b. May 1, 1837 and d. April 17, 1901

Rensselaer Polytechnic, 1858

American mining engineer and writer on industrial topics. He worked for a time in a cable and wire rope manufactory in London, and became one of its superintendents. He devised some wire rope making machinery, which is in use at the present day. In 1873 he became editor of the “Engineering and Mining Journal,” which position he held until his death. He was the publisher of “The Mining Industry: Its Statistics, Technology, and Trade,” an annual encyclopedia, which he began in 1892 and received a gold medal at the Paris Exposition of 1898. He founded the American Institute of Mining Engineers at Wilkesbarre, Penn., in 1871, and in 1882 became its president.

For many barren ages earth hid her treasures deep,
And all her giant forces seemed bound as in a sleep;
Then Labor’s “anvil chorus” broke on the startled air,
And lo! the earth in rapture laid all her riches bare.
‘Tis toil that over nature gives man his proud control,
And purifies and hallows the temple of his soul:
It scatters foul diseases with all their ghastly train,
Puts iron in the muscle, and crystal in the brain.

—Honor to Workmen: H. Clay Preuss

1340—Wire-drawing was invented by Rudolph at Nuremberg, Bavaria.

Only $ 34.00

b. July 5, 1805 and d. April 30, 1865

English meteorologist; gave to the world one of the most valuable systems of weather prognostics ever conceived. He published “Remarks on New Zealand” (1846), and “Sailing Directions for South America” (1848).

It is a good divine that follows his
Own instructions; I can easier teach twenty
What were good to be done, than be one
Of the twenty to follow mine own teaching;
The brain may devise laws for the blood; but
A hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree.

—The Merchants of Venice: Shakespeare

The Western World’s true child and nursling he
Equipt with aptitudes enough for three:
No eye like his to value horse or cow,
Or gauge the contents of a stack or mow;
He could foretell the weather at a word.

—Fitz Adam’s Story: Lowell

1643—Viviani performed the Torricellian experiment, showing the height of a column of mercury sustained by the weight of the atmosphere, which was explained by Torricelli.

1868, July 27—The nephoscope, an apparatus for measuring the velocity of clouds, invented by Karl Braun, was reported to the Academy of Sciences.

1870—United States meteorological service established.

1872, Nov.—Discovery of an atmospheric wave eovering nearly the entire territory between the two great oceans, was reported by Chief of Signal Service.