The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-07-03
UVOSlI UT II LA i
Tools Employed by Some
Noted Scientists.
In Many Instances They We're
OF Very Primitive Sort.
The Use OF Cold In Mining and Cut
ting of Tunes.

DR.. William H. Wollaston rendered many
services Co science He was the first TO de-
tect the Fraunhofcr lines in the solar
spectrum and to demonstrate tho identity
or galvanism and frictionai electricity.
One day visitor from foreign country
called upon the doctor and asked 10 be
shown the laboratory where so many val
liable discoveries had boen made. Inc
doctor conducted his visitor To a small
room in which there was no furniture
except table; on the table was an ola
tea tray containing small balance,
blowpipe. some test papers and Few
watch glasses. "Ihis room, said Dr.
Wollaston, sis my laboratory, and on
that tea tray are all OF my work tools.
Every body knows that benjamin Frank
lin. tho eminent American statesman and
philosopher. robbed the thunder cloud OF
Its lightning by means Of kite and SILK
handkerchief. A celebrated English en-
graver Thomas Bewick, drew his first
sketch with common chalk upon the walls
OF tho little cottage in which he lived
The far famed chemist Julius Stookhardt,
learned the art of combining colOrs by
closely studying the wings OF many but
terllies.
DIR. Joseph Black, chemist of note,
discovered latent heat by using as tools
pan OF water and two thermometers Sir
David Wilkie, the renowned painter. for
his nrst work made use of barn door and
charred stick for want of canvas and
pencil. John Opie was called the Cornish
wonder" because of his great skill in
portraituro. He WAS asked one day by
what wonderful process he mixed bis
tk,fxr 10 bt.at
answered the painter Benjamin West, a
well known American painter, manufac-
tured his first brush out Of cat tail.
sir Isaac Newton upfolded the compost
tion of light and origin OF color by means
oi sheet Of paste board a prism and
lens. Out Of an anatomist's syringe,
which by accident came into his posses
sion, Watt, tse great British engineer
ana mechanical inventor, constructed his
fist model Of condensing steam engine.
Demosthenes resolved To become an
orator, and in order to carry out his re-
solve it was necessary for him to overcome
some serious obstacles His manners were
awkward. his breath Short and his voice
stammeriDg and indistinct. lie did not
attend "a school OF oratory, nor did he have
"a private tutor; but we are told that he
first shaved one side of his head only, so as
to make it impossit.o for him to go into
society, and thus divert himself from this
purpose.
To overcome defect in his speech he
adopted the practice of speaking with
pebbles in his mouth; and that. he might
be able to rake himself heard in the
tumult of popular assemblies. he de-
claimed hour after hour upon the sea
shore; to observe nn1 correct his awkward
gestures, he spent much time practicing
before mirror. Thus, by patience and
perseverance,, he became the gratest
orator of antiquity. Bernard Palsy, the
French potter chemist and enameler,
had but little indeed To work with when
making his first experiments But in
spite of poverty. religious persecution
and many either impodiments. he pursued
with untiring energy the art OF pottery.
glass painting and ennmeling and became
one OF the first artists OF the French
renaissance To these names scores of
others might he added of persons that
have climbed high on the ladder of fame
by making right use of whatever tools
or means were within their reach, by u
healthful praiseworthy desire to excel
ana by keeping eyerlastingly at it. i"
In mining for gold In Siberia the
ground is kept clear of snow SO as to per.
NIT the cold to penetrate as deeply as
possible, aftcr which tho surface is
thawed by fires until a shallow layer of
earth can be removed. Tho freezing is
then allowed TO proceed AMI the thawing
operation repeated, and this is continued
as long as the cold weather lasts. In this
way, through the long Siberian winters
open excavations arc made 20 the gold
bearing rocks, the depth attained being
from % 60 75 feot according to tho dura-
tion of the cold season.
Artificial cold for purposes of excavation
was used first by POetsch In 1888: by his
well-known process OF the circulation of
cold brine through series of buried Zines
the most difficult quicksand may be made
hard enough To be exoavated like rock.
In a recent article In an engineering pa
per general illustrations and details Of
the apparatus used in sinking the shaft
at the Courrieies mines, together with
formulas enabling the safe thickness of
frozen wall TO be computed for round or
square shafts of any given dimensions.
Among the importans applications of the
freezing process are noted the sinking of
tho shafts for the cylinders of the hv-
draulic elevator for the canal lift at Les
Fontinettes, and the construction of "A
tunnel at Stockholm. The latter work
was executed entirely by the introduc-
tion Of cold air into the working cham ber
at the head of the tunnel. the cold pre-
byton lining was built and the work of
excavating and lining boing carried on
at temperatures ranging between no de-
grees and twenty five degrees Il.
The art Of secret writing. or writing in
ciphor. was, according to Polybius, in-
vented by Aeneas, author of treatise
on tactics, and other works He produced
twenty methods OF writing in cipher.
which no person could unfold; but we
doubt much whether they would preserve
this quality at the present day. It Is no
less strange than truo that this art, so
important in diplomacy, as long as cour.
iers were liable 10 bo intercepted, was
held In abhorrenco by the Elector Fred
eric H., who considered IL n diabolioal
invention, says 'Harper's Round Table. :"
Trithemius, Abbot Of Spanheim had
composed several works TO revive this
branch of knowledge, and Boville, nm ig-
norant mathematician, boing unable to
comprehend the extraordinary terms he
mnde use of Co explain his method. pub
lished that tho work was full uf diaboli