Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-11-24
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professor of eyper,aleatal philosophy at
Kings College, Sir Charles Wheatstone.
was from hls hovisuod resolute, ingeps
ious and remarkably persevering in his
scientific undertakings He. believed,
and acted ON the belief. that whatever
was worth doing at all was worth doing
well; that few d faculties were too great
to be overcome. and no hitch too small
Co be investigated. A contributor TO the
I.eiSitre Hour relates an interesting and
characteristic incident which occurred
when he was between AZ aud Is years
old
His mother was an invalid. and his
father though proud of his clever son.
was too careless to trouble himself about
him, so that he and his brother William
were left unhindered TO pursue their
rather perilous experiments in the labo-
ratory. They escaped without serious
injuries. though their researches in
cluded one experiment which blew out
part IF the roof With a loud report
One day Charles saw on an upper shelf
In book store work describing some
of Volta's discoveries He gazed long
at the fascinating volume, and finally
inquired the price. This proved to DO
far above his means, and greatly disap-
pointed he turned homeward in the di-
rection of Pail Mall.
He went at once TO what lie consid-
cred the best and most interesting part
of the house, the laboratory, on which
he and William spent all their time and
pocket money. There was their crnci-
be, made entirely by themselves,
wherein they compounded the most ap~
palling smells, and there, as sort Of
offset TO it. was the still in Which they
were able to distil perfumes. work
which Charles particularly liked.
William believed his brother to he che
cleverest boy in the world, and had liz
tened sympathetically " lille Charles de-
scribed the wonderful book, which he
declared that he meant to have IL he had
to 90 without sweets for month.
Day by day, as Charles passed the
book store. he looked anxiously TO see il
the volume was still there in its place.
1t would be cruel il some one else should
buy it. The moment he had saved money
enough, he hurried away and bought il.
But here terrible disappointment
met him. The work was written in
French, and neither of the boys knew a
word of the language,
@What will you do nowf" asked his
faithful satellite.
BUY dictionary as soon as l can af-
ford it, replied Charles promptly.
He did not regret having bought the
book. After all, French was language
that could be learned, if one only set
about it in earnest
Charles had again to save his scanty
pocket money. Having bought the die
tionary, he applied himself to the work
of reading Volta's discoveries. The
task would have been difficult for q
grown man; but the boy of 10 finished
it at last, not only mastering the words,
but understanding what he read.
Then he wanted to make the expert
ments for himself. we must have
battery, he observed to William.
but where are we to getit? 1t would
cost am immense deal of money and yso
have next to none, replied the younger
brother
"Of course we can not buy one, Iut we
can try to make one. was the answer.
1
die round the earth. feat which he
really accomplished afterward with his
electric system. William would have
seen nothing out of the way in the prop
osition. He knew that the thing would
be done.
The battery was begun forthwith. The
materials were of the toughest, the boys
knowledge was rudimentary, and their
progress slow. They were prepared TO
wait patiently, however, provided the
work was satisfactory in the end. But
there css.me bad day when money and
supplies failed altogether. The copper
plates of the machineASere stlli want
ing, and the boys fund was reduced 20
a few pence. Those pence were not
such as are in use now, but clumsy
pieces of nearly twice the present size.
William eyed the coppers, as If by
hard staring he might convert them into
silver. But Charles, now as ever, rose
above the difficulty.
We must use the pennies themselves,
and see low that will answer, said he.
The battery was successful, as William
knew it would be. They used it for
| years to their own intense delight, and
the great qualification OF their father.
What became Of it is, unhappily, not
known. Probably it was an ugly un-
couth thing. but it is doubtful If in the
eyes of those two boys anything in the
world possessed greater beauty. Out of
experiments upon it, we may believe,
came the germs of some of Sir Charles
Wheatstones's greater achievements in
later years