The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-10-23

lshed, as early as the year 1915, a work emit
tied " Les RdiS0nS DIES Forces Mourdntes d. drer
direrses machines tout UtiieS que pldiSaRtS -
leaving his provincial home for the great city
of Paris, filed with the enthusiasm that had
sustained him
Through long days Of labor.
And nights devoid of ease"
while he had pursued those researches and ex-
periments which finally produced the most sue
ccssful result that ever crowned the efforts of
student What disappointment he must have
endured when the naughty Cardinal refused
him access to the King and laughed ut that
treatise in which were embodied the imperish-
able ideas that had been carefully sifted from
the harvest of thought in which he had spent
the strength and yig0r of his entire manhood :
How different from the bright promise of his
dreams was the realization Instead of OPEN
handed cooperation he found repulse and dis
respect. In place of chamber with his sover-
eign, and interview with the congregated sa-
vans of the realm, he received cell in the
Bicetre, and the conn anon-hip of madmen !
And this too in Paris-Paris that capital of a
country which could at that time already boast
OF such names as Calvin, Seryetus Ramus Des-
cartes, Montaigne, Pascal, and BosSuet
We need not look to France alone for in
stances Of national neglect towards theories
and inventions too grand and magnificent for
the comprehension of the age. Fitch and Full
ton were names
" That call when brimmed eur festal CUP
nation glory and her shame
In silent sadness mp"
True our Government did not cast them into
Bedlam; but it is equally true that it did not
encourage them. Was not the first named of
these twins of kindred genius allowed to drag
out miserable existence amid the doubts and
contumelies of our own citizens! Have they
not left his remains beside the waters of the
Ohio with no monument save the wild flowers
above his grave, no requiem save the sound of
hey ;1Ypetual flow Yet even nov tatigir
unforeseen, that neglected spot has become his
mpst appropriate resting-place His prophecy
IS fUl6lled Eaeh'dxS ,.7ah =. II 4 - i,S7',-
great argosies, that put to shame the fleet of
Aerxes pass and repass that shore-one con-
tinual procession, keeping eternal music with
stentorian voices through iron valves, and
charming far Echo with the constant chime of
passing bells,
And poor imprisoned Solomon de Caus
Does not his memory share in the glory of
every invention to which the power of steam
is applied Had he foretold one-half his mind
foresaw-the steamers on the Indian and Egyp-
tan seas-the rival navies regardless of wind
or tide, between Dover and Calals--the floating
palaces upon our own broad lakes and rivers
the railway on the mountain top-thc richly
freighted car, beside the miner far down with
in earths mineral caves--had he foretold but
these then might they have called him mad
MANI
And even now, in this middle of the nine
teenth century, there may be in our very midst
men who, like De Caus, meet doubt and disre-
gard for the bright offerings they bring to the
shrine of science. Calico, Columbus, and DE
Caus were each obliged to wear those chains
which Ignorance ever FORCES around the limbs
of the sleeping giant Truth but which, on his
awaking, are parted and cast away like shreds
of flax