Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-09-16
Discoveries Made by Accident.

Nor few discoveries in the arts and
sciences have been made or suggested by
accident. The use of the pendulum, sug-
gested by the vibrating of q chandelier In
cathedral; the power OF steam, lntl-
mated by the oscillating Of q tea-kettle.;
the utility of coal gas for light, expert
mented upon by an ordinary tobacco pipe
of white clsy; the magnifying property
of the lens, stumbled upon by an opticians
apprentice while holding spectacle glasses
between his thumb and fnger--are we'll
known instances in proof of the fact.
Galyanism was discovered by accident.
Professor Galvani, of Bologna, in Italy,
gave his name to the operation, hut his
wife is considered as actually entiEled to
the credit of the discovery. She being In
bad health, some frogs were ordered Tor
her. AS they lay upon the table, skinned,
she noticed that their limbs became
strongly convulsed when near An electric
conductor. She called her husbands at
tention to the fact; he instituted series
of experiments, and in 1889 the galVanlc
battery was invented. ,.
Eleven years later, with that discovery
for his basis, Professor Alessandro Volta,
also an Italian, announced MS discovery
of the "voltaic pile"
The discovery of glass-makng was Ell
fected by seeing the sand Ylsrlhed upon
which a fire had been kindled-
Blancort saws that the making of plate
glass was suggested by the fact of work
man happening to break a crdclble nileo
with melted glass. The f1uio ran under
one of the large flagstones with winch
the floor was paved. On raising the stone
to recover the glass, it was found In the
form of a plate, such as could not be pro-
duced by the ordinary process OF dow
ing -.
Glass pearls, though among the most
beautiful, inexpensive, and common orna'
ments worn by the ladies, are produced
by very singular process. IN l6oo,
Venetian, named Joaquin, discovered that
the scales of fish, called bleak. fish, pos
sessed the quality of communicating,
pearly hue to the water. He found, py
experimenting, that beads dipped into
this water assumed. when dried, the ap-
pearance ofpearls. Improved, however, that
the pearly coat, when placed outside, was
easily rubbed off; and the next improve
ment was to make the beads hollow, Inc
making of these beads is carried on TO
this day in Venice. The beads are all
blown separately. By means OF small
tube, the insides are delicately coated with
the pearly liquid, and a waxed coating is
placed over that. 1t requires the scales
of four thousand fish to produce half
pint of the liquid, to which q small guam
tity of sal-ammonia and isinglass are al
terWard added.
Lundy Foot, the celebrated SNUFF naanl1-
facturer, originally kept small tobac-
conist shop at Limerick. On one mght
his house, which was uninsured, was
burned 10 the ground. AS he contem-
plated sae smoking ruins on the follow
inc morning, in a state bordering on
despair, some of the poor neighbors, crop
ing among the enbers for W hat they
could find, stumbled upon several canlsters
of unconsumed, but half-baked snuff,
which they tried, and found it so pleasant
to their noses that they loaded their
waistcoat pockets with it. Lundy Foot,
aroused from his stupor, initiated their
example, and took pinch OF his own
property, when he was struck by, the
superior pungency and flavor it had ac,
quired from the great heat to which II mac
been exposed. Acting upon the hlnJ, ne
took another house in place called BACK
Yard. erected ovens, and set about the
manufacture of that high-dried9 COM
modify which soon became known as
Black Yard snuff. Eventually he took
large house in Dublin, and, making MS
customers pay literally through the nose,
amassed great fortune for having Deen
ruined. .--OLS0er Optics magazine. e