The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-10-21
WORLD WEIGHER
WAS SHYESI OF men
LIFE OF HENRY
CAvENDIsH, THE SCIENTIST.
Tearing Down Of the Famous London
House In Which He Worked-His
Hatred Of Women and Women serv-
ants He Was Wealthy and Did Not
Care for Money.
T. P.'s Weekly. London.

T. P.'s Weekly, London.
In a few days the house once occu.
pied by Henry Cavendish on Chaplain
common will have been sold, the great |
garden will probably very soon be made
a dumping ground for bricks and NOR
tar, and the abode Of one Of the shyest |
the public gaze. Cavendish, SO far as
we have any record, was only i'll once
in his life, and that illness killed him at
the respectable age Of 79.
He told his physician that Hany pro-
longation of life would only prolong
it's miseries,'' and he died, as he had
lived, alone. For the ordinary human
relations Of life he seemed to care moth
ing;, he was absorbed in the expert
ments, and loved his books and his
laboratory more than anything else on
earth. Henry Cavendish, who has been
called E'the modern Newton" was born
in 1871, only four years after Newton g
death. He was educated at a private
school at Hackney, :, from which, he
he left three years later without de-
gree. Thereafter he was man of
science, devoting his whole life to ex-
detrimental philosophy.
"The man who weighed the world"
wrote Henry Cavendish's cousin, the
late Duke of Devonshire, "buried his
science and his wealth in solitude at
did not bury, for he published to the
world certain facts which placed him
in the first rank of experimental phil
osophers. It was he who converted oxy
gen and hydrogen into water and
proved that it consists of these gases;
it was he who first stated the differ
ence between animal and common cleo
tricity, and it was he who, by course
of ingenious experiments, weighed the
world.
Cavendish had no vanity; he cared
and was, as one must suppose, an I'M
happy man. For money he cared little,
up to his fortieth year he was COM
paratively poor, probably having an
annual income of no more than $500,
but in 1773 an uncle died who left
him an enormous fortune. Of that he
spent very little; he was one Of those
rare men who have no idea of the
value of money. His personal needs
were very simple, and the fact that he
4 was rich never seems to have struck
: him as a matter Of interest. .@a Il
i His house at Chaplain was practical
/ ~ a workshop; the upper rooms were
} converted into an observatory, the
drawing room-Cavendish had no use
for drawing a laboratory,
and in an anteroom he had fixed up a
J, forge. t..s" ~..-s~
) As a host one gathers that this
! strange being was hardly success; the
very few people who were admitted to
his table were always given the same
fare--a leg Of mutton. On one occa.
sion four scientific men were to dine
, with him. When his housekeeper con.
suited him as to what she was to give
l them to, eat he said a leg of mutton
nos e. en sa the o4g Se Ta soul what tS w
/ get two,' he replied. And this mar
: who was content to eat Imutton sever
1 lastingly had no sense of beauty; be
cared for nothing beyond his own work
His biographer, DR.. George Wilson
said Of him:
. "There was nothing earnest, enthusi
astic, heroic or chivalrous in the ma
; ture of Cavendish, and as little wa
. there anything mean, groveling or 1g
t that needed for its apprehension NOR
than pure intellect or required the ex
ercise Of fancy, imagination, affection
or faith was distasteful to Cavendish
y An intellectual head thinking, pal
y OF wonderful, acute eyes observing, an
t a pair Of very skiful hands experiment
r ing or recording, are all that realize il
, fead1ng MS memorials.
He was essentially shy man, t
whom it was even difficult to speak
9 DR.. Wollaston said: 'The way to tall
: but to talk, as it were, into vacancy
q ard then it is not unlikely you may Sc
# him going,' And Professor Playfai1
S who was a frequent visitor to the Roya
e Society club, said: "Mr. Cavendish j
e member of this meeting. He is o
e an awkward appearance, and has no
}. much the look Of a man of rank. H
l, speaks likewise with great difficult
/. and hesitation, and very seldom. Blu
the CLEANS Of genius break often thr
this unpromising exterior. He neve
Pspeaks at all, but it is exceedingly t
the purpose, and either brings some es
cellent information or draws some i'm
portant conclusion.' ~. r. W
Cavendish s shyness amounted almos
" TO- a disease He shrank from speec
e with strangers, and if he were az
= preached abruptly he would dart ava
e with cry lii Re scared animal. At sue
>. entertainments as he attended he woul
It often stand on the landing, afraid t
n face the company on the other side O
: the door, nor would he open it until tn
s approach of some one from behind drov
S, him forward.
a On one occasion, at party at 81
COSepu Dduk IS mousse, d certain Dr. In
II genhouse took upon himself to prais
l. Cavendish to his face in a high flow
$, and .pompous manner by way Of intro
t.; duction to an Austrian gentleman VIII
S, was present. The Austrian promptl
< took the cue, loaded the unfortunat
l. philosopher with compliments, and al
3; sured him that he had come to Londo
i'd mainly to meet him. Cavendish stoo
y with downcast eyes, in abiect miser,
Sc speaking: never q word. Then he sa'
I'd an opening in the crush, flew to tn
door, jumped into his carriage an
drove home at full speed.
Women he hated; his usual metho
of communication with his housekeepe
was by means of notes left on the ha
ID table, and if any female servant can
* into his presence she was instantly di
missed.
" This extraordinary man left fortur
Of f1,750,000; his heir, Lord Geore
es Cavendish, was only permitted to 81
him once a year, and then for no long
y. than half an hour.
IL Derangement of the liver, with co
:, situation, Injuries the complexion,
u duces pimples, sallow skin. Remove Il
he cause by using Carter's Little Liv
Pills. One dose. Try them.
| IL g. e. =