The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-09-02


and Thompson's regiment joined the
sLirmishers around Charlestown. He
went from there to Huntingdon, L. l.,
where he remained until peace was con-
cluded. He distinguished himself by
pulling down church and using the
materials to build fort, for which act
OF vandalism he was execratcd in the
vicinity for fifty years. King George
made Thompson knight when he re-
turned to England and retired him from
the army OH half pay.
The next year Thompson met the
elector OF Bavaria, who, charmed with
his conversational powers and scientific
attainments, induced him to enter his
service and made him Count Won
Rumiord. The next eleven years OF this
extraordinary mans life were crowded
with results OF such importance to hu-
nlanity at large as to blunt the recollec-
ton that he was traitor, even in his
native land. Twenty years later the
fact was almost forgotten.
Rumford, as he was afterward known,
gave up his entire life to science and to
making reforms, but he made it yield
him magnificent private fortune. He
reorganized the entire military estab-
lisfment OF Bavaria, introducing new
tactics, new arms, new methods OF dis
cipline and increasing the pay OF the
private soldier In year or two he
made it one OF the model armies of
Europe. He induced the eector to
grant him a piece of waste land, which
he converted into a beautiful park for
the working classes. He established in
dustrial schools, introduced superior
breeds OF horses and cattle and made
many improvements in the construction
arrangement of the houses OF the poor
Munich was infested with herds OF beg
gars, literally thousands, who came from
all countries to subsist on the charity OF
the citizens. Ru1nford determined to
extirpate them at one stroke. A work
house was established and on given
day the army descended Upon Munich
and arrested every beggar that could be
found. Each was given the choice OF
being imprisoned in the workhouse or
accepting the labor the state provided.
Runford's theory that mans sclf-rc-
spect, once reawakencd by honest labor,
would in the majority Of instances not
permit him to beg again, was appar-
emily proved, for Munich was swept
clean OF its begging nuisance.
As scientist Rumford devoted him
self largely to the investigation OF CON-
bustion. He succeeded in boiling water
with the heat developed in firing
cannon and to him pertains the honor
Of discovering that heat is motion.
Tyndall says he annil1ilated the material
theory OF heat. The same high author
ity credits Rumford with having antici-
pated all others in experimenting on the
diffusion OF liquids and in determining
the ca1oric power OF fuel. Rumford
made stove which saved three-quarters
of the fuel consumed in other ranges.
He improved the construction OF Chin
neys and wrote valuable papers on cook
cry, clothing, the strength of materials,
the density OF water and other subjects
In 1899 Rumford visited London and
founded the Royal Institution OF Great
Britain. He designed The lecture-room
and made plans for the building in
which the celebrated Sir Humphrey
Davy rose from obscurity as professor.
Rumford was among the first lecturers
when the institution opened. He talked
on all subjects. Says Tyndall: Ger
man, French, Spanish and Italian were
as familiar to Rumford as English. He
drew the designs OF his inventions with
great skill. He had 10 knowledge Of
painting and sculpture nor taste for
poetry, but was landscape gardener.
He played billiards against himself"
In his later days Rumford seems to
have been troubled over his treason to
his native land. He presented fund OF
$1,000 to the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, the interest to be
devoted to the purchase of a gold and
silver medal every second year to the
discovcrer OF any usciul Improvement
or application in light or heat In 1920
the trustees OF the fund secured the att
thOritv Of the Massachusetts LEGISLATURE
authorizing the payment of a lecturer on
these subjects, the i',nd having in
creased to $4,000. A lew years before
he died Rumford gave $4,000 to the
town OF Concord, n. H., the interest
to be used to c1othc twelve poor chill
drcn annually. Rumiord lived near
Paris, rich and llonorcd, but gloomy
and morose during his last years. When
his will was opened shortly after his
death, Aug. rs, 1874, iurther evidence
that he desired his countrymen to for
get his treason was found. The will cs-
tablished proicssorslip OF physics at
Harvard university His daughter
Sarah. countess of Rumford, heiress OF
the fortune the scientist had accumu-
lated, came back to live in Concord,
N. H., whence her father had been
driven as traitor forty years before.
She founded there the refuge for poor
motherless girls known as the Rolfc
and Rumford asylum, and in other ways