The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-05-31
Happy Accidents.

Happy Accidents
ribs cracking of a picture placed in the
sunshine, set Van Eyck experimenting to
gssoAaoe a varnish that would dry in the
3as<te- He found what he sought, and
snrasd beside that by mixing it with his
e,sSnCs they acquired greater force and
ssr1aiaucy, and required no subsequent var
.risisiag5 and so came about the discovery,
rfc cediscovery, Of the art Of painting in
sxti. MezEOtinto owed it's invention by
ertnsce Rupert to the simple accident of
ssxu1Sy's gun barrel being rusted by the
dasW- Henry Schanward, Nuremberg
gkAss-cutter, happened to let some aqua
ssCtis fall upon his spectacles, and noticed
<sss glass was corroded and softened where
lie aqua fortis had touched it. Taking
eas tNnt, he made n liquid accordingly,
daEw some figures upon a piece of glass,
.HsVered them with varnish, and applied
sas corroding fluid, cut away the glass
1roaad his drawing, 80 that when he re-
sI0sed the varnish the figures appeared
Eaised upon q dark ground; and etching
tsG'ex glass was added to the ornamental
iscts-.t Alois Senefelder, playwright and
actor, thinking it possible to etch upon
sSooe in lieu of copper, polished slab for
atss purpose. He was disturbed by his
mother coming into his small laboratory
With o request that he would jot down her
IGst Of things for the wash, as the woman
sMs waiting to take the basket away.
There being neither paper nor ink handy,
Senefeider scrubbed the items on his stone
xnoh his etching preparation, that he might
eaaSsy them at his leisure. Some time after
auzx&, when about to clean the stone, he
tasought he might as we'll see what would
sis the effect of biting the stone with
suaxa-fertis, and in few minutes saw the
avrtting standing out in relief. Taxing up
N eest- ball charged with printing ink, he
Caased the stone, took off few Impressions
aQa0 paper, and he had invented litiio-
G,aelly. The pelt-ball used by Senefelder
Hssss tong indispensable in a printing Office.
4 saiopian printer, in hurry to get on
~rsth q job, could not ind his bali, and
tISSed the form with q piece of soft glue
mat had fallen out of the glue pot, with
'ssnsd excellent results that he then ceforth
'fssearded the pelt ball altogether, and by
1E&diug treacle to the glue, to keep it from
Gardening, hit upon the competition OF
WiBlch printers rollers have ever sincesbeer
z1Rkhn.
Taree very different discoveries are re-
-asCded to have resulted from the uninten.
easonal application of intense heat. Pin,
sGlkri5utes the discovery of glass to some
ssseCchants travelling with nitre, who, stop.
Esing on the bank of a river to take a
1noaA, were at loss for stones to rest their
SHfSies upon. Putting them upon pieces OF
nitro. they kindled their fires the nitre,
$fSSsoived by the heat, mixed with the sand
aEGsd the merchants were astonished to see q
eS-xneparent matter flowing over the ground,
szIIcl, was nothing else but glass. Charles
1%sodyear had for years experimented in
SsAius hoping to deprive india ru bier of it's
susceptibility to the action of heat and
sxGd. Converting with friend on the sub.
i.scc, he emphasized an assertion by flineing
Il. ptece of sulphured rubber across the
reason. 1t lighted upon the stove; and
SVss'en he picked it up, a few days afterward,
s&e found the intense heat to which it had
tSsen subjected lad conferred upon the
tt1dia rubber just the quality he had SO
TSscSg striven to impart to it. According to
esA.eHsc, he stumbled upon the discovery in a
s&<S~SAa2t manner but, at any rate, vulcan
<zaaaa vzdia-rubber was the creation of an
as<cident. Limerick tobacconist, look ing
cSsGsfully at his poor neighbors cropping
HEzaaOag the smoldering ruins Of his burnt
sHHzG shop, noticed that some of them, after
dESIog the contents of certain canisters,
SzEsefnily loaded their waistcoat pockets
Ss'aas them. He followed suit, and found
tho -snuff had come out of the iery ordeal
a<Ey much improved in pupgency and
s1HoehG. Like wise man he said nothing.
0aESSook another place, set up lot of ovens.
NEDd before long Black Yard Suuff-other.
~Ese, Irish Blackguard was all the rage
sUTod lovers of nasal Utilization and In
seSW years Lundyfoo was rich man, owing
On SAe accident he thought had ruined him.
d ~Rould be alchemist, seeking to discover
HEtzEG mixture Of earths would make the
SSCougest crucibles, one day found he had
1RDt0 porcelain. Instead of trapsmutipr
EDetals, as he had fopdly hoped to do, Bott-
&Sr transmitted himself; "as if he had been
CRASHED with conjurer's wand, he was on
q Sudden transformed from an alchemist
EsGo a potter.-C Chambers Journal.
A contributor to the New York Sun,