b. ? 1710 and d. November 17, 1776

Scottish mechanician and astronomer. Without assistance he discovered the fundamental principles of the lever and the wheel and axle. While serving as a shepherd he made himself master of astronomy and constructed models of mills, spinning wheels and at length framed a pair of globes an a watch. He supported himself for several years by being a miniature painter. Among his works are “Astronomy Explained,” “Lectures on Mechanics, Hydrostatics, etc.,” “The Art of Drawing in Perspective” and “An Introduction to Elctricity.”

 The untried forces of the air, the earth, the sea,
 Wait at thy bidding: oh, compel their powers
 To uses holy! Let them ever be
 Servants to tend and bless these new-found bowers,
 And make them household-workers, free and swift,
 On daily use-on daily service bent;
 Her face again old Eden may uplift,
 And God look down the open firmament.

 —The Mechanic: Cornelius Mathews

 610 B. C.-547 B. C., Anaximander lived. He was the founder of the Ionic sect. He is said to have discovered the obliquity of the ecliptic, fixed the epoch of the equinoxes and solstices and in 562 B. C. invented the sphere and the gnomon. He taught that the earth revolved and that the sun was a globe of fire as large as the earth and that there was an infinite number of worlds. He was a reputed inventor of maps and estimated the circumference of the globe at 400,000 stadia.

 The gnomon was invented to measure altitudes in 312 B. C.

b. November 17, 1788 and d. March 31, 1870

American inventor. Manufacture of nails and cut files with improved machines of his own construction. He improved the machine originally devised by his father for leather-splitting, which he adapted for the splitting of sheep-skins and thin leather for bookbinder’s use. In 1819 he produced a superior article of patent leather. From 1831-’35 he manufactured malleable iron castings. He introduced the cast-iron prome or bed used in stationary steam-engines and substituted the straight axle in place of the crank in locomotives. His most important invention was the cut-off in place of the throttle valve and he connected the same with the governor. He also invented a “hat-body doming machine.”

 Keep upon the anvil ringing
 Stroke of hammer; on the gloom
 Set ‘twixt cradle and ‘twixt tomb
 Shower of fiery sparkles flinging;
 Keep the mighty furnace glowing;
 Keep the red ore hissing, flowing
 Swift within the ready mould;
 See that each one than the old
 Still be fitter still be fairer
 For the servant’s use, and rarer
 For the master to behold. —Work Away 1093 B. C.—Files were used in Judea.

 1093 B. C.—Files were used in Judea.

Lived about 370 B. C.

Greek astronomer. Pliny informed us that he determined the length of the year at 365 1/4 days. He is also said to have originated the doctrine of the concentric solid crystalline spheres, by which the apparent motions of the sun, the moon and the planets were explained. His works are not extant.

 What a solemn and striking admonition to youth
 is that inscribed on the dial at All Souls, Oxford-
 periunt et imputantur-the hours perish and are
 laid to our charge: for time, like life, can never be
 recalled. Melancthon noted down the time lost by
 him that he might reanimate his industry, and not
 lose an hour.

 —Samuel Smiles

 Every moment you now lose is so much character
 and advantage lost; as, on the other hand, every
 moment you now employ usefully, is so much time
 wisely laid out, at prodigious interest.

 —Lord Chesterfield

 The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his
 ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions. The
 time of the one is long, because he does not know
 what to do with it; so is that of the other, because
 he distinguishes every moment of it with useful or
 amusing thoughts; or, in other words, because the
 one is always wishing it away, and the other always
 enjoying it.

 —Addison