Part 20

Messrs. Walker's great historical engraving of the "Distinguished Men of Science," noticed some weeks ago in these columns, is accompanied by a well written and handsomely printed octavo volume of 228 pages, containing condensed biographical sketches of the fifty-one subjects of the picture itself. The book appears to have been first undertaken with the view of furnishing a mere outline of the life and achievements of these eminent men, but the inevitable delay attending the production of a large engraving, and the gradual accumulation of personal and historical details, at last led Mr. Walker, Jun., to revise and considerably extend the scope of his work, which now forms a very complete and desirable compendium of long-neglected, and, popularly speaking, almost inaccessible biography, of interest and value as well to those who cannot possess themselves of the picture as to the subscribers to that work. The whole is preceded by an introduction, not wanting in suggestive matter, from the pen of Mr. Robert Hunt, F.R.S.... There is probably no work, certainly none so well within the reach of the general public, which gives anything like as full and yet concise an account of the great men of science who lived and flourished half a century ago. The arrangement of the book is such as to facilitate the readiest reference to any part, and, while the matter is abundant, the style is clear and pleasing. We believe the book will be in large request.

MECHANICS' MAGAZINE.

In our notice last week of Mr. Walker's engraving of the distinguished men of science, we were only able to make a passing mention of the book of memoirs which accompanies it. As, however, this book is to be obtained separately, and has evidently been written with care, we will now speak further as to its deserts. In the preface the writer claims the merit only of a compiler, with one or two exceptions, and he expresses a hope that he may have performed his task with clearness and brevity, not neglecting, at the same time, to present his facts in a readable form. The combination of these three qualities is not often to be met with in a series of short biographies, and we are, therefore, glad to be able to say that Mr. W. Walker has, in a great measure, succeeded in accomplishing this. We would particularly call attention to the notices of Cavendish, Samuel Crompton, Dr. Jenner, Count Rumford, and Dr. Thomas Young, as instances of the successful manner in which good sketches of character have been interwoven with plain records of the facts occurring in the lives of these eminent men. The memoir of James Watt is also well put together, and it must have cost the writer considerable labour to compress into the space of six pages so clear an account of the numerous works of this great philosopher and engineer.

The biographies which claim particular notice, from containing original information, are those of Tennant, Maudslay, and Trevithick. The life of Charles Tennant, the founder of the celebrated chemical works at St. Rollox, Glasgow, gives to the public for the first time a sketch of the career of one whose inborn energy of character and clear intellect (to use the author's words), placed him among the foremost of those men who, by uniting science to manufactures, have entitled their occupations to be classed among the ranks of the liberal professions.

But the memoir the perusal of which will afford the greatest interest to engineers is that of Trevithick. Without pretending to anything like a life worthy of the genius of this extraordinary man, it is, notwithstanding, the most complete biographical notice which has yet been published of him. We trust the book may be extensively read, as it affords interesting information, in an easily accessible shape, of men, the memory of whose deeds is too liable to pass away.

ENGRAVING OF

THE DISTINGUISHED MEN OF SCIENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN, LIVING A.D., 1807-8.

This Great Historical Engraving represents, assembled at the Royal Institution, authentic Portraits of the following illustrious men:--WATT, RENNIE, TELFORD, MYLNE, JESSOP, CHAPMAN, MURDOCK, the first to introduce gas into practical use; RUMFORD, HUDDART, BOULTON, BRUNEL, WATSON, BENTHAM, MAUDSLAY, DALTON, CAVENDISH, SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, WOLLASTON, HATCHET, HENRY, ALLEN, HOWARD, SMITH, the father of English Geology; CROMPTON, inventor of the Spinning Mule: CARTWRIGHT, TENNANT, RONALDS, the first to successfully pass an electric telegraph message through a long distance; CHARLES EARL STANHOPE, TREVITHICK, NASMYTH, MILLER of Dalswinton, and SYMINGTON, the inventors and constructors of the first practical Steam Boat; PROFESSOR THOMSON, of Glasgow; TROUGHTON, DONKIN, CONGREVE, HERSCHEL, MASKELYNE, BAILY, FRODSHAM, LESLIE, PLAYFAIR, RUTHERFORD, DOLLOND, BROWN, the botanist; GILBERT and BANKS, the Presidents of the Royal Society at that epoch of time; CAPTAIN KATER, celebrated for his pendulum experiments; DR. THOMAS YOUNG, and JENNER the benefactor of mankind.

Engraved in the best style of Stipple and Mezzotinto by WM. WALKER and GEORGE ZOBEL. From an original drawing in Chiaroscuro. Designed by GILBERT; drawn by J. F. SKILL and W. WALKER.

PUBLISHED BY W. WALKER & SON, 64, MARGARET STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, W.

_Size of the Engraving, without Margin, Forty-one by Twenty and a half Inches._

Plain Impressions, £5 : 5. Proofs, with Title and Autographs, £8 : 8. Artist Proof, with or without Autographs, £10 : 10.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

TIMES.

An Engraving before us comprises the portraits of 50 distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain who were living in 1807-8, and who are here represented as assembled in the Upper Library of the Royal Institution ... we can easily conceive, as the preface to an accompanying volume of biographies informs us, that the collection and combination of these portraits occupied five years,--for some of them, at this distance of time, must have been discoverable with very great difficulty. Thus we have among them portraits of some of the inventors of whom we know very little in proportion to their acknowledged capacities, such for example as Trevithick the friend of Robert Stephenson, and Murdock the Achates of James Watt and introducer of gas ... there can be little doubt that the 50 physiognomies are derived from authentic originals in every case, great diligence having been employed in searching for such in the hands of their representatives ... as we said, this engraving must not be regarded only as a work of art, but as a collection of portraits of special interest, some of which are not attainable in any other form; while, as a whole, they are an appropriate monument of _our greatest scientific epoch_.

DAILY TELEGRAPH.

We may fairly commence the following remarks with unqualified praise of a work of art, which is intended to honour the distinguished men of science who were living in Great Britain early in the present century, and who, with one surviving exception, having passed into a deathless fame, are yet remembered by philosophers equally great, who were their contemporaries. Mr. Wm. Walker, with the assistance of Mr. Zobel, has produced a really great historical engraving from a design by Mr. Gilbert, representing an assemblage of fifty eminent chemists, engineers, astronomers, naturalists, electricians and mechanical inventors, grouped in the library of the Royal Institution. The scene is thoroughly appropriate, for these men were living in the years 1807-8, while the Royal Institution itself dates from 1800, having been founded to promote the application of science to practical uses. The period marked by the pictorial gathering in question, belonged to an era as complete and brilliant as any that British science has yet passed through. A glance round the circle of intensely thoughtful faces composing this great portrait group will revive many a page of instructive and ennobling history. We see in the centre, seated round a table, James Watt, Sir Isambard Brunel, John Dalton, &c.... Such men were our fathers--patient, indomitable, calmly and wisely bold, modestly self-reliant; ever watching, ever toiling, ever adding to the store of knowledge that was to benefit not them alone but the great human race. Such men are their sons who carry on the appointed work of improvement and civilization. To such men do we point as examples for our children. Their sterling qualities may be best summed up in the words of Lord Jeffrey, written of that same John Playfair to whom we have already referred. Their's was the understanding "at once penetrating and vigilant, but more distinguished, perhaps, for the caution and sureness of its march than for the brilliancy or rapidity of its movements: and guided and adorned through all its progress by the most genuine enthusiasm for all that is grand, and the justest taste for all that is beautiful."

ATHENÆUM.

Messrs. Walker and Son have published a large engraving of fifty-one distinguished men of science, alive in 1807-8, grouped together in the library of the Royal Institution. This engraving, which is a beautiful production, is described as designed by Gilbert, &c.... It is accompanied by a book, the frontispiece of which is a reduced copy of the engraving, for reference, &c.

ONCE A WEEK.

An earnest artist named William Walker, not being wholly absorbed in the pursuit of gain, but working with enthusiasm on his own perceptions of what is great in humanity and fitting in a nation, has for many years devoted himself to the task of gathering and grouping together the great men who were living in the early part of the present century.... This is of a verity a picture of great men--men whose instinct it was to work for the world and fight against misery: some of them wealthy and some of them poor; with visions perchance of wealth to come, but still working for the world's welfare as the only path through which to ensure their own,--the race of path-finders who are ever setting copies for the English nation to work by, and thus gain more results by the development of national energy. Accompanying the picture, which contains upwards of fifty portraits, some full figures, and some more or less hidden, but all admirably grouped, there is a volume, by Mr. Walker's son, giving a brief memoir of the salient points of each individual history; this also is well executed, and it forms a useful book of reference for those who would know more than the picture can tell.... Grateful are we to men like Mr. Walker, who has thus gathered together in groups the world's workers, with their images and superscriptions, that men may know their benefactors, and render to their memory that justice which was too rarely accorded to their lives. So, all honour to the work of both the father and the son, the picture and the book, in teaching the men of the present what they owe to men of the past.

MECHANICS' MAGAZINE.

Perhaps no class of men have deserved more of their country and of mankind than the great inventors and discoverers in astronomy, chemistry, engineering and other departments of science; yet very little is known of many of them in proportion to the acknowledged good which has resulted from their labours. We possess works of art commemorating the achievements of heroes in the field, and of statesmen in parliament, but until now no work of any magnitude has ever been executed in honour of men whose doings have laid the foundation of our commercial prosperity. We are, however, able to state that this can no longer be said, as Mr. Walker, of 64, Margaret-street, Cavendish-square, has, after an extended period of labour, produced an engraving which must remain an enduring record of our greatest era in science--the early part of the present century. At that epoch of time, steam, under the hands of Watt, Symington, and Trevithick, was commencing its marvellous career; astronomy and chemistry began to reveal their long-hidden secrets; while the discovery of vaccination, by Jenner, had already rescued thousands from death to enjoy the blessings left as a legacy by many a silent worker in science.... We may fairly state that we have never seen so large a body of men arranged in a group, where it is necessary that all should, in a measure, present their faces turned towards the spectator, so free from that stiffness which is the general fault of works of this class. For this, great praise is due to John Gilbert, by whom the original picture (drawn by J. F. Skill and W. Walker) was designed. The engraving has been executed by W. Walker and George Zobel; while in order to render the work complete, a series of memoirs have been drawn up by Mr. W. Walker, Jun., and furnished with a short introduction by Mr. Robert Hunt, F.R.S., keeper of the Mining Records. We can only now say of the book, that while many of the memoirs are necessarily brief, one, that of Trevithick, contains the most information yet published regarding that eminent engineer.

BUILDING NEWS.

We are glad to be able to inform our readers, that a large engraving has just been completed by Mr. Walker, of 64, Margaret-street, Cavendish-square, in honour of the men of science who have done so much towards the establishment of our present commercial prosperity. This work, which may well be called historical, represents fifty-one illustrious men, living in the early part of the present century, assembled in the Upper Library of the Royal Institution. The picture is divided into three groups, and comprises authentic portraits of our greatest inventors and discoverers in astronomy, chemistry, engineering machinery, and other departments of science.... The grouping of so large a number of figures must have been a difficult task; this has, however, been successfully accomplished by John Gilbert, the designer of the original picture, who, by a skilful combination of various attitudes, has given both grace and ease to the figures represented. The engraving has been executed by William Walker and George Zobel, and the greatest care seems to have been taken to secure faithful and authentic likenesses. The work is rendered complete by a series of well-written memoirs, compiled to accompany the engraving. This book is also published separately, and we should think there would be many who would buy the memoirs although unable to purchase the engraving.

W. DAVY & SON, PRINTERS, 8 GILBERT STREET, W.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The portable observatories used in this expedition were constructed by Smeaton the engineer.--_Wild's History of the Roy. Soc._ vol. 2, p. 37.

[2] Mr. Samuel Bentham had amongst his other contrivances for shaping wood, described one in his patent of 1793, for shaping the shells of blocks, but with a singular degree of candour and generosity, he at once acknowledged the superiority of Brunel's machinery.--_Smiles's Industrial Biography._ London, 1863.

[3] _Quarterly Review_, October, 1858.

[4] For Maudslay's connection with this lock, see Maudslay.

[5] In the dedication of the 'Synopsis Plantarum Orbis Novi,' Roberto Brownio, Britanniarum Gloriæ atque Ornamento, totam Botanices Scientiam ingenio mirifico complectenti.

[6] At eleven years of age, Brunel's love of tools was so great that he once pawned his hat to buy them; and at the age of twelve he is said to have constructed different articles with as much precision as a regular workman.

[7] Brunel had scarcely left the shores of France when he found that he had lost his passport. This difficulty he, however, got over by borrowing a passport from a fellow-traveller, which he copied so exactly in every particular, down to the very seal, that it was deemed proof against all scrutiny. He had hardly completed his task when the American vessel was stopped by a French frigate, and all the passengers were ordered to show their passports. Brunel, with perfect self-possession, was the first to show his, and not the slightest doubt was aroused as to its authenticity.

[8] The total number of machines employed in the various operations of making a ship's block by this method was forty-four, and 16,000 blocks of various sizes could be turned out in the course of a year.

[9] Dr. Cartwright was the younger brother of Major John Cartwright, the well-known English Reformer of the reign of George III., to whose memory a bronze statue is erected in Burton Crescent, London.

[10] Dr. Cartwright was married twice. His first wife died in 1785, and in 1790 he married the youngest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Kearney.

[11] _Pursuit of Knowledge_, vol. 2.

[12] The other three being Hales, Black, and Priestly.

[13] Highs or Hays was a reedmaker at Leigh, and in 1767 took up the plan of attempting to spin by rollers running at different speeds, previously invented by Lewis Paul in 1738. Highs employed Kay to carry out his plans, from whom Arkwright obtained the requisite information.

[14] Mr. Lee, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. George Duckworth.

[15] There is an unaccountable mistake of one year in Mr. Crompton's age as engraved on his tombstone.

[16] Memoir, by Dr. T. S. Trail, _Encyclopædia, Britannica_.

[17] Youngest son of James Watt.

[18] Davy also reduced by voltaic electricity alumina, but aluminium was first obtained in a perfectly separate state by Wohler in 1827.

[19] The meshes or apertures of the wire gauze ought not to be more than one twenty-second of an inch in diameter.--_Brougham's Lives of Philosophers._

[20] Called at first Georgium Sidus in honour of George the Third.

[21] This machinery was constructed by John Rennie.--_Mechanics' Magazine_, Sept. 20, 1861.

[22] 20,000_l._, the reward offered for a chronometer sufficiently exact to correct the longitude within certain limits required by Act of Parliament.

[23] A very interesting account of Maudslay's introduction, &c., to Bramah is given by Mr. Smiles in his 'Industrial Biography.' London 1863. P. 201-3.

[24] See 'Memoir of Bramah.'

[25] In particular may be mentioned Joseph Clement and Joseph Whitworth.

[26] See 'Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland,' by Sir John Dalrymple, Bart.

[27] For fuller account of Miller and Symington's experiments see 'Memoir of Symington.'

[28] _Mechanics' Magazine_, September 20, 1861.

[29] _Lock's Essays on the Trade and Commerce, Manufactories and Fisheries, of Scotland_, 1779. 3 vols.

[30] According to an article published in the _Mechanics' Magazine_, Sept. 20, 1861, Mr. Rennie appears likewise to have attended the collegiate academy at Perth. The above brief account of his early life is given on the authority of a Memoir furnished by Mr. George Rennie, F.R.S., and published in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.

[31] By the invention and employment of what is now well known as the travelling-crane.

[32] This peculiarity of Mr. Ronalds' apparatus is stated in full by Mr. Highton, C.E., in his work on the 'Telegraph,' page 50. London, John Weale.

[33] See also Patrick Miller.

[34] Named in honour of Lord Dundas's daughter, Lady Milton.

[35] The 'Comet.'

[36] John Clerk (Lord Eldin) pronounced the patent to be correctly drawn up, and that no doubt existed of Mr. Symington's right to recover damages from its invaders.

[37] Smiles's 'Lives of the Engineers.' London, 1861.

[38] Originally designed by Thomas Paine.

[39] Sixth Dissertation, by Dr. J. D. Forbes, F.R.S.--_Encyclopædia Britannica_, Eighth Edition.

[40] The specification of this patent gives likewise the first mention (we believe) on record of oscillating engines. Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., in his address to the Institution of Civil Engineers, in 1846, mentions the following passage:--"Even the objection of extra friction, however, if tenable, is obviated _by the vibrating cylinder described in Trevithick and Vivian's patent, in 1802_; patented by Whitty in 1813, and by Manby in 1821, by whom the first engines of the kind were constructed."

[41] An eye-witness, who is still living, relates that on one of these trials he saw Trevithick's steam-carriage proceeding at the rate of twelve miles an hour.

[42] Mrs. Humblestone (1861) is now eighty-one years of age, and is residing in the neighbourhood of Edgware Road.

[43] Sixth Dissertation, _Encyclopædia Britannica_, Eighth Edition.

[44] See _Practical Treatise on Railroads, &c._, by Luke Hebert, London, 1837. Pages 21-4.--Mr. Francis Trevithick, who has spent considerable time in ascertaining the facts regarding his father's first locomotive, states that he has no doubt the wheels of this engine were not in any way roughed: that he has often conversed with those who made and worked the engine; that he has their copies of the original drawings; and that in all these cases he never heard or saw anything which indicated that the wheels were roughed.

[45] _Phil. Mag. and Annals of Philosophy_, August, 1831, in a letter to Richard Taylor, F.S.A., by W. Jory Henwood, F.G.S.

[46] The late Michael Williams, M.P. for West Cornwall, was present during this transaction, and afterwards remonstrated with Trevithick on his folly.--The cheque offered to him has been stated by one gentleman to have been for a far larger sum.

[47] During his residence at Glasgow, a Mason's Lodge were desirous of possessing an organ, and Watt was asked to build it. He was totally destitute of a musical ear, and could not distinguish one note from the other, but he nevertheless accepted the offer; for having studied the philosophical theory of music, he found that science would be a substitute for want of ear. He commenced by building a small one for Dr. Black, and then proceeded to the large one, in the building of which he devised a number of novel expedients, such as indicators and regulators of the strength of the blast, with various contrivances for improving the efficiency of the stops. The qualities of this organ when finished are said to have elicited the surprise and admiration of musicians. During this period of his life Watt used likewise to construct and repair guitars, flutes, and violins, and had the same success as with his organ.--_Quarterly Review_, October, 1858.

[48] Preface to _Elements of Experimental Chemistry_, Eleventh Edition.

[49] _Life of Thomas Young, M.D., &c., by George Peacock_, page 143.

[50] Lord Brougham gives the date of Dr. Black's birth as 1721.--_Lives of Philosophers._ Third Edition, 1855.

[51] _Mechanics' Magazine_, vol. v. (new series), page 276.

[52] After many appeals, a pension of 50_l._ a-year was granted by the Crown to Richard Cort, the sole surviving son of Henry Cort.

[53] Discovered at the same time by Dr. Rutherford of Edinburgh.

[54] The Phlogistic Theory explained the phenomena of combustion by supposing the existence of a hypothetical substance termed Phlogiston, the union of which with bodies made them combustible, and the disengagement of which was the occasion of combustion.

Transcriber's Notes.

Footnotes have been moved to the end of the book. Italics are shown thus: _sloping_. Bold type is shown thus: =shout=. Small capitals have been capitalised. Inconsistent hyphenation retained. Obvious typos and printer errors have been corrected. Old spelling forms are retained. In the appendix 'RICHARD CORT' has been corrected to 'HENRY CORT'.