Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-12-04
Miss Hosmer's Secret.

Mysterious hints came from Italy
some time ago that Miss Harriet Hos
mer, the scnlptress, had discovered q
new force more powerful than water
or steam, and more subtle than any
motive agent yet brought under hui
man control. The nature of the dis
covery was to be kept a profound se-
cret until the experiments then going
on had proved its quality and shown
that 1t could be applied like other
forces, only with greater economy
and to . greater variety of uses. The
secret is out atlast; the happy woman
is rejoicing in the belief that she has
solved the unsOlvable problem and
has added one more to the immortal
names that were not born to die.
The great discovery-for Miss Hos.
mer has several others strung to her
BELTS the use of the permanent
magnet as q motive power; requiring
no battery, no electric currents, no in
duced magnetic action whatever; but
simply q magnet applied by q simple
and wholly original principle, to the
production of power through its own
adherent and perpetual vitality. The
application of electro.magnetism to
practical mechanics has excited vague
and dissolving hopes in many an in
ventor's mind since the discoveries Of
Arago and Farady, fifty and sixty
years ago. Every attempt to realize
on these vain expectations has met
with disaster. To the statement that
science recognizes no such thing as q
permanent magnet, Miss Hosmer re.
plies that che hopes to make a new
contribution to science. To the an
swer that it Is impossible, che replies
that 1t was impossible, but she has
overcome the difficulty.
Miss Hosmer refers to some author
tiles who have examined her discove-
ry and found 1t genuine, among whom
are Mr.. Browning, a maker of scien-
tidc instruments in London, who ia
building her first engine, and John
Penn, Jr., keeper OF the works, at
Greenwich Observatory. Professor
Tyndall, wandering among the A;ps,
has heard Of 1t, and sends the safe
message that 1t is important If true =
How the power Is applied 10 still .
secret, but though Il came to her only
after fifteen years experiment and
study, it is still so simple and so obvi-
ous that she thinks it will prove the
despair Of inventors. The new pow
or comes in good time. and will help
to allay the fears of those economists
and statesmen who have been specu-
lating on the time required to exhaust
the English coalfields, and the proba.
bility Of discovering new methods Of
producing power and heat within thst
time.
This audacious woman, not content
with bringing forms of life aud beau
ty from the native quarries, has also
turned the deft hand to transmitting
limestone into marble. By an origi-
nal application Of pressure and moist
heat, continued for exactly the right
time. she claims to have found the se.
cfet of producing from the common
and abundant limestones OF Italy
marbles OF the purest quality and al
enduring as those stamped by nature
herself. And to show that this 10 mo
idle fancy, she has contracted with
English builders in Rome, who are
replacing the English embassy build.
ing, to furnish the thing, wainscotiug,
and all the other decorative marbles
required. Miss Hosmer has taken
out patents both in England and
America for this marble.workinG
process and - giving the owners ol
quarries and al workers In marble re.
sults worthy Of their attention.