Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1911-08-11
INVENTION OF CHANCE
BAYoNET DEVISED BY TROOPS
WHO HAD NO AMMUNITION.
How Arsand Invented Ills Lamp and
Calico the Telescope With Accl-
dental Asslstance--Dlsoovery
Of Llthography.

The bayonet is said to have derived
Its name from the fact that 1t was
first made at Bayonne, and its origin
illustrates the proverb, Necessity is
the mother Of invention"
A Basque regiment was hard
pressed by the enemy on a mountain
ridge near Bayonne. One of the
soldiers suggested that as their am
munition was exhausted. they should
fix their long knives into the barrels
Of their muskets. The suggestion was
acted upon. The first bayonet charge
was made, and the victory of the
Basques led to the manufacture OF
ton into the armies of Europe.
Not infrequently an invention has
been suggested by some trivial event
which would have passed unnoticed
had not man with eyes and brains
seen It,
Argand. a poor Swiss, invented a
lamp with wick fitted into a hollow
cylinder up which current of air
was allowed to pass, thus giving q
supply of oxygen to the interior as
well as to the exterior Of the circular
frame.
At first Argand used the lamp With
out any chimney. One day he WAS
busy In his workroom and sitting be-
fore the burning lamp. His little
brother was amusing himself by plao
ing a bottomless oil flask over dit.
ferent articles. Presently he placed
instantly shot up the long, circular
neck of the flask with increased bril-
liancy. 1t did more, for 1t flashed
into Argand's mind the idea of the
lamp chimney, by which his inven-
ton was perfected.
One day the children of q Dutch
spectacle maker were playing with
some of their fathers glasses before
the door of his shop. Setting two of
the largest glasses together they
peeped through them and were sur
prised to see the weather cock OF
the opposite church brought close to
their eyes. They called their father
to see the strange sight He looked
through the glasses and what he saw
suggested to him the possibility Of
constructing curious toy.
Calico, hearing OF the toy which
made distant things appear close at
hand, saw at once what a valuable
help it would be in studying the
heavens. He set to work, and soon
made the telescope.
An accident helped Senefelder to
invent nthography. He was sort
of Jack-of-all trades. writer of
verses and comedies, an actor, O fid-
dler, a painter, an engraver and
printer.
He worked at etching on copper, but
the coppersmith refused to let him
have any more plates unless he paid
cash for them. He then tried to
utilize the old plates by rubbing Off
the etchings with soft limestone.
At last the copper became useless
through many rubbings, and he tried
etching on the stone. a plan that did
not work very well. One day, while
he was polishing off a stone which
he intended to etch, his mother asked
him to write out a list of the linen
which the laundress was waiting to
carry off. Not finding slip of paper
or drop of ink, Senefelder wrote the
list on the stone with printing ink
from wax. soap and lamp
black, intending to copy 1t at his
leisure.
A few days later. when he was
about to wipe the writing from the
stone, he thought he would learn what
would be the effect of writing with
the prepared ink ON the stone, II 1t
should be bitten in with aquafortis.
He bit away to about the hundredth
part OF an inch, charged the lines
with the ink, took several impressions
of the writing and discovered that
he had invented the art of lithography.
.Harper's Weekly.