Smyrna times., 1880-05-26
Discoveries Made by Accident.
BY f. II. STAUFFER.

Valuable discoveries have beon made,
and valuable inventions suggested, by the
yeriest accidents.
An alckemist, while seeking to discover
mixture of earths that would make the
most durable crucibles, one day 'Ound that
he had made porcelain.
The power of lenses, as appl ed to the
telescope, was discovered by watch makers
apprentice. While holding spectacle glas-
ses between his thuBlb and finger he was
startled at the suddenly-enlarged appear
ance of a neighberiRg church-spre.
The art of etching upon glass was dis
covered by a Nuremberg glass By
accident, few drops of aqua ferts fell
upon his spectacles. He noticed that the
glass became corrodsd and s0ftened where
the acid had touched it. That was hint
enough. He drew figures upon glass with
varnish, applied the corroding fluid, then
cut away the glass around the drawing.
When the varnIsh was removed, the figures
appeared raised upon dark ground.
Mezzotinto owed its invention to the
simple accident of the gun barrel of a
sentry becoming rusted with dew.
The swaying to and fro of chandelier
in cathedral suggested to Calico the ap-
plication of the pendulum.
The art of lithographing was perfected
through suggestions made by accident. A
poor musician was curious to know whether
music could not be etched upon stone as
we'll as upon copper.
After he had prepared his slab, his
mother asked him to make memorandum
OF such clothes as she proposed to send
away to be washed. Net having pen, ink
| and paper convenient, he wrote the list on
the stone with the etching preparation, in
| tending to make a copy Of it at leisure.
lew days later, when about to clean
| the stone, he wondered what effect AQUA
| FORTS would nave upon it. lie applied the
acid, and in few minutes saw the writing
standing out in relief The next step ne,
cessary Was simply to ink the stone and
take off an impression
The cOmposltien OF which prnting-rol-
lers are made was discovered by Salopian
printer. Not being abla to find the pelt.
ball, he mixed the type with piece of soft
glue which had fallen out of a glue pot.
| 1t was such an excellent substitute that,
after mixing molasses with the glue, to
/ give the mass proper consistency, the old
! pelt ball was entirely discarded.
The shop of Dublin tobacconist by the
name of LuAdyfoot was destroyed by fire.
While he was gazing dOlstully into the
smouldering ruins, he noticed that his
! poorer neighbors were gathering the snuff
] from the canisters. lie tested the snuff
! for himself, and discovered that the fire
had largely improved its pungency and
| aroma.
1t was hint worth profting by He
| secured another shop, built a lot of ovens,
subjected the snuff to heating process,
gave the brand particular name, and in a
few years became rich through an accident
which he at first thought had completely
ruined him.
The process Of whitening sugar was dis
covered in curious way. hen that had
gone through clay puddle went with her
muddy feet into sugar house. She left
her tracks ON pile of sugar 1t was noti-
ced that wherever her tracks were the
sugar was whitened. Experiments were
instituted, and the result was that wet clay
came to be used in refining sugar.
The origin of blue-tinted paper came
about by mere slip Of the hand.
The wife of William East, an English
papsr.maker, accidentally let a blue. bag
fall into one of the watts of pulp. The
workMen were astOnished when they saw
the peculiar color of the paper, while Mr.
East was highly incensed over what he con
sidered a pecuniary loss. His wife was SC
much frightened that she would not con
fess her agency in the matter.
After storing the damaged paper for foul
years, Mr. East sent it to his agent at Lon
don, with instructions to sell it for what i
! would bring. The paper was accepted as
"purposed novelty" and was disposed of a
quite an advance over market price.
Mr.. East was astonishsd at receiving al
order frem his agent for a large inveice o
the paper. He was without the secret, apC
found himself in dilemma. Upon men
o tioning it to his wife, she told him abou
the accident. He kept the secret, and tn
!, demand for the novel tint far exceeded hi
!. ability to supply it.
= A Brighton stationer took q fancy 70
= y dressing his show.window with piles G
y writing paper, rising gradually from tn
y largest to the smallest size in use, and, t
. finish his pyramids off nicely, he cut card
to bring them to point.
Taking these cards for diminutive not
, paper, lady customers were continual
l. wanting seme Of "that lovely little paper,
and the stNtiener found it advantageous t
cut paper to the desired pattern.
AS there was no space fer addressing th
notslets after they were folded, he, afts
| | much IueubuIf lHNohIeu Guo 0HVelSp'
4 which he cut by the aid of metal plate
made for the purpose.
'r The sale increased 80 rapidly that he ws
y unable to produce the envelopes fastenOugl
II SO he commissioned dozen houses 10 max
y them for him, and thus set going an in
~ portant branch of the manufacturing st
tionary trade.
While Marshal Jewell was our Minister
10 Russia, he found out, by the uSs of his neS
the secret of making Russia leather.
m ne Instead of using tallow and grease in tn
ol dressing of skins. the Russians employs
Is birch.b bark tar. BY careful inquiry, and Ii
u orally following his nose, during a visit
IL H. one of their large tanReriss, he found I'll
y compound in a mammoth kettle, ready fc
i, use.
u He reported his discovery, and the resu
is that genuine Russian leather goods a.
o. now made in America Golden Days.