; vet this ex-
pansion and condensation of steam in the wine
bottle. and the train of thoughts which it sug-
gested, in the hands of the Marquis divorces
ter, gave birth to the Steam engine, the most
valuable present Science has ever made to the
Arts. These very men who are now filled
with delight and establishment when they be-
hold the beautiful steamboat maiestcally
ploughng the waves, or the steam ear whill-
ing its train of carriages over the railroad with
almost the rapidity of thought, would be the
first to look and speak with contempt of the
train OF small causes that led to such impor-
tant results.
But perhaps the example of Newton, more
than any other conclusvely proves that there
Is IN the whole circle of nature, nothing trifing
to a truly great mind. Thousands had seen
apples fall from the trees to the earth; yet no
one had ever asked the question whether the
cause that caused the apple to fall to the earth
extended to the mooni-yet this question and
its solution was the key that has unlocked the
mechanism of the universe, and given to man
powers and ideas, which could otherwise never
have existed.
The great truth these examples inculcate is
this-that there is nothing triiing in nature,
nothing that is not worthy of attention and re-