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b. October 8, 1787 and January 28-29, 1847

French instrument maker. Designed and made a machine for graduating astronomical instruments and invented a repeating theodolite with two circles, the one vertical, the other horizontal; also a heliostat and a compass.

We see but half the causes of our deeds,
Seeking them wholly in the outer life,
And heedless of the encircling spirit-world,
Which, though unseen, is felt, and sows in us
All germs of pure and world-wide purposes.
From one stage of our being to the next
We pass unconscious o’er a slender bridge,
The momentary work of unseen hands,
Which crumbles down behind us; looking back,
We see the other shore, the gulf between,
And, marvelling how we won to where we stand,
Content ourselves to call the builder Chance.

—A Glance Behind the Curtain: Lowell

1600—David’s quadrant, or backstaff for measuring angles, was invented.

1602—The measuring-compass was invented by Jost Bing of Hesse.

1607—Rev. William Barlow invented the compass-box and hanging compass.

1609—Jakob Metius, a Dutch astronomer, was regarded by Descartes and others as the inventor of the refracting telescope. This invention was claimed for Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Jansen.

b. May ? 1643 and d. October 7, 1679

English physiologist and chemist. In his work “On Nitre and Nitro-Aerial Spirit” he originated some of the most important modern discoveries in pneumatic chemistry. He made the discovery of the double articulation of the ribs with the spine and put forward views with regard to the function of the internal intercostals which are still under discussion.

What fingers brace the tender nerves, the twisting fibres spin?
Who clothes in flesh the hardening loom, and weaves the silken skin!
Who taught the wandering tides of blood to leave the vital urn-
Visit each limb in purple streams, and faithfully return?
How know the nerves to hear the will, the heavy limbs to wield-
The tongue ten thousand tastes to tell, ten thousand accents yield?
How know the lungs to heave and pant, or how the fringed lid
To guard the tearful eye, or brush the sullied ball unbid?
How knows the eye to catch the view, and tell the senses round;
The delicate and winding ear to image every sound?

—Mechanism of Man

1816—Paris. Rene Theodore Hyacinthe Laennec invented the stethoscope, or “breast-explorer,” the principle of which is now termed “auscultation.”

1893, November 26—Dr. Dawburn, of the New York Polyclinic Hospital, made a successful operation on a patient with a fractured vertebra with the prospect of perfect recovery.