b. August 26, 1814 and d. ?

American inventor. He was educated at the public schools and became noted as an apiarist. He also turned his attention to inventing and in 1856 he devised the steam-calliope which is used on Mississippi steamers. He also invented the Stoddard horse-rake and hay-tedder. More than 100,000 of his rakes are now in use.

The fruitful herbage now invites the scythe-
In eager contest strive the swains all blythe,
Who works the fastest, or who cuts more deep,-
The waving sward yields to the mower’s sweep.

A plenteous crop in even rows laid down-
Off goes the jacket-off the homespun gown:
Each one following in a single file,
Some turn the herbage, some the hay-cocks pile;
Till faint, beneath the shade a timely rest,
And healthy meal, renew for work the zest;
Nor mem’ry e’er can touch a livelier strain
Than that which rustless carol o’er the plain.

1871—Hector A. Holmes invented a twine grain binder.

1878, August 6—McCormick’s automatic self-binding grain harvester took gold medal at Royal Agricultural Society’s competitive test.

1892—Deering first introduced roller and ball bearing in harvesting machinery.

b. August 26, 1800 and d. December 6, 1872

French naturalist and physiologist. He acquired distinction by his numerous works, and to him belongs the honor of having formulated the fundamental laws of fecundation among the mammifera. His experiments on spontaneous generation, in opposition to those of Pasteur, had great celebrity. He was the director of the Museum of Natural History at Rouen, and in 1867 published “The Universe.”

Every act of the man inscribes itself in the
memories of his fellows, and in his own manners and
face. The air is full of sounds, the sky of tokens;
the ground is all memoranda and signatures, and
every object covered over with hints, which speak to
the intelligent.

—Representative Men: Emerson

Observe the rising Lily’s snowy grace,
Observe the various vegetable race,
They neither toil nor spin, but careless grow,
Yet see how warm they blush! how bright they glow!
What regal vestments can with them compare,
What kind so shiny, what queen so fair?

The petal, stamen, and the pistil trace
Of common blossoms and of unknown race;
The first well pleased you mark with grateful sight,
And view the last with hope’s bewitching light,
What sudden pleasure when some object rare,
Confined peculiar to one soil and air,
More precious far from expectation grown,
By some blessed turn upon the sight is thrown.

—Delille

b. ? 1744 and d. August 25, 1799

English horologer and inventor; one who made great improvements in the chronometer. He was patronized by George III. Among his improvements are the detached escapement, the expansion balance and the cylindrical balance spring.

Integrity was the “Main-spring,”
And Prudence the “Regulator” of all the
Actions of his life,
Humane, generous, and liberal,
His “Hand” never stopped
Till he had relieved distress.
So sincerely “regulated” were all his movements,
That he never “went wrong,”
Except when “set agoing” by People
Who did not know “His Key.”

—A Watchmaker’s Epitaph

158 B. C.—Scipio Nasica invented water-clocks, by means of which day and night were first divided at Rome.

140 B. C.—Ctesiblus invented the water-clock called clepsydra which contaiend toothed wheels.

760—The only clock in the world (so far as now known) was sent to Pepin by Pope Paul I.

802—Charlemagne was presented with a striking clock by Harun-al-Raschid the (famous) calif of Bagdad.

1000—The application of escapement to clocks was devised by Gerbert (Pope Sylvester II.).

1658—Pocket watches were first made.