b. June 10, 1777 and d. November 24, 1839

American engineer. In 1818-1824 he was an engineer of the Erie Canal; the first aqueduct at Rochester was designed and superintended by him; 1825-1829 he was engineer of the canal system of Ohio and chief engineer of the Louisville and Portland Canal; in 1829 he was chief engineer of the surveys and location of the Chenango Canal from Utica to Binghamton; in 1830 was commissioned to survey the Genesee Valley Canal and in 1834 made surveys for the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad in Michigan.

 Things of the noblest kind his genius drew,
 And look’d through nature at a single view;
 A loose he gave to his unbounded soul,
 And taught new lands to rise, new seas to roll;
 Call’d into being scenes unknown before,
 And, passing nature’s bounds, was something more.

—Rosciad: Churchill

 Suppose they did construct substantial works of
 masonry. The Cloaca maxima attests it. But what,
 think you, would a Roman engineer have said of
 putting a seven-mile bore, entirely through an
 Alpine barrier of solid rock, and of taking Pompey’s
 legions through it beneath the avalanche, from
 flank to flank, as quick as he could swallow a
 dish of Lucrine oysters?

 1808, February 4—Canals first acted upon in New York.

 1817—Construction of Erie Canal was begun.

b.November 24, 1834 and d. July 12, 1873

French inventor. In 1869 he devised an ammoniacal fireless engine for the propulsion of street cars. The motor has not been adopted in the United States but in France and Germany it is extensively used for street cars and vehicles. He patented another fireless engine in 1872 which is now in practical use; also a process for the manufacture of sponge gold, which product is used largely by dentists throughout the United States.

 The spirit of Palsey’s maxim, that “he alone
 discovers who proves,” is applicable to the history
 of inventions and discoveries; for certainly he
 alone invents to any good purpose who satisfies the
 world that the means he may have devised have been
 found competent to the end proposed.

 —Dr. Samuel Brown

 1791—John Barber patented his gas engine, using hydro-carbon gas.

 1794—Robert Street patented his explosive engine, using turpentine.

 1803—Sir George Cayley invented the first known air engine; in 1807 a hot-air engine.

 1825—Mr. Brown, of London, patented his pneumatic or gas-vacuum engine.

 1833—Ericsson obtained a patent for his caloric engine, and a subsequent patent for improvements was taken out in 1851 and another in 1856.

 1868, October—John Ericsson announced a device for obtaining motive power by condensing rays of sun.

b.November 23, 1616 and d. October 8, 1703

English mathematician and clergyman. He had consummate skill in the art of deciphering and was one of the first to give power of communication to the deaf and dumb. His mathematical works form three volumes; the principles of analogy and continuity were introduced by him into mathematical science. His interpretation of negative exponents and unrestricted employment of fractional exponents greatly widened the range of higher algebra. Finally he invented the symbol for infinity, ∞.

 Whoso with patient and inquiring mind
 Would seek the stream of science to ascend,
 Must count the cost, and never hope to find
 Rest to his feet, or to his wanderings end.
 The faithless road doth ever onward tend,
 And clouds and darkness are its utmost bound.
 The sacred fount no human eye hath kenn’d,
 Though many a wight, bequiled by sight or sound,
 ”Evpnxa!” may exclaim; “I-I the place have found.” —The Pursuit of Knowledge: John H. Merivale

John H. Merivale 1505—Scipio Ferro solved cubic equations of the form of x³ + mx = n.

 1541—Tartaglia discovered general solution of cubic equations.

 1545—Lodovico Ferrari solved equations of the fourth degree.

 1596-1650—Rene Descartes interpreted negative quantities and their systematic use.