The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1872-11-17

: One hundred years ases -vhat men dis
covered in the arts he oOncealed- Work.
men were put upop. oath, IA the name OF
GOO, never 70 reycsl the process usea y
artisans going ont were searched, yisttors
were rigorously excluded from admfsstop,
and false operations blinded the workmen
themselves. The mysteries of every craft
were hedGed in by thickast fences OF EN-
pirical pretensfon and Judicial Affirmation.
example, were long carried on In Europe
with spite Of jealous exelusiveness. His
Majesty Of Saxony was especially circum-
spect. Not content with the oath OF secre-
cy imposed upon his work people, he
would not abate his kingly suepicion In
favor of . brother monarch. Neither king
nor kings delegate might enter the tabooed
walls Of Meissen. What 10 erroneously
called the Dresden porcelain-that exquis-
ito pottery OF which the world has never
seen the like-was produced for two hum
dred years by q process 80 secret that
neither the bribery Of princes nor the gar
rulity of the operatives ever revealed 1t.
Other discoveries have been less success-
fully guarded, fortunately for the world:
The manufacture Of tinware In England
originated in stolen secret. Few readers
need to be informed that tinware 10 etmpIy
thin iron plated with tin by being dipped
into the molten metal. In theory 1t 10 an
easy matter to clean the surface OF iron, dip
it into bath of the boiling tin, and remove
it, enveloped with the silvery metal, to a
place for cooling. In practice, however,
the process 10 one of the most dMmcuie IN
tho arts. It was discovered in Holland,
and guarded from publicity With the ut
most vigilance for nearly half q century.
England tried in vain to discover the secret,
until james Sherman, Cornish miner,
crossed the Channel, Infatuated himself
master of the secret, and brought 1t home.
The secret Of man nufacturing cast-steet was
also stealthily obtained, and it is now
within the reach of all artisans.
Another stolen secret is the methed of
making citric acid. The inventor OF the
proceas-who was resident of London,
England-for a long time enjoyed the
monopoly of his invention. More favor
ably circumstanced than other secret
quired no assistance. He employed NO
workmen. Experts came to sample and
assort and bottle his products. They
never entered his laboratory. The mystic
operations by which he grew rich were
confined to himself. One day, having
locked the doors and blinded the windows,
sure as usual of the safety of his secret, the
chemist went home to dinner. A chimney
sweep, or a boy distinguished as such,
wide awake in chemistry, was on the watch.
Following the secret keeper 80 far on bis
way toward Charing Cross as to be sure he
would not return That day, the sooty pHlo-
psopher hied rapidly back to Temple Bar,
ascended the low building, dropped down
the fue, saw all he wanted, and returned,
carrying with him the mystery of making
citric acid. The monopoly of the inventor
was gone. A few months after, and the
price Of the article was reduced four fifths.
The poor man was heart broken, and died
shortly afterwards, ignorant of the trick by
which he had been victimized. He was to
| be pitied as an individual sufferer but the
wheel of progress is bound to crush all OBJ
| staeles which threaten to impede its course
sacrificing the man to the needs of the mul-
situds. Fortunately, inventors Of the pres
ent day can work openly, and enrich
themselves while they benefit others.