The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-04-27

WRITTEN o THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
I have confined my attention this week
10 our wizards. Edison. Marconi. Santos
Dumont and Mr.. Box are ever objects of
interest. and my correspondence reveals an
extraordinary liking for all. 1t is singular
that. with one exception. they have all been
born under foreign skies. Yet / do not hes
itate to call them Americans. because in
trinsically they are all such. Mr.. Edison
vas born in Ohio, but that does not affect
his Americanism. Mr.. Marconi could not
have demonstrated his greatness without
our Continent AS a terminal. Mr.. Santos
Dumont is. in fact, a South American, and
as for Mr.. Box. ne merely accentuates by
his birthplace the debt that this country
owes TO the land of the Dutch and the dixie.
No better American than he ever lived. and
1 am glad OF this opportunity TO say so.
even II I may seem In doing SO to point
the finger of fun in his direction
WILBEFORCE JENKINS,
Author of Nothing at All; a Romance Of
Nit"
Edison, Thomas A.
Wizard, human dynamo and inventor.
Born Alva. o., February II. 1871. The day
after his birth. his home having been struck
by lightning. the infant was so charged
with electricity that for six weeks no one
dared venture within a radius of three feet
Of his person. unless thoroughly insulated.
He emitted sparks from the ends Of his
fingers and toes at the rate of 1000 volts
an hour. and when he clapped his hands to-
gether or tried to Geo as babies will the
resultant sounds resembled the rumbling OF
distant thunder. Al the end OF six weeks
the sparkling quality OF the infant having
got upon the nerves of his family. experts
were called in. and the child was connected
with a ground wire and the electricity in
large measure ran Off.
This novel experience is thought to have
had a determining influence upon the
young mans future life. since in later years
his mind occupied itself wholly with mat
tiers of electrical import. As a boy he Is
said to have been very quick and to have
frequently shocked his teachers by raising
thunder. a habit no doubt acquired from the
first strenuous experience OF his career. At
the age of 10 he invented The Edison Pin"
a small and simple contrivance for use in
schools. by which new life might be i'm
parted to a lethargic teacher. One Edison
pin placed in the chair of a somnolent Latin
teacher is said to have been eficacious in
bringing this person from a dull disQuisi-
ton upon .he dead languages TO a most
active exposition OF the exact uses OF the
living vernacular.
Early practical experiments with the Edi-
son Pin led to the almost immediate inven-
ton OF the Edison insulator. a pneumatic
cushion for the end of the spine by means
OF which a small boy might sustain the i'm
pact of a ruler continuously imposed for ten
consecutive minutes without physical pain.
At IL years of age he became a newsboy.
and by patient and unremitting study of the
news printed IN the papers first gained an
idea OF the professional uses Of an inventive
mind: was promoted from the sales to the
Geographic dispatch department of journal
ism about 1865, and from that time on has
steadily developed as an inventor of electri-
cal devices. Notable among these Is the ma
chine for sextuplex telegraphic transmits
sion. by means of which a man detained In
town on business can telegraph home to his
family six times in seven minutes for Is
cents. Inventor, also of the electric chap
eron, a small Photographic and phono-
graphic apparatus, which, placed in q
d-rawing-room. serves the purpose of a
duenna; and of the hattophone, a combina-
ton of telephone and Derby hat. for the use !
OF politicians on the stump. A promise
made through the hattophone need not be- !
come a moral obligation, and as a conse- !
Quence this useful machine Is In great de-
mand In campaign times.
The Edison electric mind reader IS not
yet upon the market, but is promised for an
early date; while the dynamic perpetua tor,
a machine which is calculated to induce per-
petual existence when substituted for the
vital organ OF human life, is approaching |
completion. Mr.. Edison is seldom seen in
public. not because he IS OF a retiring dis |
boSitioh. Dut becdusc ne travels always |
with such t~elegraphic dispatch that the eye /
is not sufficiently quick of vision TO detect
his passage. 1t is rumored that he has in |
vented a system by which a man can cable |
himself TO Europe. but the report lacks con- |
firmation. Address. The Wizard, West Or
ange. N. ]. |
MarcOni, William. !
Inventor, electrical engineer and wireless |
wizard. Born Bologna. 1876. Invented The |
Marconi System of Doing Everything With !
out Anything" Was brought up in a /
nurseless nursery, and learned to play |
gameless games with toyless toys. Early
hardships in living on such foodless foods |
as beefess steaks. sauceless sausage and
cowless milk taught him the ingenious prin-
ciple which he has later put into effect with
such marvellous results.
Was educated at Leghorn under Professor
Rosa. and became an expert In the making
OF 1eghorn hats without brims. and In the
raising of a special breed of Leghorn roost-
ers. the peculiarly of which is that they
never crowed. The crowless rooster has
since become a leading industry of Leghorn. |
and as a tighter Is only excelled in invinci- !