b. ? 1683 and d. October 17, 1756

French physicist; discoverer of the composition of China porcelain and inventor of the process of turning iron into steel and of extracting tin. He constructed a thermometer which maintains equal degrees of heat and cold, using what is called the Reaumur Scale. From 1708 till his death he was engaged in geometrical speculations; the strength of cordage; the development of the shells of testaceous animals; the coloring-matter of turquoise-gems; the manufacture of iron, steel, porcelain; artificial incubation; the imitating of the famous purple dye of the ancients; the graduation of thermometers; the reproduction of the claws of lobsters and crabs; the instincts and habits of insects.

Turn, turn, my wheel! What is begun
At daybreak must at dark be done,
To-morrow will be another day;
To-morrow the hot furnace flame
Will search the heart and try the frame,
And stamp with honor or with shame
These vessels made of clay.

—Kéramos: Longfellow

1490 B. C.—Crockery was made by the Egyptians and Greeks.

650 B. C.—Potters flourished in Corinth.

185 B. C.—Hard porcelain was invented by Sin-Ping of China.

b. ? 1790 and d. October 17, 1852

English inventor. In 1816 he patented a method of printing paper for paper hangings and other purposes. Its chief feature consisted in curving stereotype plates and fixing them on cylinders for printing long rolls of paper. In 1818 he made improvements and patented a better method of distribution of the ink and an improved manner of conveying the sheets from one cylinder to another. This was the origin of the “perfecting machine,” which prints on both sides of the paper at once. He did for the printing machine what Watt did for the steam engine.

Think! Oh, be machines no longer-
Like the windmills by the wood,
Think! ’twill make you fresher, stronger;
Link you to the great and good.

Thought exalts and lightens labor,
Thought forbids the soul to sink!
Self respect and love for neighbor,
Mark the men who work-and think!

—Work and Think: Theodore F. Seward

It is almost impossible to over-estimate the
importance of these inventions. The Greeks would
have elevated their authors among the gods; nor
will the enlightened judgment of modern times
deny them the place among their fellow-men which
is so undeniably their due.

—Edinburgh Review

b. October 16, 1803 and d. October 12, 1859

English engineer; inventor of the tubular bridge. He was engineer of the London & Birmingham Line, the first railway in London. He built the famous Menai Bridge, which was opened for traffic on March 5, 1850; also the great Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence at Montreal, begun in 1854 and completed in 1859, and two others in Egypt. He was buried in Westminster Abbey by the side of Telford. He built the great viaduct over the river Tweed, at Berwick. He is the author of “On the Locomotive Steam Engine” and “On the Atmospheric Railway System.”

Crowned with the culture of the centuries,
With honest mien and noble, manly pride,
He gazes fearless back across the Past,
Triumphant o’er the forces of the world.
Fired by wisdom’s sacred heritage,
Imbued with ardent trust and sanguine hope,
Strong driver of Progression’s potent plow
He presses onward certain of success-
Upon his brow serene intelligence
Reigns sovereign consort of integrity.

—The Maker’s Image: Albert C. Andrews

1850—First locomotive passed over Menai Bridge.

1855—Victoria Bridge was carried away.

1859—Victoria Railway Bridge was erected on tubular principle over St. Lawrence, Montreal.