Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-06-09
Discoveries Made by Accident.

Discoveries Made by Accident.
Valuable discoveries have been made.
and valuable inventions suggested, by the
veriest accident.
An alchemis., while seeking to discover
mixture of eartbs that would make the
most durable crucibles, one day found that
be had made porcelain.
The power of lenses, as applied to the
telescope, was discovered by watcbmak-
er's apprentice. While holding spectacle
glasses between his thumb and finger, he
was startled by the suddenly enlarged ap-
pearance of neighboring church spire.
The art of etching upon glass was dis :
covered by a Nuremburg glass-cutter. By
accident few drops of aqua fortis fell
upon his spectaeles. He noticed that the
glass became corroded and softened where
acid had touched it. That was hint
enough. He drew figures upon the glass
with varnish, applied the corroding fluid,
then cut away the glass around the draw
ing. When the varnish was removed, the
figures appeared raised On dark ground.
Mezzotinto owed its invention to the
simple accident of the gun-barrel of a
sentry becoming rusted with dew.
The swaylng to and fro of chandelier
in 4 cathedral suggested to Calico the
application of the pendulum.
The art of lithographing was perfected
through suggestions made by accident. A
poor musician was curious to know wheth-
or music could not be etched upon stone
as well as upon copper. After he had pre-
pared his slab his mother asked him
to make memorandum of such clothes
as she proposed to send away to be wash
ed. Not having pen, ink and paper con-
venient,he wrote the list on the stone with
the etching preparation, intending to make
copy of it at leisure. A few days later,
when about to clean the stone, he wonder
ed what effect aqua fortis would have up
omit He applied the acid and ina few
minutes saw the writing standing out in
relief. The next step necessary was SIM
PLY to ink the stone and take an i'm
preston.
The composition Of which printing-rol-
lers are made was discovered by Sale
plan printer. Not being able to find the
pelt-ball, he linked the type with piece of
soft glue, which had fallen out of the glue
pot. 1t was such an excellent substitute
that, after mixing molasses with the glue,
to give the mass proper consistency, the
the old pelt ball was entirely discarded.
The shop of a tobacconist by the name
of Lundyfoot, was destroyed by fire. While
he was gazing dolefully into the
smouldering ruins, he noticed that his
poorer neighbors were gathering the
snuff from the caniste rs. He tested
the snuff himself, and discovered that the
fire had largely improved its pungency and
aroma. 1t was hint worth pro6ting by.
He secured another shop. built lot Of
ovens, subjected the snuff to a 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. A hen that had
gone through a clay puddle went with her
muddy feet into sugar house. She left
her tracks in pile of sugar. 1t was
noticed that wherever her tracks we're the
sugar was hiteneo. 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 a mere slip of the hand. The
wife Of William East, an English paper
maker, accidentally let a blue-bag fall into
one of the watts of pulp. The workmen
were astonished when they saw the pecu-
liar color of the paper, while Mr.. East
was highly incensed over what he consid-
cred grave pecuniary loss. His wife was
so much frightened she would not confess
her agency in the matter After storing
the damaged paper for years, Mr.. East
sent it to his agent in London, with in
structiens to sell it for what it would
bring. The paper was accepted as spur.
posed novelty" and was disposed of at
quite an advance over market price. Mr..
East was astOnished at receiving an order
from his agent for another large invoice
Of the paper. He was without the secret
and found himself in dilemma. Upon
mentioning it to his wife, she told him
about the accident. He kept the secret
and the demand for the novel tint far ex-
ceeded his ability to supply it.
A Brighton stationer took fancy for
dressing his show-window with piles of
writing paper, rising gradually from the
largest to the smallest in use, and to finish
his pyramid off nicely he cut cards to
bring them to point. Taking these cards
for diminutive note-paper. lady customers
were continually wanting some of ''that
lovely little paper" and the stationer
foand it advantageous to cut paper to the
desired pattern. AS there was no space
for addressing the notelets after they were
folded he, after much thought, invented
an envelope which he cut by the aid of
metal plates for that purpose. The sale
increased so rapidly that he was unable to
produce the envelopes fast enough, 50 he
a dozen houses to make
them for him, and thus set going an i'm
portant branch of the manufacturing trade.
Scientific Canadian.
Nothing is so hard to bear as prosperi- |