The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-09
"THE WONDERFUL CENTURY,"
Important Inventions and Discover
les in Former Centuries Omitted
hy Mr.. WuIIRce.
Letter to New York World.

In Alfred Russell WalinceS recital of
the achievements of this wonderful CEN
tury''' in invention and discovery. printed
in your issue of last Sunday, 1 find some
imperfections in the summary OF the great
inventions and discoveries which we owe
to the whole period of human history pre-
ceding the nineteenth century. He gives
twenty-four great inventions to this CEN
tury-only fifteen to all preceding time
Here is the list with which he fills the
period from the origin of man TO the end
of the year 1S00
/. The mariners compass
g. The steam engine.
g. The telescope.
4. The barometer and thermometer.
s. Printing.
g. Arabic numerals.
T. Alphabetical writing.
S. Modern chemistry founded.
o. Electrical science founded.
10. Gravitation established.
H. Kepler's laws. IT.
u. The differential calculus.
10. The circulation of the blood.
IA. Light proved TO have finite velocity.
Is. The development of geometry.
Here, however, is a somewhat longer
list:
/. Fire. or if not the actual invention
of fire itself, yet of the means of making
1t al will and of the apparatus for utIllz-
ing it for the service Of man for warmth,
cookery, and in FORCES and furnaces.
. Iron and other metals, and The in
vention of the methods of producing and
working them by fire.
g. Invention of the use of tools, and oil
the separate tools themselves.
f. The lever, the pulley, the screw ana
the whole arsenal of mechanical devices
for the application of force.
g. The pump.
6. Agriculture the cultivation of the
soil This and fire first made possible a
stationary existence and that greatest of
all inventions
Z. Home; the family, domestic life
8. The windmill.
8. The water-wheel.
TO- The blow.
II. The wheel and axle, making the first
great step in land transportation.
Il. The shop, the sail, navigation by the
stars; later the mariners compass
10. The spinning wheel and the weaver's
loom.
IA. The steam engine.
IS Machines to keep time, from the
hour-glass and the sundial to the clock.
16. Telegraph; signals for communicate
ing information.
II. All the primitive weapons-the bow
the sling, the spear. the catapult.
49, Gunpowder. small arms and artil
lery.
49, Wine and beer.
90 Mathematics, arithmetic. algebra
including under this head not any one de-
tail or division, but the whole subject of
weighing and measuring and computation,
without which there could be no physical
science.
~ Rotundity of the earth, its revolu-
ton around the sun; astronomy.
81 GravitaUion.
90 Telescope, microscope, spectacles, all
the optical Instruments and laws.
"a Chemistry
% Electricity.
26 Reduction of the sounds of the hui
man voice to a system of written signs,
the alphabet; hence
o. Writing, the keeping of records, and
the conception of accumulated knowledge
2S Printing.
%. Money; also credit money. bills of
exchange, banks, financial administration.
80. Commerce.
81 The arts-architecture, sculpture,
painting, music, and all the musical in
struments including the piano.
32 The theater.
49, Laws. jurisprudence, government,
political science, liberty under law, human
rights.
"a Logic. and the conception of laws
governing the operations of the intellect.
80. The devil, and cognate ideas related
to the moral restraints upon men-an In
vention the results and influence of which
cannot be calculated.
&c. Illumination by gas eighteenth CEN
fury in England centuries old in Asia.
81. Meteoroogy.
3S. Glass, pottery.
In this sketch little note is taken of def
mite inventions, but each point indicates
a field including millions of inventions of
which through familiarity we take no note,
Nobody would count the common nail as
very great invention, but Its presence
anywhere is a sign of the capacity for
progress.
Indeed, the claim of many great inven-
tions for the nineteenth century has an
element of absurdity in 1t, for every one
is fhe development Of what went before.
Suppose a farmer going into his orch
ard should glorify September as the great
est of all months because of the crop of
apples 1t gives him, and belittle all the
preceding months because they produced
only leaves and blossoms.
But there is scarcely a farmer who
would not understand that the glory of
his September could not be but for the
deep-laid roots that he had planted in the
earlier times.
Some points that Wallace has given to
the nineteenth century l have placed
where they really belong-in earlier times.
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