IFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF Tl 
 
 O 
 
 | 
 
 , 
 
 I 
 
 LIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF T 
 
 3Z 
 
i m 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRA 
 
 |>EEE^& 
 
 = <o 
 
 MSI 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRA 
 
1NIA 
 
 NIA 
 
THE SEVEN FOLLIES 
 OF SCIENCE 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED A SMALL BUDGET OF INTERESTING PARADOXES, 
 ILLUSIONS, MARVELS, AND POPULAR FALLACIES. 
 
 A 
 POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE MOST FAMOUS 
 
 SCIENTIFIC IMPOSSIBILITIES 
 
 AND THE ATTEMPTS WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE TO SOLVE THEM. 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN PHIN 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE EVOLUTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE " : " How TO USE THE MIC .o- 
 
 SCOPE " ; " THE WORKSHOP COMPANION " ; " THE SHAKESPEARE CYCLOPEDIA " ; 
 
 EDITOR MARQUIS OP WORCESTER'S " CENTURY OF INVENTIONS," ETC. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, GREATLY ENLARGED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY 
 
 23 MURRAY AND 27 WARREN STREETS 
 191 I 
 
COPYRIGHT 1906, IQII, BY 
 D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN the following pages I have endeavored to give a sim- 
 ple account of problems which have occupied the attention 
 of the human mind ever since the dawn of civilization, and 
 which can never lose their interest until time shall be no 
 more. While to most persons these subjects will have but 
 an historical interest, yet even from this point of view they 
 are of more value than the history of empires, for they are 
 the intellectual battlefields upon which much of our prog- 
 ress in science has been won. To a few, however, some of 
 them may be of actual practical importance, for although 
 the schoolmaster has been abroad for these many years, it 
 is an unfortunate fact that the circle-squarer and the per- 
 petual-motion-seeker have not ceased out of the land. 
 
 In these days of almost miraculous progress it is difficult 
 to realize that there may be such a thing as a scientific im- 
 possibility. I have therefore endeavored to point out 
 where the line must be drawn, and by way of illustration 
 I have added a few curious paradoxes and marvels, some 
 of which show apparent contradictions to known laws of 
 nature, but which are all simply and easily explained when 
 we understand the fundamental principles which govern each 
 case. 
 
 In presenting the various subjects which are here dis- 
 cussed, I have endeavored to use the- simplest language 
 and to avoid entirely the use of mathematical formulae, for 
 
 223166 
 
iv PREFACE 
 
 I know by large experience that these are the bugbear of 
 the ordinary reader, for whom this volume is specially in- 
 tended. Therefore I have endeavored to state everything 
 in such a simple manner that any one with a mere common 
 school education can understand it. This, I trust, will ex- 
 plain the absence of everything which requires the use of 
 anything higher than the simple rules of arithmetic and the 
 most elementary propositions of geometry. And even this 
 I have found to be enough for many lawyers, physicians, 
 and clergymen who, in the ardent pursuit of their profes- 
 sions, have forgotten much that they learned at college. 
 And as I hope to find many readers amongst intelligent 
 mechanics, I have in some cases suggested mechanical 
 proofs which any expert handler of tools can easily carry 
 out. 
 
 As a matter of course, very little originality is claimed 
 for anything in the book, the only points that are new 
 being a few illustrations of well-known principles, some of 
 which had already appeared in "The Young Scientist " and 
 " Self-education for Mechanics." Whenever the exact 
 words of an author have been used, credit has always 
 been given ; but in regard to general statements and ideas, 
 I must rest content with naming the books from which I 
 have derived the greatest assistance. Ozanam's "Recrea- 
 tions in Science and Natural Philosophy," in the editions 
 of Hutton (1803) and Riddle (1854), has been a storehouse 
 of matter. Much has been gleaned from the " Budget of 
 Paradoxes " by Professor De Morgan and also from Profes- 
 sor W. W. R. Ball's " Mathematical Recreations and Prob- 
 lems." Those who wish to inform themselves in regard to 
 what has been done by the perpetual -motion-mongers must 
 consult Mr. Dirck's two volumes entitled "Perpetuum 
 
PREFACE V 
 
 Mobile " and I have made free use of his labors. To these 
 and one or two others I acknowledge unlimited credit. 
 
 Some of the marvels which are here described, although 
 very old, are not generally known, and as they are easily 
 put in practice they may afford a pleasant hour's amusement 
 to the reader and his friends. 
 
 JOHN PHIN 
 
 Paterson, N.J.,July, 
 
 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION 
 
 THE notable favor with which the first edition of this 
 work has been received has encouraged the author to en- 
 large it by the addition of some new problems and the 
 discussion of an entirely new department of popular mis- 
 conception and error. The numerous personal letters which 
 he has received convince him that a book which gave a 
 simple and popular view of the old so-called " scientific 
 impossibilities " was needed, for very many of those who 
 had heard of the problems discussed in these pages had the 
 most erroneous ideas as to their real nature, although the 
 principles involved in most of them are the foundation of 
 almost all our scientific knowledge. 
 
 And so the author hopes that the subjects which have 
 been added to this edition will be as useful and as inter- 
 esting as those already presented. 
 
 JOHN PHIN 
 
 Paterson, N.J., March 2O, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE PAGE 
 
 Introductory Note i 
 
 I Squaring the Circle 9 
 
 II The Duplication of the Cube 30 
 
 III The Trisection of an Angle 33 
 
 IV Perpetual Motion 36 
 
 V The Transmutation of Metals Alchemy 79 
 
 VI The Fixation of Mercury 92 
 
 VII The Universal Medicine and the Elixir of Life .... 95 
 
 ADDITIONAL FOLLIES 
 
 Perpetual or Ever-burning Lamps 100 
 
 The Alkahest or Universal Solvent 104 
 
 Palingenesy 106 
 
 The Powder of Sympathy in 
 
 A SMALL BUDGET OF PARADOXES, ILLUSIONS, AND MARVELS 
 (WITH APOLOGIES TO PROFESSOR DE MORGAN) 
 
 The Fourth Dimension 117 
 
 How a Space may be apparently Enlarged by merely chang- 
 ing its Shape 126 
 
 Can a Man Lift Himself by the Straps of his Boots? .... 128 
 
 How a Spider Lifted a Snake 130 
 
 How the Shadow may be made to move backward on the Sun- 
 dial 133 
 
 How a Watch may be used as a Compass 134 
 
 Micrography or Minute Writing. Writing so fine that the 
 whole Bible, if written in characters of the same size, 
 might be inscribed twenty-two times on a square inch . . 136 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Illusions of the Senses 149 
 
 Taste and Smell . . . 150 
 
 Sense of Heat 150 
 
 Sense of Hearing 150 
 
 Sense of Touch One Thing Appearing as Two 151 
 
 How Objects may be apparently Seen through a Hole in the 
 
 Hand 156 
 
 How to See (apparently) through a Solid Brick 158 
 
 CURIOUS ARITHMETICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The Chess-board Problem 163 
 
 The Nail Problem 164 
 
 A Question of Population 165 
 
 How to Become a Millionaire 166 
 
 The Actual Cost and Present Value of the First Folio Shake- 
 speare 168 
 
 Arithmetical Puzzles 170 
 
 Archimedes and His Fulcrum 171 
 
 An Interesting Egg Problem 173 
 
 Popular Fallacies and Common Errors 175 
 
 That most Great Discoveries were made by Accident 179 
 
 That the Idea of the Steam-engine was suggested by a Tea-kettle. 182 
 
 That Whetstones are Oiled to Lessen Friction 185 
 
 That Lightning never strikes Twice in Same Place 187 
 
 That the First Fire came from Branches of Trees moved by the 
 
 Wind 189 
 
 That Volcanoes are Burning Mountains 190 
 
 That the Force of Dynamite is always Exerted Downwards . . 192 
 
 That the Art of Hardening Copper is Lost 194 
 
 That Steam can be Seen 196 
 
 That Hannibal used Vinegar to cut a Way over the Alps . . . 197 
 
 That Large Lenses are the Most Powerful 197 
 
 That Serpents have Stings in their Tails 199 
 
 That the Forked Tongue of the Snake is a Weapon of Offense . 200 
 
 That a Horsehair placed in Water turns to a Snake 201 
 
 That Hairs are Tubes 203 
 
 That Worms shall eat Us after We are Dead 204 
 
 That a Decaying Dead Carcass Breeds Worms 207 
 
 That Small Flies are the Young of Large Flies 208 
 
 That Dragon Flies Sting 209 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 That Powdered Glass is a Poison 211 
 
 That a Man Becomes of Age on His Twenty-first Birthday . . 211 
 
 That " The Exception Proves the Rule " 213 
 
 That Cinderella's Slipper was of Glass 214 
 
 That Glass is Very Hard 215 
 
 That Frankenstein was a Monster 216 
 
 Words which convey Erroneous Ideas 219 
 
 Knowledge is Power 225 
 
THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF 
 SCIENCE 
 
 HE difficult, the dangerous, and the impossible have 
 always had a strange fascination for the human 
 mind. We see this every day in the acts of boys 
 who risk life and limb in the performance of 
 useless but dangerous feats, and amongst children of larger 
 growth we find loop-the-loopers, bridge-jumpers, and all 
 sorts of venture-seekers to whom much of the attraction 
 of these performances is undoubtedly the mere risk that is 
 involved, although, perhaps, to some extent, notoriety and 
 money-making may contribute their share. Many of our 
 readers will doubtless remember the words of James Fitz- 
 James, in " The Lady of the Lake " : 
 
 Or, if a path be dangerous known 
 The danger's self is lure alone. 
 
 And in commenting on the old-time game laws of England, 
 Froude, the historian, says : " Although the old forest 
 laws were terrible, they served only to enhance the excite- 
 ment by danger." 
 
 That which is true of physical dangers holds equally true 
 in regard to intellectual difficulties. Professor De Mor- 
 gan tells us, in his "Budget of Paradoxes," that he once 
 gave a lecture on " Squaring the Circle " and that a 
 gentleman who was introduced to it by what he said, re- 
 marked loud enough to be heard by all around : " Only 
 
OF SCIENCE 
 
 prove to me that it is impossible and I will set about it 
 this very evening." 
 
 Therefore it is not to be wondered at that certain very 
 difficult, or perhaps impossible problems have in all ages 
 had a powerful fascination for certain minds. In that 
 curious olla podrida of fact and fiction, "The Curiosities 
 of Literature," DTsraeli gives a list of six of these prob- 
 lems, which he calls "The Six Follies of Science." I do 
 not know whether the phrase " Follies of Science " origi- 
 nated with him or not, but he enumerates the Quadrature 
 of the Circle ; the Duplication, or, as he calls it, the 
 Multiplication of the Cube ; the Perpetual Motion ; the 
 Philosophical Stone ; Magic, and Judicial Astrology, as 
 those known to him. This list, however, has no classical 
 standing such as pertains to the " Seven Wonders of the 
 World," the " Seven Wise Men of Greece," the " Seven 
 Champions of Christendom," and others. There are some 
 well-known follies that are omitted, while some authorities 
 would peremptorily reject Magic and Judicial Astrology as 
 being attempts at fraud rather than earnest efforts to dis- 
 cover and utilize the secrets of nature. The generally 
 accepted list is as follows : 
 
 1. The Quadrature of the Circle or, as it is called in 
 
 the vernacular, " Squaring the Circle." 
 
 2. The Duplication of the Cube. 
 
 3. The Trisection of an Angle. 
 
 4. Perpetual Motion. 
 
 5. The Transmutation of the Metals. 
 
 6. The Fixation of Mercury. 
 
 7. The Elixir of Life. 
 
 The Transmutation of the Metals, the Fixation of Mer- 
 cury, and the Elixir of Life might perhaps be properly 
 
THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 3 
 
 classed as one, under the head of the Philosopher's Stone, 
 and then Astrology and Magic might come in to make up 
 the mystic number Seven. 
 
 The expression " Follies of Science " does not seem a 
 very appropriate one. Real science has no follies. Neither 
 can these vain attempts be called scientific follies because 
 their very essence is that they are unscientific. Each one 
 is really a veritable " Will-o' -the- Wisp " for unscientific 
 thinkers, and there are many more of them than those that 
 we have here named. But the expression has been adopted 
 in literature and it is just as well to accept it. Those on 
 the list that we have given are the ones that have become 
 famous in history and they still engage the attention of a 
 certain class of minds. It is only a few months since a 
 man who claims to be a professional architect and techni- 
 cal writer put forth an alleged method of "squaring the 
 circle," which he claims to be " exact " ; and the results of 
 an attempt to make liquid air a pathway to perpetual 
 motion are still in evidence, as a minus quantity, in the 
 pockets of many who believed that all things are pos- 
 sible to modern science. And indeed it is this false idea 
 of the possibility of the impossible that leads astray the 
 followers of these false lights. Inventive science has 
 accomplished so much many of her achievements being 
 so astounding that they would certainly have seemed 
 miracles to the most intelligent men of a few generations 
 ago that the ordinary mind cannot see the difference be- 
 tween unknown possibilities and those things which well- 
 established science pronounces to be impossible, because 
 they contradict fundamental laws which are thoroughly 
 established and well understood. 
 
 Thus any one who would claim that he could make a 
 
4 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 plane triangle in which the three angles would measure 
 more than two right angles, would show by this very claim 
 that he was entirely ignorant of the first principles of 
 geometry. The same would be true of the man who 
 would claim that he could give, in exact figures, the diag- 
 onal of a square of which the side is exactly one foot or 
 one yard, and it is also true of the man who claims that 
 he can give the exact area of a circle of which either the 
 circumference or the diameter is known with precision. 
 That they cannot both be known exactly is very well 
 understood by all who have studied the subject, but that 
 the area, the circumference, and the diameter of a circle 
 may all be known with an exactitude which is far in 
 excess of anything of which the human mind can form 
 the least conception, is quite true, as we shall show when 
 we come to consider the subject in its proper place. 
 
 These problems are not only interesting historically 
 but they are valuable as illustrating the vagaries of the 
 human mind and the difficulties with which the early in- 
 vestigators had to contend. They also show us the bar- 
 riers over which we cannot pass, and they enforce the 
 immutable character of the natural laws which govern 
 the world around us. We hear much of the progress of 
 science and of the changes which this progress has 
 brought about, but these changes never affect the funda- 
 mental facts and principles upon which all true science is 
 based. Theories and explanations and even practical 
 applications change or pass away, so that we know them 
 no more, but nature remains the same throughout the 
 ages. No new theory of electricity can ever take away 
 from the voltaic battery its power, or change it in any 
 respect, and no new discovery in regard to the constitution 
 
THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 5 
 
 of matter can ever lessen the eagerness with which carbon 
 and oxygen combine together. Every little while we 
 hear of some discovery that is going to upset all our pre- 
 conceived notions and entirely change those laws which 
 long experience has proved to be invariable, but in 
 every case these alleged discoveries have turned out to 
 be fallacies. For example, the wonderful properties of 
 radium have led some enthusiasts to adopt the idea 
 that many of our old notions about the conservation of 
 energy must be abandoned, but when all the facts are 
 carefully examined it is found that there is no rational 
 basis for such views. Upon this point Sir Oliver Lodge 
 says : 
 
 " There is absolutely no ground for the popular and gra- 
 tuitous surmise that radium emits energy without loss or 
 waste of any kind, and that it is competent to go on for- 
 ever. The idea, at one time irresponsibly mooted, that it 
 contradicted the principle of the conservation of energy, 
 and was troubling physicists with the idea that they must 
 overhaul their theories a thing which they ought always 
 to be delighted to do on good evidence this idea was a 
 gratuitous absurdity, and never had the slightest founda- 
 tion. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that radium 
 and the other like substances are drawing upon their own 
 stores of internal atomic energy, and thereby gradually dis- 
 integrating and falling into other and ultimately more stable 
 forms of matter." 
 
 One would naturally suppose that the extensive diffusion 
 of sound scientific knowledge which has taken place during 
 the century just past, would have placed these problems 
 amongst the lumber of past ages ; but it seems that some 
 of them, particularly the squaring of the circle and per- 
 petual motion, still occupy considerable space in the atten- 
 tion of the world, and even the futile chase after the 
 
6 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 "Elixir of Life" has not been entirely abandoned. In- 
 deed certain professors who occupy prominent official po- 
 sitions, assert that they have made great progress towards 
 its attainment. In view of such facts one is almost driven 
 to accept the humorous explanation which De Morgan has 
 offered and which he bases on an old legend relating to the 
 famous wizard, Michael Scott. The generally accepted 
 tradition, as related by Sir Walter Scott in his notes to 
 the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," is as follows : 
 
 " Michael Scott was, once upon a time, much embar- 
 rassed by a spirit for whom he was under the necessity of 
 finding constant employment. He commanded him to 
 build a 'cauld,' or dam head across the Tweed at Kelso ; 
 it was accomplished in one night, and still does honor to 
 the infernal architect. Michael next ordered that Eildon 
 Hill, which was then a uniform cone, should be divided 
 into three. Another night was sufficient to part its summit 
 into the three picturesque peaks which it now bears. At 
 length the enchanter conquered this indefatigable demon, 
 by employing him in the hopeless task of making ropes out 
 of sea-sand." 
 
 Whereupon De Morgan offers the following exceedingly 
 interesting continuation of the legend : 
 
 " The recorded story is that Michael Scott, being bound 
 by contract to procure perpetual employment for a num- 
 ber of young demons, was worried out of his life in invent- 
 ing jobs for them, until at last he set them to make ropes 
 out of sea-sand, which they never could do. We have 
 obtained a very curious correspondence between the wizard 
 Michael and his demon slaves ; but we do not feel at liberty 
 to say how it came into our hands. We much regret that 
 we did not receive it in time for the British Association. 
 It appears that the story, true as far as it goes, was never 
 finished. The demons easily conquered the rope difficulty, 
 by the simple process of making the sand into glass, and 
 
THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 7 
 
 spinning the glass into thread which they twisted. Michael, 
 thoroughly disconcerted, hit upon the plan of setting some 
 to square the circle, others to find the perpetual motion, 
 etc. He commanded each of them to transmigrate from 
 one human body into another, until their tasks were done. 
 This explains the whole succession of cyclometers and all 
 the heroes of the Budget. Some of this correspondence is 
 very recent; it is much blotted, and we are not quite sure 
 of its meaning. It is full of figurative allusions to driving 
 something illegible down a steep into the sea. It looks 
 like a humble petition to be allowed some diversion in the 
 intervals of transmigration; and the answer is: 
 
 " 'Rumpat et serpens iter institutum' 
 
 a line of Horace, which the demons interpret as a direction 
 to come athwart the proceedings of the Institute by a sly 
 trick." 
 
 And really those who have followed carefully the history 
 of the men who have claimed that they had solved these 
 famous problems, will be almost inclined to accept De 
 Morgan's ingenious explanation as something more than a 
 mere " skit." The whole history of the philosopher's stone, 
 of machines and contrivances for obtaining perpetual motion, 
 and of circle-squaring, is permeated with accounts of the 
 most gross and obvious frauds. That ignorance played an 
 important part in the conduct of many who have put forth 
 schemes based upon these pretended solutions is no doubt 
 true, but that a deliberate attempt at absolute fraud was the 
 mainspring in many cases cannot be denied. Like Dou- 
 sterswivel in "The Antiquary," many of the men who ad- 
 vocated these delusions may have had a sneaking suspicion 
 that there might be some truth in the doctrines which they 
 promulgated ; but most of them knew that their particular 
 claims were groundless, and that they were put forward for 
 the purpose of deceiving some confiding patron from whom 
 
8 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 they expected either money or the credit and glory of having 
 done that which had been hitherto considered impossible. 
 
 Some of the questions here discussed have been called 
 " scientific impossibilities " an epithet which many have 
 considered entirely inapplicable to any problem, on the 
 ground that all things are possible to science. And in 
 view of the wonderful things that have been accomplished 
 in the past, some of my readers may well ask : "Who shall 
 decide when doctors disagree ? " 
 
 Perhaps the best answer to this question is that given by 
 Ozanam, the old historian of these and many other scientific 
 puzzles. He claimed that " it was the business of the 
 Doctors of the Sorbonne to discuss, of the Pope to decide, 
 and of a mathematician to go straight to heaven in a per- 
 pendicular line! " 
 
 In this connection the words of De Morgan have a deep 
 significance. Alluding to the difficulty of preventing men 
 of no authority from setting up false pretensions and the 
 impossibility of destroying the assertions of fancy specula- 
 tion, he says : " Many an error of thought and learning has 
 fallen before a gradual growth of thoughtful and learned 
 opposition. But such things as the quadrature of the circle, 
 etc., are never put down. And why ? Because thought 
 can influence thought, but thought cannot influence self- 
 conceit ; learning can annihilate learning ; but learning 
 cannot annihilate ignorance. A sword may cut through an 
 iron bar, and the severed ends will not reunite ; let it go 
 through the air, and the yielding substance is whole again 
 in a moment." 
 
I. 
 
 SQUARING THE CIRCLE 
 
 NDOUBTEDLY one of the reasons why this 
 problem has received so much attention from 
 those whose minds certainly have no special lean- 
 ing towards mathematics, lies in the fact that 
 there is a general impression abroad that the governments 
 of Great Britain and France have offered large rewards for 
 its solution. De Morgan tells of a Jesuit who came all the 
 way from South America, bringing with him a quadrature 
 of the circle and a newspaper cutting announcing that a 
 reward was ready for the discovery in England. As a 
 matter of fact his method of solving the problem was 
 worthless, and even if it had been valuable, there would 
 have been no reward. 
 
 Another case was that of an agricultural laborer who 
 spent his hard-earned savings on a journey to London, car- 
 rying with him an alleged solution of the problem, and who 
 demanded from the Lord Chancellor the sum of one hun- 
 dred thousand pounds, which he claimed to be the amount 
 of the reward offered and which he desired should be 
 handed over forthwith. When he failed to get the money 
 he and his friends were highly indignant and insisted that 
 the influence of the clergy had deprived the poor man of 
 his just deserts ! 
 
 And it is related that in the year 1788, one of these de- 
 luded individuals, a M. de Vausenville, actually brought an 
 
 9 
 
10 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 action against the French Academy of Sciences to recover 
 a reward to which he felt himself entitled. It ought to be 
 needless to say that there never was a reward offered 
 for the solution of this or any other of the problems which 
 are discussed in this volume. Upon this point De Mor- 
 gan has the following remarks : 
 
 " Montucla says, speaking of France, that he finds three 
 notions prevalent among the cyclometers [or circle-squar- 
 ers]: i. That there is a large reward offered for success; 
 
 2. That the longitude problem depends on that success; 
 
 3. That the solution is the great end and object of geometry. 
 The same three notions are equally prevalent among the 
 same class in England. No reward has ever been offered 
 by the government of either country. The longitude 
 problem in no way depends upon perfect solution; existing 
 approximations are sufficient to a point of accuracy far 
 beyond what can be wanted. And geometry, content with 
 what exists, has long pressed on to other matters. Some- 
 times a cyclometer persuades a skipper, who has made land 
 in the wrong place, that the astronomers are in fault for 
 using a wrong measure of the circle ; and the skipper thinks 
 it a very comfortable solution! And this is the utmost 
 that the problem ever has to do with longitude." 
 
 In the year 1775 the Royal Academy of Sciences of 
 Paris passed a resolution not to entertain communications 
 which claimed to give solutions of any of the following 
 problems : The duplication of the cube, the trisection of 
 an angle, the quadrature of a circle, or any machine an- 
 nounced as showing perpetual motion. And we have 
 heard that the Royal Society of London passed similar 
 resolutions, but of course in the case of neither society did 
 these resolutions exclude legitimate mathematical investi- 
 gations the famous computations of Mr. Shanks, to 
 which we shall have occasion to refer hereafter, were sub- 
 mitted to the Royal Society of London and published in 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE II 
 
 their Transactions. Attempts to " square the circle," 
 when made intelligently, were not only commendable but 
 have been productive of the most valuable results. At the 
 same time there is no problem, with the possible exception 
 of that of perpetual motion, that has caused more waste of 
 time and effort on the part of those who have attempted 
 its solution, and who have in almost all cases been ignorant 
 both of the nature of the problem and of the results which 
 have been already attained. From Archimedes down 
 to the present time some of the ablest mathemati- 
 cians have occupied themselves with the quadrature, or, 
 as it is called in common language, "the squaring of the 
 circle " ; but these men are not to be placed in the same 
 class with those to whom the term " circle-squarers " is 
 generally applied. 
 
 As already noted, the great difficulty with most circle- 
 squarers is that they are ignorant both of the nature of 
 the problem to be solved and of the results which have 
 been already attained. Sometimes we see it explained as 
 the drawing of a square inside a circle and at other times 
 as the drawing of a square around a circle, but both these 
 problems are amongst the very simplest in practical geo- 
 metry, the solutions being given in the sixth and seventh 
 propositions of the Fourth Book of Euclid. Other defini- 
 tions have been given, some of them quite absurd. Thus 
 in France, in 1753, M. de Causans, of the Guards, cut a 
 circular piece of turf, squared it, and from the result de- 
 duced original sin and the Trinity. He found out that the 
 circle was equal to the square in which it is inscribed, and 
 he offered a reward for the detection of any error, and ac- 
 tually deposited 10,000 francs as earnest of 300,000. But 
 the courts would not allow any one to recover. 
 
12 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 In the last number of the Athenaeum for 1855 a corres- 
 pondent says " the thing is no longer a problem but an 
 axiom." He makes the square equal to a circle by making 
 each side equal to a quarter of the circumference. As De 
 Morgan says, he does not know that the area of the circle 
 is greater than that of any other figure of the same cir- 
 cuit. 
 
 Such ideas are evidently akin to the poetic notion of the 
 quadrature. Aristophanes, in the "Birds," introduces a 
 geometer, who announces his intention to make a square 
 circle. And Pope in the "Dunciad" delivers himself as 
 follows : 
 
 Mad Mathesis alone was unconfined, 
 Too mad for mere material chains to bind, 
 Now to pure space lifts her ecstatic stare, 
 Now, running round the circle, finds it square. 
 
 The author's note explains that this "regards the wild 
 and fruitless attempts of squaring the circle." The poetic 
 idea seems to be that the geometers try to make a square 
 circle. 
 
 As stated by all recognized authorities, the problem is 
 this : To describe a square which shall be exactly equal in 
 area to a given circle. 
 
 The solution of this problem may be given in two ways : 
 
 (1) the arithmetical method, by which the area of a circle 
 is found and expressed numerically in square measure, and 
 
 (2) the geometrical quadrature, by which a square, equal in 
 area to a given circle, is described by means of rule and 
 compasses alone. 
 
 Of course, if we know the area of the circle, it is 
 easy to find the side of a square of equal area ; this can be 
 done by simply extracting the square root of the area, pro- 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE 13 
 
 vided the number is one of which it is possible to extract 
 the square root. Thus, if we have a circle which contains 
 100 square feet, a square with sides of 10 feet would be 
 exactly equal to it. But the ascertaining of the area of the 
 circle is the very point where the difficulty comes in ; the 
 dimensions of circles are usually stated in the lengths of 
 the diameters, and when this is the case, the problem re- 
 solves itself into another, which is : To find the area of a 
 circle when the diameter is given. 
 
 Now Archimedes proved that the area of any circle is 
 equal to that of a triangle whose base has the same 
 length as the circumference and whose altitude or height 
 is equal to the radius. Therefore if we can find the length 
 of the circumference when the diameter is given, we are in 
 possession of all the points needed to enable us to " square 
 the circle." 
 
 In this form the problem is known to mathematicians as 
 that of the rectification of the curve. 
 
 In a practical form this problem must have presented 
 itself to intelligent workmen at a very early stage in the 
 progress of operative mechanics. Architects, builders, 
 blacksmiths, and the makers of chariot wheels and vessels 
 of various kinds must have had occasion to compare the 
 diameters and circumferences of round articles. Thus 
 in I Kings, vii, 23, it is said of Hiram of Tyre that "he 
 made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the 
 other; it was round all about * * * and a line of 
 thirty cubits did compass it round about," from which it 
 has been inferred that among the Jews, at that time, the 
 accepted ratio was 3 to I, and perhaps, with the crude 
 measuring instruments of that age, this was as near as could 
 be expected. And this ratio seems to have been accepted 
 
14 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 by the Babylonians, the Chinese, and probably also by the 
 Greeks, in the earliest times. At the same time we must 
 not forget that these statements in regard to the ratio 
 come to us through historians and prophets, and may not 
 have been the figures used by trained mechanics. An 
 error of one foot in a hoop made to go round a tub or cis- 
 tern of seven feet in diameter, would hardly be tolerated 
 even in an apprentice. 
 
 The Egyptians seem to have reached a closer approxima- 
 tion, for from a calculation in the Rhind papyrus, the ratio of 
 3. 1 6 to i seems to have been at one time in use. It is prob- 
 able, however, that in these early times the ratio accepted 
 by mechanics in general was determined by actual meas- 
 urement, and this, as we shall see hereafter, is quite 
 capable of giving results accurate to the second fractional 
 place, even with very common apparatus. 
 
 To Archimedes, however, is generally accorded the 
 credit of the first attempt to solve the problem in a 
 scientific manner ; he took the circumference of the circle 
 as intermediate between the perimeters of the inscribed 
 and the circumscribed polygons, and reached the conclusion 
 that the ratio lay between 3^ and 3}^, or between 3.1428 
 and 3.1408. 
 
 This ratio, in its more accurate form of 3.141592 . . is 
 now known by the Greek letter TT (pronounced like the 
 common word pie), a symbol which was introduced by 
 Euler, between 1737 and 1748, and which is now adopted 
 all over the world. I have, however, used the term ratio, 
 or value of the ratio instead, throughout this chapter, as 
 probably being more familiar to my readers. 
 
 Professor Muir justly says of this achievement of 
 Archimedes, that it is " a most notable piece of work ; the 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE 15 
 
 immature condition of arithmetic, at the time, was the only 
 real obstacle preventing the evaluation of the ratio to any 
 degree of accuracy whatever." 
 
 And when we remember that neither the numerals now 
 in use nor the Arabic numerals, as they are usually called, 
 nor any system equivalent to our decimal system, was 
 known to these early mathematicians, such a calculation 
 as that made by Archimedes was a wonderful feat. 
 
 If any of my readers, who are familiar with the Hebrew 
 or Greek numbers, and the mode of representing them by 
 letters, will try to do any of those more elaborate sums 
 which, when worked out by modern methods, are mere 
 child's play in the hands of any of the bright scholars in 
 our common schools, they will fully appreciate the diffi- 
 culties under which Archimedes labored. 
 
 Or, if ignorant of Greek and Hebrew, let them try it 
 with the Roman numerals, and multiply XCVIII by 
 MDLVII, without using Arabic or common numerals. 
 Professor McArthur, in his article on " Arithmetic " in the 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica, makes the following statement 
 on this point : 
 
 " The methods that preceded the adoption of the Arabic 
 numerals were all comparatively unwieldy, and very simple 
 processes involved great labor. The notation of the Ro- 
 mans, in particular, could adapt itself so ill to arithmetical 
 operations, that nearly all their calculations had to be 
 made by the abacus. One of the best and most manage- 
 able of the ancient systems is the Greek, though that, too, 
 is very clumsy." 
 
 After Archimedes, the most notable result was that 
 given by Ptolemy, in the " Great Syntaxis." He made 
 the ratio 3.141552, which was a very close approximation. 
 
 For several centuries there was little progress towards 
 
16 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 a more accurate determination of the ratio. Among the 
 Hindoos, as early as the sixth century, the now well-known 
 value, 3.1416, had been obtained by Arya-Bhata, and a 
 little later another of their mathematicians came to the 
 conclusion that the square root of 10 was the true value 
 of the ratio. He was led to this by calculating the perim- 
 eters of the successive inscribed polygons of 12, 24, 48, 
 and 96 sides, and finding that the greater the number of 
 sides the nearer the perimeter of the polygon approached 
 the square root of 10. He therefore thought that the 
 perimeter or circumference of the circle itself would be the 
 square root of exactly 10. It is too great, however, being 
 3.1622 instead of 3.14159. . . The same idea is attrib- 
 uted to Bovillus, by Montucla. 
 
 By calculating the perimeters of the inscribed and cir- 
 cumscribed polygons, Vieta (1579) carried his approxima- 
 tion to ten fractional places, and in 1585 Peter Metius, 
 the father of Adrian, by a lucky step reached the now 
 famous fraction |||, or 3.141 59292, which is correct to the 
 sixth fractional place. The error does not exceed one part 
 in thirteen millions. 
 
 At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Ludolph 
 VanCeulen reached 3 5 places. This result, which "in his 
 life he found by much labor," was engraved upon his 
 tombstone in St. Peter's Church, Leyden. The monu- 
 ment has now unfortunately disappeared. 
 
 From this time on, various mathematicians succeeded, 
 by improved methods, in increasing the approximation. 
 Thus in 1705, Abraham Sharp carried it to 72 places; 
 Machin (1706) to 100 places; Rutherford (1841) to 208 
 places, and Mr. Shanks in 1853, to 607 places. The 
 same computer in 1873 reached the enormous number of 
 707 places. 
 

SQUARING THE CIRCLE 19 
 
 the giant must make. He will not succeed, unless his 
 microscopes be much better for his size than ours are for 
 ours." 
 
 It would of course be impossible for any human mind to 
 grasp the range of such an illustration as that just given. 
 At the same time these illustrations do serve in some 
 measure to give us an impression, if not an idea, of the 
 vastness on the one hand and the minuteness on the other 
 of the measurements with which we are dealing. I there- 
 fore offer no apology for giving another example of the 
 nearness to absolute accuracy with which the circle has 
 been "squared." 
 
 It is common knowledge that light travels with a ve- 
 locity of about 185,000 miles per second. In other words, 
 light would go completely round the earth in a little more 
 than one-eighth of a second, or, as Herschel puts it, in less 
 time than it would take a swift runner to make a single 
 stride. Taking this distance of 185,000 miles per second 
 as our unit of measurement, let us apply it as follows : 
 
 It is generally believed that our solar system is but an 
 individual unit in a stellar system which may include hun- 
 dreds of thousands of suns like our own, with all their 
 attendant planets and moons. This stellar system again 
 may be to some higher system what our solar system is to 
 our own stellar system, and there may be several such 
 gradations of systems, all going to form one complete whole 
 which, for want of a better name, I shall call a universe. 
 Now' this universe, complete in itself, may be finite and 
 separated from all other systems of a similar kind by an 
 empty space, across which even gravitation cannot exert its 
 influence. Let us suppose that the imaginary boundary of 
 this great universe is a perfect circle, the extent of which 
 
20 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 is such that light, traveling at the rate we have named 
 (185,000 miles per second), would take millions of millions 
 of years to pass across it, and let us further suppose that 
 we know the diameter of this mighty space with perfect 
 accuracy ; then, using Mr. Shanks' 707 places of decimal 
 fractions, we could calculate the circumference to such a 
 degree of accuracy that the error would not be visible under 
 any microscope now made. 
 
 An illustration which may impress some minds even 
 more forcibly than either of those which we have just 
 given, is as follows : 
 
 Let us suppose that in some titanic iron-works a steel 
 armor-plate had been forged, perfectly circular in shape 
 and having a diameter of exactly 185,000,000 miles, or 
 very nearly that of the orbit of the earth, and a thickness 
 of 8000 miles, or about that of the diameter of the earth. 
 Let us further assume that, owing to the attraction of some 
 immense stellar body, this huge mass has what we would 
 call a weight corresponding to that which a plate of the 
 same material would have at the surface of the earth, and 
 let it be required to calculate the length of the side of a 
 square plate of the same material and thickness and which 
 shall be exactly equal to the circular plate. 
 
 Using the 707 places of figures of Mr. Shanks, the length 
 of the required side could be calculated so accurately that 
 the difference in weight between the two plates (the circle 
 and the square) would not be sufficient to turn the scale of 
 the most delicate chemical balance ever constructed. 
 
 Of course in assuming the necessary conditions, we are 
 obliged to leave out of consideration all those more refined 
 details which would embarrass us in similar calculations on 
 the small scale and confine ourselves to the purely mathe- 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE 21 
 
 matical aspect of the case ; but the stretch of imagination 
 required is not greater than that demanded by many illus- 
 trations of the kind. 
 
 So much, then, for what is claimed by the mathemati- 
 cians ; and the certainty that their results are correct, as far 
 as they go, is shown by the predictions made by astrono- 
 mers in regard to the moon's place in the heavens at any 
 given time. The error is less than a second of time in 
 twenty-seven days, and upon this the sailor depends for a 
 knowledge of his position upon the trackless deep. This 
 is a practical test upon which merchants are willing to 
 stake, and do stake, billions of dollars every day. 
 
 It is now well established that, like the diagonal and 
 side of a square, the diameter and circumference of any 
 circle are incommensurable quantities. But, as De Morgan 
 says, " most of the quadrators are not aware that it has been 
 fully demonstrated that no two numbers whatsoever can 
 represent the ratio of the diameter to the circumference, 
 with perfect accuracy. When, therefore, we are told that 
 either 8 to 25 or 64 to 201 is the true ratio, we know that 
 it is no such thing, without the necessity of examination. 
 The point that is left open, as not fully demonstrated to 
 be impossible, is the geometrical quadrature, the determina- 
 tion of the circumference by the straight line and circle, 
 used as in Euclid." 
 
 But since De Morgan wrote, it has been shown that a 
 Euclidean construction is actually impossible. Those who 
 desire to examine the question more fully, will find a very 
 clear discussion of the subject in Klein's "Famous Problems 
 in Elementary Geometry." (Boston, Ginn & Co.) 
 
 There are various geometrical constructions which give 
 approximate results that are sufficiently accurate for most 
 
22 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 practical purposes. One of the oldest of these makes the 
 ratio 3y to i. Using this ratio we can ascertain the cir- 
 cumference of a circle of which the diameter is given by 
 the following method : Divide the diameter into 7 equal 
 parts by the usual method. Then, having drawn a straight 
 line, set off on it three times the diameter and one of the 
 sevenths ; the result will give the circumference with an 
 error of less than the one twenty-five-hundredth part or 
 one twenty-fifth of one per cent. 
 
 If the circumference had been given, the diameter might 
 have been found by dividing the circumference into twenty- 
 two parts and setting off seven of them. This would give 
 the diameter. A more accurate method is as follows : 
 
 Given a circle, of which it is desired to find the length 
 of the circumference : Inscribe in the given circle a square, 
 and to three times the diameter of the circle add a fifth of 
 the side of the square ; the result will differ from the circum- 
 
 ference of the circle by less than one-seventeen-thousandth 
 part of it. Another method which gives a result accurate 
 to the one-seventeen-thousandth part is as follows : 
 
 Let AD, Fig. I, be the diameter of the circle, C the 
 center, and CB the radius perpendicular to AD. Continue 
 AD and make DE equal to the radius ; then draw BE, and 
 in AE, continued, make EF equal to it ; if to this line EF, 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE 23 
 
 its fifth part FG be added, the whole line AG will be equal 
 to the circumference described with the radius CA, within 
 one-seventeen-thousandth part. 
 
 The following construction gives even still closer results : 
 Given the semi-circle ABC, Fig 2 ; from the extremities 
 A and C of its diameter raise two perpendiculars, one of 
 them CE, equal to the tangent of 30, and the other AF, 
 equal to three times the radius. If the line FE be then 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 drawn, it will be equal to the semi-circumference of the 
 circle, within one-hundred-thousandth part nearly. This is 
 an error of one-thousandth of one per cent, an accuracy 
 far greater than any mechanic can attain with the tools 
 now in use. 
 
 When we have the length of the circumference and the 
 length of the diameter, we can describe a square which 
 
24 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 shall be equal to the area of the circle. The following is 
 the method : 
 
 Draw a line ACB, Fig. 3, equal to half the circumference 
 and half the diameter together. Bisect this line in O, and 
 with O as a center and AO as radius, describe the semi- 
 circle ADB. Erect a perpendicular CD, at C, cutting the 
 arc in D ; CD is the side of the required square which can 
 
 then be constructed in the usual manner. The explanation 
 of this is that CD is a mean proportional between AC 
 and CB. 
 
 De Morgan says : "The following method of finding the 
 circumference of a circle (taken from a paper by Mr. S. 
 Drach in the ' Philosophical Magazine,' January, 1863, 
 Suppl.), is as accurate as the use of eight fractional places: 
 From three diameters deduct eight-thousandths and seven- 
 millionths of a diameter ; to the result, add five per cent. 
 We have then not quite enough ; but the shortcoming is 
 at the rate of about an inch and a sixtieth of an inch in 
 14,000 miles." 
 
 For obtaining the side of a square which shall be equal 
 in area to a given circle, the empirical method, given by 
 Ahmes in the Rhind papyrus 4000 years ago, is very 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE 25 
 
 simple and sufficiently accurate for many practical purposes. 
 The rule is : Cut off one-ninth of the diameter and construct 
 a square upon the remainder. 
 
 This makes the ratio 3.16.. and the error does not exceed 
 one-third of one per cent. 
 
 There are various mechanical methods of measuring and 
 comparing the diameter and the circumference of a circle, 
 and some of them give tolerably accurate results. The 
 most obvious device and that which was probably the old- 
 est, is the use of a cord or ribbon for the curved surface 
 and the usual measuring rule for the diameter. With an 
 accurately divided rule and a thin metallic ribbon which 
 does not stretch, it is possible to determine the ratio to the 
 second fractional place, and with a little care and skill the 
 third place may be determined quite closely. 
 
 An improvement which was no doubt introduced at a 
 very early day is the measuring wheel or circumferentor. 
 This is used extensively at the present day by country 
 wheelwrights for measuring tires. It consists of a wheel 
 fixed in a frame so that it may be rolled along or over any 
 surface of which the measurement is desired. 
 
 This may of course be used for measuring the circumfer- 
 ence of any circle and comparing it with the diameter. 
 De Morgan gives the following instance of its use : A 
 squarer, having read that the circular ratio was undeter- 
 mined, advertised in a country paper as follows: "I thought 
 it very strange that so many great scholars in all ages 
 should have failed in finding the true ratio and have been 
 determined to try myself." He kept his method secret, 
 expecting "to secure the benefit of the discovery," but it 
 leaked out that he did it by rolling a twelve-inch disk along 
 a straight rail, and his ratio was 64 to 201 or 3.140625 
 
20 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 exactly. As De Morgan says, this is a very creditable piece 
 of work ; it is not wrong by i in 3000. 
 
 Skilful machinists are able to measure to the one-five- 
 thousandth of an inch ; this, on a two-inch cylinder, would 
 give the ratio correct to five places, provided we could 
 measure the curved line as accurately as we can the straight 
 diameter, but it is difficult to do this by the usual methods. 
 Perhaps the most accurate plan would be to use a fine wire 
 and wrap it round the cylinder a number of times, after 
 which its length could be measured. The result would 
 of course require correction for the angle which the wire 
 would necessarily make if the ends did not meet squarely 
 and also for the diameter of the wire. Very accurate results 
 have been obtained by this method in measuring the diam- 
 eters of small rods. 
 
 A somewhat original way of finding the area of a circle 
 was adopted by one squarer. He took a carefully turned 
 metal cylinder and having measured its length with great, 
 accuracy he adopted the Archimedean method of finding 
 its cubical contents, that is to say, he immersed it in water 
 and found out how much it displaced. He then had all 
 the data required to enable him to calculate the area of the 
 circle upon which the cylinder stood. 
 
 Since the straight diameter is easily measured with great 
 accuracy, when he had the area he could readily have found 
 the circumference by working backward the rule announced 
 by Archimedes, viz : that the area of a circle is equal to 
 that of a triangle whose base has the same length as the 
 circumference and whose altitude is equal to the radius. 
 
 One would almost fancy that amongst circle-squarers 
 there prevails an idea that some kind of ban or magical 
 prohibition has been laid upon this problem ; that like the 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE 2/ 
 
 hidden treasures of the pirates of old it is protected from 
 the attacks of ordinary mortals by some spirit or demoniac 
 influence, which paralyses the mind of the would-be solver 
 and frustrates his efforts. 
 
 It is only on such an hypothesis that we can account 
 for the wild attempts of so many men, and the persistence 
 with which they cling to obviously erroneous results in the 
 face not only of mathematical demonstration, but of prac- 
 tical mechanical measurements. For even when working 
 in wood it is easy to measure to the half or even the one- 
 fourth of the hundredth of an inch, and on a ten-inch circle 
 this will bring the circumference to 3.1416 inches, which is 
 a corroboration of the orthodox ratio (3.14159) sufficient 
 to show that any value which is greater than 3.142 or less 
 than 3.141 cannot possibly be correct. 
 
 And in regard to the area the proof is quite as simple. 
 It is easy to cut out of sheet metal a circle 10 inches in 
 diameter, and a square of 7.85 on the side, or even one- 
 thousandth of an inch closer to the standard 7.854. Now 
 if the work be done with anything like the accuracy with 
 which good machinists work, it will be found that the circle 
 and the square will exactly balance each other in weight, 
 thus proving in another way the correctness of the accepted 
 ratio. 
 
 But although even as early as before the end of the 
 eighteenth century, the value of the ratio had been accu- 
 rately determined to 1 5 2 places of decimals, the nineteenth 
 century abounded in circle-squarers who brought forward 
 the most absurd arguments in favor of other values. In 
 1836, a French well-sinker named Lacomme, applied to a 
 professor of mathematics for information in regard to the 
 amount of stone required to pave the circular bottom of a 
 
28 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 well, and was told that it was impossible " to give a correct 
 answer, because the exact ratio of the diameter of a circle 
 to its circumference had never been determined " ! This 
 absolutely true but very unpractical statement by the pro- 
 fessor, set the well-sinker to thinking ; he studied mathe- 
 matics after a fashion, and announced that he had discovered 
 that the circumference was exactly 3! times the length of 
 the diameter ! For this discovery (?) he was honored by 
 several medals of the first class, bestowed by Parisian 
 societies. 
 
 Even as late as the year 1860, a Mr. James Smith of 
 Liverpool, took up this ratio 3^ to I, and published several 
 books and pamphlets in which he tried to argue for its 
 accuracy. He even sought to bring it before the British 
 Association for the Advancement of Science. Professors 
 De Morgan and Whewell, and even the famous mathema- 
 tician, Sir William Rowan Hamilton, tried to convince 
 him of his error, but without success. Professor Whewell's 
 demonstration is so neat and so simple that I make no 
 apology for giving it here. It is in the form of a letter to 
 Mr. Smith : " You may do this : calculate the side of a 
 polygon of 24 sides inscribed in a circle. I think you are 
 mathematician enough to do this. You will find that if 
 the radius of the circle be one, the side of the polygon is 
 .264, etc. Now the arc which this side subtends is, accord- 
 ing to your proposition, -=.2604, and, therefore, the 
 
 chord is greater than its arc, which, you will allow, is 
 impossible." 
 
 This must seem, even to a school-boy, to be unanswer- 
 able, but it did not faze Mr. Smith, and I doubt if even the 
 method which I have suggested previously, viz., that of 
 
SQUARING THE CIRCLE 29 
 
 cutting a circle and a square out of the same piece of sheet 
 metal and weighing them, would have done so. And yet 
 by this method even a common pair of grocer's scales will 
 show to any common-sense person the error of Mr. Smith's 
 value and the correctness of the accepted ratio. 
 
 Even a still later instance is found in a writer who, in 
 1892, contended in the New York "Tribune" for 3.2 
 instead of 3.1416, as the value of the ratio. He an- 
 nounces it as the re-discovery of a long lost secret, which 
 consists in the knowledge of a certain line called "the 
 Nicomedean line." This announcement gave rise to con- 
 siderable discussion, and even towards the dawn of the 
 twentieth century 3.2 had its advocates as against the 
 accepted ratio 3.1416. 
 
 Verily the slaves of the mighty wizard, Michael Scott, 
 have not yet ceased from their labors ! 
 
THE DUPLICATION OF THE CUBE 
 
 HIS problem became famous because of the halo 
 of mythological romance with which it was sur- 
 rounded. The story is as follows : 
 
 About the year 430 B.C. the Athenians were 
 afflicted by a terrible plague, and as no ordinary means 
 seemed to assuage its virulence, they sent a deputation of 
 the citizens to consult the oracle of Apollo at Delos, in the 
 hope that the god might show them how to get rid of it. 
 
 The answer was that the plague would cease when they 
 had doubled the size of the altar of Apollo in the temple 
 at Athens. This seemed quite an easy task ; the altar was 
 a cube, and they placed beside it another cube of exactly 
 the same size. But this did not satisfy the conditions pre- 
 scribed by the oracle, and the people were told that the 
 altar must consist of one cube, the size of which must be 
 exactly twice the size of the original altar. They then 
 constructed a cubic altar of which the side or edge was 
 twice that of the original, but they were told that the new 
 altar was eight times and not twice the size of the original, 
 and the god was so enraged that the plague became worse 
 than before. 
 
 According to another legend, the reason given for the 
 affliction was that the people had devoted themselves to 
 pleasure and to sensual enjoyments and pursuits, and had 
 neglected the study of philosophy, of which geometry is 
 
 30 
 
THE DUPLICATION OF THE CUBE 31 
 
 one of the higher departments certainly a very sound 
 reason, whatever we may think of the details of the story. 
 The people then applied to the mathematicians, and it is 
 supposed that their solution was sufficiently near the truth 
 to satisfy Apollo, who relented, and the plague disappeared. 
 
 In other words, the leading citizens probably applied 
 themselves to the study of sewerage and hygienic condi- 
 tions, and Apollo (the Sun) instead' of causing disease by 
 the festering corruption of the usual filth of cities, especi- 
 ally in the East, dried up the superfluous moisture, and 
 promoted the health of the inhabitants. 
 
 It is well known that the relation of the area and the 
 cubical contents of any figure to the linear dimensions of 
 that figure are not so generally understood as we should 
 expect in these days when the schoolmaster is supposed 
 to be "abroad in the land." At an examination of candi- 
 dates for the position of fireman in one of our cities, several 
 of the applicants made the mistake of supposing that a 
 two-inch pipe and a five-inch pipe were equal to a seven-inch 
 pipe, whereas the combined capacities of the two small 
 pipes are to the capacity of the large one as 29 to 49. 
 
 This reminds us of a story which Sir Frederick Bram- 
 well, the engineer, used to tell of a water company using 
 water from a stream flowing through a pipe of a certain 
 diameter. The company required more water, and after 
 certain negotiations with the owner of the stream, offered 
 double the sum if they were allowed a supply through a 
 pipe of double the diameter of the one then in use. This 
 was accepted by the owner, who evidently was not aware of 
 the fact that a pipe of double the diameter would carry 
 four times the supply. 
 
 A square whose side is twice the length of another, and 
 
32 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 a circle whose diameter is twice that of another will each 
 have an area four times that of the original. And in the 
 case of solids : A ball of twice the diameter will weigh 
 eight times as much as the original, and a ball of three times 
 the diameter will weigh twenty-seven times as much as the 
 original. 
 
 In attempting to calculate the side of a cube which shall 
 have twice the volume of a given cube, we meet the old 
 difficulty of incommensurability, and the solution cannot be 
 effected geometrically, as it requires the construction of 
 two mean proportionals between two given lines. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE TRISECTION OF AN ANGLE 
 
 HIS problem is not so generally known as that of 
 squaring the circle, and consequently it has not 
 received so much attention from amateur mathe- 
 maticians, though even within little more than a 
 year a small book, in which an attempted solution is given, 
 has been published. When it is first presented to an un- 
 educated reader, whose mind has a mathematical turn, and 
 especially to a skilful mechanic, who has not studied theo- 
 retical geometry, it is apt to create a smile, because at first 
 sight most persons are impressed with an idea of its sim- 
 plicity, and the ease with which it may be solved. And 
 this is true, even of many persons who have had a fair gen- 
 eral education. Those who have studied only what is 
 known as "practical geometry" think at once of the ease 
 and accuracy with which a right angle, for example, may 
 be divided into three equal parts. Thus taking the right 
 angle ACB, Fig. 4, which may be set off more easily and 
 accurately than any other angle except, perhaps, that of 
 60, and knowing that it contains 90, describe an arc 
 ADEB, with C for the center and any convenient radius. 
 Now every schoolboy who has played with a pair of com- 
 passes knows that the radius of a circle will " step " round 
 the circumference exactly six times ; it will therefore 
 divide the 360 into six equal parts of 60 each. This 
 being the case, with the radius CB, and B for a center, 
 
 33 
 
34 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 describe a short arc crossing the arc ADEB in D, and join 
 CD. The angle DCB will be 6o,'and as the angle ACB 
 is 90, the angle ACD must be 30, or one-third part of 
 the whole. In the same way lay off the angle ACE of 
 60, and ECB must be 30, and the remainder DCE must 
 also be 30. The angle ACB is therefore easily divided 
 
 A 
 
 C 
 
 B 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 into three equal parts, or in other words, it is trisected. 
 And with a slight modification of the method, the same 
 may be done with an angle of 45, and with some others. 
 These however are only special cases, and the very essence 
 of a geometrical solution of any problem is that it shall be 
 applicable to all cases so that we require a method by 
 which any angle may be divided into three equal parts by 
 a pure Euclidian construction. The ablest mathematicians 
 declare that the problem cannot be solved by such means, 
 and De Morgan gives the following reasons for this conclu- 
 sion : " The trisector of an angle, if he demand attention 
 from any mathematician, is bound to produce from his con- 
 struction, an expression for the sine or cosine of the third 
 part of any angle, in terms of the sine or cosine of the 
 angle itself, obtained by the help of no higher than the 
 
THE TRISECTION OF AN ANGLE 3-5 
 
 square root. The mathematician knows that such a thing 
 cannot be ; but the trisector virtually says it can be, and 
 is bound to produce it to save time. This is the misfortune 
 of most of the solvers of the celebrated problems, that they 
 have not knowledge enough to present those consequences 
 of their results by which they can be easily judged." 
 
 De Morgan gives an account of a " terrific " construc- 
 tion by a friend of Dr. Wallich, which he says is " so 
 nearly true, that unless the angle be very obtuse, common 
 drawing, applied to the construction, will not detect the 
 error." But geometry requires absolute accuracy, not a 
 mere approximation. 
 
IV 
 
 PERPETUAL MOTION 
 
 T is probable that more time, effort, and money 
 have been wasted in the search for a perpetual- 
 motion machine than have been devoted to at- 
 tempts to square the circle or even to find the 
 philosopher's stone. And while it has been claimed in 
 favor of this delusion that the pursuit of it has given rise 
 to valuable discoveries in mechanics and physics, some 
 even going so far as to urge that we owe the discovery of 
 the great law of the conservation of energy to the sugges- 
 tions made by the perpetual -motion seekers, we certainly 
 have no evidence to show anything of the kind. Perpetual 
 motion was declared to be an impossibility upon purely 
 mechanical and mathematical grounds long before the law 
 of the conservation of energy was thought of, and it is very 
 certain that this delusion had no place in the thoughts of 
 Rumford, Black, Davy, Young, Joule, Grove, and others 
 when they devoted their attention to the laws governing 
 the transformation of energy. Those who pursued such a 
 will-o'-the-wisp, were not the men to point the way to any 
 scientific discovery. 
 
 The search for a perpetual-motion machine seems to be 
 of comparatively modern origin ; we have no record of the 
 labors of ancient inventors in this direction, but this may 
 be as much because the records have been lost, as because 
 attempts were never made. The works of a mechanical 
 
 36 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 37 
 
 inventor rarely attracted much attention in ancient times, 
 while the mathematical problems were regarded as amongst 
 the highest branches of philosophy, and the search for the 
 philosopher's stone and the elixir of life appealed alike to 
 priest and layman. We have records of attempts made 
 4000 years ago to square the circle, and the history of the 
 philosopher's stone is lost in the mists of antiquity ; but it 
 is not until the eleventh or twelfth century that we find 
 any reference to perpetual motion, and it was not until 
 the close of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century that this problem found a prominent place 
 in the writings of the day. 
 
 By perpetual motion is meant a machine which, without 
 assistance from any external source except gravity, shall 
 continue to go on moving until the parts of which it is 
 made are worn out. Some insist that in order to be prop- 
 erly entitled to the name of a perpetual-motion machine, 
 it must evolve more power than that which is merely re- 
 quired to run it, and it is true that almost all those who 
 have attempted to solve this problem have avowed this to 
 be their object, many going so far as to claim for their 
 contrivances the ability to supply unlimited power at no 
 cost whatever, except the interest on a small investment, 
 and the trifling amount of oil required for lubrication. 
 But it is evident that a machine which would of itself 
 maintain a regular and constant motion would be of great 
 value, even if it did nothing more than move itself. And 
 this seems to have been the idea upon which those men 
 worked, who had in view the supposed reward offered for 
 such an invention as a means for finding the longitude. 
 And it is well known that it was the hope of attaining 
 such a reward that spurred on very many of those who 
 devoted their time and substance to the subject. 
 
38 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 There are several legitimate and successful methods of 
 obtaining a practically perpetual motion, provided we are 
 allowed to call to our aid some one of the various natural 
 sources of power. For example, there are numerous moun- 
 tain streams which have never been known to fail, and 
 which by means of the simplest kind of a water-wheel 
 would give constant motion to any light machinery. Even 
 the wind, the emblem of fickleness and inconstancy, may 
 be harnessed so that it will furnish power, and it does not 
 require very much mechanical ingenuity to provide means 
 whereby the surplus power of a strong gale may be stored 
 up and kept in reserve for a time of calm. Indeed this 
 has frequently been done by the raising of weights, the 
 winding up of springs, the pumping of water into storage 
 reservoirs and other simple contrivances. 
 
 The variations which are constantly occurring in the 
 temperature and the pressure of the atmosphere have also 
 been forced into this service. A clock which required no 
 winding was exhibited in London towards the latter part 
 of the eighteenth century. It was called a perpetual 
 motion, and the working power was derived from variations 
 in the quantity, and consequently in the weight of the 
 mercury, which was forced up into a glass tube closed at 
 the upper end and having the lower end immersed in a 
 cistern of mercury after the manner of a barometer. It 
 was fully described by James Ferguson, whose lectures on 
 Mechanics and Natural Philosophy were edited by Sir 
 David Brewster. It ran for years without requiring wind- 
 ing, and is said to have kept very good time. A similar 
 contrivance was employed in a clock which was possessed 
 by the Academy of Painting at Paris. It is described in 
 Ozanam's work, Vol. II, page 105, of the edition of 1803. 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 39 
 
 The changes which are constantly taking place in the 
 temperature of all bodies, and the expansion and contrac- 
 tion which these variations produce, afford a very efficient 
 power for clocks and small machines. Professor W. W. R. 
 Ball tells us that " there was at Paris in the latter half of 
 last century a clock which was an ingenious illustration of 
 such perpetual motion. The energy, which was stored up 
 in it to maintain the motion of the pendulum, was provided 
 by the expansion of a silver rod. This expansion was 
 caused by the daily rise of temperature, and by means of a 
 train of levers it wound up the clock. There was a dis- 
 connecting apparatus, so that the contraction due to a fall 
 of temperature produced no effect, and there was a similar 
 arrangement to prevent overwinding. I believe that a rise 
 of eight or nine degrees Fahrenheit was sufficient to wind 
 up the clock for twenty-four hours." 
 
 Another indirect method of winding a watch is thus 
 described by Professor Ball: 
 
 " I have in my possession a watch, known as the Lohr 
 patent, which produces the same effect by somewhat differ- 
 ent means. Inside the case is a steel weight, and if the 
 watch is carried in a pocket this weight rises and falls at 
 every step one takes, somewhat after the manner of a 
 pedometer. The weight is moved up by the action of the 
 person who has it in his pocket, and in falling the weight 
 winds up the spring of the watch. On the face is a small 
 dial showing the number of hours for which the watch is 
 wound up. As soon as the hand of this dial points to fifty- 
 six hours, the train of levers which wind up the watch dis- 
 connects automatically, so as to prevent overwinding the 
 spring, and it reconnects again as soon as the watch has 
 run down eight hours. The watch is an excellent tune- 
 keeper, and a walk of about a couple of miles is sufficient 
 to wind it up for twenty-four hours." 
 
40 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 Dr. Hooper, in his "Rational Recreations," has described 
 a method of driving a clock by the motion of the tides, and 
 it would not be difficult to contrive a very simple arrange- 
 ment which would obtain from that source much more 
 power than is required for that purpose. Indeed the prob- 
 ability is that many persons now living will see the time 
 when all our railroads, factories, and lighting plants will be 
 operated by the tides of the ocean. It is only a question 
 of return for capital, and it is well known that that has 
 been falling steadily for years. When the interest on in- 
 vestments falls to a point sufficiently low, the tides will be 
 harnessed and the greater part of the heat, light, and power 
 that we require will be obtained from the immense amount 
 of energy that now goes to waste along our coasts. 
 
 Another contrivance by which a seemingly perpetual 
 motion may be obtained is the dry pile or column of De Luc. 
 The pile consists of a series of disks of gilt and silvered 
 paper placed back to back and alternating, all the gilt sides 
 facing one way and all the silver sides the other. The so- 
 called gilding is really Dutch metal or copper, and the sil- 
 ver is tin or zinc, so that the two actually form a voltaic 
 couple. Sometimes the paper is slightly moistened with 
 a weak solution of molasses to insure a certain degree of 
 dampness ; this increases the action, for if the paper be 
 artificially dried and kept in a perfectly dry atmosphere, 
 the apparatus will not work. A pair of these piles, each 
 containing two or three thousand disks the size of a quarter 
 of a dollar, may be arranged side by side, vertically, and 
 two or three inches apart. At the lower ends they are 
 connected by a brass plate, and the upper ends are 
 each surmounted by a small metal bell and between these 
 bells a gilt ball, suspended by a silk thread, keeps vibrating 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 4! 
 
 perpetually. Many years ago I made a pair of these col- 
 umns which kept a ball in motion for nearly two years, and 
 Professor Silliman tells us that "a set of these bells rang 
 in Yale College laboratory for six or eight years unceas- 
 ingly." How much longer the columns would have con- 
 tinued to furnish energy sufficient to cause the balls to 
 vibrate, it might be difficult to determine. The amount of 
 energy required is exceedingly small, but since the columns 
 are really nothing but a voltaic pile, it is very evident that 
 after a time they would become exhausted. 
 
 Such a pair of columns, covered with a tall glass shade, 
 form a very interesting piece of bric-a-brac, especially if the 
 bells have a sweet tone, but the contrivance is of no prac- 
 tical use except as embodied in Bohnenberger's electroscope. 
 
 Inventions of this kind might be multiplied indefi- 
 nitely, but none of these devices can be called a perpetual 
 motion because they all depend for their action upon energy 
 derived from external sources other than gravity. But 
 the authors of these inventions are not to be classed with 
 the regular perpetual-motion-mongers. The purposes for 
 which these arrangements were invented were legitimate, 
 and the contrivances answered fully the ends for which 
 they were intended. The real perpetual-motion-seekers 
 are men of a different stamp, and their schemes readily fall 
 into one of these three classes: i. ABSURDITIES, 2. FAL- 
 LACIES, 3. FRAUDS. The following is a description of 
 the most characteristic machines and apparatus of which 
 accounts have been published. 
 
42 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 I. ABSURDITIES 
 
 In this class may be included those inventions which have 
 been made or suggested by honest but ignorant persons in 
 direct violation of the fundamental principles of mechanics 
 and physics. Such inventions if presented to any expert 
 mechanic or student of science, would be at once condemned 
 as impracticable, but as a general rule, the inventors of these 
 absurd contrivances have been so confident of success, that 
 they have published descriptions and sketches of them, and 
 even gone so far as to take out patents before they have 
 tested their inventions by constructing a working machine. 
 It is said, that at one time the United States Patent Office 
 issued a circular refusal to all applicants for patents of this 
 kind, but at present instead of sending such a circular, the 
 applicant is quietly requested to furnish a working model 
 of his invention and that usually ends the matter. While 
 I have no direct information on the subject, I suspect that 
 the circular was withdrawn because of the amount of useless 
 correspondence, in the shape of foolish replies and argu- 
 ments, which it drew forth. To require a working model 
 is a reasonable request and one for which the law duly pro- 
 vides, and when a successful model is forthcoming, a patent 
 will no doubt be granted ; but until that is presented the 
 officials of the Patent Office can have no positive informa- 
 tion in regard to the practicability of the invention. 
 
 The earliest mechanical device intended to produce per- 
 petual motion is that known as the overbalancing wheel. 
 This is described in a sketch book of the thirteenth century 
 by Wilars de Honecourt, an architect of the period, and 
 since then it has been reinvented hundreds of times. In its 
 simplest forms it is thus described and^figured by Ozanam : 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 43 
 
 " Fig. 5 represents a large wheel, the circumference of 
 which is furnished, at equal distances, with levers, each 
 bearing at its extremity a weight, and movable on a hinge 
 so that in one direction they can rest upon the circumfer- 
 ence, while on the opposite side, being carried away by the 
 weight at the extremity, they are obliged to arrange them- 
 selves in the direction of the radius continued. This being 
 supposed, it is evident that when the wheel turns in the 
 direction ABC, the weights A, B, and C will recede from the 
 center; consequently, as they act with more force, they 
 will carry the wheel towards that side ; and as a new lever 
 
 Fig. 5. Fig. 6. 
 
 will be thrown out, in proportion as the wheel revolves, it 
 thence follows, say they, that the wheel will continue to 
 move in the same direction. But notwithstanding the 
 specious appearance of this reasoning, experience has 
 proved that the machine will not go; and it may indeed be 
 demonstrated that there is a certain position in which the 
 center of gravity of all these weights is in the vertical 
 plane passing through the point of suspension, and that 
 therefore it must stop." 
 
 Another invention of a similar kind is thus described by 
 the same author : 
 
 " In a cylindric drum, in perfect equilibrium on its axis, 
 are formed channels as seen in Fig. 6, which contain balls 
 of lead or a certain quantity of quicksilver. In consequence 
 of this disposition, the balls or quicksilver must, on the one 
 side, ascend by approaching the center, and on the other 
 
44 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 must roll towards the circumference. The machine ought, 
 therefore, to turn incessantly towards that side." 
 
 In his " Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy," 
 Dr. Thomas Young speaks of these contrivances as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " One of the most common fallacies, by which the super- 
 ficial projectors of machines for obtaining perpetual motion 
 have been deluded, has arisen from imagining that any 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 number of weights ascending by a certain path, on one 
 side of the center of motion and descending on the other 
 at a greater distance, must cause a constant preponderance 
 on the side of the descent: for this purpose the weights 
 have either been fixed on hinges, which allow them to fall 
 over at a certain point, so as to become more distant from 
 the center, or made to slide or roll along grooves or planes 
 which lead them to a more remote part of the wheel, from 
 whence they return as they ascend; but it will appear on 
 the inspection of such a machine, that although some of 
 the weights are more distant from the center than others, 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 45 
 
 yet there is always a proportionately smaller number of 
 them on that side on which they have the greatest power, 
 so that these circumstances precisely counterbalance each 
 other." 
 
 He then gives the illustration (Fig. 7), shown on the 
 preceding page, of "a wheel supposed to be capable of pro- 
 ducing a perpetual motion ; the descending balls acting at a 
 greater distance from the center, but being fewer in number 
 than the ascending. In the model, the balls may be kept 
 in their places by a plate of glass covering the wheel." 
 
 A more elaborate arrangement embodying the same idea 
 is figured and described by Ozanam. The machine, which 
 is shown in Fig. 8, consists of " a kind of wheel formed of 
 six or eight arms, proceeding from a center where the axis 
 of motion is placed. Each of these arms is furnished with 
 a receptacle in the form of a pair of bellows : but those on 
 the opposite arms stand in contrary directions, as seen in 
 
46 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 the figure. The movable top of each receptacle has 
 affixed to it a weight, which shuts it in one situation and 
 opens it in the other. In the last place, the bellows of the 
 opposite arms have a communication by means of a canal, 
 and one of them is filled with quicksilver. 
 
 " These things being supposed, it is visible that the bel- 
 lows on the one side must open, and those on the other 
 must shut ; consequently, the mercury will pass from the 
 latter into the former, while the contrary will be the case 
 on the opposite side." 
 
 Ozanam naively adds : " It might be difficult to point 
 out the deficiency of this reasoning ; but those acquainted 
 with the true principles of mechanics will not hesitate to 
 bet a hundred to one, that the machine, when constructed, 
 will not answer the intended purpose." 
 
 That this bet would have been a perfectly safe one must 
 be quite evident to any person who has the slightest knowl- 
 edge of practical mechanics, and yet the fundamental idea 
 which is embodied in this and the other examples which we 
 have just given, forms the basis of almost all the attempts 
 which have been made to produce a perpetual motion by 
 purely mechanical means. 
 
 The hydrostatic paradox by which a few ounces of liquid 
 may apparently balance many pounds, or even tons, has 
 frequently suggested a form of apparatus designed to secure 
 a perpetual motion. Dr. Arnott, in his " Elements of Phy- 
 sics," relates the following anecdote : " A projector thought 
 that the vessel of his contrivance, represented here (Fig. 9), 
 was to solve the renowned problem of the perpetual mo- 
 tion. It was goblet-shaped, lessening gradually towards 
 the bottom until it became a tube, bent upwards at c and 
 pointing with an open extremity into the goblet again. He 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 
 
 47 
 
 reasoned thus : A pint of water in the goblet a must more 
 than counterbalance an ounce which the tube b will con- 
 tain, and must, therefore, be constantly pushing the ounce 
 forward into the vessel again at a, and keeping up a stream 
 or circulation, which will cease only when the water dries 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 up. He was confounded when a trial showed him the 
 same level in a and in b" 
 
 This suggestion has been adopted over and over again by 
 sanguine inventors. Dircks, in his " Perpetuum Mobile," 
 tells us that a contrivance, on precisely the same principle, 
 was proposed by the Abb6 de la Roque, in "Le Journal 
 des S^avans," Paris, 1686. The instrument was a U tube, 
 one leg longer than the other and bent over, so that any 
 liquid might drop into the top end of the short leg, which 
 he proposed to be made of wax, and the long one of iron. 
 Presuming the liquid to be more condensed in the metal 
 than the wax tube, it would flow from the end into the wax 
 tube and so continue. 
 
48 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 This is a typical case. A man of learning and of high 
 position is so confident that his theory is right that he does 
 not think it worth while to test it experimentally, but 
 rushes into print and immortalizes himself as the author 
 of a blunder. It is safe to say that this absurd invention 
 will do more to perpetuate his name than all his learning 
 and real achievements. And there are others in the same 
 predicament circle-squarers who, a quarter of a century 
 hence, will be remembered for their errors when all else 
 connected with them will be forgotten. 
 
 To every miller whose mill ceased working for want of 
 water, the idea has no doubt occurred that if he could only 
 pump the water back again and use it, a second or a third 
 time he might be independent of dry or wet seasons. Of 
 course no practical miller was ever so far deluded as to 
 attempt to put such a suggestion into practice, but innu- 
 merable machines of this kind, and of the most crude 
 arrangement, have been sketched and described in maga- 
 zines and papers. Figures of wheels driving an ordinary 
 pump, which returns to an elevated reservoir the water 
 which has driven the wheel, are so common that it is not 
 worth while to reproduce any of them. In the following 
 attempt, however, which is copied from Bishop Wilkins' 
 famous book, "Mathematical Magic" (1648), the well- 
 known Archimedean screw is employed instead of a pump, 
 and the nai'vete of the good bishop's description and con- 
 clusion are well worth the space they will occupy. 
 
 After an elaborate description of the screw, he says : 
 "These things, considered together, it will hence appear 
 how a perpetual motion may seem easily contrivable. 
 For, if there were but such a waterwheel made on this 
 instrument, upon which the stream that is carried up 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 49 
 
 may fall in its descent, it would turn the screw round, 
 and by that means convey as much water up as is required 
 to move it; so that the motion must needs be continual 
 since the same weight which in its fall does turn the wheel, 
 is, by the turning of the wheel, carried up again. Or, if 
 the water, falling upon one wheel, would not be forcible 
 enough for this effect, why then there might be two, or 
 three, or more, according as the length and elevation of the 
 instrument will admit ; by which means the weight of it 
 may be so multiplied in the fall that it shall be equivalent 
 to twice or thrice that quantity of water which ascends ; 
 as may be more plainly discerned by the following diagram 
 (Fig. 10): 
 
 "Where the figure LM at the bottom does represent a 
 wooden cylinder with helical cavities cut in it, which at AB 
 is supposed to be covered over with tin plates, and three 
 waterwheels, upon it, HIK; the lower cistern, which 
 contains the water, being CD. Now, this cylinder being 
 turned round, all the water which from the cistern ascends 
 through it, will fall into the vessel at E, and from that 
 vessel being conveyed upon the waterwheel H, shall conse- 
 quently give a circular motion to the whole screw. Or, if 
 this alone should be too weak for the turning of it, then 
 the same water which falls from the wheel H, being re- 
 ceived into the other vessel F, may from thence again 
 descend on the wheel I, by which means the force of it 
 will be doubled. And if this be yet insufficient, then may 
 the water, which falls on the second wheel T, be received 
 into the other vessel G, and from thence again descend on 
 the third wheel at K ; and so for as many other wheels as 
 the instrument is capable of. So that besides the greater 
 distance of these three streams from the center or axis by 
 
50 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 which they are made so much heavier; and besides that 
 the fall of this outward water is forcible and violent, 
 whereas the ascent of that within is natural besides all 
 this, there is twice as much water to turn the screw as is 
 carried up by it. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 "But, on the other side, if all the water falling upon one 
 wheel would be able to turn it round, then half of it would 
 serve with two wheels, and the rest may be so disposed of 
 in the fall as to serve unto some other useful, delightful 
 ends. 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 51 
 
 "When I first thought of this invention, I could scarce 
 forbear, with Archimedes, to cry out 'Eureka! Eureka!' 
 it seeming so infallible a way for the effecting of a per- 
 petual motion that nothing could be so much as probably 
 objected against it; but, upon trial and experience, I find it 
 altogether insufficient for any such purpose, and that for 
 these two reasons : 
 
 1. The water that ascends will not make any considera- 
 ble stream in the fall. 
 
 2. This stream, though multiplied, will not be of force 
 enough to turn about the screw." 
 
 How well it would have been for many of those inven- 
 tors, who supposed that they had discovered a successful 
 perpetual motion, if they had only given their contrivances 
 a fair and unprejudiced test as did the good old bishop! 
 
 A modification of this device, in which mercury is used 
 instead of water, is thus described by a correspondent of 
 "The Mechanic's Magazine." (London.) 
 
 "In Fig. u, A is the screw turning on its two pivots 
 GG; B is a cistern to be filled above the level of the lower 
 aperture of the screw with mercury, which I conceive to be 
 preferable to water on many accounts, and principally be- 
 cause it does not adhere or evaporate like water; c is a 
 reservoir, which, when the screw is turned round, receives 
 the mercury which falls from the top ; there is a pipe, which, 
 by the force of gravity, conveys the mercury from, the 
 reservoir c on to (what for want of a better term may be 
 called) the float-board E, fixed at right angles to the center 
 [axis] of the screw, and furnished at its circumference with 
 ridges or floats to intercept the mercury, the moment and 
 weight of which will cause the float-board and screw to re- 
 volve, until, by the proper inclination of the floats, the 
 mercury falls into the receiver F, from whence it again falls 
 by its spout into the cistern G, where the constant revolu- 
 tion of the screw takes it up again as before." 
 
52 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 He then suggests some difficulties which the ball, seen 
 just under the letter E, is intended to overcome, but he 
 confesses that he has never tried it, and to any practical 
 mechanic it is very obvious that the machine will not work. 
 
 Fig. ii. 
 
 But we give the description in the language of the inventor, 
 as a fair type of this class of perpetual-motion machines. 
 
 In the year 1790 a Doctor Schweirs took out a patent 
 for a machine in which small metal balls were used instead 
 of a liquid, and they were raised by a sort of chain pump 
 which delivered them upon the circumference of a large 
 wheel, which was thus caused to revolve. It was claimed 
 for this invention that it kept going for some months, but 
 any mechanic who will examine the Doctor's drawing must 
 see that it could not have continued in motion after the 
 initial impulse had been expended. 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 53 
 
 That property of liquids known as capillary attraction 
 has been frequently called to the aid of perpetual-motion 
 seekers, and the fact that although water will, in capillary 
 tubes and sponges, rise several inches above the general 
 level, it will not overflow, has been a startling surprise to 
 the would-be inventors. Perhaps the most notable instance 
 of a mistake of this kind occurred in the case of the famous 
 Sir William Congreve, the inventor of the military rockets 
 that bore his name, and the author of certain improvements 
 in matches which were called after him. It was thus de- 
 scribed and figured in an article which appeared in the 
 " Atlas " (London) and was copied into " The Mechanic's 
 Magazine" (London) for 1827: 
 
 " The celebrated Boyle entertained an idea that perpetual 
 motion might be obtained by means of capillary attraction; 
 and, indeed, there seems but little doubt that nature has 
 employed this force in many instances to produce this effect. 
 
 " There are many situations in which there is every 
 reason to believe that the sources of springs on the tops 
 and sides of mountains depend on the accumulation of 
 water created at certain elevations by the operation of 
 capillary attraction, acting in large masses of porous ma- 
 terial, or through laminated substances. These masses 
 being saturated, in process of time become the sources of 
 springs and the heads of rivers; and thus by an endless 
 round of ascending and descending waters, form, on the 
 great scale of nature, an incessant cause of perpetual 
 motion, in the purest acceptance of the term, and precisely 
 on the principle that was contemplated by Boyle. It is 
 probable, however, that any imitation of this process on 
 the limited scale practicable by human art would not be 
 of sufficient magnitude to be effective. Nature, by the 
 immensity of her operations, is able to allow for a slowness 
 of process which would baffle the attempts of man in any 
 direct and simple imitation of her works. Working, there- 
 fore, upon the same causes, he finds himself obliged to 
 take a more complicated mode to produce the same effect. 
 
54 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 " To amuse the hours of a long confinement from illness, 
 Sir William Congreve has recently contrived a scheme of 
 perpetual motion, founded on this principle of capillary at- 
 traction, which, it is apprehended, will not be subject to 
 the general refutation applicable to those plans in which 
 the power is supposed to be derived from gravity only. 
 Sir William's perpetual motion is as follows: 
 
 " Let ABC, Fig. 12, be three horizontal rollers fixed in 
 a frame; aaa, etc., is an endless band of sponge, running 
 round these rollers; and bbb, etc., is an endless chain of 
 weights, surrounding the band of sponge, and attached 
 
 to it, so that they must move together; every part of this 
 band and chain being so accurately uniform in weight that 
 the perpendicular side AB will, in all positions of the band 
 and chain, be in equilibrium with the hypothenuse AC, on 
 the principle of the inclined plane. Now, if the frame in 
 which these rollers are fixed be placed in a cistern of water, 
 having its lower part immersed therein, so that the water's 
 edge cuts the upper part of the rollers BC, then, if the 
 weight and quantity of the endless chain be duly propor- 
 tioned to the thickness and breadth of the band of sponge, 
 the band and chain will, on the water in the cistern being 
 brought to the proper level, begin to move round the rollers 
 in the direction AB, by the force of capillary attraction, 
 and will continue so to move. The process is as follows: 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 55 
 
 " On the side AB of the triangle, the weights bbb, etc., 
 hanging perpendicularly alongside the band of sponge, the 
 band is not compressed by them, and its pores being left 
 open, the water at the point x, at which the band meets its 
 surface, will rise to a certain height y, above its level, and 
 thereby create a load, which load will not exist on the as- 
 cending side CA, because on this side the chain of weights 
 compresses the band at the water's edge, and squeezes out 
 any water that may have previously accumulated in it; so 
 that the band rises in a dry state, the weight of the chain 
 having been so proportioned to the breadth and thickness 
 of the band as to be sufficient to produce this effect. The 
 load, therefore, on the descending side AB, not being op- 
 posed by any similar load on the ascending side, and the 
 equilibrium of the other parts not being disturbed by the 
 alternate expansion and compression of the sponge, the 
 band will begin to move in the direction AB; and as it 
 moves downwards, the accumulation of water will continue 
 to rise, and thereby carry on a constant motion, provided 
 the load at xy be sufficient to overcome the friction on the 
 rollers ABC. 
 
 " Now to ascertain the quantity of this load in any par- 
 ticular machine, it must be stated that it is found by ex- 
 periment that the water will rise in a fine sponge about an 
 inch above its level; if, therefore, the band and sponge be 
 one foot thick and six feet broad, the area of its horizontal 
 section in contact with the water would be 864 square 
 inches, and the weight of the accumulation of water raised 
 by the capillary attraction being one inch rise upon 864 
 square inches, would be 30 lb., which, it is conceived, would 
 be much more than equivalent to the friction of the rollers." 
 
 The article, inspired no doubt by Sir William, then goes 
 on to give elaborate reasons for the success of the device, 
 but all these are met by the damning fact that the machine 
 never worked. Some time afterwards Sir William, at 
 considerable expense, published a pamphlet in which he 
 explained and defended his views. If he had only had a 
 working model made and the thing had continued in motion 
 
56 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 for a few hours, he would have silenced all objectors far 
 more quickly and forcibly than he ever could have done 
 by any amount of argument. 
 
 And in his case there could have been no excuse for 
 his not making a small machine "after the plans that he 
 published and even patented. He was wealthy and could 
 have commanded the services of the best mechanics in 
 London, but no working model was ever made. Many in- 
 ventors of perpetual-motion machines offer their poverty 
 as an excuse for not making a model or working machine. 
 Thus Dircks, in his " Perpetuum Mobile " gives an account 
 of " a mechanic, a model maker, who had a neat brass 
 model of a time-piece, in which were two steel balls A and 
 B ; B to fall into a semicircular gallery C, and be car- 
 ried to the end D of a straight trough DE ; while A in its 
 turn rolls to E, and so on continuously ; only the gallery C 
 not being screwed in its place, we are desired to take the 
 will for the deed, until twenty shillings be raised to com- 
 plete this part of the work ! " 
 
 And Mr. Dircks also quotes from the "Builder" of 
 June, 1847 : " This vain delusion, if not still in force, is at 
 least as standing a fallacy as ever. Joseph Hutt, a frame- 
 work knitter, in the neighborhood of the enlightened town 
 of Hinckley, professes to have discovered it [perpetual 
 motion] and only wants twenty pounds, as usual, to set it 
 agoing." 
 
 The following rather curious arrangement was described 
 in "The Mechanic's Magazine" for 1825. 
 
 " I beg leave to offer the prefixed device. The point at 
 which, like all the rest, it fails, I confess I did not (as I 
 do now) plainly perceive at once, although it is certainly 
 very obvious. The original idea was this to enable a 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 57 
 
 body which would float in a heavy medium and sink in a 
 lighter one, to pass successively through the one to the 
 other, the continuation of which would be the end in view. 
 To say that valves cannot be made to act as proposed will 
 not be to show the rationale (if I may so say) upon which 
 the idea is fallacious." 
 
 The figure is supposed to be tubular, and made of glass, 
 for the purpose of seeing the action of the balls inside, 
 which float or fall as they travel from air through water 
 and from water through air. The foot is supposed to be 
 placed in water, but it would answer the same purpose if 
 the bottom were closed. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVING, FIG. 13. No. i, the 
 left leg, filled with water from B to A. 2 and 3, valves, 
 having in their centers very small projecting valves ; they 
 all open upwards. 4, the right leg, containing air from 
 A to F. 5 and 6, valves, having very small ones in their 
 centers; they all open downwards. The whole apparatus 
 is supposed to be air and water-tight. The round figures 
 represent hollow balls, which will sink one-fourth of their 
 bulk in water (of course will fall in air) ; the weight there- 
 fore of three balls resting upon one ball in water, as at E, 
 will just bring its top even with the water's edge ; the 
 weight of four balls will sink it under the surface until the 
 ball immediately over it is one-fourth its bulk in water, 
 when the under ball will escape round the corner at C, 
 and begin to ascend. 
 
 "The machine is supposed (in the figure) to be in 
 action, and No. 8 (one of the balls) to have just escaped 
 round the corner at C, and to be, by its buoyancy, rising 
 up to valve No. 3, striking first the small projecting valve 
 in the center, which when opened, the large one will be 
 
58 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 raised by the buoyancy of the ball ; because the moment 
 the small valve in the center is opened (although only the 
 size of a pin's head), No. 2 valve will have taken upon it- 
 self to sustain the whole column of water from A to B. 
 The said ball (No. 8) having passed through the valve 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 No. 3, will, by appropriate weights or springs, close ; the 
 ball will proceed upwards to the next valve (No. 2), and 
 perform the same operation there. Having arrived at A, 
 it will float upon the surface three-fourths of its bulk out 
 of water. Upon another ball in due course arriving under 
 it, it will be lifted quite out of the water, and fall over the 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 59 
 
 point D, pass into the right leg (containing air), and fall to 
 valve No. 5, strike and open the small valve in its center, 
 then open the large one, and pass through ; this valve will 
 then, by appropriate weights or springs, close; the ball will 
 roll on through the bent tube (which is made in that form 
 to gain time as well as to exhibit motion) to the next valve 
 (No. 6), where it will perform the same operation, and 
 then, falling upon the four balls at E, force the bottom one 
 round the corner at C. This ball will proceed as did No. 
 8, and the rest in the same manner successively." 
 
 That an ordinary amateur mechanic should be misled by 
 such arguments is perhaps not so surprising, when we re- 
 member that the famous John Bernoulli claimed to have 
 invented a perpetual motion based on the difference be- 
 tween the specific gravities of two liquids. A translation 
 of the original Latin may be found in the Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica, Vol. XVIII, page 555. Some of the premises 
 on which he depends are, however, impossibilities, and 
 Professor Chrystal concludes his notice of the invention 
 thus : " One really is at a loss with Bernoulli's wonderful 
 theory, whether to admire most the conscientious state- 
 ment of the hypothesis, the prim logic of the demonstra- 
 tion so carefully cut according to the pattern of the 
 ancients or the weighty superstructure built on so frail 
 a foundation. Most of our perpetual motions were clearly 
 the result of too little learning ; surely this one was the 
 product of too much." 
 
 A more simple device was suggested recently by a cor- 
 respondent of " Power." He describes it thus : 
 
 The J-shaped tube A, Fig. 14, is open at both ends, 
 but tapers at the lower end, as shown. A well-greased 
 cotton rope C passes over the wheel B and through the 
 
6o 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 small opening of the tube with practically little or no fric- 
 tion, and also without leakage. The tube is then filled with 
 water. The rope above the line WX balances over the 
 pulley, and so does that below the line YZ . The rope in 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 the tube between these lines is lifted by the water, while 
 the rope on the other side of the pulley between these lines 
 is pulled downward by gravity. 
 
 The inventor offers the above suggestion rather as a 
 kind of puzzle than as a sober attempt to solve the famous 
 problem, and he concludes by asking why it will not work ? 
 
 In addition to the usual resistance or friction offered by 
 the air to all motion, there are four drawbacks : 
 
 1. The friction in its bearings of the axle of the wheel B. 
 
 2. The power required to bend and unbend the rope. 
 
 3. The friction of the rope in passing through the water 
 from z to x and its tendency to raise a portion of the water 
 above the level of the water at x, 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 6l 
 
 4. The friction at the point y, this last being the most 
 serious of all. An " opening of the tube with practically 
 little or no friction, and also without leakage " is a mechan- 
 ical impossibility. In order to have the joint water-tight, 
 the tube must hug the rope very tightly and this would 
 make friction enough to prevent any motion. And the 
 longer the column of water xz, the greater will be the ten- 
 dency to leak, and consequently the tighter must be the 
 joint and the greater the friction thereby created. 
 
 A favorite idea with perpetual-motion seekers is the 
 utilization of the force of magnetism. Some time prior to 
 the year 1579, Joannes Taisnierus wrote a book which is 
 now in the British Museum and in which considerable 
 space is devoted to " Continual Motions " and to the 
 solving of this problem by magnetism. Bishop Wil- 
 kins in his " Mathematical Magick " describes one of the 
 many devices which have been invented with this end 
 in view. He says : " But amongst all these kinds of inven- 
 tion, that is most likely, wherein a loadstone is so disposed 
 that it shall draw unto it on a reclined plane a bullet of 
 steel, which steel as it ascends near to the loadstone, may 
 be contrived to fall down through some hole in the plane, 
 and so to return unto the place from whence at first it 
 began to move ; and, being there, the loadstone will again 
 attract it upwards till coming to this hole, it will fall down 
 again ; and so the motion shall be perpetual, as may be 
 more easily conceivable by this figure (Fig. 15) : 
 
 " Suppose the loadstone to be represented at AB, which, 
 though it have not strength enough to attract the bullet 
 C directly from the ground, yet may do it by the help of 
 the plane EF. Now, when the bullet is come to the top 
 of this plane, its own gravity (which is supposed to exceed 
 
62 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 the strength of the loadstone) will make it fall into that 
 hole at E; and the force it receives in this fall will carry it 
 with such a violence unto the other end of this arch, that 
 it will open the passage which is there made for it, and by 
 its return will again shut it ; so that the bullet (as at the 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 first) is in the same place whence it was attracted, and, 
 consequently must move perpetually." 
 
 Notwithstanding the positiveness of the "must " at the 
 close of his description, it is very obvious to any practical 
 mechanic that the machine will not move at all, far less 
 move perpetually, and the bishop himself, after carefully 
 and conscientiously discussing the objections, comes to the 
 same conclusion. He ends by saying : " So that none of 
 all these magnetical experiments, which have been as yet 
 discovered, are sufficient for the effecting of a perpetual 
 motion, though these kind of qualities seem most conduci- 
 ble unto it, and perhaps hereafter it may be contrived from 
 them." 
 
 It has occurred to several would-be inventors of perpet- 
 ual motion that if some substance could be found which 
 would prevent the passage of the magnetic force, then by 
 interposing a plate of this material at the proper moment, 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 63 
 
 between the magnet and the piece of iron to be attracted, 
 a perpetual motion might be obtained. Several inventors 
 have claimed that they had discovered such a non-conduct- 
 ing substance, but it is needless to say that their claims 
 had no foundation in fact, and if they had discovered anything 
 of the kind, it would have required just as much force to 
 interpose it as would have been gained by the interposi- 
 tion. It has been fully proved that in every case where a 
 machine was made to work apparently by the interposition 
 of such a material, a fraud was perpetrated and the machine 
 was really made to move by means of some concealed 
 springs or weights. 
 
 A correspondent of the " Mechanic's Magazine " (Vol. xii, 
 London, 1829), gives the following curious design for a 
 " Self -moving Railway Carriage." He describes it as a 
 machine which, were it possible to make its parts hold to- 
 gether unimpaired by rotation or the ravages of time, and 
 to give it a path encircling the earth, would assuredly con- 
 tinue to roll along in one undeviating course until time 
 shall be no more. 
 
 A series of inclined planes are to be erected in such a 
 manner that a cone will ascend one (its sides forming an 
 acute angle), and being raised to the summit, descend on 
 the next (having parallel sides), at the foot of which it 
 must rise on a third and fall on a fourth, and so continue 
 to do alternately throughout. 
 
 The diagram, Fig. 16, is the section of a carriage A, 
 with broad conical wheels a, a, resting on the inclined plane 
 b. The entrance to the carriage is from above, and there are 
 ample accommodations for goods and passengers. " The 
 most singular property of this contrivance is, that its speed 
 increases the more it is laden ; and when checked on any 
 
6 4 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 part of the road, it will, when the cause of stoppage is re- 
 moved, proceed on its journey by mere power of gravity. 
 Its path may be a circular road formed of the inclined 
 planes. But to avoid a circuitous route, a double road 
 ought to be made. The carriage not having a retrograde 
 motion on the inclined planes, a road to set out upon, and 
 another to return by, are indispensable." 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 How any one could ever imagine that such a contrivance 
 would ever continue in motion for .even a short time, 
 except, perhaps, on the famous decensus averni, must be a 
 puzzle to every sane mechanic. I therefore give it as 
 a climax to the absurdities which have been proposed in 
 sober earnest. As a fitting close, however, to this chapter 
 of human folly, I give the following joke from the " Penny 
 Magazine," published by the Society for the Diffusion of 
 Useful Knowledge. 
 
 " * Father, I have invented a perpetual motion ! J said a 
 little fellow of eight years old. ' It is thus : I would make 
 a great wheel, and fix it up like a water-wheel; at the top 
 I would hang a great weight, and at the bottom I would 
 hang a number of little weights; then the great weight 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 6$ 
 
 would turn the wheel half round and sink to the bottom, 
 because it is so heavy: and when the little weights reach 
 the top they would sink down, because they are so many; 
 and thus the wheel would turn round for ever.* 
 
 The child's fallacy is a type of all the blunders which 
 are made on this subject. Follow a projector in his 
 description, and if it be not perfectly unintelligible, which 
 it often is, it always proves that he expects to find certain 
 of his movements alternately strong and weak -not 
 according to the laws of nature but according to the 
 wants of his mechanism. 
 
 2. FALLACIES 
 
 Fallacies are distinguished from absurdities on the one 
 hand and from frauds on the other, by the fact that with- 
 out any intentionally fraudulent contrivances on the part 
 of the inventor, they seem to produce results which have 
 a tendency to afford to certain enthusiasts a basis of hope 
 in the direction of perpetual motion, although usually not 
 under that name, for that is always explicitly disclaimed by 
 the promoters. 
 
 The most notable instance of this class in recent times 
 was the application of liquid air as a source of power, the 
 claim having been actually made by some of the advocates 
 of this fallacy that a steamship starting from New York 
 with 1000 gallons of liquid air, could not only cross the 
 Atlantic at full speed but could reach the other side with 
 more than 1000 gallons of liquid air on board the power 
 required to drive the vessel and to liquefy the surplus air 
 being all obtained during the passage by utilizing the 
 original quantity of liquid air that had been furnished in 
 the first place. 
 
66 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 That this was equivalent to perpetual motion, pure and 
 simple, was obvious even to those who were least familiar 
 with such subjects, though the idea of calling it perpetual 
 motion was sternly repudiated by all concerned the term 
 " perpetual motion" having become thoroughly offensive 
 to the ears of common-sense people, and consequently 
 tending to cast doubt over any enterprise to which it 
 might be applied. 
 
 That liquid air is a real and wonderful discovery, and 
 that for a certain small range of purposes it will prove 
 highly useful, cannot be doubted by those who have seen 
 and handled it and are familiar with its properties, but that 
 it will ever be successfully used as an economical source 
 of mechanical power is, to say the least, very improbable. 
 That a small quantity of the liquid is capable of doing an 
 enormous amount of work, and that under some conditions 
 there is apparently more power developed than was origin- 
 ally required to liquefy the air, is undoubtedly true, but 
 when a careful quantitative examination is made of the 
 outgo and the income of energy, it will be found in this, 
 as in every similar case, that instead of a gain there is a 
 very decided and serious loss. The correct explanation of 
 the fallacy was published in the " Scientific American," by 
 the late Dr. Henry Morton, president of the Stevens 
 Institute, and the same explanation and exposure were 
 made by the writer, nearly fifty years ago, in the case of 
 a very similar enterprise. The form of the fallacy in both 
 cases is so similar and so interesting that I shall make no 
 apology for giving the details. 
 
 About the year 1853 or l &$4> two ingenious mechanics 
 of Rochester, N. Y., conceived the idea that by using some 
 liquid more volatile than water, a great saving might be 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 67 
 
 effected in the cost of running an engine. At that time 
 gasolene and benzine were unknown in commerce, and the 
 same was true in regard to bisulphide of carbon, but as 
 the process of manufacturing the latter was simple and the 
 sources of supply were cheap and apparently unlimited, they 
 adopted that liquid. The name of one of these inventors 
 was Hughes and that of the other was Hill, and it would 
 seem that each had made the invention independently of 
 the other. They had a fierce conflict over the patent, but 
 this does not concern us except to this extent, that the 
 records of the case may therefore be found in the archives 
 of the Patent Office at Washington, D.C. Hughes was 
 backed by the wealth of a well-known lawyer of Rochester, 
 whose son subsequently occupied a high office in the state 
 of New York, and he constructed a beautiful little steam- 
 engine and boiler, made of the very finest materials and 
 with such skill and accuracy that it gave out a very consid- 
 erable amount of power in proportion to its size. The 
 source of heat was a series of lamps, fed, I think, with 
 lard oil (this was before the days of kerosene), and the ex- 
 hibition test consisted in first filling the boiler with water, 
 and noting the time that it took to get up a certain steam 
 pressure as shown by the gage." After this test, bisulphide 
 of carbon was added to the water, and the time and pres- 
 sure were noted. The difference was of course remark- 
 able, and altogether in favor of the new liquid. The 
 exhaust was carried into a vessel of cold water and as bi- 
 sulphide of carbon is very easily condensed and very heavy, 
 almost the entire quantity used was recovered and used 
 over and over again. 
 
 But to the uninstructed onlooker, the most remarkable 
 part of the exhibition was when the steam pressure was so 
 
68 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 far lowered that the engine revolved very slowly, and then, 
 on a little bisulphide being injected into the boiler, the 
 pressure would at once rise, and the engine would work 
 with great rapidity. This seemed almost like magic. 
 
 The same experiment was tried on an engine of twelve 
 horse-power, and with a like result. When the steam 
 pressure had fallen so far that the engine began to move 
 quite slowly, a quantity of the bisulphide would be injected 
 into the boiler and the pressure would at once rise, the 
 engine would move with renewed vigor, and the fly-wheel 
 would revolve with startling velocity. All this was seen 
 over and over again by myself and others. At that time 
 the writer, then quite a young man, had just recovered 
 from a very severe illness and was making a living by 
 teaching mechanical drawing and making drawings for in- 
 ventors and others, and in the course of business he was 
 brought into contact with some parties who thought of in- 
 vesting in the new and apparently wonderful invention. 
 They employed him to examine it and give an opinion as 
 to its value. After careful consideration and as thorough 
 a calculation as the data then at command would allow, he 
 showed his clients that the tests which had been exhibited 
 to them proved nothing, and that if a clear proof of the 
 value of the invention was to be given, it must be after a 
 run of many hours and not of a few minutes, and against 
 a properly adjusted load, the amount of which had been 
 carefully ascertained. This test was never made, or if 
 made the results were not communicated to the prospec- 
 tive purchasers ; the negotiations fell through, and the in- 
 vention which was to have revolutionized our mechanical 
 industries fell into "innocuous desuetude." 
 
 That the inventors were honest I have no doubt. They 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 69 
 
 were themselves deceived when they saw the engine start 
 off with tremendous velocity as soon as a little bisulphide 
 of carbon was injected into the boiler, and they failed to 
 see that this spurt, if I may use the expression, was simply 
 clue to a draft upon capital previously stored up. The 
 capacity of bisulphide of carbon for heat is quite low, when 
 compared with that of water ; its vaporizing point is also 
 much lower and consequently, an ordinary boiler full of 
 hot water contains enough heat to vaporize a considerable 
 quantity of bisulphide of carbon at a pretty high pressure. 
 In even a still greater measure the same is true of liquid 
 air, and this was the underlying fallacy in the case of the 
 tests made with liquid-air motors. 
 
 3. FRAUDS 
 
 But while the inventors of these schemes may have been 
 honest, there is another class who deliberately set out to 
 perpetrate a fraud. Their machines work, and work well, 
 but there is always some concealed source of power, which 
 causes them to move. As a general rule, such inventors 
 form a company or corporation of unlimited " lie-ability," as 
 De Morgan phrases it, and then they proceed by means of 
 flaring prospectuses and liberal advertising, to gather in 
 the dupes who are attracted by their seductive promises 
 of enormous returns for a very small outlay. Perhaps the 
 most widely known of these fraudulent schemes of recent 
 years was the notorious Keeley motor, the originator of 
 which managed to hoodwink a respectable old lady, and to 
 draw from her enormous supplies of cash. At his death, 
 however, the absolutely fraudulent nature of his contri- 
 vances was fully disclosed, and nothing more has been 
 
70 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 heard of his alleged discovery. But, while he lived and 
 was able to put forward claims based upon some apparent 
 results, he found plenty of fools who accepted the idea that 
 there is nothing impossible to science. 
 
 It is true that the Keeley motor was examined by sev- 
 eral committees and some very respectable gentlemen acted 
 in such a way as to give a seeming endorsement of the 
 scheme, but it must not be supposed for an instant that 
 any well-educated engineers and scientific men were de- 
 ceived by Mr. Keeley's nonsense. The very fact that he 
 refused to allow a complete examination of his machine by 
 intelligent practical men, ought to have been enough to 
 condemn his scheme, for if he had really made the discovery 
 which he claimed there would have been no difficulty in 
 proving it practically and thoroughly, and then he might 
 have formed company after company that would have re- 
 warded him with "wealth beyond the dreams of avarice." 
 
 The Keeley motor was not put forward as a perpetual 
 motion ; in these days none of these schemes is admitted 
 to be a perpetual motion, for that term has now become 
 exceedingly offensive and would condemn any invention ; 
 but the result is the same in the end, and the whole his- 
 tory of perpetual motion is permeated with frauds of this 
 kind, some of them having been so simple that they were 
 obvious to even the most unskilled observer, while others 
 were exceedingly complicated and most ingeniously con- 
 cealed. Many years ago a number of these fraudulent per- 
 petual-motion machines were manufactured in America 
 and sent over to Great Britain for exhibition, and quite a 
 lucrative business was done by showing them in various 
 towns. But the fraud was soon detected and the British 
 police then made it too warm for these swindlers. 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 71 
 
 Mr. Dircks, in his " Perpetuum Mobile," has given ac- 
 counts of quite a number of these impostures. The fol- 
 lowing are some of the most notable : 
 
 M. Poppe of Tubingen tells of a clock made by M. Geiser, 
 which was an admirable piece of mechanism and seemed to 
 have solved this great problem in an ingenious and simple 
 manner, but it deceived only for a time. When thoroughly 
 examined inwardly and outwardly, some time after his 
 death, it was found that the center props supporting its 
 cylinders contained cleverly constructed, hidden clock-work, 
 wound up by inserting a key in a small hole under the sec- 
 ond-hand. 
 
 Another case was that of a man named Adams who ex- 
 hibited, for eight or nine days, his pretended perpetual 
 motion in a town in England and took in the natives for 
 fifty or sixty pounds. Accident, however, led to a discov- 
 ery of the imposture. A gentleman, viewing the machine 
 took hold of the wheel or trundle and lifted it up a little, 
 which probably disengaged the wheels that connected the 
 hidden machinery in the plinth, and immediately he heard 
 a sound similar to that of a watch when the spring is run- 
 ning down. The owner was in great anger and directly 
 put the wheel into its proper position, and the machine 
 again went around as before. The circumstance was men- 
 tioned to an intelligent person who determined to find out 
 and expose the imposture. He took with him a friend to 
 view the machine and they seated themselves one on each 
 side of the table upon which the machine was placed. 
 They then took hold of the wheel and trundle and lifted 
 them up, there being some play in the pivots. " Immedi- 
 ately the hidden spring began to run down and they con- 
 tinued to hold the machine in spite of the endeavors of 
 
72 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 the owner to prevent them. When the spring had run 
 down, they placed the machine again on the table and 
 offered the owner fifty pounds if it could then set itself 
 going, but notwithstanding his fingering and pushing, it re- 
 mained motionless. A constable was sent for, the impostor 
 went before a magistrate and there signed a paper confess- 
 ing his perpetual motion to be a cheat. 
 
 In the " Mechanic's Magazine," Vol. 46, is an account 
 of a perpetual motion, constructed by one Redhoeffer of 
 Pennsylvania, which obtained sufficient notoriety to in- 
 duce the Legislature to appoint a committee to enquire 
 into its merits. The attention of Mr. Lukens was turned 
 to the subject, and although the actual moving cause was 
 not discovered, yet the deception was so ingeniously imi- 
 tated in a machine of similar appearance made by him and 
 moved by a spring so well concealed, that the deceiver him- 
 self was deceived and Redhoeffer was induced to believe 
 that Mr. Lukens had been successful in obtaining a mov- 
 ing power in some way in which he himself had failed, 
 when he had produced a machine so plausible in appear- 
 ance as to deceive the public. 
 
 Instances of a similar kind might be multiplied in- 
 definitely. 
 
 The experienced mechanic who reads the descriptions 
 here given of the various devices which have been proposed 
 for the construction of a perpetual-motion machine must be 
 struck with the childish simplicity of the plans which have 
 been offered ; and those who will search the pages of the 
 mechanical journals of the last century or who will ex- 
 amine the two closely printed volumes in which Mr. Dircks 
 has collected almost everything of the kind, will be aston- 
 ished at the sameness which prevails amongst the offerings 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 73 
 
 of these would-be inventors. Amongst the hundreds, or, 
 perhaps, thousands, of contrivances which have been de- 
 scribed, there is probably not more than a dozen kinds 
 which differ radically from each other ; the same arrange- 
 ment having been invented and re-invented over and over 
 again. And one of the strange features of the case is that 
 successive inventors seem to take no note of the failure of 
 those predecessors who have brought forward precisely the 
 same combination of parts under a very slightly different 
 form. 
 
 It is true that we occasionally find a very elaborate and 
 apparently complicated machine, but in such cases it will be 
 found, on close examination, to owe its apparent complexity 
 to a mere multiplication of parts ; no real inventive ingen- 
 uity is exhibited in any case. 
 
 Another singular characteristic of almost all those who 
 have devoted themselves to the search for a perpetual 
 motion is their absolute confidence in the success of the 
 plans which they have brought forth. So confident are 
 they in the soundness of their views and so sure of the suc- 
 cess of their schemes that they do not even take the trouble 
 to test their plans but announce them as accomplished 
 facts, and publish their sketches and descriptions as if the 
 machine was already working without a hitch. Indeed, so 
 far was one inventor carried away with this feeling of con- 
 fidence in the success of his machine that he no longer 
 allowed himself to be troubled with any doubts as to the 
 machine's going but was greatly puzzled as to what means 
 he should take to stop it after it had been set in motion ! 
 
 These facts, which are well known to all who have been 
 brought into contact with this class of minds, explain many 
 otherwise puzzling circumstances and enable us to place 
 
74 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 a proper value on assertions which, if not made so posi- 
 tively and by such apparently good authority, would be at 
 once condemned as deliberate falsehoods. That falsehood, 
 pure and simple, has formed the basis of a good many 
 claims of this kind, there can be no doubt, but at the same 
 time, it is probable that some of the claimants really de- 
 ceived themselves and attributed to causes other than radi- 
 cal errors of theory, the fact that their machines would not 
 continue to move. 
 
 While many have claimed the actual invention of a per- 
 petual motion it is very certain that not one has ever suc- 
 ceeded. How, then, are we to explain the statements 
 which have been made in regard to Orffyreus and the 
 claims of the Marquis of Worcester ? For both of these 
 men it is claimed that they constructed wheels which were 
 capable of moving perpetually and apparently strong testi- 
 mony is offered in support of these assertions. 
 
 In the famous " Century of Inventions," published by 
 the Marquis in 1663, four years before his death, the cele- 
 brated 56th article reads as follows (verbatim et literatim] : 
 
 " To provide and make that all the Weights of the descend- 
 ing side of a Wheel shall be perpetually further from the 
 Centre, then those of the mounting side, and yet equal in 
 number and heft to the one side" as the other. A most in- 
 credible thing, if not seen, but tried before the late king 
 (of blessed memory) in the Tower, by my directions, two 
 Extraordinary Embassadors accompanying His Majesty, and 
 the Duke of Richmond and Duke Hamilton, with most of 
 the Court, attending Him. The Wheel was 14. Foot over, 
 and 40. Weights of 50. pounds apiece. Sir William Balfcre, 
 then Lieutenant of the Tower, can justifie it, with several 
 others. They all saw, that no sooner these great Weights 
 passed the Diameter-line of the lower side, but they hung 
 a foot further from the Centre, nor no sooner passed the 
 Diameter-line of the upper side, but they hung a foot nearer. 
 Be pleased to judge the consequence." 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 75 
 
 Such is the account given by the Marquis himself, and 
 that he exhibited such a wheel at the time and place which 
 he names, I have not the least doubt. And that some of 
 the weights on one side hung a foot further from the cen- 
 ter than did weights on the other side is also no doubt true, 
 but, as the judging of the "consequence" is left to our- 
 selves we know that after the first impulse given to it had 
 been expended, the wheel would simply stand still unless 
 kept in motion by some external force. 
 
 Mr. Dircks in his " Life, Times and Scientific Labours 
 of the Second Marquis of Worcester," gives an engraving 
 of a wheel which complies with all the conditions laid down 
 by the Marquis and which is thus described : 
 
 " Let the annexed diagram, Fig. 17, represent a wheel of 
 14 feet in diameter, having 40 spokes, seven feet each, and 
 with an inner rim coinciding with the periphery, at one 
 foot distance all round. Next provide 40 balls or weights, 
 hanging in the center of cords or chains two feet long. 
 Now, fasten one end of this cord at the top of the center 
 
76 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 spoke C, and the other end of the cord to the next right- 
 hand spoke one foot below the upper end, or on the inner 
 ring; proceed in like manner with every other spoke in 
 succession; and it will be found that, at A, the cord will 
 have the position shown outside the wheel ; while at B, C, 
 and D, it will also take the respective positions, as shown 
 on the outside. The result in this case will be, that all 
 the weights on the side A, C, D, hang to the great or outer 
 circle, while on the side B, C, D, all the weights are sus- 
 pended from the lesser or inner circle. And if we reverse 
 the motion of the wheel, turning it from the right to the 
 left hand, we shall reverse these positions also (the lower 
 end of the cord sliding in a groove towards a left-hand 
 spoke), but without the wheel having any tendency to move 
 of itself." 
 
 But it is quite as likely that the wheel constructed by 
 the Marquis was like one of the "overbalancing" wheels 
 described at the beginning of this article. 
 
 It is upon this " scantling " that has been based the 
 claim that the Marquis really invented a perpetual motion, 
 but to those who have seen much of inventors of this kind, 
 the discrepancy between the suggested claim made by the 
 Marquis and what we know must have been the actual 
 results, is easily explained. The Marquis felt sure that 
 the thing ought to work, and the excuse for its not doing 
 so was probably the imperfect manner in which the wheel 
 was made. Only put a little better work on it, says the 
 inventor, and it will go. 
 
 Caspar Kaltoff, mechanician to the Marquis, probably 
 got the wheel up in a hurry so as to exhibit it on the occa- 
 sion of the king's visit to the tower. If he only had had a 
 little more time he would have made a machine that would 
 have worked. (?) I have heard the same excuse under 
 almost the same circumstances, scores of times. 
 
 The case of Orffyreus was very different. The real 
 
PERPETUAL MOTION 77 
 
 name of this inventor was Jean Ernest Elie-Bessler, and he 
 is said to have manufactured the name Orffyreus by plac- 
 ing his own name between two lines of letters, and picking 
 out alternate letters above and below. He was educated 
 for the church, but turned his attention to mechanics and 
 became an expert clock maker. His character, as given 
 by his contemporaries was fickle, tricky, and irascible. 
 Having devised a scheme for perpetual motion he con- 
 structed several wheels which he claimed.to be self-moving. 
 The last one which he made was 1 2 feet in diameter and 
 14 inches deep, the material being light pine boards, 
 covered with waxed cloth to conceal the mechanism. The 
 axle was 8 inches thick, thus affording abundant space fop 
 concealed machinery. 
 
 This wheel was submitted to the Landgrave of Hesse 
 who had it placed in a room which was then locked, and 
 the lock secured with the Landgrave's own seal. At the 
 end of forty days it was found to be still running. 
 
 Professor 'sGravesande having been employed by the 
 Landgrave to make an examination and pronounce upon 
 its merits, he endeavored to perform his work thoroughly ; 
 this so irritated Orffyreus that the latter broke the machine 
 in pieces, and left on the wall a writing stating that he had 
 been driven to do this by the impertinent curiosity of the 
 Professor ! 
 
 I have no doubt that this was a clear case of fraud, and 
 that the wheel was driven by some mechanism concealed 
 in the huge axle. As already stated, Orffyreus was at 
 one time a clock maker ; now clocks have been made to go 
 for a whole year without having to be rewound, so that 
 forty days was not a very long time for the apparatus to 
 keep in motion. 
 
78 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 Professor 'sGravesande seems to have had some faith 
 in the invention, but then we must remember that it would 
 not have been very difficult to deceive an honest old pro- 
 fessor whose confidence in humanity was probably un- 
 bounded. The crowning argument against the genuineness 
 of the motion was the fact that the inventor refused to 
 allow a thorough examination, although a wealthy patron 
 stood ready with a large reward if the machine could be 
 proved to be what was claimed. 
 
 And now comes up the question which has arisen in 
 regard to other problems, and will recur again and again 
 to the end of the chapter : Is a perpetual motion machine 
 one of the scientific impossibilities ? 
 
 The answer to this question lies in the fact that there 
 is no principle more thoroughly established than that no 
 combination of machinery can create energy. So far as 
 our present knowledge of nature goes we might as well 
 try to create matter as to create energy, and the creation 
 of energy is essential to the successful working of a per- 
 petual-motion machine because some power must always 
 be lost through friction and other resistances and must be 
 supplied from some source if the machine is to keep on 
 moving. And since the law of the conservation of energy 
 makes it positive that no more power can be given out by 
 a machine than was originally supplied to it, it seems as 
 certain as anything can be that the construction of a per- 
 petual-motion machine is one of the impossibilities. 
 
V 
 TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 
 
 HE " accursed thirst for gold " has existed from 
 the earliest ages and, as the apostle says, " is the 
 root of all evil." Those who have a greed for 
 power, a craving for luxury, or a fever for lust, 
 all think that their wildest dreams might be realized if 
 they could only command sufficient gold. Never was 
 there a more lurid picture of a mind inflamed with all these 
 evil passions than that set forth by Ben Jonson in the 
 Second Act of " The Alchemist," and who can doubt but 
 that such desires and dreams spurred on many, either to 
 engage in an actual search for the philosopher's stone, or 
 to become the dupes of what Van Helmont calls " a dia- 
 bolical crew of gold and silver sucking flies and leeches." 
 
 As we might naturally expect, the early history of 
 alchemy is shrouded in myths and fables. Zosimus the 
 Panapolite tells us that the art of Alchemy was first 
 taught to mankind by demons, who fell in love with the 
 daughters of men, and, as a reward for their favors, taught 
 them all the works and mysteries of nature. On this 
 Boerhaave remarks : 
 
 " This ancient fiction took its rise from a mistaken in- 
 terpretation of the words of Moses, * That the sons of God 
 saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they 
 took them wives of all which they chose. ' l From whence 
 it was inferred that the sons of God were daemons, con- 
 sisting of a soul, and a visible but impalpable body, like 
 
 1 Genesis vi, 2. 
 79 
 
80 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 the image in a looking-glass (to which notion we find 
 several allusions in the evangelists) ; that they know all 
 things, appeared to men and conversed with them, fell 
 in love with women, had intrigues with them and revealed 
 secrets. From the same fable probably arose that of the 
 Sibyl, who is said to have obtained of Apollo the gift of 
 prophecy, and revealing the will of heaven in return for 
 a like favor. So prone is the roving mind of man to fig- 
 ments, which it can at first idly amuse itself with, and at 
 length fall down and worship. " 
 
 This idea of the supernatural origin of the arts perme- 
 ates the ancient mythology which everywhere teaches that 
 men were taught the sacred arts of medicine and chemis- 
 try by gods and demigods. 
 
 Modern science discards all these mythological accounts. 
 Whatever knowledge the ancients acquired of medicine and 
 chemistry was, no doubt, reached along two lines phar- 
 macy and metallurgy. That the pharmacist or apothecary 
 exercised his calling at a very early period we have posi- 
 tive knowledge ; thus in the Book of Ecclesiastes we are 
 told that " dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary 
 to send forth a stinking savor," and that men at a very 
 early day found out the means of working iron, copper, 
 gold, silver, etc., is evident from the accounts given of 
 Vulcan and Tubalcain, as well as from the remains of old 
 tools and weapons. And that Alchemy, as it is generally 
 understood, is a comparatively modern outgrowth of these 
 two arts, is pretty certain. No mention of the art of con- 
 verting the baser metals into gold, and no account of a 
 universal medicine or elixir of life is to be found in any of 
 the authentic writings of the ancients. Homer, Aristotle, 
 and even Pliny are all silent on the subject, and those 
 writings which treat of the art, and which claim an ancient 
 origin, such as the books of Hermes Trismegistus, are now 
 
TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 8l 
 
 regarded by the best authorities as spurious the evi- 
 dence that they were the work of a far later age being 
 irrefragable. 
 
 Several writers have taken the ground that the alchemi- 
 cal treatises which have come down to us from the early 
 writers on the subject, are purely allegorical and do not 
 relate to material things, but to the principles of a higher 
 religion which, in those days, it was dangerous to expound 
 in plain language. One or two elaborate works and several 
 articles supporting this view have been published, but the 
 common-sense reader who will glance through the im- 
 mense collection of alchemical tracts gathered together by 
 Mangetus in two folio volumes of a thousand pages each, 
 will rise from such examination, very thoroughly convinced 
 that it was the actual metal gold, and the fabled universal 
 medicine that these writers had in view. 
 
 There can be little doubt that Geber, Roger Bacon, 
 Albertus Magnus, Raymond Lully, Helvetius, Van Hel- 
 mont, Basil Valentine, and others, describe very substan- 
 tial things with a minuteness of detail which leaves no 
 room for doubt as to their materiality though we cannot 
 always be sure of their identity. 
 
 Some confusion of thought has been caused by the 
 difference which has been made between the terms alchemy 
 and chemistry and their applications. The word alchemy 
 is simply the word chemistry with the Arabic word al, 
 which signifies the, prefixed, and the history of alchemy is 
 really the history of chemistry wild and erratic in its 
 beginnings, and giving rise to strange hopes and still 
 stranger theories, but ever working along the line of dis- 
 covery and progress. And, although many of the profes- 
 sional chemists or alchemists of the middle ages were 
 
82 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 undoubted charlatans and quacks, yet did we not have 
 many of the same kind in the nineteenth century ? We 
 may use the word alchemist as a term of reproach, and apply 
 it to these early workers because their theories appear 
 to us to be absurd, but how do we know that the chemists 
 of the twenty-second century will not regard us in a similar 
 light, and set at naught the theories we so fondly cherish ? 
 
 Only seven out of the large number of metals now cata- 
 logued by us were known to the ancients ; these were 
 gold, silver, mercury, copper, tin, lead, and iron. And as it 
 happened that the list of so-called planets also numbered 
 exactly seven, it was thought that there must be a connec- 
 tion between the two, and, consequently, in the alchemical 
 writings, each metal was called by the name of that one of 
 the heavenly bodies which was supposed to be connected 
 with it in influence and quality. 
 
 In the astronomy of the ancients, as is generally known, 
 the earth occupied the center of the universe, and the list 
 of planets included the sun and moon. After them came 
 Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. To the metal 
 gold was given the name of Sol, or the sun, on account 
 of its brightness and its power of resisting corroding agents ; 
 hence the compounds of gold were known as solar compounds 
 and solar medicines. As might have been expected, silver 
 was assigned to Luna or the moon, and in the modern 
 pharmacopoeia such terms as lunar caustic and lunar salts 
 still have a place. Mercury was, of course, appropriated to 
 the planet of that name. Copper was named after Venus, 
 and cupreous salts were known as venereal salts. Iron, 
 probably from its being the metal chiefly used for making 
 arms and armor, was dedicated to Mars, and we still speak 
 of martial salts. Tin was named after Jupiter from his bril- 
 
TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 83 
 
 liancy, the compounds of tin being called jovial salts. The 
 dull, leaden color of Saturn, with his apparently heavy and 
 slow motion, seemed to fit him for association with lead, and 
 we still have the saturnine ointment as a reminder of old 
 alchemical times. 
 
 Of these metals gold was supposed to be the only one 
 that was perfect, and the belief was general that if the 
 others could be purified and perfected they would be 
 changed to gold. Many of the old chemists worked faith- 
 fully and honestly to accomplish this, but the path to wealth 
 seemed so direct and the means for deception were so 
 ready and simple, that large numbers of quacks and charla- 
 tans entered the field and held out the most alluring induce- 
 ments to dupes who furnished them liberally with money 
 and other necessaries in the hope that when the discovery 
 was made they would be put in possession of unbounded 
 wealth. These dupes were easily deceived and led astray 
 by simple frauds, which scarcely rose to the level of amateur 
 legerdemain. In the "Memoirs of the Academy of 
 Sciences" for 1772, M. Geoffroy gives an account of the 
 various modes in which the frauds of these swindlers were 
 carried on. The following are a few of their tricks : 
 Instead of the mineral substances which they pretended 
 to transmute they put a salt of gold or silver at the bottom 
 of the crucible, the mixture being covered with some pow- 
 dered crucible and gum water or wax so that it might 
 look like the bottom of the crucible. Another method was 
 to bore a hole in a piece of charcoal, fill the hole with fine 
 filings of gold or silver, stopping it with powered charcoal, 
 mixed with some agglutinent so that the whole might look 
 natural. Then when the charcoal burned away, the silver 
 or gold was found in the bottom of the crucible. Or they 
 
84 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 soaked charcoal in a solution of these metals and threw 
 the charcoal, when powdered, upon the material to be trans- 
 muted. Sometimes they whitened gold with mercury and 
 made it pass for silver or tin, and the gold when melted was 
 exhibited as the result of transmutation. A common ex- 
 hibition was to dip nails in a liquid and to take them out 
 apparently half converted into gold ; these nails consisted 
 of one-half iron neatly soldered to the other half, which was 
 gold, and covered with something to conceal the color. 
 The paint or covering was removed by the liquid. A very 
 common trick was the use of a hollow, iron stirring rod ; 
 the hollow was filled with gold or silver filings, and neatly 
 stopped with wax. When used to stir the contents of the 
 crucible the wax melted and allowed the gold or silver to 
 fall out. 
 
 These frauds were rendered all the more easy because 
 of certain statements which were current in regard to suc- 
 cessful attempts to convert lead and other metals into gold. 
 These accounts were vouched for by well-known chemists 
 and others of high standing. Perhaps the most famous of 
 these is that given by Helvetius in his " Brief of the* Golden 
 Calf ; Discovering the Rarest Miracle in Nature ; how by 
 the smallest portion of the Philosopher's Stone, a great 
 piece of common lead was totally transmuted into the purest 
 transplendent gold, at the Hague in 1666." The following 
 is Brande's abridgment of this singular account. 
 
 " The 27th day of December, 1666, in the afternoon, 
 came a stranger to my house at the Hague, in a plebeick 
 habit, of honest gravity and serious authority, of a mean 
 stature and a little long face, black hair not at all curled, 
 a beardless chin, and about forty-four years (as I guess) of 
 age and born in North Holland. After salutation, he be- 
 secched me with great reverence to pardon his rude accesses, 
 
TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 85 
 
 for he was a lover of the Pyrotechnian art, and having 
 read my treatise against the sympathetic powder of Sir 
 Kenelm Digby, and observed my aoubt about the philo- 
 sophic mystery, induced him to ask me if I really was a 
 disbeliever as to the existence of an universal medicine 
 which would cure all diseases, unless the principal parts 
 were perished, or the predestinated time of death come. 
 I replied, I never met with an adept, or saw such a medi- 
 cine, though I had fervently prayed for it. Then I said, 
 4 Surely you are a learned physician.' ' No,' said he, ' I am a 
 brass-founder, and a lover of chemistry. 1 He then took 
 from his bosom-pouch a neat ivory box, and out of it three 
 ponderous lumps of stone, each about the bigness of a 
 walnut. I greedily saw and handled for a quarter of an 
 hour this most noble substance, the value of which might 
 be somewhere about twenty tons of gold; and having 
 drawn from the owner many rare secrets of its admirable 
 effects, I returned him this treasure of treasures with a 
 most sorrowful mind, humbly beseeching him to bestow a 
 fragment of it upon me in perpetual memory of him, though 
 but the size of a coriander seed. 'No, no,' said he, 'that is 
 not lawful, though thou wouldest give me as many golden 
 ducats as would fill this room; for it would have particular 
 consequences, and if fire could be burned of fire, I would 
 at this instant rather cast it all into the fiercest flames.' 
 He then asked if I had a private chamber whose prospect 
 was from the public street; so I presently conducted him 
 to my best furnished room backwards, which he entered, 
 says Helvetius (in the true spirit of Dutch cleanliness), 
 without wiping his shoes, which were full of snow and 
 dirt. I now expected he would bestow some great secret 
 upon me ; but in vain. He asked for a piece of gold, and 
 opening his doublet showed me five pieces of that precious 
 metal which he wore upon a green riband, and which very 
 much excelled mine in flexibility and color, each being 
 the size of a small trencher. I now earnestly again craved 
 a crumb of the stone, and at last, out of his philosophical 
 commiseration, he gave me a morsel as large as a rape- 
 seed ; but I said, ' This scanty portion will scarcely trans- 
 mute four grains of lead.' 'Then,' said he, 'Deliver it me 
 back : ' which I did, in hopes of a greater parcel ; but lie, 
 cutting off half with his nail, said : ' Even this is sufficient 
 
86 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 for thee.' ' Sir,' said I, with a dejected countenance, * what 
 means this ? ' And he said, * Even that will transmute half 
 an ounce of lead.' So I gave him great thanks, and said I 
 would try it, and reveal it to no one. He then took his 
 leave, and said he would call again next morning at nine. 
 I then confessed, that while the mass of his medicine was 
 in my hand the day before, I had secretly scraped off a 
 bit with my nail, which I projected on lead, but it caused no 
 transmutation, for the whole flew away in fumes. * Friend,' 
 said he, * thou art more dexterous in committing theft than 
 in applying medicine; hadst thou wrapt up thy stolen prey 
 in yellow wax, it would have penetrated and transmuted 
 the lead into gold.' I then asked if the philosophic work 
 cost much or required long time, for philosophers say that 
 nine or ten months are required for it. He answered, 
 'Their writings are only to be understood by the adepts, 
 without whom no student can prepare this magistery. Fling 
 not away, therefore, thy money and goods in hunting out 
 this art, for thou shalt never find it.' To which I replied, 
 ' As thy master showed it thee so mayest thou perchance 
 discover something thereof to me who know the rudiments, 
 and therefore, it may be easier to add to a foundation than 
 begin anew.' ' In this art,' said he, ' it is quite otherwise, 
 for unless thou knowest the thing from head to heel, thou 
 canst not break open the glassy seal of Hermes. But 
 enough; tomorrow at the ninth hour I will show thee the 
 manner of projection.' But Elias never came again; so 
 my wife, who was curious in the art whereof the worthy 
 man had discoursed, teazed me to make the experiment 
 with the little spark of bounty the artist had left me; so 
 I melted half an ounce of lead, upon which my wife put 
 in the said medicine ; it hissed and bubbled, and in a quarter 
 of an hour the mass of lead was transmuted into fine gold, 
 at which we were exceedingly amazed. I took it to the 
 goldsmith, who judged it most excellent, and willingly 
 offered fifty florins for each ounce." 
 
 Such is the celebrated history of Elias the artist and 
 Dr. Helvetius. 
 
 Helvetius stood very high as a man and chemist, but in 
 connection with this and some other narratives of the same 
 
TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 87 
 
 kind, it may be well to remember that something over a 
 hundred years before that time the celebrated Paracelsus 
 had introduced laudanum. 
 
 The following is another history of transmutation, given 
 by Mangetus, on the authority of M. Gros, a clergyman of 
 Geneva, " of the most unexceptionable character, and at 
 the same time a skilful physician and expert chemist." 
 
 " About the year 1650 an unknown Italian came to 
 Geneva and took lodgings at the sign of the Green Cross. 
 After remaining there a day or two, he requested De Luc, 
 the landlord, to procure him a man acquainted with Italian, 
 to accompany him through the town and point out those 
 things which deserved to be examined. De Luc was ac- 
 quainted with M. Gros, at that time about twenty years of 
 age, and a student in Geneva, and knowing his proficiency 
 in the Italian language, requested him to accompany the 
 stranger. To this proposition he willingly acceded, and 
 attended the Italian everywhere for the space of a fort- 
 night. The stranger now began to complain of want of 
 money, which alarmed M. Gros not a little, for at that 
 time he was very poor, and he became apprehensive, from 
 the tenor of the stranger's conversation, that he intended 
 to ask the loan of money from him. But instead of this, 
 the Italian asked him if he was acquainted with any gold- 
 smith, whose bellows and other utensils they might be 
 permitted to use, and who would not refuse to supply them 
 with the different articles requisite for a particular process 
 which he wanted to perform. M. Gros named a M. Bureau, 
 to whom the Italian immediately repaired. He readily 
 furnished crucibles, pure tin, quicksilver, and the other 
 things required by the Italian. The goldsmith left his 
 workshop, that the Italian might be under the less restraint, 
 leaving M. Gros, with one of his own workmen as an attend- 
 ant. The Italian put a quantity of tin into one crucible, 
 and a quantity of quicksilver into another. The tin was 
 melted in the fire and the mercury heated. It was then 
 poured into the melted tin, and at the same time a red 
 powder enclosed in wax was projected into the amalgam. 
 An agitation took place and a great deal of smoke was 
 
88 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 exhaled from the crucible; but this speedily subsided, and 
 the whole being poured out, formed six heavy ingots, 
 having the color of gold. The goldsmith was called in by 
 the Italian and requested to make a rigid examination of 
 the smallest of these ingots. The goldsmith not content 
 with the touch-stone and the application of aquafortis, 
 exposed the metal on the cupel with lead and fused it with 
 antimony, but it sustained no loss. He found it possessed 
 of the ductility and specific gravity of gold; and full of 
 admiration, he exclaimed that he had never worked before 
 upon gold so perfectly pure. The Italian made him a 
 present of the smallest ingot as a recompense and then, 
 accompanied by M. Gros, he repaired to the mint, where 
 he received from M. Bacuet, the mint-master, a quantity 
 of Spanish gold coin, equal in weight to the ingots which 
 he had brought. To M. Gros he made a present of twenty 
 pieces on account of the attention that he had paid to him 
 and after paying his bill at the inn, he added fifteen pieces 
 more, to serve to entertain M. Gros and M. Bureau for 
 some days, and in the meantime he ordered a supper, that 
 he might, on his return, have the pleasure of supping with 
 these two gentlemen. He went out, but never returned, 
 leaving behind him the greatest regret and admiration. 
 It is needless to add that M. Gros and M. Bureau continued 
 to enjoy themselves at the inn till the fifteen pieces which 
 the stranger had left, were exhausted." 
 
 Narratives such as these led even Bergman, a very able 
 chemist of the period, to take the ground that " although 
 most of these relations are deceptive and many uncertain, 
 some bear such character and testimony that, unless we re- 
 ject all historical evidence, we must allow them entitled to 
 confidence." 
 
 A much more probable explanation is that the relators 
 were either dreaming or deceived by clever legerdemain. 
 
 Of the possibility or impossibility of converting the more 
 common metals into gold or silver, it would be rash to 
 give a positive opinion. To say that gold, silver, lead, 
 
TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 89 
 
 copper, etc., are elements and cannot be changed, is merely 
 to say that we have not been able to decompose them. 
 Water, potash, soda, and other substances, were at one 
 time considered elements, and resisted all the efforts of 
 the older chemists to resolve them into their components, 
 but with the advent of more powerful means of analysis 
 they were shown to be compounds, and it is not impossible 
 that the so-called elements into which they were resolved 
 may themselves be found to be compounds. This has 
 happened in regard to some substances which were at one 
 time announced as elements, and it is not impossible that 
 it may happen in regard to others. The ablest chemists 
 of the present day recognize this fully and are prepared 
 for radical changes in our knowledge of the nature and 
 constitution of matter. Amongst the new views is the 
 hypothesis of Rutherford and Soddy, which, as given by 
 Sir William Ramsay, in a recent article contributed by him 
 to "Harper's Magazine," is that, 
 
 " atoms of elements of high atomic weight, such as radium, 
 uranium, thorium, and the suspected elements polonium 
 and actinium, are unstable ; that they undergo spontaneous 
 change into other forms of matter, themselves radioactive 
 and themselves unstable; and that finally elements are 
 produced, which, on account of their non-radioactivity, are 
 as a rule, impossible to recognize, for their minute amount 
 precludes the application of any ordinary test with success. 
 Tie recognition of helium however, which is compara- 
 tively easy of detection, lends great support to this hypo- 
 thesis." 
 
 At the same time we must not lose sight of the fact 
 that the substances which we now recognize as elements 
 have not only resisted the most powerful analytical agencies 
 and dissociating forces, but have maintained their ele- 
 
QO THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 mental character in spectrum analysis, and shown their 
 presence as distinct elements in the sun and other heavenly 
 bodies where they must have been subjected to the action 
 of the most energetic decomposing forces. So that in the 
 present state of our knowledge the near prospect of suc- 
 cessful transmutation does not seem to be very bright, 
 although we cannot regard it as impossible. In the article 
 from which we have already quoted, Sir William Ramsay, 
 after discussing the bearing of certain experiments in re- 
 gard to the parting with and absorbing of energy by cer- 
 tain elements, says: "If these hypotheses are just, then 
 the transmutation of the elements no longer appears an 
 idle dream. The philosopher's stone will have been dis- 
 covered, and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that 
 it may lead to that other goal of the philosophers of the 
 dark ages the elixir vitos. For the action of living cells 
 is also dependent on the nature and direction of the energy 
 which they contain ; and who can say that it will be im- 
 possible to control their action, when the means of impart- 
 ing and controlling energy shall have been investigated ! " 
 
 In the event of the discovery of a cheap method of pro- 
 ducing gold, the change which would certainly occur in our 
 financial or currency system would be important, if not 
 revolutionary. It has become the fashion at present with 
 certain writers to scout the so-called "quantitative theory" 
 of money as if it were an exposed fallacy. Now the quan- 
 titative theory of money rests on one of the most well- 
 grounded and firmly established principles in political econ- 
 omy : the trouble is that the writers in question do not 
 understand it or even know what it is. At present, the 
 production of gold barely keeps pace with the increasing 
 demand for the metal as currency and in the arts, but if 
 
TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 91 
 
 that production were increased ten-fold, the value of gold 
 would decline and prices would go up astonishingly. 
 
 One of the objects which the better class of alchemists 
 had in view was the making of gold to such an extent that 
 it might become quite common and cease to be sought after 
 by mankind. One alchemical writer says : " Would to 
 God that all men might become adepts in our art, for then 
 gold, the common idol of mankind, would lose its value and 
 we should prize it only for its scientific teaching." 
 
VI 
 
 THE FIXATION OF MERCURY 
 
 HIS is really one of the processes supposed to 
 be involved in the transmutation of the metals 
 and might, therefore, perhaps, with propriety, be 
 included under that head. But as it has received 
 special attention in the apocryphal works of Hermes Tris- 
 megistus, who is generally regarded as the Father of Al- 
 chemy, it is frequently mentioned as one of the old scientific 
 problems. Readers of Scott's novel, " Kenilworth," may 
 remember that Wayland Smith, in his account of his former 
 master, Demetrius Doboobius, describes him as a profound 
 chemist who had " made several efforts to fix mercury, and 
 judged himself to have made a fair hit at the philosopher's 
 stone." Hermes, or, rather, those who wrote over his 
 name, speaks in the jargon of the adepts, about " catching 
 the flying bird," by which is meant mercury, and " drown- 
 ing it so that it may fly no more." The usual means for 
 effecting this was amalgamation with gold, or some other 
 metal or solution in some acid. 
 
 To the ancient chemists mercury must have been one of 
 the most interesting of objects. Its great heaviness, its 
 metallic brilliancy, and its wonderful mobility, must all have 
 combined to render it a subject for deep thought and an 
 attractive object for experiment and investigation. 
 
 Living in a warm climate, as they did, there was no 
 means at their command by which its fluidity could be im- 
 paired. This subtle substance seemed to defy the usual 
 
 92 
 
THE FIXATION OF MERCURY 93 
 
 attempts to grasp it ; it rolled about like a solid sphere, but 
 offered no resistance to the touch, and when pressed it split 
 up into innumerable smaller globules so that the problem 
 of " fixing " it must have had a strange fascination for the 
 thoughtful alchemist, especially when he found that, on 
 subjection to a comparatively moderate degree of heat, this 
 heavy metal disappeared in vapor and left not a trace behind. 
 
 I have often wondered what the old alchemists would 
 have said if they had seen fluid mercury immersed in a 
 clear liquid and brought out in the form of a lump of solid, 
 bright metal. For, although this is not in any sense a so- 
 lution of the problem, yet it is a most curious sight and one 
 which was rarely seen before the discovery of the liquefac- 
 tion of the gases. To Geber, Basil Valentine, Van Helmont, 
 Helvetius, and men of their day, living in their climate, this 
 startling phenomenon would have seemed nothing short of 
 a miracle. 
 
 In modern times the solidification of mercury had been 
 frequently witnessed by these who dwelt in northern cli- 
 mates and by the skilful use of certain freezing mixtures 
 made up of ordinary salts, it is not difficult to exhibit this 
 metal in the solid state at any time. But it was not until the 
 discovery of the liquefaction of carbonic acid, nitrous oxide, 
 and other gases by Faraday, about 1823, that the freezing 
 of mercury became a common lecture-room experiment. 
 
 In the year 1862 the writer delivered a course of lectures 
 on chemistry, in the city of Rochester, N. Y., and during 
 the progress of these lectures he reduced carbonic acid first 
 to the liquid, and then to the solid state, in the form of a 
 white snow. The temperature of this snow was about 
 80 Cent. ( 1 76 Fahr.) and when it was mixed with 
 ether and laid on a quantity of mercury, the latter was 
 
94 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 quickly frozen. In this way it was easy to make a ham- 
 mer-head of frozen mercury and drive a nail with it. 
 
 Another very interesting experiment was the freezing of 
 a slender triangular bar of mercury which might be twisted, 
 bent, and tied in a knot. This was done by folding a long 
 strip of very stiff paper so as to make an angular trough 
 into which the mercury was poured. This trough was then 
 carefully leveled and a mixture of solid carbonic acid and 
 ether was placed over the metal in the usual way. In a few 
 seconds the mercury was frozen quite solid so that it could 
 be lifted out by means of two pairs of wooden forceps and 
 bent and knotted at will. But the most striking part of the 
 experiment was the melting of this bar of mercury by 
 means of a piece of ice. The moment the ice touched the 
 mercury, the latter melted and fell down in drops in the 
 same way that a bar of lead or solder melts when it is 
 touched with a red-hot iron. 
 
 The melted mercury was allowed to fall into a tall ale-glass 
 of water, the temperature of which had been reduced as 
 nearly as possible to the freezing point. When the mercury 
 came in contact with the cold water, the latter began to freeze 
 and by careful manipulation it was possible to freeze a tube 
 of ice through the center of the column of water. The 
 effect of this under proper illumination was very striking. 
 
 Owing to the fact that the specific heat or thermal ca- 
 pacity of mercury is only about one-thirtieth of that of 
 water, it requires a considerable amount of melted mercury 
 to produce the desired result. 
 
 But these processes do not enable us to fix mercury in 
 the alchemical sense ; the accomplishment of that still 
 remains an unsolved problem, and it is more than likely 
 that it will remain so, 
 
VII 
 
 THE UNIVERSAL MEDICINE AND THE 
 ELIXIR OF LIFE 
 
 |OVE of life is a characteristic of all animals, man 
 included, and notwithstanding the fact that an 
 occasional individual becomes so dissatisfied with 
 his environment that he commits suicide, and 
 also in the face of the poet's assertion that 
 
 " protracted life is but protracted woe " 
 
 most men and women are of the same way of thinking as 
 Charmian, the attendant on Cleopatra, and "love long life 
 better than figs." And the force of this general feeling is 
 appealed to in the only one of the Mosaic commandments 
 to which a promise is attached, the inducement for honor- 
 ing father and mother being " that thy days may be long 
 in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee." 
 
 No wonder then that the old alchemists dreamed of a 
 universal medicine that would not only prevent or cure 
 sickness but that would renew the youth of the aged and 
 the feeble, for in this, as in most other attempts at discov- 
 ery, the wish was father to the thought. That the renewal 
 of youth in the aged was supposed to be within the ability 
 of the magicians and gods of old, we gather from the stories 
 of Medea and Aeson and the ivory shoulder of Pelops, as 
 referred to in Shakespeare, and explained in the " Shake- 
 speare Cyclopaedia." 
 
 Of the form of this supposed elixir we know very little 
 
 95 
 
96 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 for the language of the alchemists was so vague and mys- 
 tical that it is often very difficult to ascertain their meaning 
 with any approach to certainty. The following, which is a 
 fair sample of their metaphorical modes of expressing them- 
 selves, is found in the works of Geber. In one of his writ- 
 ings, he exclaims : " Bring me the six lepers that I may 
 cleanse them." Modern commentators explain this as being 
 his mode of telling his readers that he would convert into 
 gold the six inferior or, as they were called by the alchem- 
 ists, the six imperfect metals. No wonder that Dr. John- 
 son adopted the idea that the word gibberish (anciently 
 written gcberisJi] owed its origin to an epithet applied to 
 the language of Geber and his tribe. 
 
 Some have claimed that the elixir and the philosopher's 
 stone were one and the same thing, and some of the writ- 
 ings of the old alchemists would seem to confirm this view. 
 Thus, at the close of a formula for preparing the philoso- 
 pher's stone, Carolus Musitanus gives the following ad- 
 monition : 
 
 "Thus friend, you have a description of the universal 
 medicine, not only for curing diseases and prolonging life, 
 but also for transmuting all metals into gold. Give there- 
 fore thanks to Almighty God, who, taking pity on human 
 calamities, has at last revealed this inestimable treasure, 
 and made it known for the benefit of all." 
 
 And Brande tells us that " nearly all the alchemists 
 attributed the power of prolonging life either to the philoso- 
 pher's stone or to certain preparations of gold, imagining 
 possibly that the permanence of that metal might be trans- 
 ferred to the human system. The celebrated Descartes is 
 said to have supported such opinions ; he told Sir Kenelm 
 Digby that although he would not venture to promise im- 
 mortality, he was certain that life might be lengthened to 
 
UNIVERSAL MEDICINE AND ELIXIR OF LIFE 97 
 
 the period of that of the Patriarchs. His plan, however, 
 seems to have been the very rational one of limiting all 
 excess of diet and enjoining punctual and frugal meals." 
 
 It is an old saying that history repeats itself. About 
 forty years ago certain medical practitioners strongly urged 
 the use of salts of gold in the treatment of disease, and 
 great hopes were entertained in regard to their efficacy. 
 And the Keeley gold cure for drunkards is strongly in 
 evidence, even at the present day. 
 
 On the other hand, some have held that the elixir was 
 quite distinct from the stone by which metals might be 
 transmuted into gold. In the second part of "King Henry 
 IV," Falstaff (Act III, Scene 2, line 355), says of Shallow: 
 " it shall go hard but I will make him a philosopher's two 
 stones to me," and this saying of his has given considerable 
 trouble to the commentators. 
 
 Warburton's explanation of this expression is, that "there 
 was two stones, one of which was a universal medicine and 
 the other a transmuter of base metals into gold." And in 
 Churchyard's " Discourse and Commendation of those that 
 can make Gold," we read of Remundus, who 
 
 Wrate sundry workes, as well doth yet appeare 
 Of stone for gold, and shewed plaine and cleare 
 A stone for health. 
 
 Johnson and some others have objected to this explana- 
 tion, but it seems to be evident that Falstaff meant that he 
 would get health and wealth from Shallow. He got the 
 wealth to the extent of a thousand pounds. 
 
 The intense desire which exists in the human bosom 
 for an elixir that will cure all diseases, and prolong life has 
 made itself evident, even in recent times, and has called 
 
98 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 forth serious efforts on the part of men occupying promi- 
 nent positions in the scientific world. Both in Europe and 
 in this country suggestions have been made of fluids which, 
 when injected into the veins of the old and the feeble, 
 would renew youth and impart fresh strength. But alas ! 
 the results thus far attained have been anything but grati- 
 fying, and the probabilities against success in this direction 
 are very strong. 
 
 The latest gleam of light comes from discoveries in con- 
 nection with the radioactive elements, as the reader will find, 
 on referring to Sir William Ramsay's utterance, which is 
 given at the close of the article on the " Transmutation of 
 the Metals," on a preceding page. 
 
ADDITIONAL "FOLLIES" 
 
 IN addition to the seven " Follies," of which an account 
 has been given in the preceding pages, there are^ar^few 
 which deserve to be classed with them, although they do 
 not find a place in the usual lists. These are known as 
 
 PERPETUAL LAMPS. 
 
 THE ALKAHEST OR UNIVERSAL SOLVENT. 
 
 PALINGENESY. 
 
 THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY. 
 
PERPETUAL OR EVER-BURNING LAMPS 
 
 [ART of the sepulchral rites of the ancients con- 
 sisted in placing lighted lamps in the tombs or 
 vaults in which the dead were laid, and, in many 
 cases, these lamps were carefully tended and kept 
 continually burning. Some authors have claimed, how- 
 ever, that these men of old were able to construct lamps 
 which burned perpetually and required no attention. In 
 number 379 of the "Spectator" there is an anecdote of 
 some one having opened the sepulcher of the famous 
 Rosicrucius. There he discovered a lamp burning which 
 a statue of clock-work struck into pieces. Hence, says the 
 writer, the disciples of this visionary claimed that he had 
 made use of this method to show that he had re-invented 
 the ever-burning lamps of the ancients. And Fortunio 
 Liceti wrote a book in which he collected a large number 
 of stories about lamps, said to have been found burning in 
 tombs or vaults. Ozanam fills eight closely printed pages 
 with a discussion of the subject. 
 
 Attempts have been made to explain many of the facts 
 upon which is based the claim that the ancients were able 
 to construct perpetual lamps by the suggestion that the 
 light sometimes seen on the opening of ancient tombs 
 may have been due to the phosphorescence which is well 
 known to arise during the decomposition of animal and 
 vegetable matter. Decaying wood and dead fish are familiar 
 objects which give out a light that is sufficient to render 
 dimly visible the outlines of surrounding objects, and such 
 
 JOO 
 
PERPETUAL OR EyERj-BURNLNG ^AMES, IOI 
 
 a light, seen in the vicinity of an old lamp, might give rise 
 to the impression that the lamp had been actually burning 
 and that it had been blown out by sudden exposure to a 
 draft of air. 
 
 Another supposition was that the flame, which was sup- 
 posed to have been seen, may have been caused by the 
 ignition of gases arising from the decomposition of dead 
 bodies, and set on fire by the flambeaux or candles of the 
 investigators, and it is quite possible that the occurrence 
 of each of these phenomena may have given a certain 
 degree of confirmation to preconceived ideas. 
 
 After the discovery of phosphorus in 1669, by Brandt 
 and Kunckel, it was employed in the construction of lumin- 
 ous phials which could be carried in the pocket, and which 
 gave out sufficient light to enable the user to see the 
 hands of a watch on a dark night. Directions for making 
 these luminous phials are very simple, and may be found 
 in most of the books of experiments published prior to the 
 introduction of the modern lucifer match. They were 
 also used for obtaining a light by means of the old matches, 
 which were tipped merely with a little sulphur, and which 
 could not be ignited by friction. Such a match, after being 
 dipped into one of these phosphorus bottles, would readily 
 take fire by slight friction, and some persons preferred this 
 contrivance to the old flint and steel, partly, no doubt, 
 because it was a novelty. But these bottles were not in 
 any sense perpetual, the light being due to the slow oxida- 
 tion of the phosphorus so that, in a comparatively short 
 time, the luminosity of the materials ceased. Nevertheless, 
 it has been suggested that some form of these old luminous 
 phials may have been the original perpetual lamp. 
 
 After the discovery of the phosphorescent qualities of 
 
102 A j iTSjE^&E^EN^EOLLiEs OF SCIENCE 
 
 barium sulphate or Bolognian phosphorus, as it was called, 
 it was thought that this might be a re-discovery of the 
 long-lost art of making perpetual lamps. But it is well 
 known that this substance loses its phosphorescent power 
 after being kept in the dark for some time, and that occa- 
 sional exposure to bright sun-light is one of the conditions 
 absolutely essential to its giving out any light at all. This 
 condition does not exist in a dark tomb. 
 
 A few years ago phosphorescent salts of barium and 
 calcium were employed in the manufacture of what was 
 known as luminous paint. These materials shine in the 
 dark with brilliancy sufficient to enable the observer to 
 read words and numbers traced with them, but regular 
 exposure to the rays of the sun or some other bright light 
 is absolutely necessary to enable them to maintain their 
 efficiency. 
 
 More recently it has been suggested that the ancients 
 may have been acquainted with some form of radio-active 
 matter like radium, and that this was the secret of the 
 lamps in question. It is far more likely, however, that the 
 reports of their perpetual lamps were based upon mere 
 errors of observation. 
 
 The perpetual lamp is, in chemistry, the counterpart of 
 perpetual motion in mechanics both violate the funda- 
 mental principle of the conservation of energy. And just 
 as suggestions of impossible movements have been numer- 
 ous in the case of perpetual motion, so impossible devices 
 and constructions have been suggested in regard to perpet- 
 ual lamps. Prior to the development, or even the sugges- 
 tion of the law of the conservation of energy, it was believed 
 that it might be possible to find a liquid which would burn 
 without being consumed, and a wick which would feed the 
 
PERPETUAL OR EVER-BURNING LAMPS 103 
 
 liquid to the flame without being itself destroyed. Dr. 
 Plott suggested naphtha for the fluid and asbestos for the 
 wick, but since kerosene oil, naphtha, gasolene, and other 
 liquids of the kind have become common, every housewife 
 knows that as her lamp burns, the oil, of whatever kind it 
 may be, disappears. 
 
 Under present conditions the construction of a perpetual 
 lamp is not a severely felt want ; for constancy and bril- 
 liancy our present means of illumination are sufficient for 
 almost all our requirements. Whether or not it would be 
 possible to gather up those natural currents of electricity, 
 which are suspected to flow through and over the earth, and 
 utilize them for purposes of illumination, however feeble, 
 it might be difficult to decide. But such means of perpet- 
 ual electric lighting would be similar to a perpetual motion 
 derived from a mountain stream. Such natural means of 
 illumination already exist, and have existed for ages in the 
 fire-giving wells of naphtha which are found on the shores 
 of the Caspian sea, and in other parts of the east, and 
 which have long been objects of adoration to the fire- 
 worshippers. 
 
 As for the outcome of present researches into the prop- 
 erties of radium, polonium, and similar substances, and 
 their possible applications, it is too early to form even a 
 surmise. 
 
THE ALKAHEST OR UNIVERSAL SOLVENT 
 
 HE production of a universal solvent or alkahest 
 was one of the special problems of the alchemists 
 in their general search for the philosopher's 
 stone and the means of transmuting the so-called 
 inferior metals into gold and silver. Their idea of the 
 way in which it would aid them to attain these ends does 
 not seem to be very clearly stated in any work that I have 
 consulted ; probably they thought that a universal solvent 
 would wash away all impurities from common materials 
 and leave in absolute purity the higher substance, which 
 constituted the gold of the adepts. But whatever their 
 particular object may have been, it is well known that much 
 time and labor were expended in the fruitless search. 
 
 The futility of such attempts was very well exposed by 
 the cynical sceptic, who asked them what kind of vessel 
 could they provide for holding such a liquid ? If its solvent 
 powers are such that it dissolves everything, it is very evi- 
 dent that it would dissolve the very material of the vessel 
 in which it must be placed. 
 
 When hydrofluoric acid became a subject of investigation 
 it was thought that its characteristics approached, more 
 nearly than those of any other substance known, to those 
 of the universal solvent, and the very difficulty above sug- 
 gested, presented itself strongly to the chemists who ex- 
 perimented with it. Not only common metals but glass 
 and porcelain were acted upon by this wonderfully ener- 
 getic liquid and when attempts were made to isolate the 
 
 104 
 
THE ALKAHEST OR UNIVERSAL SOLVENT 105 
 
 fluorine, even the platinum electrodes were corroded and 
 destroyed. Vessels of pure silver and of lead served toler- 
 ably well, but Davy suggested that the most scientific 
 method of constructing a containing vessel would be to use 
 a compound in which fluorine was already present to the 
 point of saturation. As there is a limit to the amount of 
 fluorine with which any base can combine, such a vessel 
 would be proof against its solvent action. I am not aware, 
 however, that the suggestion was ever carried into actual 
 practice with success. 
 
PALINGENESY 
 
 HIS singular delusion may have been partly due 
 to errors of observation, the instruments and 
 methods of former times having been notably 
 crude and unreliable. This fact, taken in con- 
 nection with the wild theories upon which the natural 
 sciences of the middle ages were based, is a sufficient ex- 
 planation of some of the extraordinary statements made by 
 Kircher, Schott, Digby, and ethers. 
 
 By palingenesy these writers meant a certain chemical 
 process by means of which a plant or an animal might be 
 revived from its ashes. In other words a sort of material 
 resurrection. Most of the accounts given by the old au- 
 thors go no further than to assert that by proper methods 
 the ashes of plants, when treated with water, produce small 
 forests of ferns and pines. Thus, an English chemist, 
 named Coxe, asserts that having extracted and dissolved 
 the essential salts of fern, and then filtered the liquor, he 
 observed, after leaving it at rest for five or six weeks, a 
 vegetation of small ferns adhering to the bottom of the 
 vessel. The same chemist, having mixed northern potash 
 with an equal quantity of sal ammoniac, saw, some time 
 after, a small forest of pines and other trees, with which he 
 was not acquainted, rising from the bottom of the vessel. 
 
 And Kircher tells us in his " Ars Magnetica" that he 
 had a long-necked phial, hermetically sealed, containing 
 the ashes of a plant which he could revive at pleasure by 
 means of heat ; and that he showed this wonderful phe- 
 
 106 
 
PALINGENESY 
 
 nomenon to Christina, Queen of Sweden, who was highly 
 delighted with it. Unfortunately he left this valuable 
 curiosity one cold day in his window and it was entirely 
 destroyed by the frost. Father Schott also asserts that 
 he saw this chemical wonder which, according to his ac- 
 count, was a rose revived from its ashes. And he adds 
 that a certain prince having requested Kircher to make 
 him one of the same kind, he chose rather to give up his 
 own than to repeat the operation. 
 
 Even the celebrated Boyle, though not very favorable to 
 palingenesy, relates that having dissolved in water some 
 verdigris, which, as is well known, is produced by combin- 
 ing copper with the acid of vinegar, and having caused this 
 water to congeal, by means of artificial cold, he observed, at 
 the surface of the ice, small figures which had an exact 
 resemblance to vines. 
 
 In this connection it is well to bear in mind that in 
 Boyle's time almost all vinegar was really what its name 
 implies sour wine (yin aigre] and verdegris or copper 
 acetate was generally prepared by exposing copper plates 
 to the action of refuse grapes which had been allowed to 
 ferment and become sour. Therefore to him it might not 
 have seemed so very improbable that the green crystals 
 which appeared on the surface of the ice were, in reality, 
 minute resuscitated grape-vines. 
 
 The explanation of these facts given by Father Kircher 
 is worthy of the science of the times. He tells us that 
 the seminal virtue of each mixture is contained in its salts 
 and these salts, unalterable by their nature, when put in 
 motion by heat, rise in the vessel through the liquor in 
 which they are diffused. Being then at liberty to arrange 
 themselves at pleasure, they place themselves in that order 
 
108 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 in which they would be placed by the effect of vegetation, 
 or the same as they occupied before the body to which they 
 belonged had been decomposed by the fire ; in short, they 
 form a plant, or the phantom of a plant, which has a per- 
 fect resemblance to the one destroyed. 
 
 That the operators have here mistaken for true vegetable 
 growth the fern-like crystals of the salts which exist in the 
 ashes of all plants is very obvious. Their knowledge of 
 plant structure was exceedingly limited and their micro- 
 scopes were so imperfect that imagination had free scope. 
 As seen under our modern microscopes, there are few pret- 
 tier sights than the crystallization of such salts as sal 
 ammoniac, potassic nitrate, barium chloride, etc. The crys- 
 tals are actually seen to grow and it would not require a 
 very great stretch of the imagination to convince one that 
 the growth Is due to a living organism. Indeed, this view 
 has actually been taken in an article which recently ap- 
 peared in a prominent magazine. The writer of that article 
 sees no difference between the mere aggregation of inor- 
 ganic particles brought together by voltaic action and the 
 building up of vital structures under the influence of or- 
 ganic forces. This is simply materialism run mad. 
 
 Perhaps the finest illustration of such crystallization is 
 to be found in the deposition of silver from a solution of 
 the nitrate as seen under the microscope. A drop of the 
 solution is placed on a glass slide and while the observer 
 watches it through a low power, a piece of copper wire or, 
 preferably, a minute quantity of the amalgam of tin and 
 mercury, such' as is used for " silvering " cheap looking 
 glasses, is brought into contact with it. Chemical decom- 
 position at once sets in and then the silver thus deposited 
 forms one element of a very minute voltaic couple and 
 
PALINGENESY 109 
 
 fresh crystals of silver are deposited upon the silver already 
 thrown down. When the illumination of this object under 
 the microscope is properly managed, the appearance, which 
 resembles that shown in Fig. 18, is exceedingly brilliant, 
 and beautiful beyond description. 
 
 That imagination played strange pranks in the observa- 
 tions of the older microscopists is shown by some of the 
 engravings found in their books. I have now before me a 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 thick, dumpy quarto in which the so-called seminal animal- 
 cules are depicted as little men and women, and I have no 
 doubt that, to the eye of this early observer, they had that 
 appearance. But the microscopists of to-day know better. 
 Sir Kenelm Digby, whose name is associated with the 
 Sympathetic Powder, tells us that he took the ashes of 
 burnt crabs, dissolved them in water and, after subjecting 
 the whole to a tedious process, small crabs were produced 
 in the liquor. These were nourished with blood from the 
 
1 10 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 ox, and, after a time, left to themselves in some stream 
 where they throve and grew large. 
 
 Now, although Evelyn, in his diary, declares that " Sir 
 Kenelm was an errant mountebank," it is quite possible that 
 he was honest in his account of his experiments and that he 
 was merely led astray by the imperfection of his instru- 
 ments of observation. It is more than likely that the 
 creatures which Digby saw were entomostraca introduced 
 in the form of ova which, unless a good microscope be used, 
 are quite invisible. These would develop rapidly and might 
 easily be mistaken for some species of crab, though, when 
 examined with proper instruments, all resemblance vanishes. 
 When let loose in a running stream it would evidently be 
 impossible to trace their identity and follow their growth. 
 
 But while some of these stories may have originated in 
 errors of observation this will hardly explain some of the 
 statements made by those who have advocated this strange 
 doctrine. Father Schott, in his " Physica Curiosa," gives 
 an account of the resurrection of a sparrow and actually 
 gives an engraving in which the bird is shown in a bottle 
 revived ! 
 
 Although the subject, of itself, is not worthy of a mo- 
 ment's consideration, it deserves attention as an illustration 
 of the extraordinary vagaries into which the human mind 
 is liable to fall. 
 
THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY 
 
 HIS curious occult method of curing wounds is 
 indissolubly associated with the name of Sir 
 Kenelm Digby (born 1603, died 1665), though 
 it was undoubtedly in use long before his time. 
 He himself tells us that he learned to make and apply the 
 drug from a Carmelite, who had traveled in the east, and 
 whom he met in Florence, in 1622. The descendants of 
 Digby are still prominent in England, and O. W. Holmes, 
 in his " One Hundred Days in Europe," tells us that he 
 had met a Sir Kenelm Digby, a descendant of the famous 
 Sir Kenelm of the seventeenth century, and that he could 
 hardly refrain from asking him if he had any of his ancestor's 
 famous powder in his pocket. 
 
 Digby was a student of chemistry, or at least of the 
 chemistry of those days, and wrote books of Recipes and 
 the making of " Methington [metheglin or mead ?] Syder, 
 etc." He was, as we have seen in the previous article, 
 a believer in palingenesy and made experiments with a view 
 to substantiate that strange doctrine. Evelyn calls him an 
 " errant quack," and he may have been given to quackery, 
 but then the loose scientific ideas of those days allowed a 
 wide range in drawing conclusions which, though they seem 
 absurd to us, may have appeared to be quite reasonable to 
 the men of that time. 
 
 From his book on the subject, 1 we learn that the wound 
 
 1 Touching the Cure of Wounds by the Powder of Sympathy. With 
 Instructions how to make the said Powder. Rendered faithfully out of 
 French into English by R. White, Gent. London, 1658. 
 
 Ill 
 
112 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 was never to be brought into contact with the powder. A 
 bandage was to be taken from the wound, immersed in the 
 powder, and kept there until the wound healed. 
 
 This beats the absent treatment of Christian Science ! 
 
 The powder was simply pulverized vitriol, that is, ferric 
 sulphate, or sulphate of iron. 
 
 There was another and probably an older method of 
 using sympathetic powders and salves ; this was to apply 
 the supposed curative to the weapon which caused the 
 wound, instead of the wound itself. In -the " Lay of the 
 Last Minstrel," Scott gives an account of the way in which 
 the Lady of Buccleuch applied this occult surgery to the 
 wound of William of Deloraine : 
 
 <4 She drew the splinter from the wound, 
 
 And with a charm she stanched the blood. 
 
 She bade the gash be cleansed and bound : 
 
 No longer by his couch she stood ; 
 But she has ta'en the broken lance. 
 
 And washed it from the clotted gore, 
 
 And salved the splinter o'er and o'er. 
 William of Deloraine, in trance, 
 Whene'er she turned it round' and round 
 Twisted as if she galled his wound. 
 
 Then to her maidens she did say, 
 That he should be whole man and sound, 
 
 Within the course of a night and day. 
 Full long she toiled, for she did rue 
 
 Mishap to friend so stout and true." 1 
 
 That no direct benefit could have been derived from 
 such a mode of treatment must be obvious, but De Morgan 
 very plausibly claims that in the then state of surgical and 
 medical knowledge, it was really the very best that could 
 have been adopted. His argument is as follows : " The 
 1 Canto III. Stanza 23. 
 
THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY 113 
 
 sympathetic powder was that which cured by anointing the 
 weapon with its salve instead of the wound. I have been 
 long convinced that it was efficacious. The directions 
 were to keep the wound clean and cool, and to take care of 
 diet, rubbing the salve on the knife or sword. If we re- 
 member the dreadful notions upon drugs which prevailed, 
 both as to quantity and quality, we shall readily see that 
 any way of not dressing the wound, would have been use- 
 ful. If the physicians had taken the hint, had been careful 
 of diet, etc., and had poured the little barrels of medicine 
 down the throat of a practicable doll, they would have had 
 their magical cures as well as the surgeons. Matters are 
 much improved now ; the quantity of medicine given, even 
 by orthodox physicians, would have been called infinitesi- 
 mal by their professional ancestors. Accordingly, the 
 College of Physicians has a right to abandon its motto, 
 which is, Ars longa, vita brevis, meaning, Practice is long, 
 so life is short" 
 
 As set forth by Digby and others, the use of the Powder 
 of Sympathy is free from all taint of witchcraft or magic, 
 but, in another form, it was wholly dependent upon incanta- 
 tions and other magical performances. This idea of sym- 
 pathetic action was even carried so far as to lead to attempts 
 to destroy or injure those whom the operator disliked. In 
 some cases this was done by moulding an image in wax 
 which, when formed under proper occult influences, was 
 supposed to have the power of transferring to the victim 
 any injuries inflicted on the image. Into such images pins 
 and knives were thrust in the hope that the living original 
 would suffer the same pains and mutilations that would be 
 inflicted if the knives or pins were thrust into him, and 
 sometimes the waxen form was held before the fire and 
 
114 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 allowed to melt away slowly in the hope that the prototype 
 would also waste away, and ultimately die. Shakespeare 
 alludes to this in the play of King John. In Act v., Scene 
 4, line 24, Melun says : 
 
 " A quantity of life 
 
 Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax, 
 Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire ? " 
 
 And Hollinshed tells us that "it was alleged against 
 Dame Eleanor Cobham and her confederates that they had 
 devised an image of wax, representing the king, which, by 
 their sorcerie, by little and little consumed, intending 
 thereby, in conclusion, to waste and destroy the king's 
 person." 
 
 In these cases, however, the operator always depended 
 upon certain occult or demoniacal influences, or, in other 
 words, upon the art of magic, and therefore examples of 
 this kind do not come within the scope of the present 
 volume. In the case of the Powder of Sympathy the 
 results were supposed to be due entirely to natural causes. 
 
A SMALL BUDGET OF PARADOXES, 
 ILLUSIONS, AND MARVELS 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION AND THE POSSI- 
 BILITY OF A NEW SENSE AND NEW 
 SENSE-ORGAN 
 
 HIS subject has now found its way not only into 
 semi-scientific works but into our general litera- 
 ture and magazines. Even our novel-writers 
 have used suggestions from this hypothesis as 
 part of the machinery of their plots so that it properly 
 finds a place amongst the subjects discussed in this 
 volume. 
 
 Various attempts have been made to explain what is 
 meant by "the fourth dimension," but it would seem that 
 thus far the explanations which have been offered are, to 
 most minds, vague and incomprehensible, this latter condi- 
 tion arising from the fact that the ordinary mind is utterly 
 unable to conceive of any such thing as a dimension which 
 cannot be defined in terms of the three with which we are 
 already familiar. And I confess at the start that I labor 
 under the superlative difficulty of not being able to form 
 any conception of a fourth dimension, and for this incapac- 
 ity my only consolation is, that in this respect I am not alone. 
 I have conversed upon the subject with many able mathe- 
 maticians and physicists, and in every case I found that 
 they were in the same predicament as myself, and where I 
 have met men who professed to think it easy to form a 
 conception of a fourth dimension, I have found their ideas, 
 not only in regard to the new hypothesis, but to its corre- 
 
 117 
 
Il8 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 lations with generally accepted physical facts, to be nebu- 
 lous and inaccurate. 
 
 It does not follow, however, that because myself and 
 some others cannot form such a clear conception of a fourth 
 dimension as we can of the third, that, therefore, the theory 
 is erroneous and the alleged conditions non-existent. Some 
 minds of great power and acuteness have been incapable 
 of mastering certain branches of science. Thus Diderot, 
 who was associated with d'Alembert, the famous mathe- 
 matician, in the production of " L' Encyclopedic," and who 
 was not only a man of acknowledged ability, but who, at one 
 time, taught mathematics and wrote upon several mathe- 
 matical subjects, seems to have been unable to master the 
 elements of algebra. The following anecdote regarding 
 his deficiency in this respect is given by Thiebault and 
 indorsed by Professor De Morgan : At the invitation of 
 the Empress, Catherine II, Diderot paid a visit to the 
 Russian court. He was a brilliant conversationalist and 
 being quite free with his opinions, he gave the younger 
 members of the court circle a good deal of lively atheism. 
 The Empress herself was very much amused, but some of 
 her councillors suggested that it might be desirable to 
 check these expositions of strange doctrines. As Cathe- 
 rine did not like to put a direct muzzle on her guest's tongue, 
 the following plot was contrived. Diderot was informed 
 that a learned mathematician was in possession of an al- 
 gebraical demonstration of the existence of God and would 
 give it to him before all the court if he desired to hear it. 
 Diderot gladly consented, and although the name of the 
 mathematician is not given, it is well known to have been 
 Euler. He advanced toward Diderot, and said in French, 
 gravely, and in a tone of perfect conviction : " Monsieur, 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION 1 19 
 
 - = *, therefore, God exists; reply!" Diderot, to 
 
 whom algebra was Hebrew, was embarrassed and discon- 
 certed, while peals of laughter rose on all sides. He asked 
 permission to return to France at once, which was granted. 
 Even such a mind as that of Buckle/ who was generally 
 acknowledged to be a keen-sighted thinker, could not form 
 any idea of a geometrical line that is, of a line without 
 breadth or thickness, a conception which has been grasped 
 clearly and accurately by thousands of school-boys. He 
 therefore asserts, positively, that there are no lines without 
 breadth, and comes to the following extraordinary conclu- 
 sions : 
 
 " Since, however, the breadth of the faintest line is so 
 slight as to be incapable of measurement, except by an 
 instrument under the microscope, it follows that the as- 
 sumption that there can be lines without breadth is so 
 nearly true that our senses, when unassisted by art, can 
 not detect the error. Formerly, and until the invention of 
 the micrometer, in the seventeenth century, it was im- 
 possible to detect it at all. Hence, the conclusions of the 
 geometrician approximate so closely to truth that we are 
 justified in accepting them as true. The flaw is too minute 
 to be perceived. But that there is a flaw appears to me 
 certain. It appears certain that, whenever something is 
 kept back in the premises, something must be wanting 
 in the conclusion. In all such cases, the field of inquiry 
 has not been entirely covered; and part of the preliminary 
 facts being suppressed, it must, I think, be admitted that 
 complete truth be unattainable, and that no problem in 
 geometry has been exhaustively solved." 1 
 
 The fallacy which underlies Mr. Buckle's contention is 
 thus clearly exposed by the author of "The Natural His- 
 tory of Hell." 
 
 1 "History of Civilization in England." American edition, Vol. 
 II, page 342. 
 
120 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 "If it be conceded that lines have breadth, then all we 
 have to do is to assign some definite breadth to each line 
 say the one-thousandth of an inch and allow for it. 
 But the lines of the geometer have no breadth. All the 
 micrometers of which Mr. Buckle speaks depend, either 
 directly or indirectly, upon lines for their graduations, and 
 the positions of these lines are indicated by rulings or 
 scratches. Now, in even the finest of these rulings, as, 
 for example, those of Nobert or Fasoldt, where the ruling 
 or scratching, together with its accompanying space, 
 amounts to no more than the one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sandth part of an inch, the scratch has a perceptible breadth. 
 But this broad scratch is not the line recognized by the 
 microscopist, to say nothing of the geometer. The true 
 line is a line which lies in the very center of this scratch 
 and it is certain that this central line has absolutely no 
 breadth at all." 1 
 
 It must be very evident that if Mr. Buckle's contention 
 that geometrical lines have breadth were true, then some 
 of the fundamental axioms of geometry must be false. It 
 could no longer hold true that " the whole is equal to all its 
 parts taken together," for if we divide a square or a circle 
 into two parts by means of a line which has breadth, the 
 two parts cannot be equal to the whole as it formerly was. 
 As a matter of fact, Mr. Buckle's lines are saw-cuts, not 
 geometrical lines. Geometrical points, lines, and surfaces, 
 have no material existence and can have none. An ideal 
 conception and a material existence are two very different 
 things. 
 
 A very interesting book 2 has been written on the move- 
 ments and feelings of the inhabitants of a world of two di- 
 mensions. Nevertheless, if we know anything at all, we 
 know that such a world could not have any actual existence 
 
 1 "The Natural History of Hell," by John Phlllipson, page 37. 
 8 Flatland," by E. A. Abbott. London, 1884. 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION I2 i 
 
 and when we attempt to form any mental conception of it 
 and its inhabitants, we are compelled to adopt, to a certain 
 extent, the idea of the third dimension. 
 
 But at the same time we must remember that since the 
 ordinary mechanic and the school-boy who has studied ge- 
 ometry, find no difficulty in conceiving of points without 
 magnitude, lines without breadth, and surfaces without 
 thickness conceptions which seem to have been impos- 
 sible to Buckle, a man of acknowledged ability it may be 
 possible that minds constituted slightly differently from 
 that of myself and some others, might, perhaps, be able to 
 form a conception of a fourth dimension. 
 
 Leaving out of consideration the speculations of those 
 who have woven this idea into romances and day-dreams we 
 find that the hypothesis of a fourth dimension has been 
 presented by two very different classes of thinkers, and 
 the discussion has been carried on from two very different 
 standpoints. 
 
 The first suggestion of this hypothesis seems to have 
 come from Kant and Gauss and to have had a purely meta- 
 physical origin, for, although attempts have been made to 
 trace the idea back to the famous phantoms of Plato, it is 
 evident that the ideas then advanced had nothing in com- 
 mon with the modern theory of the existence of a fourth 
 dimension. The first hint seems to have been a purely 
 mathematical one and did not attract any very general at- 
 tention. It was, however, seized upon by a certain branch 
 of the transcendentalists, closely allied to the spiritualists, 
 and was exploited by them as a possible explanation of 
 some curious and mysterious phenomena and feats exhibited 
 by certain Indian and European devotees. This may have 
 been done merely for the purpose of mystifying and con- 
 
122 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 founding their adversaries by bringing forward a striking 
 illustration of Hamlet's famous dictum 
 
 ''There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
 Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 
 
 A very fair statement of this view is thus given by 
 Edward Carpenter : 1 
 
 " There is another idea which modern science has been 
 familiarizing us with, and which is bringing us towards 
 the same conception that, namely, of the fourth dimen- 
 sion. The supposition that the actual world has four 
 space-dimensions instead of three makes many things 
 conceivable which otherwise would be incredible. It makes 
 it conceivable that apparently separate objects, e. g., dis- 
 tinct people, are really physically united; that things ap- 
 parently sundered by enormous distances of space are 
 really quite together; that a person or other object might 
 pass in and out of a closed room without disturbance of 
 walls, doors or windows, etc., and if this fourth dimension 
 were to become a factor of our consciousness it is obvious 
 that we should have means of knowledge which, to the 
 ordinary sense, would appear simply miraculous. There is 
 much, apparently, to suggest that the consciousness at- 
 tained to by the Indian gfianis in their degree, and by 
 hypnotic subjects in theirs, is of this fourth dimensional 
 order. 
 
 " As a solid is related to its own surface, so, it would 
 appear, is the cosmic consciousness related to the ordinary 
 consciousness. The phases of the personal consciousness 
 are but different facets of the other consciousness; and 
 experiences which seem remote from each other in the in- 
 dividual are perhaps all equally near in the universal. 
 Space itself, as we know it, may be practically annihilated 
 in the consciousness of a larger space, of which it is but the 
 superficies; and a person living in London may not un- 
 likely find that he has a back door opening quite simply 
 and unceremoniously out in Bombay." 
 
 On the other hand, the mathematicians, looking at it as 
 a purely speculative idea, have endeavored to arrive at 
 
 1 " From Adam's Peak to Elephanta " page 160, 
 
- 
 THE FOURTH DIMENSION 123 
 
 definite conclusions in regard to what would be the condi- 
 tion of things if the universe really exists in a fourth, or 
 even in some higher dimension. Professor W. W. R. Ball 
 tells us that 
 
 " the conception of a world of more than three dimensions 
 is facilitated by the fact that there is no difficulty in imagin- 
 ing a world confined to only two dimensions which we 
 may take for simplicity to be plane though equally 
 well it might be a spherical or other surface. We may 
 picture the inhabitants of flatland as moving either on the 
 surface of a plane or between two parallel and adjacent 
 planes. They could move in any direction along the 
 plane, but they could not move perpendicularly to it, and 
 would have no consciousness that such a motion was 
 possible. We may suppose them to have no thickness, 
 in which case they would be mere geometrical abstractions ; 
 or we may think of them as having a small but uniform 
 thickness, in which case they would be realities." 
 
 " If an inhabitant of flatland was able to move in three 
 dimensions, he would be credited with supernatural powers 
 by those who were unable so to move ; for he could appear 
 or disappear at will ; could (so far as they could tell) create 
 matter or destroy it, and would be free from so many con- 
 straints to which the other inhabitants were subject that his 
 actions would be inexplicable to them." 
 
 " Our conscious life is in three dimensions, and natur- 
 ally the idea occurs whether there may not be a fourth 
 dimension. No inhabitant of flatland could realize what 
 life in three dimensions would mean, though, if he evolved 
 an analytical geometry applicable to the world in which 
 he lived, he might be able to extend it so as to obtain results 
 true of that world in three dimensions which would be to 
 him unknown and inconceivable. Similarly we cannot 
 realize what life in four dimensions is like, though we can 
 use analytical geometry to obtain results true of that world, 
 or even of worlds of higher dimensions. Moreover, the 
 analogy of our position to the inhabitants of flatland en- 
 
124 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 ables us to form some idea of how inhabitants of space of 
 four dimensions would regard us." 
 
 " If a finite solid was passed slowly through flatland, the 
 inhabitants would be conscious only of that part of it which 
 was in their plane. Thus they would see the shape of the 
 object gradually change and ultimately vanish. In the 
 same way, if a body of four dimensions was passed through 
 our space, we should be conscious of it only as a solid 
 body (namely, the section of the body by our space) whose 
 form and appearance gradually changed and perhaps ul- 
 timately vanished. It has been suggested that the birth, 
 growth, life, and death of animals, may be explained thus 
 as the passage of finite four-dimensional bodies through 
 our three-dimensional space." 
 
 Attempts have been made to construct drawings and 
 models showing a four-dimensional body. The success of 
 such attempts has not been very encouraging. 
 
 Investigators of this class look upon the actuality of a 
 fourth dimension as an unsolved question, but they hold 
 that, provided we could see our way clear to adopt it, it 
 would open up wondrous possibilities in the way of explain- 
 ing abstruse and hitherto inexplicable physical conditions 
 and phenomena. 
 
 There is obviously no limit to such speculations, provided 
 we assume the existence of such conditions as are needed 
 for our purpose. Too often, however, those who indulge 
 in such day-dreams begin by assuming the impossible, and 
 end by imagining the absurd. 
 
 We have so little positive knowledge in regard to the 
 ultimate constitution of matter and even in regard to the 
 actual character of the objects around us, which are revealed 
 to us through our senses, that the field in which our imagin- 
 ation may revel is boundless. Perhaps some day the 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION 12$ 
 
 humanity of the present will merge itself into a new race, 
 endowed with new senses, whose revelations are to us, for 
 the present, at least, utterly inconceivable. 
 
 The possibility of such a development may be rendered 
 more clear if we imagine the existence of a race devoid of 
 the sense of hearing, and without the organs necessary to 
 that sense. They certainly could form no idea of sound, 
 far less could they enjoy music or oratory, such as afford 
 us so much delight. And, if one or more of our race should 
 visit these people, how very strange to them would appear 
 those curious appendages, called ears, which project from 
 the sides of our heads, and how inexplicable to them would 
 be the movements and expressions of intelligence which we 
 show when we talk or sing ? It is certain that no devel- 
 opment of the physical or mathematical sciences could give 
 them any idea whatever of the sensations which sound, in 
 its various modifications, imparts to us, and neither can any 
 progress in that direction enable us to acquire any idea of 
 the revelations which a new sense might open up to us. 
 Nevertheless, it seems to me that the development of new 
 senses and new sense organs is not only more likely to be 
 possible, but that it is actually more probable, than any 
 revelation in regard to a fourth dimension. 
 
HOW A SPACE MAY BE APPARENTLY EN- 
 LARGED BY CHANGING ITS SHAPE 
 
 HE following is a curious illustration of the errors 
 to which careless observers may be subject : 
 
 Draw a square, like Fig. 19, and divide the sides 
 into 8 parts each. Join the points of division in 
 opposite sides so as to divide the whole square into 64 
 small squares. Then draw the lines shown in black and cut 
 up the drawing into four pieces. The lines indicating the 
 cuts have been made quite heavy so as to show up clearly, 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 Fig. 20. 
 
 but on the actual card they may be made quite light. Now, 
 put the four pieces together, so as to form the rectangle 
 shown in Fig. 20. Unless the scale, to which the drawing 
 is made is quite large and the work very accurate, it will 
 seem that the rectangle contains 5 squares one way and 
 13 the other which, when multiplied together, give 65 for 
 the number of small squares, being an apparent gain of 
 one square by the simple process of cutting. 
 
SPACE APPARENTLY ENLARGED 127 
 
 This paradox is very apt to puzzle those who are not 
 familiar with accurate drawings. Of course, every person of 
 common sense knows that the card or drawing is not made 
 any larger by cutting it, but where does the 6$th small 
 square come from ? 
 
 On careful examination it will be seen that the line AB, 
 Fig. 20, is not quite straight and the three parts into which 
 it is divided are thus enabled to gain enough to make one 
 of the small squares. On a small scale this deviation from 
 the straight line is not very obvious, but make a larger draw- 
 ing, and make it carefully, and it will readily be seen how 
 the trick is done. 
 
CAN A MAN LIFT HIMSELF BY THE STRAPS 
 OF HIS BOOTS? 
 
 THINK it was the elder Stephenson, the famous 
 engineer, who told a man who claimed the 
 honor of having invented a perpetual motion, 
 that when he could lift himself over a fence by 
 taking hold of his waist-band, he might hope to accomplish 
 his object. And the query which serves as a title for this 
 article has long been propounded as one of the physical 
 impossibilities. And yet, perhaps, it might be possible to 
 invent a waist-band or a boot-strap by which this apparently 
 impossible feat might be accomplished ! 
 
 Travelers in Mexico frequently bring home beans which 
 jump about when laid on a table. They are well-known as 
 "jumping beans" and have often been a puzzle to those 
 who were not familiar with the facts in the case. Each 
 bean contains the larva of a species of beetle and this af- 
 fords a clue to the secret. But the question at once comes 
 up : " How is the insect able to move, not only itself, but its 
 house as well, without some purchase or direct contact with 
 the table?" 
 
 The explanation is simple. The hollow bean is elastic 
 and the insect has strength enough to bend it slightly ; 
 when the insect suddenly relaxes its effort and allows the 
 bean to spring back to its former shape, the reaction on 
 the table moves the bean. A man placed in a perfectly 
 rigid box could never move himself by pressing on the 
 sides, but if the box were elastic and could be bent by the 
 strength of the man inside, it might be made to move. 
 
 128 
 
CAN A MAN LIFT HIMSELF 129 
 
 A somewhat analogous result, but depending on different 
 principles, is attained in certain curious boat races which 
 are held at some English regattas and which is explained 
 by Prof. W. W. Rouse Ball, in his " Mathematical Recrea- 
 tions and Problems." He says that it 
 
 " affords a somewhat curious illustration of the fact that 
 commonly a boat is built so as to make the resistance to 
 motion straight forward less than that to motion in the 
 opposite direction. 
 
 " The only thing supplied to the crew is a coil of rope, 
 and they have (without leaving the boat) to propel it from 
 one point to another as rapidly as possible. The motion 
 is given by tying one end of the rope to the afterthwart, 
 and giving the other end a series of violent jerks in a 
 direction parallel to the keel. 
 
 " The effect of each jerk is to compress the boat. Left 
 to itself the boat tends to resume its original shape, but 
 the resistance to the motion through the water of the 
 stern is much greater than that of the bow, hence, on the 
 whole, the motion is forwards. I am told that in still water 
 a pace of two or three miles an hour can be thus attained." 
 
HOW A SPIDER LIFTED A SNAKE 
 
 NE of the most interesting books in natural his- 
 tory is a work on " Insect Architecture," by 
 Rennie. But if the architecture of insect 
 homes is wonderful, the engineering displayed 
 by these creatures is equally marvellous. Long before man 
 had thought of the saw, the saw-fly had used the same tool, 
 made after the same fashion, and used in the same way for 
 the purpose of making slits in the branches of trees so that 
 she might have a secure place in which to deposit her 
 eggs. The carpenter bee, with only the tools which nature 
 has given her, cuts a round hole, the full diameter of her 
 body, through thick boards, and so makes a tunnel by which 
 she can have a safe retreat, in which to rear her young. 
 The tumble-bug, without derrick or machinery, rolls over 
 large masses of dirt many times her own weight, and the 
 sexton beetle will, in a few hours, bury beneath the ground 
 the carcass of a comparatively large animal. All these feats 
 require a degree of instinct which in a reasoning creature 
 would be called engineering skill, but none of them are as 
 wonderful as the feats performed by the spider. This ex- 
 traordinary little animal has the faculty of propelling her 
 threads directly against the wind, and by means of her 
 slender cords she can haul up and suspend bodies which 
 are many times her own weight. 
 
 Some years ago a paragraph went the rounds of the 
 papers in which it was said that a spider had suspended an 
 unfortunate mouse, raising it up from the ground, and 
 
 '3 
 
HOW A SPIDER LIFTED A SNAKE 131 
 
 leaving it to perish miserably between heaven and earth. 
 Would-be philosophers made great fun of this statement, 
 and ridiculed it unmercifully. I know not how true it was, 
 but I know that it might have been true. 
 
 Some years ago, in the village of Havana, in the State of 
 New York, a spider entangled a milk-snake in her threads, 
 and actually raised it some distance from the ground, 
 and this, too, in spite of the struggles of the reptile, which 
 was alive. 
 
 By what process of engineering did the comparatively 
 small and feeble insect succeed in overcoming and lifting up 
 by mechanical means, the mouse or the snake ? The solution 
 is easy enough if we only give the question a little thought. 
 
 The spider is furnished with one of the most efficient 
 mechanical implements known to engineers, viz., a strong 
 elastic thread. That the thread is strong is well known. 
 Indeed, there are few substances that will support a greater 
 strain than the silk of the silkworm, or the spider ; careful 
 experiment having shown that for equal sizes the strength 
 of these fibers exceeds that of common iron. But notwith- 
 standing its strength, the spider's thread alone would be 
 useless as a mechanical power if it were not for its elasticity. 
 The spider has no blocks or pulleys, and, therefore, it cannot 
 cause the thread to divide up and run in different directions, 
 but the elasticity of the thread more than makes up for 
 this, and renders possible the lifting of an animal much 
 heavier than a mouse or a snake. This may require a little 
 explanation. 
 
 Let us suppose that a child can lift a six-pound weight 
 one foot high and do this twenty times a minute. Furnish 
 him with 350 rubber bands, each capable of pulling six 
 pounds through one foot when stretched. Let these bands 
 
132 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 be attached to a wooden platform on which stand a pair 
 of horses weighing 2,100 Ibs., or rather more than a ton. 
 If now the child will go to work and stretch these rubber 
 bands, singly, hooking each one up, as it is stretched, in 
 less than twenty minutes he will have raised the pair of 
 horses one foot ! 
 
 We thus see that the elasticity of the rubber bands 
 enables the child to divide the weight of the horses into 
 350 pieces of six pounds each, and at the rate of a little less 
 than one every three seconds, he lifts all these separate pieces 
 one foot, so that the child easily lifts this enormous weight. 
 
 Each spider's thread acts like one of the elastic rubber 
 bands. Let us suppose that the mouse or the snake weighed 
 half an ounce and that each thread is capable of supporting 
 a grain and a half. The spider would have to connect the 
 mouse with the point from which it was to be suspended 
 with 150 threads, and if the little quadruped was once 
 swung off his feet, he would be powerless. By pulling 
 successively on each thread and shortening it a little, the 
 mouse or snake might be raised to any height within the 
 capacity of the building or structure in which the work was 
 done. So that to those who have ridiculed the story we 
 may justly say: "There are more things in heaven and 
 earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy." 
 
 What object the spider could have had in this work I 
 am unable to see. It may have been a dread of the harm 
 which the mouse or snake might work, or it may have been 
 the hope that the decaying carcass would attract flies which 
 would furnish food for the engineer. I can vouch for the 
 truth of the snake story, however, and the object of this 
 article is to explain and render credible a very extraordinary 
 feat of insect engineering. 
 
HOW THE SHADOW MAY BE MADE TO MOVE 
 BACKWARD ON THE SUN-DIAL 
 
 N the twentieth chapter of II Kings, at the 
 eleventh verse we read, that "Isaiah the prophet 
 cried unto the Lord, and he brought the shadow 
 ten degrees backward, by which it had gone 
 down in the dial of Ahaz." 
 
 It is a curious fact, first pointed out by Nonez, the 
 famous cosmographer and mathematician of the sixteenth 
 century, but not generally known, that by tilting a sun-dial 
 through the proper angle, the shadow at certain periods of 
 the year can be made, for a short time, to move backwards 
 on the dial. This was used by the French encyclopaedists 
 as a rationalistic explanation of the miracle which is related 
 at the opening of this article. 
 
 The reader who is curious in such matters will find direc- 
 tions for constructing "a dial, for any latitude, on which 
 the shadow shall retrograde or move backwards," in 
 Ozanam's " Recreations in Science and Natural Philosophy," 
 Riddle's edition, page 5 29. Professor Ball in his " Mathe- 
 matical Recreations," page 214, gives a very clear explana- 
 tion of the phenomenon. The subject is somewhat too 
 technical for these pages. 
 
 133 
 
HOW A WATCH MAY BE USED AS A COMPASS 
 
 EVERAL years ago a correspondent of " Truth " 
 (London) gave the following simple directions for 
 finding the points of the compass by means of 
 the ordinary pocket watch : " Point the hour hand 
 to the sun, and south is exactly half way between the hour 
 hand and twelve on the watch, counting forward up to 
 noon, but backward after the sun has passed the meridian." 
 Professor Ball, in his " Mathematical Recreations and 
 Problems," gives more complete directions and explanations. 
 He says : 
 
 " The position of the sun relative to the points of the 
 compass determines the solar time. Conversely, if we 
 take the time given by a watch as being the solar time 
 (and it will differ from it only by a few minutes at the 
 most), and we observe the position of the sun, we can find 
 the points of the compass. To do this it is sufficient to 
 point the hour-hand to the sun and then the direction which 
 bisects the angle between the hour and the figure XII will 
 point due south. For instance, if it is four o'clock in the 
 afternoon, it is sufficient to point the hour-hand (which 
 is then at the figure IIII) to the sun, and the figure II on 
 the watch will indicate the direction of south. Again, if 
 it is eight o'clock in the morning, we must point the hour- 
 hand (which is then at the figure VIII) to the sun, and the 
 figure X on the watch gives the south point of the compass. 
 
 " Between the hours of six in the morning and six in 
 the evening the angle between the hour and XII, which 
 must be bisected is less than 180 degrees, but at other times 
 the angle to be bisected is greater than 180 degrees; or per- 
 haps it is simpler to say that at other times the rule gives 
 the north point and not the south point. 
 
 "The reason is as follows: At noon the sun is due 
 
 134 
 
WATCH MAY BE USED AS A COMPASS 135 
 
 south, and it makes one complete circuit round the points 
 of the compass in 24 hours* The hour-hand of a watch 
 also makes one complete circuit in 12 hours. Hence, if 
 the watch is held with its face in the plane of the ecliptic, 
 and the figure XII on the dial is pointed to the south, both 
 the hour-hand and the sun will be in that direction at noon. 
 Both move round in the same direction, but the angular 
 velocity of the hour-hand is twice as great as that of the 
 sun. Hence the rule. The greatest error due to the neglect 
 of the equation of time is less than 2 degrees. Of course, 
 in practice, most people would hold the face of the watch 
 horizontal, and in our latitude (that of London) no serious 
 error would thus be introduced. 
 
 " In the southern hemisphere, or in any tropical country 
 where at noon the sun is due north, the rule will give the 
 north point instead of the south." 
 
MICROGRAPHY OR MINUTE WRITING AND 
 MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 
 
 INUTE works of art have always excited the 
 curiosity and commanded the admiration of the 
 average man. Consequently Cicero thought it 
 worth while to record that the entire Illiad of 
 Homer had been written upon parchment in characters so 
 fine that^the copy could be enclosed in a nutshell. This 
 has always been regarded as a marvelous feat. 
 
 There is in the French Cabinet of Medals a seal, said to 
 have belonged to Michael Angelo, the fabrication of which 
 must date from a very remote epoch, and upon which fifteen 
 figures have been engraved in a circular space of fourteen 
 millimeters (.55 inch) in diameter. These figures cannot 
 be distinguished by the naked eye. 
 
 The Ten Commandments have been engraved in charac- 
 ters so fine that they could be stamped upon one side of a 
 nickle five-cent piece, and on several occasions the Lord's 
 Prayer has been engraved on one side of a gold dollar, the 
 diameter of which is six-tenths of an inch. I have also 
 seen it written with a pen within a circle which measured 
 four-tenths of an inch in diameter. 
 
 In the Harleian manuscript, 530, there is an account of a 
 "rare piece of work, brought to pass by Peter Bales, an 
 Englishman, and a clerk of the chancery." Disraeli tells 
 us that it was " The whole Bible in an English walnut, no 
 bigger than a hen's egg. The nut holdeth the book : there 
 are as many leaves in his little book as in the great Bible, 
 
 136 
 
MICROGRAPHY AND MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 137 
 
 and he hath written as much in one of his little leaves as 
 a great leaf of the Bible." 
 
 By most people, such achievements are considered mar- 
 vels of skill, and the newspaper accounts of them which are 
 published always attract special attention. And it must 
 be acknowledged that such work requires good eyes, steady 
 nerves, and very delicate control of the muscles. But with 
 ordinary writing materials there are certain mechanical 
 limitations which must prevent even the most skilful from 
 going very far in this direction. These limitations are im- 
 posed by the fiber or grain of the paper and the construc- 
 tion of the ordinary pen, neither of which can be carried 
 beyond a certain very moderate degree of fineness. Of 
 course, the paper that is chosen will be selected on account 
 of its hard, even-grained surface, and the pen will be chosen 
 on account of the quality of its material and its shape, and 
 the point is always carefully dressed on a whetstone so as 
 to have both halves of the nib equal in strength and length, 
 and the ends smooth and delicate. When due preparation 
 has been made, and when the eyes and nerves of the writer 
 are in good condition, the smallness of the distinctly read- 
 able letters that may be produced is wonderful. And in 
 this connection it is an interesting fact that in many me- 
 chanical operations, writing included, the hand is far more 
 delicate than the eye. That which the unaided eye can 
 see to write, the unaided eye can see to read, but the hand, 
 without the assistance or guidance of the eye, can produce 
 writing so minute that the best eyes cannot see to read it, 
 and yet, when viewed under a microscope, it is found to 
 compare favorably with the best writing of ordinary size. 
 And those who are conversant with the more delicate 
 operations of practical mechanics, know that this is no ex- 
 
138 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 ceptional case. The only aid given by the eye in the case 
 of such minute writing is the arrangement of the lines, 
 otherwise the writing could be done as well with the eyes 
 shut as open. 
 
 Since the mechanical limitations which we have noted 
 prevent us from going very far with the instruments and 
 materials mentioned, the next step is to adopt a finer sur- 
 face and a sharper point. These conditions may be found 
 in the fine glazed cards and the metal pencils or styles used 
 by card writers. In these cards the surface is nearly homo- 
 geneous, that is to say, free from fibers, and the point of 
 the metal pencil may be made as sharp as a needle, but to 
 utilize these conditions to the fullest extent, it is necessary 
 to aid the eye, and a magnifier is, therefore, brought into 
 use. Under a powerful glass the hand may be so guided 
 by the eye that the writing produced cannot be read by the 
 unaided vision. 
 
 The specimens of fine writing thus far described have 
 been produced directly by the hand under the guidance 
 either of a magnifier or the simple sense of motion. Just 
 how far it would be possible to go by these means has 
 never been determined, so far as I know, but those who 
 have examined the specimens of selected diatoms and in- 
 sect scales in which objects that are utterly invisible to the 
 naked eye are arranged with great accuracy so as to form 
 the most beautiful figures, can readily believe that a com- 
 bination of microscopical dexterity and skill in penmanship 
 might easily go far beyond anything that has yet been ac- 
 complished in this direction, either in ancient or modern 
 times. 
 
 But by means of a very simple mechanical arrangement, 
 the motion of the hand in every direction may be accurately 
 
MICROGRAPHY AND MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 139 
 
 reduced or enlarged to almost any extent, and it thus 
 becomes possible to form letters which are inconceivably 
 small. The instrument by which this is accomplished is 
 known as a pantagraph, and it has, within a few years, 
 become quite popular as a means of reducing or enlarging 
 pictures of various kinds, including crayon reproductions 
 of photographs. Its construction and use are, therefore, 
 very generally understood. It was by means o{ a very 
 finely-made instrument embodying the principles of the 
 pantagraph that the extraordinarily fine work which we 
 are about to describe was accomplished. 
 
 It is obvious, however, that in order to produce very fine 
 writing we must use a very fine pen or point and the finer 
 the point the sooner does it wear out, so that in a very 
 short time the lines which go to form the letters become 
 thick and blurred and the work is rendered illegible. As 
 a consequence of this, when the finest specimens of writing 
 are required, it is necessary to abandon the use of ordinary 
 points and surfaces and to resort to the use of the diamond 
 for a pen, and glass for a surface upon which to write. One 
 of the earliest attempts in this direction was that of M. 
 Froment, of Paris, who engraved on glass, within a circle, 
 the one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter, the Coat of Arms 
 of England lion, unicorn, and crown with the following 
 inscription, partly in Roman letters, partly in script : " Honi 
 soit qui mat y pensc, Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen 
 Victoria, and His Royal Highness, Prince Albert, Dieu et 
 man droit. Written on occasion of the Great Exhibition, 
 by Froment, a Paris, 1851." 
 
 The late Dr. Barnard, President of Columbia College, 
 had in his possession a copy of the device borne by the seal 
 of Columbia College, New York, executed for him by M. 
 
140 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 Dumoulin-Froment, within a circle less than three one- 
 hundredths of an inch in diameter, " in which are embraced 
 four human figures and various other objects, together with 
 inscriptions in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, all clearly legible. 
 In this device the rising sun is represented in the horizon, 
 the diameter of the disk being about three one-thousandths 
 of an inch. This disk has been cross-hatched by the 
 draughtsman in the original design from which the copy 
 was made ; and the copy shows the marks of the cross- 
 hatching with perfect distinctness. When this beautiful 
 and delicate drawing is brought clearly out by a suitably 
 adjusted illumination, the lines appear as if traced by a 
 smooth point in a surface of opaque ice." 
 
 Lardner, in his book on the " Microscope/' published in 
 1856, gives a wood cut which shows the first piece of en- 
 graving magnified 1 20 diameters, but he said that he was 
 not at liberty to describe the method by which it was 
 done. As happens in almost all such cases, however, the 
 very secrecy with which the process was surrounded natu- 
 rally stimulated others to rival or surpass it, and Mr. N. 
 Peters, a London banker, turned his attention to the subject 
 and soon invented a machine which produced results far 
 exceeding anything that M. Froment had accomplished. 
 On April 25, 1855, Mr. Farrants read before the Microsco- 
 pical Society'of London a full account of the Peters machine, 
 with which the inventor had written the Lord's Prayer (in 
 the ordinary writing character, without abbreviation or 
 contraction of any kind), in a space not exceeding the one 
 hundred and fifty-thousandth of a square inch. Seven 
 years later, Mr. Farrants, as President of the Microscopical 
 Society, described further improvements in the machine of 
 Mr. Peters, and made the - following statement : " The 
 
MICROGRAPHY AND MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 141 
 
 Lord's Prayer has been written and may be read in the 
 one-three hundred and fifty-six thousandth of an English 
 square inch. The measurements of one of these specimens 
 was verified by Dr. Bowerbank, with a difference of not 
 more than one five-millionth of an inch, and that difference, 
 small as it is, arose from his not including the prolongation 
 of the letter/ in the sentence 'deliver us from evil ' ; so 
 he made the area occupied by the writing less than that 
 stated above." 
 
 Some idea of the minuteness of the characters in these 
 specimens may be obtained from the statement that the 
 whole Bible and Testament, in writing of the same size, 
 might be placed twenty-two times on the surface of a square 
 inch. The grounds for this startling assertion are as 
 follows : " The Bible and Testament together, in the English 
 language, are said to contain 3,566,480 letters. The num- 
 ber of letters in the Lord's Prayer, as written, ending in 
 the sentence, ' deliver us from evil,' is 223, whence, as 
 3,566,480 divided by 223, is equal to 15,922, it appears 
 that the Bible and Testament together contain the same 
 number of letters as the Lord's Prayer written 16,000 
 times; if then the prayer were written in i-i 6,000 of an 
 inch, the Bible and Testament in writing of the same size 
 would be contained by one square inch ; but as i-356,oooth 
 of an inch is one twenty-secondth part of 1-15,922 of an 
 inch, it follows that the Bible and Testament, in writing of 
 that size, would occupy less space than one twenty-secondth 
 of a square inch." 
 
 It only now remains to be seen that, minute as are the 
 letters written by this machine, they are characterized by a 
 clearness and precision of form which proves that the mov- 
 ing parts of the machine, while possessing the utmost 
 
142 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 delicacy of freedom, are absolutely destitute of shake, a 
 union of requisites very difficult of fulfilment, but quite 
 indispensable to the satisfactory performance of the ap- 
 paratus. 
 
 I have no information in regard to the present where- 
 abouts of any of the specimens turned out by Mr. Peters, 
 and inquiry in London, among persons likely to know, has 
 not supplied any information on the subject. 
 
 There was, however, another micrographer, Mr. William 
 Webb, of London, who succeeded in producing some mar- 
 vellous results. Epigrams and also the Lord's Prayer 
 written in the one-thousandth part of a square inch have 
 been freely distributed. Mr. Webb also produced a few 
 copies of the second chapter of the Gospel, according to St. 
 John, written on the scale of the whole Bible, to a little 
 more than three-quarters of a square inch, and of the Lord's 
 Prayer written on the scale of the whole Bible eight times 
 on a square inch. Mr. Webb died about fifteen years ago, 
 and I believe he has had no successor in the art. Speci- 
 mens of his work are quite scarce, most of them having 
 found their way into the cabinets of public Museums and 
 Societies, who are unwilling to part with them. The late 
 Dr. Woodward, Director of the Army Medical Museum, 
 Washington, D.C., procured two of them on special order 
 for the Museum. Mr. Webb had brought out these fine 
 writings as tests for certain qualities of the microscope, and 
 it was to "serve as tests for high-power objectives" that 
 Dr. Woodward procured the specimens now in the micro- 
 scopical department of the Museum. I am so fortunate as 
 to have in my possession two specimen's of Mr. Webb's 
 work. One is an ordinary microscopical glass slide, three 
 inches by one, and in the center is a square speck which 
 
MICROGRAPHY AND MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 143 
 
 measures 1-4 5th, of an inch on the side. Upon this square 
 is written the whole of the second chapter of the Gospel 
 according to St. John the chapter which contains the 
 account of the marriage in Cana of Galilee. 
 
 In order to estimate the space which the whole Bible 
 would occupy if written on the same scale as this chapter, 
 I have made the following calculation which, I think, will be 
 more easily followed and checked by my readers, than that 
 of Mr. Farrants. 
 
 The text of the old version of the Bible, as published in 
 minion by the American Bible Society, contains 1272 
 pages, exclusive of title pages and blanks. Each page 
 contains two columns of 58 lines each, making 116 lines 
 to the page. This includes the headings of the chapters 
 and the synopses of their contents, which are, therefore, 
 thrown in to make good measure. We have, therefore, 
 1272 pages of 116 lines each, making a total of 147,552 
 lines. 
 
 The second chapter of St. John has 25 verses contain- 
 ing 95 lines, and is written on the 1-202 5th of an inch, or, 
 in other words, it would go 2025 times on a square inch. 
 A square inch would, therefore, contain 95 x 2025 or 
 J 9 2 >375 lines. This number (192,375), divided by the 
 number of lines in the Bible (147,552), gives 1.307, which 
 is the number of times the Bible might be written on a 
 square inch in letters of the same size. In other words, 
 the whole Bible might be written on .77 inch, or very little 
 more than three-quarters of a square inch. 
 
 Perhaps the following gives a more impressive illustration : 
 The United States silver quarter of a dollar is .95 inch in 
 diameter, so that the surface of each side is .707 of a square 
 inch. The whole Bible would, therefore, very nearly go on 
 
144 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 one side of a quarter of a dollar. If the blank spaces at 
 the heads of the chapters and the synopses of contents 
 were left out, it would easily go on one side. 
 
 The second specimen, which I have of Mr. Webb's writ- 
 ing, is a copy of the Lord's Prayer written on a scale of 
 eight Bibles to the square inch. According to a statement 
 kindly sent me by the superintendent of the United States 
 Mint at Philadelphia, the diameter of the last issued gold 
 dollar, and also of the silver half-dime, is six-tenths of an 
 inch. This gives .2827+ of a square inch as the area of 
 the surface of one side, and, therefore, the whole Bible 
 might be written more than two and a quarter times on one 
 side of either the gold dollar or the silver half dime. 
 
 Such numerical and space relations are far beyond the 
 power of any ordinary mind to grasp. With the aid of a 
 microscope we can see the object and compare with other 
 magnifications the rate at which it is enlarged, and a per- 
 son of even the most ordinary education can follow the 
 calculation and understand why the statements are true, 
 but the final result, like the duration of eternity or the 
 immensity of space, conveys no definite idea to our minds. 
 
 But at the same time we must carefully distinguish 
 between our want of power to grasp these ideas and our 
 inability to form a conception of some inconceivable sub- 
 ject, such as a fourth dimension or the mode of action of a 
 new sense. 
 
 Wonderful as these achievements are, there is another 
 branch of the microscopic art which, from the practical 
 applications that have been made of it, is even more inter- 
 esting. This is the art of microphotography. 
 
 About the middle of the last century Mr. J. B. Dancer, 
 of Manchester, England, produced certain minute photo- 
 
MICROGRAPHY AND MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 145 
 
 graphs of well-known pictures and statues which com- 
 manded the universal attention of the microscopists of that 
 day, and for a time formed the center of attraction at all 
 microscopical exhibitions. They have now, however, be- 
 come so common that they receive no special notice. Mr. 
 Dancer and other artists also produced copies of the Lord's 
 Prayer, the Creed, the Declaration of Independence, etc., 
 on such a scale that the Lord's Prayer might be covered 
 with the head of a common pin, and yet, when viewed 
 under a very moderate magnifying power, every letter was 
 clear aftd distinct. I have now before me a slip of glass, 
 three inches long and one inch wide, in the center of 
 which is an oval photograph which occupies less than the 
 i-2OOth of a square inch. This photograph contains the 
 Declaration of Independence with the signatures of all the 
 signers, surrounded by portraits of the Presidents and 
 the seals of the original thirteen States. Under a moder- 
 ate power every line is clear and distinct. In the same 
 way copies of such famous pictures as Landseer's " Stag 
 at Bay," although almost invisible to the naked eye, come 
 out beautifully clear and distinct under the microscope, so 
 that it has been suggested that one might have an exten- 
 sive picture gallery in a small box, or pack away copies of 
 all the books in the Congressional Library in a small hand- 
 bag. With such means at our command, it would be a 
 simple matter to condense a bulky dispatch into a few 
 little films, which might be carried in a quill or concealed 
 in ways which would have been impossible with the origi- 
 nal. If Major Andre had been able to avail himself of 
 this mode of reducing the bulk of the original papers, he 
 might have carried, without danger of discovery, those re- 
 ports which caused his capture and led to his death. And 
 
146 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 hereafter the ordinary methods of searching suspected 
 spies will have to be exchanged for one that is more 
 efficient. 
 
 The most interesting application of microphotography, 
 of which we have any record, occurred during the Franco- 
 Prussian war in 1870-71. 
 
 On September 21, 1870, the Germans so completely 
 surrounded the French capitol, that all communication by 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 roads, railways, and telegraphs, was cut off and the only 
 way of escape from the city was through the air. On 
 April 23, the first balloon left Paris, and in a short time 
 after that, a regular balloon post was established, letters 
 and packages being sent out at intervals of three to seven 
 days. In order to get news back to the city, carrier 
 pigeons were employed, and at first the letters were simply 
 written on very thin paper and enclosed in quills which 
 were fastened to the middle tail-feather of the bird, as 
 shown in the engraving, Fig. 21. It is, of course, need- 
 
MICROGRAPHY AND MICROPHOTOGRAPHY 14; 
 
 less to say, that the ordinary pictures of doves with letters 
 tied lound their necks or love-notes attached to their 
 wings, are all mere romance. A bird loaded in that way 
 would soon fall a prey to its enemies. As it was, some of 
 the pigeons were shot by German gunners or captured by 
 hawks trained by the Germans for the purpose, but the 
 great majority got safely through. 
 
 Written communications, however, were of necessity, 
 bulky and heavy, and therefore M. Dagron, a Parisian 
 photographer, suggested that the news be printed in large 
 sheets of which microphotographs could be made and trans- 
 ferred to collodion positives which might then be stripped 
 from the glass and would be very light. This was done; 
 the collodion pellicles measuring about ten centimeters 
 (four inches) square and containing about three thousand 
 average messages. Eighteen of these pellicles weighed 
 less than one gramme (fifteen grains) and were easily 
 carried by a single pigeon. The pigeons having been bred 
 in Paris and sent out by balloons, always returned to their 
 dove-cotes in that city. 
 
 M. Dagron left Paris by balloon on November 12, and 
 after a most adventurous voyage, being nearly captured by 
 a German patrol, he reached Tours and there established 
 his headquarters, and organized a regular system of com- 
 munication with the capitol. The results were most satis- 
 factory, upwards of two and a half millions of messages 
 having been sent into the city. Even postal orders, and 
 drafts were transmitted in this way and duly honored. 
 
 And thus through the pigeon-post, aided by micropho- 
 tography, Paris was enabled to keep in touch with the 
 outer world, and the anxiety of thousands of families was 
 relieved. 
 
148 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 It is not likely, however, that the pigeon-post will ever 
 again come into use for this purpose; our interest in it 
 is now merely historical, for in the next great siege, if we 
 ever have one, the wireless telegraph will no doubt take 
 its place and messages, which no hawks can capture and no 
 guns can destroy, will be sent directly over the heads of 
 the besiegers. 
 
 But let us hope and pray, that the savage and unneces- 
 sary war which is now being waged in the east will be the 
 last, and that in the near future, two or more of the great 
 nations of the globe will so police the world, that peace on 
 earth and good will toward men will everywhere prevail. 
 
ILLUSIONS OF THE SENSES 
 
 UR senses have been called the " Five Gateways 
 of Knowledge " because all that we know of the 
 world in which we live reaches the mind, either 
 directly or indirectly, through these avenues. 
 From the " ivory palace," in which she dwells apart, and 
 which we call the skull, the mind sends forth her scouts 
 sight, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell bidding them 
 bring in reports of all that is going on around her, and if 
 the information which they furnish should be untrue or 
 distorted, the most dire results might follow. She, there- 
 fore, frequently compares the tale that is told by one with 
 the reports from the others, and in this way it is found that 
 under some conditions these reporters are anything but 
 reliable ; the stories which they tell are often distorted and 
 untrue, and in some cases their tales have no foundation 
 whatever in fact, but are the "unsubstantial fabric of a 
 vision." 
 
 It is, therefore, of the greatest importance to us, that we 
 should find out the points on which these information 
 bearers are most likely to be deceived so that we may 
 guard against the errors into which they would otherwise 
 certainly lead us. 
 
 All the senses are liable to be imposed upon under 
 certain conditions. The senses of taste and of smell are 
 frequently the subject of phantom smells and tastes, which 
 are as vivid as the sensations produced by physical causes 
 acting in the regular way. Even those comparatively new 
 
 149 
 
ISO THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 senses 1 which have been differentiated from the sense of 
 touch and which, with the original five, make up the mystic 
 number seven, are very untrustworthy guides under certain 
 circumstances. Thus we all know how the sense of heat 
 may be deceived by the old experiment of placing one hand 
 in a bowl of cold water and the other in a bowl of hot 
 water, and then, after a few minutes, placing both hands 
 together in a bowl of tepid water; the hand, which has 
 been in the cold water will feel warm, while that which has 
 just been taken from the hot water, will feel quite cold. 
 
 We have all experienced the deceptions to which the 
 sense of hearing exposes us. Who has not heard sounds 
 which had no existence except in our own sensations ? 
 And every one is familiar with the illusions to which we 
 are liable when under the influence of a skilful ventrilo- 
 quist. 
 
 Even the sense of touch, which most of us regard as 
 infallible, is liable to gross deception. When we have 
 "felt " anything we are always confident as to its shape, 
 number, hardness, etc., but the following very simple ex- 
 periment shows that this confidence may be misplaced : 
 
 Take a large pea or a small marble or bullet and place it 
 
 1 The old and generally recognized list of the senses is as follows : Sight, 
 Hearing, Smell, Taste, and Touch. This is the list enumerated by John 
 Bunyan in his famous work, " The Holie Warre." It has, however, been 
 pointed out that the sense which enables us to recognize heat is not quite 
 the same as that of touch and modern physiologists have therefore set 
 apart, as a distinct sense, the power by which we recognize heat. 
 
 The same had been previously done in the case of the sense of Muscular 
 Resistance but, as the author of " The Natural History of Hell " says, 
 "when we differentiate the ' Sense of Heat,' and the 'Sense of Resistance' 
 from the Sense of Touch, we may set up new signposts, but we do not 
 open up any new ' gateways ' , things still remain as they were of old, and 
 every messenger from the material world around us must enter the ivory 
 palace of the skull through one of the old and well-known ways." 
 
ILLUSIONS OF THE SENSES 151 
 
 on the table or in the palm of the left hand. Then cross 
 the fingers of the right hand as shown in the engraving, 
 Fig. 22, the second finger crossing the first, and place them 
 on the ball, so that the latter may lie between the fingers, 
 
 Fig. 22. 
 
 as figured in the cut. If the pea or ball be now rolled 
 about, the sensation is apparently that given by two peas 
 under the fingers, and this illusion is so strong that it can- 
 not be dispelled by calling in any of the other senses (the 
 sense of sight for example) as is usually the case under 
 similar circumstances. We may try and try, but it will 
 
152 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 only be after considerable experience that we shall learn to 
 disregard the apparent impression that there are two balls. 
 
 The cause of this illusion is readily found. In the ordi- 
 nary position of the fingers the same ball cannot touch at 
 the same time the exterior sides of two adjoining ringers. 
 When the two fingers are crossed, the conditions are ex- 
 ceptionally changed, but the instinctive interpretation 
 remains the same, unless a frequent repetition of the exper- 
 iment has overcome the effect of our first education on this 
 point. The experiment, in fact has to be repeated a great 
 number of times to make the illusion become less and less 
 appreciable. 
 
 But of all the senses, that of sight is the most liable to 
 error and illusion, as the following simple illustrations will 
 show. 
 
 In Fig. 23 a black spot has been placed on a white 
 
 Fig. 23. Fig. 24. 
 
 ground, and in Fig. 24 a white spot is placed on a black 
 ground ; which is the larger, the black spot or the white 
 one ? To every eye the white spot will appear to be the 
 largest, but as a matter of fact they are both the same size. 
 This curious effect is attributed by Helmholtz to what is 
 called irradiation. The eye may also be greatly deceived 
 even in regard to the length of lines placed side by side. 
 
ILLUSIONS OF THE SENSES 
 
 153 
 
 Thus, in Fig. 25 a thin vertical line stands upon a thick hor- 
 izontal one; although the two lines are of precisely the 
 same length, the vertical one 
 seems to be considerably longer 
 than the other. i 
 
 In Figs. 26 and 27 a series 
 of vertical and horizontal lines 
 are shown, and in both forms the 
 space that is covered seems to 
 be longer one way than the other. 
 As a matter of fact the space in 
 each case is a perfect square, 
 and the apparent difference in 
 width and height depends upon whether the lines are ver- 
 tical or horizontal. 
 
 Advantage is taken of this curious illusion in dec- 
 orating rooms and in selecting dresses. Stout ladies of 
 taste avoid dress goods having horizontal stripes, and 
 
 Fig- 25. 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 Fig. 27. 
 
 ladies of the opposite conformation avoid those in which the 
 stripes are vertical. 
 
 But the greatest discrepancy is seen in Figs. 28 and 29, 
 the middle line in Fig. 29 appearing to be much longer 
 than in Fig. 28. Careful measurement will show that they 
 are both of precisely the same length, the apparent differ- 
 
154 
 
 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 ence being due to the arrangement of the divergent lines 
 at the ends. 
 
 Converging lines have a curious effect upon apparent 
 size. Thus in Fig. 30 we have a wall and three posts, and 
 
 A 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 A 
 
 Fig. 28. Fig. 29. 
 
 if asked which of the posts was the highest, most persons 
 would name C, but measurement will show that A is the 
 highest and that C is the shortest. 
 
 A still more striking effect is produced in two parallel 
 lines by crossing them with a series of oblique lines as seen 
 
 Fig. 31. 
 
 in Figs. 31 and 32. In Fig. 31 the horizontal lines seem to 
 be much closer at the right-hand ends than at the left, but 
 
ILLUSIONS OF THE SENSES 
 
 155 
 
 accurate measurement will show that they are strictly 
 parallel. 
 
 By changing the direction of the oblique lines, as shown 
 in Fig. 32, the horizontal lines appear to be crooked although 
 they are perfectly straight. 
 
 Fig. 3*. 
 
 All these curious illusions are, however, far surpassed by 
 an experiment which we will now proceed to describe. 
 
OBJECTS APPARENTLY SEEN THROUGH A 
 HOLE IN THE HAND 
 
 HE following curious experiment always excites 
 surprise, and as I have met with very few persons 
 who have ever heard of it, I republish it from 
 "The Young Scientist," for November, 1880. 
 It throws a good deal of light upon the facts connected 
 with vision. 
 
 Procure a paste-board tube about seven or eight inches 
 
 Fig. 33- 
 
 long and an inch or so in diameter, or roll up a strip of any 
 kind of stiff paper so as to form a tube. Holding this tube 
 
 156 
 
APPARENTLY SEEN THROUGH THE HAND 157 
 
 in the left hand, look through it with the left eye, the right 
 eye also being kept open. Then bring the right hand into 
 the position shown in the engraving, Fig. 33, the edge op- 
 posite the thumb being about in line with the right-hand 
 side of the tube. Or the right hand may rest against the 
 right-hand side of the tube, near the end farthest from the 
 eye. This cuts off entirely the view of the object by the 
 right eye, yet strange to say the object will still remain 
 apparently visible to both eyes through a hole in the hand, 
 as shown by the dotted lines in the engraving ! In other 
 words, it will appear to us as if there was actually a hole 
 through the hand, the object being seen through that hole. 
 The result is start lingly realistic, and forms one of the 
 simplest and most interesting experiments known. 
 
 This singular optical illusion is evidently due to the sym- 
 pathy which exists between the two eyes, from our habit of 
 blending the images formed in both eyes so as to give a 
 single image. 
 
LOOKING THROUGH A SOLID BRICK 
 
 VERY common exhibition by street showmen, 
 and one which never fails to excite surprise and 
 draw a crowd, is the apparatus by which a person 
 is apparently enabled to look through a brick. 
 Mounted on a simple-looking stand are a couple of tubes 
 which look like a telescope cut in two in the middle. Look- 
 
 Fig. 34. 
 
 ing through what most people take for a telescope, we are 
 not surprised when we see clearly the people, buildings, 
 trees, etc., beyond it, but this natural expectation is turned 
 into the most startled surprise when it is found that the 
 view of these objects is not cut off by placing a common 
 brick between the two parts of the telescope and directly 
 in the apparent line of vision, as shown in the accompany- 
 ing illustration, Fig. 34. 
 
LOOKING THROUGH A SOLID BRICK 159 
 
 In truth, however, the observer looks round the brick 
 instead of through it, and this he is enabled to do by means 
 of four mirrors ingeniously arranged as shown in the en- 
 graving. As the mirrors and the lower connecting tube 
 are concealed, and the upright tubes supporting the pre- 
 tended telescope, though hollow, appear to be solid, it is 
 not very easy for those who are not in the secret to dis- 
 cover the trick. 
 
 Of course any number of "fake" explanations are given 
 by the showman who always manages to keep up with the 
 times and exploit the latest mystery. At one time it was 
 psychic force, then Roentgen or X-ray s ; lately it has been 
 attributed to the mysterious effects of radium ! 
 
 This illustration is more properly a delusion ; there is no 
 illusion about it. 
 
CURIOUS ARITHMETICAL PROBLEMS 
 
THE CHESS-BOARD PROBLEM 
 
 N Arabian author, Al Sephadi, relates the follow- 
 ing curious anecdote : 
 
 A mathematician named Sessa, the son of 
 Dahar, the subject of an Indian Prince, having 
 invented the game of chess, his sovereign was highly 
 pleased with the invention, and wishing to confer on him 
 some reward worthy of his magnificence, desired him to 
 ask whatever he thought proper, assuring him that it should 
 be granted. The mathematician, however, only asked for 
 a grain of wheat for the first square of the chess-board, two 
 for the second, four for the third, and so on to the last, or 
 sixty-fourth. The prince at first was almost incensed at 
 this demand, conceiving that it was ill-suited to his liberal- 
 ity. By the advice of his courtiers, however, he ordered 
 his vizier to comply with Sessa's request, but the minister 
 was much astonished when, having caused the quantity of 
 wheat necessary to fulfil the prince's order to be calculated, 
 he found that all the grain in the royal granaries, and even 
 all that in those of his subjects and in all Asia, would not 
 be sufficient. 
 
 He therefore informed the prince, who sent for the mathe- 
 matician, and candidly acknowledged that he was not rich 
 enough to be able to comply with his demand, the ingenuity 
 of which astonished him still more than the game he had 
 invented. 
 
 It will be found by calculation that the sixty-fourth term 
 of the double progression, beginning with unity, is 
 
 163 
 
164 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 9,223,372,036,854,775,808, 
 
 and the sum of all the terms of this double progression, 
 beginning with unity, may be obtained by doubling the 
 last term and subtracting the first from the sum. The 
 number, therefore, of the grains of wheat required to sat- 
 isfy Sessa's demand will be 
 
 18,446,744,073,709,551,615. 
 
 Now, if a pint contains 9,216 grains of wheat, a gallon 
 will contain 73,728, and a bushel (8 gallons) will contain 
 589,784. Dividing the number of grains by this quantity, 
 we get 31,274,997,412,295 for the number of bushels nec- 
 essary to discharge the promise of the Indian prince. And 
 if we suppose that one acre of land is capable of producing 
 in one year, thirty bushels of wheat, it would require 
 1,042,499,913,743 acres, which is more than eight times 
 the entire surface of the globe ; for the diameter of the 
 earth being taken at 7,930 miles, its whole surface, in- 
 cluding land and water, will amount to very little more 
 than 126,437,889,177 square acres. 
 
 If the price of a bushel of wheat be estimated at one 
 dollar, the value of the above quantity probably exceeds 
 that of all the riches on the earth. 
 
 THE NAIL PROBLEM 
 
 GENTLEMAN took a fancy to a horse, and the 
 dealer, to induce him to buy, offered the animal 
 for the value of the twenty-fourth nail in his 
 shoe, reckoning one cent for the first nail, two 
 for the second, four for the third, and so on. The gentle- 
 man, thinking the price very low, accepted the offer. What 
 was the price of the horse ? 
 
A QUESTION OF POPULATION 165 
 
 On calculating, it will be found that the twenty-fourth 
 term of the progression i, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc., is 8,388,608, or 
 $83,886.08, a sum which is more than any horse, even the 
 best Arabian, was ever sold for. 
 
 Had the price of the horse been fixed at the value of all 
 the nails, the sum would have been double the above price 
 less the first term, .or $167,772.15. 
 
 A QUESTION OF POPULATION 
 
 HE following note on the result of unrestrained 
 propagation for one hundred generations is taken 
 from "Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects," 
 by Sir John F. W. Herschel : 
 
 For the benefit of those who discuss the subjects of 
 population, war, pestilence, famine, etc., it may be as well 
 to mention that the number of human beings living at the 
 end of the hundreth generation, commencing from a single 
 pair, doubling at each generation (say in thirty years), and 
 allowing for each man, woman, and child, an average space 
 of four feet in height and one foot square, would form a 
 vertical column, having for its base the whole surface of 
 the earth and sea spread out into a plane, and for its height 
 3,674 times the sun's distance from the earth ! The num- 
 ber of human strata thus piled, one on the other, would 
 amount to 460,790,000,000,000. 
 
 In this connection the following facts in regard to the 
 present population of the globe may be of interest : 
 
 The present population of the entire globe is estimated 
 by the best statisticians at between fourteen and fifteen 
 
166 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 hundred millions of persons. This number would easily 
 find standing-room on one half of Long Island, in the State 
 of New York. If this entire population were to be brought 
 to the United States, we could easily give every man, 
 woman, and child, one acre and a half each, or a nice little 
 farm of seven acres and a half to every family, consisting 
 of a man, his wife, and three children. 
 
 This question has also an important bearing on the 
 preservation of animals which, in limited numbers, are harm- 
 less and even desirable. In Australia, where the restraints 
 on increase are slight, the rabbit soon becomes not only a 
 nuisance but a menace, and in this country the migratory 
 thrush or robin, as it is generally called, has been so pro- 
 tected in some localities that it threatens to destroy the 
 small fruit industry. 
 
 HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE 
 
 jjANY plans have been suggested for getting rich 
 quickly, and some of these are so plausible and 
 alluring that multitudes have been induced to 
 invest in them the savings which had been accu- 
 mulated by hard labor and severe economy. It is needless 
 to say that, except in the case of a few stool-pigeons, who 
 were allowed to make large profits so that their success 
 might deceive others and lead them into the net, all these 
 projects have led to disaster or ruin. It is a curious fact, 
 however, that some of those who invested in such "get- 
 rich-quickly " schemes were probably fully aware of their 
 fraudulent character and went into the speculation with their 
 eyes open in the hope that they might be allowed to become 
 
HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE 167 
 
 the stool-pigeons, and in this way come out of the enter- 
 prise with a large balance on the right side. No regret 
 can be felt when a bird of this kind gets plucked. 
 
 But by the following simple method every one may 
 become his own promoter and in a short time accumulate a 
 respectable fortune. It would seem that almost any one 
 could save one cent for the first day of the month, two cents 
 for the second, four for the third, and so on. Now if you 
 will do this for thirty days we will guarantee you the pos- 
 session of quite a nice little fortune. See how easy it is 
 to become a millionaire on paper, and by the way, it is only 
 on paper that such schemes ever succeed. 
 
 If, however, you should have any doubt in regard to your 
 ability to lay aside the required amount each day, perhaps 
 you can induce some prosperous and avaricious employer 
 to accept the following tempting proposition : 
 
 Offer to work for him for a year, provided he pays you one 
 cent for the first week, two cents for the second, four for 
 the third, and so on to the end of the term. Surely your 
 services would increase in value in a corresponding ratio, 
 and many business men would gladly accept your terms. 
 We ourselves have had such a proposition accepted over 
 and over again ; the only difficulty was that when we in- 
 sisted upon security for the last instalment of our wages, 
 our would-be employers could never come to time. And we 
 would strongly urge upon our readers that if they ever 
 make such a bargain, they get full security for the last 
 payment for they will find that when it becomes due there 
 will not be money enough in the whole world to satisfy the 
 claim. 
 
 The entire amount of all the money in circulation among 
 all the nations of the world (not the wealth} is estimated at 
 
168 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 somewhat less than $15,000,000,000, and the last payment 
 would amount to fifteen hundred times that immense sum. 
 
 The French have a proverb that " it is the first step 
 that costs" (dest le premier pas qui coute] but in this case 
 it is the last step that costs and it costs with a vengeance. 
 
 While on this subject let me suggest to my readers to 
 figure up the amount of which they will be possessed if 
 they will begin at fifteen years of age and save ten cents 
 per week for sixty years, depositing the money in a savings 
 bank as often as it reaches the amount required for a 
 deposit, and adding the interest every six months. Most 
 persons will be suprised at the result. 
 
 THE ACTUAL COST AND PRESENT VALUE OF 
 THE FIRST FOLIO SHAKESPEARE 
 
 EVEN years after the death of Shakespeare, his 
 collected works were published in a large folio 
 volume, now known as " The First Folio 
 Shakespeare." This was in the year 1623. 
 The price at which the volume was originally sold was 
 one pound, but perhaps we ought to take into consideration 
 the fact that at that time money had a value, or purchasing 
 power, at least eight times that which it has at present ; 
 Halliwell-Phillips estimates it at from twelve to twenty 
 times its present value. For this circumstance, however, 
 full allowance may be made by multiplying the ultimate 
 result by the proper number. 
 
 This folio is regarded as the most valuable printed book 
 in the English language the last copy that was offered 
 
THE FIRST FOLIO SHAKESPEARE 169 
 
 for sale in good condition having brought the record price 
 of nearly $9,000, so that it is safe to assume that a perfect 
 copy, in the condition in which it left the publisher's hands, 
 would readily command $10,000, and the question now 
 arises : What would be the comparative value of the present 
 price, $10,000, and of the original price (one pound) placed 
 at interest and compounded every year since 1623 ? 
 
 Over and over again I have heard it said that the pur- 
 chasers of the " First Folio " had made a splendid investment 
 and the same remark is frequently used in reference to the 
 purchase of books in general, irrespective of the present in- 
 tellectual use that may be made of them. Let us make 
 the comparison. 
 
 Money placed at compound interest at six per cent, a 
 little more than doubles itself in twelve years. At the 
 present time and for a few years back, six per cent is a high 
 rate, but it is a very low rate for the average. During a 
 large part of the time money brought eight, ten, and twelve 
 per cent per annum, and even within the half century just 
 past it brought seven per cent during a large portion of 
 the time. Now, between 1623 and 1899, there are 23 
 periods, of 12 years each, and at double progression the 
 twenty-third term, beginning with unity, would be 
 8,388,608. This, therefore, would be the amount, in pounds, 
 which the volume had cost up to 1899. In dollars it would 
 be $40,794,878.88. An article which costs forty millions 
 of dollars, and sells for ten thousand dollars, cannot be 
 called a very good financial investment. 
 
 From a literary or intellectual standpoint, however, the 
 subject presents an entirely different aspect. 
 
 Some time ago I asked one of the foremost Shakesperian 
 scholars in the world if he had a copy of the " First Folio." 
 
I/O THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 His reply was that he could not afford it ; that it would 
 not be wise for him to lose $400 to $500 per year for the 
 mere sake of ownership, when for a very slight expenditure 
 for time and railway fare he could consult any one of half- 
 a-dozen copies whenever he required to do so. 
 
 ARITHMETICAL PUZZLES 
 
 GOOD-SIZED volume might be filled with the 
 various arithmetical puzzles which have been 
 propounded. They range from a method of 
 discovering the number which any one may 
 think of to a solution of the "famous" question: "How 
 old is Ann ? " Of the following cases one may be con- 
 sidered a " catch " question, while the other is an interest- 
 ing problem, 
 
 A country woman, carrying eggs to a garrison where 
 she had three guards to pass, sold at the first, half the 
 number she had and half an egg more ; at the second, the 
 half of what remained and half an egg more ; at the third 
 the half of the remainder and half an egg more ; when she 
 arrived at the market-place she had three dozen still to 
 sell. How was this possible without breaking any of the 
 eggs ? 
 
 At first view, this problem seems impossible, for how 
 can half an egg be sold without breaking any ? But by 
 taking the greater half of an odd number we take the 
 exact half and half an egg more. If she had 295 eggs 
 before she came to the first guard, she would there sell 
 148, leaving her 147. At the next she sold 74, leaving 
 her 73. At the next she sold 37, leaving her three dozen. 
 
ARCHIMEDES AND HIS FULCRUM I/I 
 
 The second problem is as follows : After the Romans 
 had captured Jotopat, Josephus and forty other Jews 
 sought shelter in a cave, but the refugees were so fright- 
 ened that, with the exception of Josephus himself and one 
 other, they resolved to kill themselves rather than fall into 
 the hands of their enemies. Failing to dissuade them from 
 this horrid purpose, Josephus used his authority as their 
 chief to insist that they put each other to death in an 
 orderly manner. They were therefore arranged round a 
 circle, and every third man was killed until but two men 
 remained, the understanding being that they were to 
 commit suicide. By placing himself and the other man 
 in the 3ist and i6th places, they were the last that were 
 left, and in this way they escaped death. 
 
 ARCHIMEDES AND HIS FULCRUM 
 
 |EXT to that of Euclid, the name of Archimedes, 
 is probably that which is the best known of all 
 the mathematicians and mechanics of antiquity, 
 and this is in great part due to the two famous 
 sayings which have been attributed to him, one being 
 "Eureka" "I have found it," uttered when he dis- 
 covered the method now universally in use for finding the 
 specific gravity of bodies, and the other being the equally 
 famous dictum which he is said to have addressed to Hiero, 
 King of Sicily, " Give me a fulcrum and I will raise the 
 earth from its place." 
 
 That Archimedes, provided he had been immortal, could 
 have carried out his promise, is mathematically certain, but 
 it occurred to Ozanam to calculate the length of time which 
 
172 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 it would take him to move the earth only one inch, suppos- 
 ing his machine constructed and mathematically perfect ; 
 that is to say, without friction, without gravity, and in com- 
 plete equilibrium, and the following is the result : 
 
 For this purpose we shall suppose that the matter of 
 which the earth is composed weighs 300 pounds per cubic 
 foot, this being about the ascertained average. If the di- 
 ameter of the earth be 7,930 miles, the whole globe will be 
 found to contain 261,107,411,765 cubic miles, which make 
 1,423,499,120,882,544,640,000 cubic yards, or 38,434,476,- 
 263,828,705,280,000 cubic feet, arid allowing 300 pounds 
 to each cubic foot, we shall have 11,530,342,879,148,611,- 
 584,000,000 for the weight of the earth in pounds. 
 
 Now, we know, by the laws of mechanics, that, whatever 
 be the construction of a machine, the space passed over by 
 the weight, is to that passed over by the moving power, in the 
 reciprocal ratio of the latter to the former. It is known 
 also, that a man can act with an effort equal only to about 
 30 pounds for eight or ten hours, without intermission, 
 and with a velocity of about 10,000 feet per hour. If 
 then we suppose the machine of Archimedes to be put in 
 motion by means of a crank, and that the force continually 
 applied to it is equal to 30 pounds, then with the velocity 
 of 10,000 feet per hour, to raise the earth one inch the 
 moving power must pass over the space of 384,344,762,- 
 638,287,052,800,000 inches; and if this space be divided 
 by 10,000 feet or 120,000 inches, we shall have for a quo- 
 tient 3,202,873,021,985,725,440, which will be the number 
 of hours required for this motion. But as a year contains 
 8,766 hours, a century will contain 876,600 ; and if we 
 alvide the above number of hours by the latter, the quo- 
 tient, 3,653,745,176,803, will be the number of centuries 
 
AN INTERESTING EGG PROBLEM 173 
 
 during which it would be necessary to make the crank of 
 the machine continually turn in order to move the earth 
 only one inch. We have omitted the fraction of a cen- 
 tury as being of little consequence in a calculation of this 
 kind. The machine is also supposed to be constantly in 
 action, but if it should be worked only eight hours each 
 day, the time required would be three times as long. 
 
 So that while it is true that Archimedes could move the 
 world, the space through which he could have moved it, 
 during his whole life, from infancy to old age, is so small 
 that even if multiplied two hundred million times it could 
 not be measured by even the most delicate of our modern 
 measuring instruments. 
 
 AN INTERESTING EGG PROBLEM 
 
 PARTY of young people going on an excursion 
 proposed to take with them some cold, hard- 
 boiled eggs for lunch. Just as they were about 
 to set out, an addition was made to their number 
 and more eggs were needed. A young boy was sent to 
 the cellar to bring some, which he did, but unfortunately 
 he carelessly placed the raw eggs amongst the boiled ones, 
 and as they were all cold and about the same temperature 
 an interesting problem arose: How could they distinguish 
 and separate them? 
 
 One of the party solved the puzzle very easily and 
 quickly. He placed one of the eggs on a table and taking it 
 between his thumb and fingers he tried to twirl it as one 
 would twirl a teetotum. It would not spin and v * pro- 
 nounced it raw. Taking another and treating it in the same 
 
174 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 way he found that it would spin like a top and he said it 
 was boiled. Testing all the eggs in this way he soon picked 
 out the raw ones, and when they came to use them his 
 companions found that he had not made a single mistake. 
 
 This is a very pretty experiment and one that does not 
 seem to be generally known. It is easily tried at the 
 breakfast table whenever boiled eggs form part of the bill 
 of fare. 
 
 And a good deal of fun may be had by providing two or 
 three eggs, some boiled hard and some raw and all cold 
 and asking some one to pick out the boiled from the raw. 
 Very probably the candle test will be the one that first 
 suggests itself, and it is amusing to watch how many fail- 
 ures result. When the simple method here described is 
 shown it always causes a good deal of surprise to those 
 who have not seen it before. 
 
 The reason why the raw egg will not spin is obvious: 
 The time during which the fingers act on the egg is not 
 long enough to impart motion to the contents if they are 
 liquid; when the contents are solid, the movement of the 
 fingers is imparted to the whole egg from the very start, 
 and when let go, the entire mass continues to rotate like 
 a top. 
 
SOME NOTES 
 
 ON 
 
 POPULAR FALLACIES AND 
 COMMON ERRORS 
 
NOTES ON A FEW POPULAR FALLACIES AND 
 COMMON ERRORS 
 
 ]HEN a fallacy or an error becomes embodied in a 
 proverb or woven into the texture of a language, 
 its vitality and power of diffusion seem almost 
 inexhaustible. It will require a long course of 
 education to destroy the force of the proverb, " Lightning 
 never strikes twice in the same place," or to eradicate 
 from the popular mind the idea that black lead is related 
 to the metal lead. Nevertheless the time will surely come 
 when such crude notions will be abandoned by even the 
 least educated. Of course there will always be errors and 
 mistakes which will have a vogue amongst the unthinking, 
 but such gross fables as were accepted by our forefathers 
 are now entirely abandoned and no one can be found who 
 now believes in the vampire, the phoenix, the salamander, 
 the centaur, or any of the other fabulous products of the 
 human imagination. But even down to the time of 
 Shakespeare it was generally held that such creatures did 
 exist or might have existed, the most elementary principles 
 of biology not being generally known and even not yet 
 discovered. Shakespeare's works . are full of erroneous 
 statements in regard to matters of natural history, and it 
 is not long since a writer for the press published an elabo- 
 rate article accusing him of ignorance or faking, the truth 
 of the matter being that Shakespeare took his natural 
 history from those works which in his time were considered 
 standard authorities, just as the writer of the article in ques- 
 
 177 
 
178 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 tion takes ninety-nine per cent of his information from the 
 generally accepted books of the day. When Shakespeare 
 speaks of things which come within the sphere of his own 
 observation he is almost always correct, but when he 
 accepts the ideas and beliefs which prevailed amongst the 
 authors of his time he is frequently wrong. Like all the 
 men of his time he believed in a king bee, and his descrip- 
 tion of the government of the hive ("King Henry V," Act I, 
 Scene 2, line 188), as he understood it, is one of the most 
 beautiful and most frequently quoted passages in his 
 works, though as a statement of the true natural history 
 of the bee and the economy of the hive it is pure fiction. 
 So too the reference to "the kind life-rendering pelican," 
 in " Hamlet" 1 (Act IV, Scene 5, line 145), as well as in other 
 plays, was in strict accord with the notions that were then 
 accepted and that were portrayed in numerous pictures 
 and engravings as well as in the crest and scutcheon of 
 many noble families. This matter has been well discussed 
 by Professor Dowden of the University of Dublin in the 
 Introduction to "The Shakespeare Cyclopedia." 
 
 Even Izaac Walton, who from his many opportunities 
 for observation in country fields and by riversides might 
 have been expected to be accurate in his knowledge of 
 facts, accepts many of the crude notions and erroneous 
 statements made by the writers who preceded him. 
 
 1 Some of our readers will no doubt be surprised when told that in the 
 first collected edition of Shakespeare's works, generally known as the 
 " First Folio," the words are " Kinde Life-rendering Politicean," a curious 
 typographical mistake which has given rise to some interesting lucubrations. 
 If this were the true reading the politicians of Hamlet's time must have 
 been very different from those of our day. But the word is pelican in the 
 quartos, and the same alleged characteristic of the pelican is referred to in 
 Richard II and King Lear so that there can be no doubt that the modern 
 text is correct. 
 
POPULAR FALLACIES AND COMMON ERRORS 179 
 
 It is now rather more than two centuries and a half 
 since Sir Thomas Browne published his " Pse^udodoxia 
 Epidemica," or " Vulgar Errors," a curious and interest- 
 ing work which throws much light on some of the extraor- 
 dinary beliefs of his day. The last edition that was issued 
 during his life now lies before me, and it is interesting to 
 note the absurdities which seem to have been generally 
 accepted by even the best educated people of his time. 
 But most of them have been discarded owing to the in- 
 crease and diffusion of knowledge in natural history and 
 the physical sciences. A few, however, still remain, and 
 some brief notes on those which are most prominent can 
 hardly fail to interest the readers of this book. 
 
 THAT MOST GREAT DISCOVERIES HAVE BEEN 
 MADE BY ACCIDENT 
 
 |OTHING appeals more strongly to the mind 
 of the average man than accounts of great 
 results which have been achieved by means 
 which were apparently totally inadequate to 
 effect the purpose intended. When he is told that Sir 
 Isaac Newton made some of his great discoveries by means 
 of a child's toy the soap bubble he is not only inter- 
 ested but amazed, forgetting the long course of deep 
 mathematical study which enabled Newton to derive such 
 important conclusions from such apparently trivial phenom- 
 ena. And there is a good story told of two old ladies who 
 lived opposite the great mathematician and who after 
 watching him for some time came to the conclusion that 
 
l8o THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 he was weak-minded. One day they mentioned the matter 
 to their physician, a well-informed man, and expressed 
 their pity and sympathy for the poor old gentleman. They 
 were much astonished when they were told that the sup- 
 posed imbecile was none other than the great philosopher 
 Sir Isaac Newton, who was then deeply engaged in the 
 study of certain abstract problems in regard to light and 
 was using the soap bubbles to verify practically his purely 
 mathematical deductions. This particular story may not 
 be true (very few such stories are), but it has an air of 
 probability about it and there have been hundreds of actual 
 cases just like it. 
 
 Very few great discoveries or inventions were ever made 
 by mere accident and when such has apparently been the 
 case, the mind that was able to seize the new idea and adapt 
 it to the required conditions must have been prepared to 
 recognize its significance and the relation which it bore 
 to these conditions. The discovery of phosphorus seems 
 to have been made by accident; the discoverer, Brandt, 
 was looking for something entirely different. He thought 
 that in certain liquids derived from the human organism 
 he ought to find the philosopher's stone ; he did not find the 
 stone, but he did find phosphorus. But it is very certain 
 that he would not have obtained the phosphorus if he had 
 not been prepared to do so by long experience in earnest 
 chemical work. 
 
 A few years ago an article on this subject went the rounds 
 of the press and in it we were told that among other acci- 
 dental discoveries "the attraction of gravitation was sug- 
 gested to Sir Isaac Newton by the fall of an apple; that 
 Galileo got his first hint of the pendulum from the swinging 
 of a chandelier in a cathedral; that Madame Galvani, being 
 
MOST GREAT DISCOVERIES MADE BY ACCIDENT l8l 
 
 an invalid, had frog soup prescribed for her, and while the 
 frogs were being prepared she noticed certain twitchings 
 in the dead animals and called the attention of her husband 
 to the matter, and that owing to this accident Galvani was 
 led to make his great discoveries. Also that the power of 
 steam was first discovered by the oscillations of the lid of 
 a teakettle; and to these instances were added numerous 
 other historic fables which have long been exploded. 
 
 In the case of Newton, he did not discover " the attraction 
 of gravitation"; what he did discover was that the same 
 force which caused stones, etc., to fall to the earth when 
 left unsupported, also retained the moon in her orbit; and 
 this he proved by comparing the rate of falling bodies on 
 the earth, as determined by Galileo, with the rate at which 
 the moon deviated from the straight line which she would 
 have pursued if no extraneous force had acted on her. The 
 story of the falling apple had no foundation in fact; this was 
 amply proved by Sir David Brews ter in his life of Sir Isaac 
 Newton. 
 
 Galileo had long been engaged in investigations relating 
 to falling bodies and had fully proved the absolute regularity 
 of their motion when he suggested the use of the pendulum 
 as a time measurer. Very probably he may have watched 
 the swinging chandelier and used it as an illustration, but 
 it was his previous studies and earnest thought and not the 
 mere swinging of the chandelier that pointed to the utility 
 of the pendulum. 
 
 The story about Madame Galvani and her frog soup, 
 as given in popular books on electricity and in many old 
 textbooks, is a fabrication of Alibert, an Italian writer of 
 no repute. It is completely disproved by the fact that at 
 the time his wife's health failed Galvani had been engaged 
 
182 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 for eleven years in a series of experiments in which he had 
 used frogs' legs as electroscopes. 
 
 The power of steam was known long before teakettles 
 had come into use; and as the case of Watt and his inven- 
 tions affords a very good example of the erroneous ideas so 
 generally entertained on such subjects, it may be well to 
 consider it at length. 
 
 THAT THE IDEA OF THE STEAM ENGINE WAS 
 SUGGESTED TO JAMES WATT BY THE AC- 
 TION OF THE STEAM ON THE LID OF HIS 
 MOTHER'S TEAKETTLE 
 
 HERE is a large and elaborate engraving of 
 James Watt as a boy standing before a fire on 
 which a teakettle is boiling while he watches 
 the lid jump up and down. On one side is an 
 elderly woman (mother or grandmother) earnestly watching 
 the boy. Young Watt is dressed in the height of the fashion 
 of the period knee breeches, powdered wig, and other 
 habiliments such as no Scottish lad of his station in life 
 ever wore. This engraving has had a large circulation 
 and has no doubt impressed the minds of many with the 
 truth of the story that Watt's great invention was due to 
 the accident of his watching the motion of the kettle lid 
 as the steam rose from the boiling water. 
 
 The incident which the engraving is supposed to repre- 
 sent is pure fiction. The power of steam was well known 
 long before the days of Watt. Hero of Alexandria, 130 
 years before the Christian era, had applied steam to the pro- 
 
STEAM ENGINE SUGGESTED BY THE TEAKETTLE 183 
 
 duction of motion, and the number of the inventors who had 
 devoted themselves to the improvement of the steam engine 
 was very large Battista della Porta, Branca, Solomon 
 de Caus, the Marquis of Worcester, Savery, and many 
 others had all invented engines of various types. Indeed 
 the engines of Newcomen were then in practical operation 
 in the mines and had in many cases displaced horses. So 
 that Watt was not the inventor of the first steam engine 
 that did practical work, and that such engines were in use 
 was known to every intelligent mechanic. 
 
 But that Watt was the inventor of the first engine that 
 was commercially successful as a motive power for ma- 
 chinery is true beyond all question, and this success was not 
 due to any happy a.rn'Hent. 3 hvrhjyas thp re^ilf nf long-rpntin- 
 ued and earnest study and investigation. This is not the 
 place for even a brief history of Watt and his inventions, 
 but as the prominent incidents which led to his final success 
 afford a most valuable illustration of the great truth that 
 almost all inventions and discoveries are the result of hard 
 and earnest work and not of mere accident, we may be 
 pardoned for glancing at them. 
 
 Owing to the failure of his father in business, Watt was 
 early thrown upon his own resources. He went to London 
 and engaged as apprentice with a philosophical instrument 
 maker, but as his health failed he was obliged to return 
 home at the end of a year. During this year, however, 
 he seems to have acquired unusual skill in the use of tools 
 and a very thorough insight into the construction of appa- 
 ratus, and through the influence of some of the .professors 
 in the University of Glasgow, with whom he had formed a 
 friendship, he was employed to repair and adjust the appa- 
 ratus used by them in their lectures. He even attempted 
 
1 84 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 to open a shop in the city of Glasgow, but the guilds refused 
 their permission. Fortunately for Watt and for humanity 
 the University authorities had complete control within 
 their own grounds, so they assigned him a workroom and 
 enabled him to set the guilds at defiance. 
 
 Amongst the apparatus which was sent to him to repair 
 was a model of Newcomen's engine. Watt succeeded in 
 putting it in working order, but was disgusted with the 
 small result which it gave for the combustion of a large 
 amount of fuel. Just about this time his friend Dr. Joseph 
 Black, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow 
 and the discoverer of carbonic acid, had made his cele- 
 brated investigations into latent heat, and this gave Watt 
 accurate ideas in regard to the practical relations of steam. 
 After much study and many experiments he worked out 
 the condensing engine, which did an equal amount of 
 work with less than one-fourth the fuel required by New- 
 comen's engine. This enabled the Cornish mine owners to 
 carry on work in mines which otherwise must have been 
 abandoned as unprofitable. Other improvements followed, 
 and while the old engines were never used for any other 
 purpose than pumping, the new engines of Watt were 
 capable of being profitably employed for driving machinery 
 and other kinds of work. 
 
 But at no stage of this progress could any advancement 
 be said to have been due to mere accident; it was all the 
 result of deep study and hard work. 
 
THAT WHETSTONES ARE OILED TO LESSEN 
 THE FRICTION OF THE METAL UPON THE 
 STONE 
 
 HIS fallacy has become popular owing to a state- 
 ment made by Professor Tyndall in his cele- 
 brated work, "Heat a Mode of Motion." In 
 paragraph 9 occurs the following passage: "When- 
 ever friction is overcome, heat is produced, and the heat 
 produced is the exact measure of the force expended in 
 overcoming the friction. The heat is simply the primitive 
 force in another form, and if we wish to avoid this con- 
 version, we must abolish the friction. We put oil upon 
 the surface of a hone, we grease a saw, and are careful to 
 lubricate the axles of our railway carriages." 
 
 Now since the application of grease to rubbing surfaces 
 for the purpose of lessening friction has been practiced 
 from time immemorial, it is not to be wondered at that 
 Tyndall in his dragnet for instances should have caught 
 the hone or whetstone amongst other things, because the 
 application of oil to hones and whetstones is almost uni- 
 versal. And as his book is a standard authority in its 
 department, this mistake has been quoted over and over 
 again, the latest instance that has come to my notice 
 being found in a most interesting and instructive book by 
 the late Professor Tidy, "The Story of a Tinder-Box." 
 
 Those who are practically familiar with the use of hones 
 and whetstones know that the chief use of the oil is not to 
 
 185 
 
1 86 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 lessen the friction but to prevent the metal from forming a 
 glaze on the surface of the stone. When a steel" blade is 
 rubbed on a dry whetstone the minute particles that are 
 torn from the metal attach themselves to the surface of 
 the stone and are then burnished to a smoothness which 
 greatly lessens the friction and prevents further abrasion. 
 So that in reality the application of the oil to the whet- 
 stone actually increases the friction instead of lessening it. 
 
 Of course this does not apply to coarse-grained grind- 
 stones where the particles of metal that are removed from 
 the tool are of considerable size and are torn off with 
 great rapidity. In that case the combined friction and 
 abrasion quickly heat the article to a degree which de- 
 stroys its temper if it is made of steel, and to counteract 
 this a stream of water is applied, but not for the purpose 
 of lessening the friction. 
 
 It is a popular impression that friction is only a source 
 of evil. It is regarded as the great agent in wasting power 
 and destroying machinery which, if there were no friction, 
 would last forever. But friction has its advantages as 
 well as its disadvantages, and the former are quite as im- 
 portant as the latter. If it were not for friction no nail or 
 screw would hold, and our buildings and machines, unless 
 constructed after methods very different from those at 
 present in use, would all fall to pieces. No knot could be 
 made to hold; the first strain would cause it to slip. With- 
 out friction no locomotive could drag its train along, and 
 even the horses would be unable to pull their loads. A 
 striking example of this may be seen any day when the 
 roads are covered with sheets of ice and men and horses 
 are falling in every direction. Even while writing these 
 lines I have received a notable object lesson in this direc- 
 
LIGHTNING NEVER STRIKES TWICE IN SAME PLACE 187 
 
 tion, for I am held a close prisoner in the house of a friend 
 because the whole region is coated with a sheet of ice over 
 which it would be impossible for an elderly person to 
 walk with safety. And all owing to the absence of fric- 
 tion between opposing surfaces. 
 
 THAT LIGHTNING NEVER STRIKES TWICE IN 
 THE SAME PLACE 
 
 YLOR, in his ''Researches into the Early History 
 of Mankind," traces this proverb to the mythol- 
 ogy of India and notes a very curious connec- 
 tion between it and the old ceremonies of Easter 
 eve, when new fire was obtained from flint and hallowed 
 against all great dangers, and particularly against the 
 lightning stroke, for the new fire was supposed to be akin 
 to lightning, " which strikes no place twice." 
 
 But in these days it undoubtedly owes its general ac- 
 ceptance to a feeling that the place where lightning strikes 
 is a matter of mere chance or at least as much a matter of 
 chance as would be the location of a bullet fired by a poor 
 shot at a large target from a considerable distance. 
 
 In purely mechanical or physical operations there is no 
 such thing as chance. The poet very truly tells us: 
 
 All nature is but Art unknown to thee; 
 
 All Chance, Direction which thou canst not see. 
 
 In the toss of a penny or the throw of a die the result 
 depends upon immutable laws; and if we could but know 
 the action of the various forces at work, that is to say the 
 direction, intensity, and the point of application of each, 
 
1 88 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 we could predict with absolute certainty which side of the 
 penny or the die would turn up. In the case of lightning, 
 conditions are liable to change; and while in former times 
 lightning may have struck a given spot several times, the 
 erection of lightning conductors, the growth of trees, and 
 other changed conditions may have so altered the relation 
 of a given spot to the clouds that the path of the discharge 
 will be entirely changed. But that particular buildings 
 and places have been struck by lightning time and again 
 is a matter of unquestionable record, the following instances 
 being well authenticated. 
 
 The Cathedral of St. Peter in Geneva, although so ele- 
 vated as to be above all other buildings in the neighbor- 
 hood, has for three centuries enjoyed perfect immunity 
 from damage by lightning, while the tower of St. Gervaise, 
 although much lower, has been frequently struck. Another 
 instance is that of a church on the estate of Count Orsini, 
 in Carinthia. This building is placed upon an eminence, 
 and had been struck so often by lightning that it was deemed 
 no longer safe to celebrate divine service within its walls. 
 For two or three years after its erection the church of St. 
 Michael's in Charlestown had been frequently damaged 
 by lightning; a conductor was attached to it, and during 
 the following fourteen years it was not injured. The steeple 
 of St. Mark's in Venice has a height of 340 feet, and was 
 frequently struck by lightning until a proper lightning 
 conductor was attached to it, after which it remained 
 uninjured. 
 
THAT THE FIRST FIRE WAS PRODUCED BY THE 
 FRICTION OF BRANCHES OF TREES MOVED 
 BY THE WIND 
 
 HIS legend has been adopted from the works 
 attributed to Sanchoniathon but now generally 
 considered forgeries. The account is as follows: 
 "And when there were violent storms of rain 
 and wind the trees about Tyre, being rubbed against each 
 other, took fire, and all the forest in the neighborhood was 
 consumed." And then the unknown writer goes on to 
 tell us that Usous consecrated two pillars to fire and wind 
 and worshiped them. 
 
 This statement has been accepted as true by almost 
 all modern writers, and even some of our recent scientific 
 authors, who certainly ought to have known better, have 
 quoted it as the origin of the primeval method of obtaining 
 fire by rubbing two sticks together. We know that fire 
 has been obtained in this way, for it was a common method 
 amongst savages and was practiced by the Indians of this 
 continent in early days. But that two branches moved 
 by the intermittent action of the wind and cooled by both 
 wind and rain could ever attain the temperature of the 
 ignition point of wood is simply incredible. Almost all 
 violent storms of wind and rain are accompanied by thun- 
 der and lightning, and it is quite possible that the lightning 
 may have set fire to the dry rubbish lying at the foot of 
 the tree that was struck. This has actually occurred in the 
 forests of Maine. 
 
 189 
 
1 90 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 This is not the place for a general discussion of the origin 
 of fire, but it seems to me more than likely that man obtained 
 his first practical knowledge of fire from the burning wells 
 which abound in the neighborhood of the Caspian Sea, the 
 acknowledged cradle of the human race. These wells 
 could scarcely escape being struck and set on fire by light- 
 ning, and some of them have been burning for ages. The 
 wonderful spectacle and the pleasant warmth of these 
 burning wells would be sure to attract those who came 
 near them, and this was no doubt the source from which 
 men obtained their first knowledge of fire, an agent with- 
 out which civilization would have been impossible. 
 
 THAT VOLCANOES ARE " BURNING" MOUNTAINS 
 
 HE term " burning mountain" is very apt to 
 convey a wrong impression to the ordinary 
 person; he thinks of it as he does of a fire in a 
 stove or as a burning forest where combustible 
 materials combine with the oxygen of the air to produce 
 heat, flames, gas, and dust. In the eruption of a volcano 
 none of these phenomena are caused to any considerable 
 extent by combustion. The red-hot matter which is thrown 
 out was probably "burned" ages ago, indeed long before 
 this earth had taken on its present characteristics of oceans 
 and continents with their mountain ranges, rivers, and 
 lakes. The substances which are thrown out by a volcano 
 are the ashes of long-past fires, and we might as well think 
 of burning the ashes beneath our grates as to burn them. 
 
 The red-hot and sometimes white-hot material thrown 
 out by the volcano is merely a sample of the internal con- 
 
THAT VOLCANOES ARE " BURNING " MOUNTAINS 191 
 
 tents of the globe, which is covered with a comparatively 
 thin crust (from thirty to fifty miles thick) that has cooled 
 off during past ages and is now in a condition in which 
 organic beings can live upon its surface. A volcano is 
 simply a hole in this crust through which the melted matter 
 of the interior and the steam produced by the infiltration 
 of water are ejected. Several causes may contribute to 
 the ejection of this volcanic material, amongst the prin- 
 cipal being the following: 
 
 1. The access of sea water through one or more fissures, 
 thus producing enormous pressure, a pressure so great 
 that dust and cinders have been projected to a height of 
 10,000 feet. That sea water is the cause of at least some 
 eruptions is rendered probable by the large proportion of 
 chlorides present in the ejected matter. 
 
 2. The pressure of deposits at the bottom of the ocean, 
 these deposits consisting of material washed down from 
 mountain ranges and other regions through which large 
 rivers flow. For while the average pressure over the entire 
 globe would not be disturbed by this action, it is very 
 evident that large local deposits over a limited area might 
 easily cause the comparatively slight disturbance which 
 would be necessary to produce volcanic phenomena. These 
 phenomena, when compared with the vast amount of ma- 
 terial carried out to sea by some of our large rivers, are 
 small. Of the amount of this material few people have 
 any conception. The greatest works of man in moving 
 rocks and earth are insignificant when compared with it. 
 The weight of this material might easily cause a local sink- 
 age of the crust quite sufficient to set a volcano in action 
 or to open up a new vent at some distant point along the 
 line of least resistance. 
 
192 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 3. The gradual cooling of the earth and the consequent 
 contraction of the crust, which would proceed more rapidly 
 and to a greater extent than the contraction of the liquid 
 interior. That the earth is gradually cooling is a fact 
 which is generally accepted by scientific men. In other 
 words, the earth radiates into space an amount of heat 
 greater than that which it receives from the sun and stars. 
 Consequently the crust becomes too small to contain the 
 liquid contents of the globe and a portion of the latter is 
 ejected at the point of least resistance, which may be 
 either an old vent or a new opening. Cordier has calculated 
 that a contraction of only the one-twenty-fifth of an inch 
 would suffice to force out to the surface lava enough for 
 500 eruptions, allowing 1300 million cubic yards for each 
 eruption. This cooling process is, however, very slow, 
 so slow that it may not have been recognizable during the 
 historic period. But we must remember that an amount 
 which would be quite imperceptible by our most delicate 
 instruments would be sufficient to produce all the volcanic 
 phenomena with which we are familiar. 
 
 THAT THE FORCE OF DYNAMITE IS ALWAYS 
 EXERTED IN A DOWNWARD DIRECTION 
 
 is a well-known fact that if a charge of dyna- 
 mite be laid on the ground and exploded, it 
 will make a deep hollow, and if it be placed on 
 a slab of stone, even without any covering or 
 tamping, as it is called, the stone will be broken into 
 shivers. It was these facts that led to the belief that 
 dynamite acted only in a downward direction, and as there 
 
THE FORCE OF DYNAMITE ALWAYS DOWNWARD 193 
 
 were no visible effects above the charge (as, indeed, how 
 could there be?) the theory was believed to have been 
 proved beyond doubt. 
 
 But every engineer and miner knows that if the slab of 
 stone were raised from the ground and supported on 
 pillars, the dynamite if placed under it would shatter it as 
 effectually as if it were laid on the top of it. The truth is 
 that the expansive force of dynamite has no tendency to 
 act in any one direction rather than in another. Numer- 
 ous experiments prove this beyond any question. 
 
 The explanation of the apparent downward action of 
 dynamite is quite simple. The destructive power of dyna- 
 mite and similar explosives is due to the tremendous rapid- 
 ity with which the resulting gases expand in every direction 
 when exploded; indeed so rapid is this explosive action 
 that neither solid nor aerial matter can get out of its way 
 fast enough. Black gunpowder when burned on a stone 
 slab (unless the quantity be very large) simply gives a 
 slow puff and passes off in smoke. A little of it burned 
 on the palm of the hand burns so slowly that it will scorch 
 the flesh. But if we place a little fulminating mercury on "^ 
 the palm of the hand and touch it with a spark of fire it / 
 goes off with a sharp puff and burns so rapidly that there ( 
 is no time for it to impart a perceptible amount of heat to-^ 
 the hand. It may even be burned on a pile of common 
 black gunpowder without setting the latter on fire. If, 
 however, we should select a still more rapidly expansive 
 explosive, such as dynamite, and set that off on the hand, 
 the hand would probably be torn to shreds. 
 
 Even when there is no solid material placed over the 
 dynamite to concentrate the action of the expanding gases, 
 there is always present the enormous pressure of the atmos- 
 
IQ4 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 phere, which, as a resisting medium, under some condi- 
 tions, is almost as effective as so much sand. On a stone 
 slab three feet square there rests a load of air weighing 
 nearly nine tons. Now this air, if moved slowly, does not 
 offer much resistance to the moving agent. The most 
 delicate fan, if moved very slowly in the air, does not even 
 bend. But if moved rapidly it bends very perceptibly, 
 and if moved with great velocity it will be broken. We 
 can easily see, therefore, that when an effort is made to 
 move nine tons of air with the velocity of the gases evolved 
 by exploded dynamite, the air will offer almost the resist- 
 ance of a solid body, and a stone slab, though hard and 
 strong, breaks under the blow. 
 
 THAT THE ART OF HARDENING COPPER 
 IS LOST 
 
 T short intervals there appears in our different 
 periodicals an article telling us that somebody 
 has found a lot of old copper tools hard enough 
 to cut the hardest stone and bewailing the fact 
 that the process by which these tools were hardened by 
 some prehistoric race is now unknown and must be classed 
 amongst the so-called "lost arts." 
 
 That the Egyptians and some other peoples knew how 
 to harden copper is unquestionably true, but a chemical 
 analysis of their tools quickly revealed the secret, #nd there 
 has never been a time since then when we could not pro- 
 duce copper tools quite as good as those of the ancients, 
 and probably better. During his investigations into metal- 
 lic alloys suitable for cutlery, Faraday produced an alloy 
 
THE ART OF HARDENING COPPER LOST 195 
 
 of copper which took an edge as keen and showed an 
 endurance as great as that of anything left behind them 
 by the ancients. Of this alloy a razor was made which 
 proved quite serviceable but was not equal to finely tem- 
 pered steel and consequently it offered no attraction to the 
 modern artisan. 
 
 The art of hardening copper is not lost, but it has fallen 
 into desuetude for two reasons: In the first place it is not 
 as efficient as good steel, and, secondly, copper is too costly 
 ever to take the place of the cheaper metal, iron, while the 
 latter can be made to do equally good work. While copper 
 is worth several cents per pound, iron is worth only a 
 fraction of a cent. This fact is reason enough for driving 
 copper out of use as a material for making cutting tools. 
 
 Careful observation shows that much of the fine stone- 
 cutting work of the ancients was done by grinding rather 
 than by cutting. I doubt very much if any tool made 
 prior to the Christian era could stand the hard work to 
 which the picks used by the miller in dressing his mill- 
 stones are subjected. 
 
 This matter of the hardening of copper is a very fair 
 sample of the erroneous ideas prevalent in regard to the 
 "Lost Arts," a subject in regard to which the late Wendell 
 Phillips was charmingly eloquent and woefully ignorant. 
 All the arts which have fallen into disuse and so are said 
 to have been lost, have been merely abandoned because 
 they have been superseded by something greatly better. 
 
THAT STEAM CAN BE SEEN 
 
 those who have not given special attention 
 to the subject see a cloud of vapor floating away 
 from a locomotive in action, the feeling is irre- 
 sistible that they see the steam which causes 
 the piston to move in the cylinder. This, however, is far 
 from being the case What they really see is a collection 
 of fine particles of water. If these particles had been in 
 the state of steam they would have been in the form of an 
 invisible gas. 
 
 The truth of this is easily proved. Pour a little water 
 into a thin glass flask or a test tube and plug the mouth 
 with a cork having a small hole passing through it. The 
 hole should not be more than an eighth of an inch in diam- 
 eter. Heat the water in the flask or test tube over a spirit 
 lamp or gas flame until the steam rushes out of the hole 
 in the cork with some force. The flask or test tube, al- 
 though filled with steam, will be quite transparent; the 
 steam will not be visible. 
 
 Or watch a jet of steam issuing from the cock of a steam 
 boiler or the spout of a teakettle when the latter is boiling 
 briskly; as the steam issues from the cock or jet it will be 
 quite invisible for a short distance, but when cooled a little 
 by contact with the air it becomes vapor and is easily seen, 
 but then it is not steam. 
 
 196 
 
THAT HANNIBAL USED VINEGAR TO CUT A PAS- 
 SAGE FOR HIS ARMY ACROSS THE ALPS 
 
 HIS alleged fact forms a staple illustration in the 
 literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth cen- 
 turies, and I have recently seen an allusion to 
 it in the work of an author from whom I should 
 have expected better things. When we consider the enor- 
 mous quantity of vinegar which would be required to re- 
 move even a few cubic yards of limestone or similar rock, 
 the absurdity of the suggestion becomes apparent. Where 
 could Hannibal have obtained enough vinegar to enable 
 him to perform this feat? 
 
 A great deal of ink has been shed in the effort to explain 
 and enforce this alleged historical fact and to prove that 
 it might have been done, but the only satisfactory expla- 
 nation is that it is a fiction pure and simple. 
 
 THAT LARGE LENSES ARE MORE POWERFUL 
 THAN SMALL ONES 
 
 N the mind of the ordinary person the idea of 
 comparative power is almost always associated 
 with that of comparative size. The largest 
 and heaviest locomotive is always the most 
 powerful and so, as a general rule, are the largest animals 
 of the same species. And too often this same idea is applied 
 to lenses or magnifying glasses. 
 
 197 
 
198 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 Of course those who have even the slightest knowledge 
 of optics and the construction of optical instruments can 
 never make this mistake, but a very large majority of those 
 whom we meet in daily life know nothing of these things, 
 and unfortunately it does not follow because a boy at 
 school has gone over the section on optics in his Natural 
 Philosophy, that therefore he understands these things. 
 
 If by power we mean the extent to which a lens magnifies 
 any object, then it will be found that the smallest lenses 
 are the most powerful. 
 
 It is a very elementary truth that of two lenses composed 
 of the same material that which has the sharpest curvature 
 to its surfaces will magnify most. Now, on reflection it 
 will be evident to even the least mathematical mind that 
 lenses which have very sharp or '"quick" curves must of 
 necessity be small. Suppose that the curve which bounds 
 the figure of a lens has a radius of half an inch; then it is 
 evident that the largest lens which could be made with 
 this curve would be one inch in diameter and then it would 
 either be a perfect sphere or approaching a plano-convex. 
 Most lenses, however, resemble thin slices cut off the spheres, 
 either making a plano-convex lens or two such slices joined 
 together, making a double convex lens, so that the diameter 
 of the lens is in general much less than the diameter of 
 the curves which form its surface. Therefore we see that all 
 lenses of high power are of necessity small, and when lenses 
 are required of very high power they become so minute that 
 they can be handled only with great difficulty. Indeed, 
 before the modern improvements in the microscope many 
 of the lenses used by scientific men were nothing more than 
 small globules of glass brought to a round form by fusion. 
 And they were the most powerful microscopes then known. 
 
THAT THE SERPENT HAS A STING IN ITS TAIL 199 
 
 The idea that large lenses are the most powerful is so very 
 prevalent that "Send me one of your largest and most 
 powerful magnifiers," is an order with which every optician 
 is familiar, and yet such an order contains a positive con- 
 tradiction in terms. A lens cannot possibly be very large 
 and magnify greatly at the same time. 
 
 THAT THE SERPENT HAS A STING IN ITS TAIL 
 
 HIS curious belief, the falsity of which must 
 have been known to every country boy, seems 
 to have permeated our literature down to a period 
 well along in the nineteenth century, and I do 
 not know but that it prevails yet amongst the litterateurs 
 of the day. In Shakespeare we find more than half a dozen 
 passages in which the " sting" of the serpent is spoken of, 
 and the Bible tells us that wine "stingeth like an adder." 
 That the general impression derived from these expressions 
 was that adders, snakes, and serpents had stings in their 
 tails, is very evident, and this view is corroborated by a 
 passage in Scott's novel "The Monastery" 1 in which the 
 peddler says: "Now let us hurry down the hill; for to tell 
 the truth a Scottish noble's march is like a serpent the 
 head is furnished with fangs, and the tail hath its sting; 
 the only harmless point of access is the main body. " 
 
 And as that which is unknown is generally more dreaded 
 than that which is seen, the sting of the tail seems to have 
 been more feared than the fangs of the head. 
 
 1 Vol. II, Chap. XVIII. In some of the bastard editions where the 
 chapters of both volumes are numbered consecutively this would be 
 Chap. XXXV. 
 
200 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 No snake or serpent has a sting in its tail. Its only 
 offensive weapons (exclusive of its crushing power) are 
 the fangs which are connected with certain poison glands 
 in the head. All the other parts and organs of the animal 
 are perfectly harmless. 
 
 THAT THE FORKED TONGUE OF THE SERPENT 
 OR SNAKE IS A WEAPON OF OFFENSE 
 
 HE tongues of snakes and serpents are cleft at 
 the end and have always been an emblem of 
 double dealing, treachery, and falsehood. As a 
 mere simile for a human being with a deceitful 
 tongue, this is well enough and may pass without comment, 
 but it will not serve as a suggestion for a truth in natural 
 history, since it has no foundation in fact. 
 
 Nevertheless in all ages the tongue of the snake or 
 serpent seems to have impressed humanity with a feeling 
 of danger, and from the fact that when snakes are irritated 
 they thrust out their forked tongues, these tongues have 
 been regarded as a weapon of offense, something to be 
 feared and avoided, so that when, in " Measure for Meas- 
 ure " (Act III, Scene i, line 15), the Duke says: 
 
 Thou art by no means valiant; 
 For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork 
 Of a poor worm, 
 
 Shakespeare puts into his mouth words which no doubt 
 reflected a common feeling and belief. And in several 
 other passages the forked tongue of the snake is referred 
 to as a thing of danger. It was a popular fallacy. The 
 serpent's tongue is quite harmless in comparison with the 
 poisonous fangs of a venomous and treacherous poet. 
 
THAT A HORSEHAIR WHEN PLACED IN A POOL 
 OF WATER TURNS TO A SNAKE 
 
 T would seem that this was formerly a very 
 general article of belief among the country 
 people of Great Britain and Ireland. Even 
 Shakespeare seems to have accepted the current 
 
 notion, for in " Antony and Cleopatra" (Act I, Scene 2, 
 
 line 200) we find the following: 
 
 Much is breeding, 
 
 Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life 
 And not a serpent's poison. 
 
 Even Sir Thomas Browne in his elaborate work on the 
 "Vulgar Errors" of his time ( u Pseudodoxia Epidemica") 
 does not allude to this error in natural history, though we 
 can scarcely believe that he was not familiar with the cur- 
 rent notions on the subject, and therefore we are led to sus- 
 pect that he accepted the popular view as being correct. 
 
 The error arose out of two very interesting facts. In 
 the first place there is a species of threadworm (the Gor- 
 dius aquaticus) which at one stage of its existence is para- 
 sitic but which develops in stagnant pools and so closely 
 resembles an animated horsehair that it gave rise to the 
 idea that it was really a horsehair which had fallen into 
 the water and had become alive. 
 
 The other fact was that when a dry horsehair is placed 
 in water it frequently moves, just as a thin shaving of wood 
 will curl and move when laid on a damp surface or as the 
 
202 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 well-known toy called the artificial fish will flop its tail 
 when after being well dried it is laid on the moist hand. 
 In these cases we know that there is no animal life either 
 in the shaving or in the fish, and the cause of the phe- 
 nomenon is obvious and easily explained; but in the case 
 of the hair, associated as it is with a real living worm of 
 almost identical appearance, the ordinary mind is more 
 easily deceived. The general impression amongst those 
 who have not made a special study of the subject is that 
 voluntary movement on the part of any organism implies 
 the presence of animal life, and for a long time several 
 microscopic plants which are now known to be true vege- 
 tables, were believed to be animals because they were 
 seen to move about in the still water in which they floated. 
 This was the case with many diatoms and desmids, and 
 the beautiful volvox globator, which is unquestionably a 
 vegetable, was long known as the "globe animalcule'' 
 and was believed to be an animal because it seemed to 
 have the, power of voluntary motion. Few sights are 
 more strikingly beautiful than the appearance of a well- 
 developed volvox passing across the field of view of a 
 microscope with a steady rolling motion, thus giving one 
 the impression of a large green globe obeying the instincts, 
 of animal life. 
 
 This free motion from place to place was of course seen 
 to be very different from the movement of the sensitive 
 plant or the movement of flowers under the action of the 
 sun, and it was thought that it could only be attributed to 
 animal life. 
 
 Of course in the present state of biological knowledge it 
 would be futile to offer any arguments against this old 
 belief. The microscope gives us ample assurance that it is 
 
THAT HAIRS ARE TUBES 203 
 
 false and the life history of the Gordius has been fully 
 traced. 
 
 It may interest some of our younger readers to learn 
 that these worms get the name Gordius because of their 
 curious habit of coiling themselves into complicated knots. 
 veritable " Gordian knots." 
 
 THAT HAIRS ARE TUBES 
 
 [EN we look through a strong magnifying glass 
 at a human hair it appears to the uneducated 
 eye to be tubular and consequently the impres- 
 sion very generally prevails that hairs, like quills, 
 are tubes. This fallacy is due to the fact that since the 
 hair is nearly cylindrical there is generally a bright line 
 of light reflected from the upper part of the surface, and 
 as the edges are in shade and consequently dark, the re- 
 semblance to a tube is very strong. But if we place a. 
 bright metallic wire under a microscope and examine it 
 as a dry and opaque object, the same bright central line 
 and dark edges will appear and the wire will seem to be a 
 tube, although we know that such is not the case. Of 
 course the decisive test is to make a cross section of the 
 hair and examine this under the microscope after it has 
 been properly mounted. The interior substance of the 
 hair will then be found to consist of a peculiar fibrous ma- 
 terial with sometimes a central medullary portion composed 
 of spheroidal cells. 
 
 The hairs of different mammals vary greatly in their 
 structure. Those of the cat, squirrel, mouse, rabbit, and 
 
204 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 some others present very characteristic appearances. The 
 large hairs of the deer are very peculiar when viewed as 
 an opaque object. Indeed there are few more interesting 
 objects for microscopical study than hairs with their 
 various forms and structures. 
 
 THAT WORMS SHALL EAT OUR BODIES AFTER 
 WE ARE DECENTLY BURIED 
 
 HIS is a very old belief. In the Book of Job 
 (Chap, xix, v. 25) the prophet exclaims: "And 
 though after my skin worms destroy this body, 
 yet in my flesh shall I see God." 
 
 And Shakespeare makes Hamlet say (Act IV, Scene 3, 
 line 28): "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat 
 of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm." 
 
 Rosalind also boldly avers that "men have died from 
 time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love " 
 ("As You Like It," Act. IV, Scene i, line 107). 
 
 And all through our literature the same idea prevails. 
 No wonder then that the popular mind is firm in the belief 
 that it is the fate of humanity to be eaten by worms if not 
 consumed by fire or consigned to the fishes. And the 
 worm that is usually thought of in this connection is the 
 common earthworm or angleworm as it is usually called. 
 
 Now in the first place the earthworm does not feed upon 
 undecomposed flesh; I have never met them in a putre- 
 fying carcass. Their food consists chiefly of decaying 
 vegetable matter; consequently the site of an old manure 
 heap is a choice place to dig for them. And, secondly, earth- 
 worms are scarcely ever found at the depth to which a nor- 
 
WORMS SHALL EAT OUR BODIES AFTER BURIAL 205 
 
 mal grave is sunk, that is, six feet. So that no one need 
 fear that he will fall a prey to the ordinary garden or earth 
 worm. 
 
 That an uncared-for corpse, left exposed on a summer 
 day, would soon be flyblown and that the eggs deposited 
 by the flies would develop into larvae which would soon 
 devour the body, is quite true. Linnaeus tells us that the 
 progeny of three blowflies would devour the carcass of an 
 ox as quickly as would a lion. So that it is pretty certain 
 that they would make quick work with an unprotected 
 corpse. But such a condition never occurs in civilized 
 life where death takes place amongst relatives and friends. 
 
 But while we do not stand in much danger of being 
 eaten by earthworms or the larvae of insects, it is very 
 certain that every man carries into his grave those devour- 
 ing agents which though invisible to ordinary sight will 
 accomplish the destruction of his body quite as effectually 
 as could those grosser creatures of which so many stand 
 in dread. Unless destroyed by powerful embalming 
 agents the microbes which cause putrefaction and which 
 are always present in inconceivable numbers will sooner 
 or later cause the materials of this worn-out garment 
 which we call our body to return to the elements whence 
 they came. From birth to death we have been contin- 
 ually borrowing, continually paying back. Part of our 
 physical organization may have come from the fruits 
 of the tropics, part from the mosses and lichens of the 
 frozen north. We may hold in our bones, muscles, and 
 brains, materials which once formed part of the gentle 
 sheep or the ravenous wolf, and in all the millions of years 
 during which the composition and decomposition of organic 
 matter has gone on, it is quite probable that some portion 
 
206 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 of our physical system may have previously formed part 
 of the material organization of thousands of other animals, 
 men included. The imbecile may have in his body atoms 
 which once formed part of Homer, of Plato, or of Archi- 
 medes. Into the wretched frame of the beggar may be 
 built material which once formed part of Solomon in all 
 his glory or of Croesus with all his wealth, and some of the 
 atoms which by their changes enabled such generals as 
 Alexander, Caesar, or Bruce to achieve their fame, may 
 now form part of the body of a lazar. For all power is 
 due to the energy derived from the change of material. 
 
 Even among the corporeal atoms which now make up 
 our own bodies may be particles which helped to incarnate 
 the person of Jesus Christ or which lent physical energy 
 to the burning eloquence of Saint Paul. 
 
 Organic life has gone on unceasingly for untold ages in 
 ever-recurring cycles and it will continue to go on while 
 the earth endures. Not a single moment passes in which 
 some part of every living organism does not die. We 
 cannot move a muscle or give way to an emotion or even 
 think a thought without burning up some part of our cor- 
 poreal frame and the used-up material is speedily ejected 
 and then transformed into the clothing of a new life. 
 
THAT A DECAYING CARCASS BREEDS WORMS 
 
 HIS erroneous belief was much more prevalent 
 half a century ago than it is to-day. In the 
 olden time it was commonly held that all kinds 
 of creatures might be " genera ted," as it was 
 termed, out of decaying matter, and it was supposed that 
 animals of even such a high degree of development as birds 
 might be evolved in a single generation out of some lower 
 form. Thus the barnacle goose was said to be a metamor- 
 phosed barnacle, the latter being a marine animal of no very 
 high grade. 
 
 And Virgil in his poem on country matters gives minute 
 directions for raising a swarm of bees out of a dead carcass. 
 It is very certain, however, that no swarm was ever raised 
 in this way. 
 
 So too Shakespeare makes Lepidus say: "Your serpent 
 of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of 
 your sun; so is your crocodile" ("Antony and Cleopatra," 
 Act II, Scene 7, line 29). 
 
 And his audiences probably did not doubt the state- 
 ment even in regard to such a highly developed animal 
 as the crocodile. But it is no wonder that such opinions 
 should prevail generally amongst the people at large, for 
 everywhere we see life developing under conditions and 
 in ways which hide their origin from the ordinary observer 
 because he has not been taught to direct his attention to 
 them. He sees the larvae or worms which are devouring 
 the dead carcass, but he did not see the minute eggs from 
 
 207 
 
208 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 which the larvae were developed simply because he did 
 not look for them. Consequently it was the most natural 
 thing in the world for him to suppose that they owed 
 their origin to the putrefying action of the carcass itself. 
 As we examine other forms of animal life the difficulty of 
 ascertaining their origin becomes in many cases very great 
 and in the case of some parasites it has required the labo- 
 rious efforts of the ablest biologists to make out their life 
 history. Until a few decades ago the different life stages 
 of certain marine animals were regarded as entirely differ- 
 ent species and each stage was. classified as being an en- 
 tirely distinct animal. And it is within the memory of 
 living men that the parr, a small fish which swarms in all 
 salmon rivers, was considered a distinct species and was 
 allowed to be slaughtered without limit, whereas it is now 
 known beyond the possibility of a doubt that it is the 
 young of the salmon and is carefully protected. 
 
 And it is now very certain that no creatures which show 
 distinct animal characteristics ever appear except as the 
 progeny of animals of the same kind. 
 
 J THAT SMALL FLIES ARE THE YOUNG OF 
 LARGE FLIES 
 
 VERY observing person must have noticed that 
 the flies which infest our houses differ greatly in 
 size, some being very small while others of simi- 
 lar general appearance are quite large. And it 
 is a very common idea that these small flies are small 
 simply because they are young and that if they are allowed 
 to live they will grow larger. It is very natural that this 
 
THAT DRAGON FLIES STING MEN 209 
 
 mistake should be made by those who have never given 
 special attention to the manner in which insects are de- 
 veloped from the egg. But it is a curious fact that flies, 
 bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, etc., are as large at the 
 time they emerge from the cocoon or cell as they ever are 
 afterwards. All their growth is made while in the larval 
 condition that is as caterpillars or " worms." Hence 
 the voracity of the caterpillar and the so-called " worms" 
 of clothes moths. After the insect becomes mature it 
 never changes, and the difference of size in the flies with 
 which we are familiar is due to the fact that they are 
 different kinds or species. 
 
 THAT DRAGON FLIES STING MEN AND OTHER 
 
 ANIMALS 
 
 )T is an old saying, "You might as well hang a 
 dog as give him a bad name." This is eminently 
 true of the dragon fly, of which there are a vast 
 number of species and to which many evil names 
 have been given. Thus it has been called "the devil's 
 darning needle," "the horse stinger," "the snake-feeder," 
 and other vile names. And amongst children whose edu- 
 cation in natural history has been neglected there is a very 
 prevalent belief that the devil's darning needle can go in 
 at one ear, pass through the head and come out at the 
 other ear, and that various dire diseases are the result of 
 this action on its part. 
 
 Now it is a well-ascertained fact that the dragon fly is 
 one of our best friends; it has no sting and its biting appa- 
 ratus is so feeble that one may be safely caught in the 
 bare hand and held without injury to the captor. 
 
210 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 The dragon fly lives entirely on flies, mosquitoes, and 
 other insects which it captures on the wing, and when a 
 room is so fortunate as to have a dragon fly for a visitor, 
 all mosquitoes and flies are quickly removed. And yet, 
 notwithstanding this well-known fact, let a dragon fly 
 appear in an assembly of young people (or old ones either, 
 for that matter) and there will be an intense commotion 
 and every young man in the party will be put on his mettle 
 in an effort to kill the terrible beast. 
 
 So well known to naturalists are the good offices of the 
 dragon fly that some years ago an effort was made to propa- 
 gate them as an enemy of the mosquito. It was found, 
 however, that while the dragon flies were active destroyers 
 of the mosquito they retired early in the evening, while the 
 late evening and night is just the time when the mosqui- 
 toes are most active. In addition to this the larvae of the 
 dragon fly are very destructive to small fish, and these are 
 well known to be the most efficient destroyers of the larvae 
 of the mosquito. A dozen small fish will clean out all 
 the mosquito larvae in a small pool of water, and what is 
 more, they will keep it clear of these pests. And as the 
 larvae of the mosquito are almost always bred in stagnant 
 pools, this is the most effective mode of getting rid of them. 
 
 The larvae of the larger species of dragon fly are fierce, 
 carnivorous creatures of which the common name is "the 
 water-devil." They spare nothing that comes within their 
 reach and that they can overcome not even weaker 
 individuals of their own species. But the mature insect 
 is a harmless and indeed a beneficent creature and it never 
 stings, for it has no sting. 
 
THAT POWDERED GLASS IS A SECRET AND 
 DEADLY POISON 
 
 HIS is a very old fallacy. It figures in the 
 "Vulgar Errors" of Sir Thomas Browne and 
 it survives even to this day amongst a certain 
 class of pseudo-scientific writers. Even within 
 two or three years a man was charged with committing 
 murder by means of powdered glass and was tried for a 
 capital offense. Of course the physicians who went on 
 the witness stand scouted the idea of powdered glass 
 acting as a virulent poison and one of them offered to 
 swallow a tablespoonful of the stuff in open court. Sir 
 Thomas Browne experimented with it on dogs and tells 
 us that he gave "unto dogs above a dram thereof sub- 
 tilely powdered in butter and paste, without any visible 
 disturbance." Nevertheless he tells us that "glass grossly 
 or coarsely powdered is mortally noxious, and effectually 
 used by some to destroy mice and rats." 
 
 This idea that powdered glass is an efficient poison for 
 rats and mice is quite prevalent, but it has been proved 
 by recent experiments made under the direction of the 
 United States Department of Agriculture that glass, 
 whether coarsely or finely powdered, has no ill effects 
 upon rats. Rats were fed for some time on food mixed 
 with the glass and they did not seem to be injured by it. 
 And when examined after being killed, the alimentary 
 canal was found to be in normal condition. So that we 
 may safely relegate the belief in powdered glass as a 
 poison to the list of popular fallacies. 
 
THAT A MAN BECOMES OF AGE ON HIS 
 TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY 
 
 HIS might be regarded rather as an error of 
 speech than as a fallacy of thought were it not 
 that the same erroneous idea has been carried 
 into other conceptions and has given rise to 
 serious error which has sometimes been of a practical 
 nature. 
 
 When a man reaches his twenty-first birthday it is 
 evident that he has lived only twenty full y&ars. Oh his 
 first birthday he was just beginning life and it was only 
 on his second birthday that he reached the age of one 
 year. The same difference between the number of his 
 birthdays and the number of his years continues all his 
 life, and it is only on his twenty-second birthday that he 
 has lived out the twenty-one 'years which entitle him to 
 vote in this country and which confer upon him all the 
 rights and privileges of adolescence. 
 
 The same discrepancy appears -in the numbering of the 
 centuries and it is no uncommon thing to hear the seven- 
 teenth century spoken of as the sixteenth because it ran 
 from 1 0oi to 1699, only the last year (1700) having 17 
 before the other two figures. Indeed I have seen in print, 
 under the authorship of one who must certainly have 
 known better, the seventeenth century named when the 
 eighteenth was what was intended. 
 
 It was not until the close of 1900 that the nineteenth 
 century rounded out its full quota of years, and it was 
 
 212 
 
THAT "THE EXCEPTION PROVES THE RULE" 213 
 
 with the beginning of 1901 that the twentieth century 
 commenced its run. And although the attempt was 
 actually made, yet all the edicts and laws of kings and 
 Kaisers could not alter this mathematical fact. 
 
 THAT "THE EXCEPTION PROVES THE RULE" 
 
 HIS very common expression is a singular mis- 
 conception as to the meaning of an old Latin 
 proverb, Exceptio probat regulam. The word 
 probat used here really means to test, but it 
 may be translated proves, since the word prove also means 
 to test, as is seen in its use in relation to the proving of 
 cannon, the place where the guns are fired being called 
 "proving" grounds, or in other words, testing grounds. 
 Therefore the expression quoted at the head of this note 
 does not mean that the exception confirms or ratifies the 
 rule, but that it tests or tries it, and if the exception cannot 
 be easily explained away, the rule breaks down. 
 
 For example: a somewhat positive person asserted that 
 the only case in which the letter s had the sound sh when 
 it preceded the vowel u was in the word sugar, and was at 
 once met with the question: "Are you sure?" His rule, 
 if rule it could be called, broke down on being proved or 
 tested. 
 
THAT CINDERELLA'S SLIPPER WAS OF 
 GLASS 
 
 OST people would think that glass as we know 
 it, whether blown or cast, would not make a 
 very serviceable slipper, and we have no reason 
 to believe that it was made of spun glass. But 
 all doubt in regard to the material of which the slipper 
 was made is set at rest by referring to the original French 
 version of the story, of which ours is a translation. There 
 we are told that it was a slipper of vair, the French for 
 fur. This word the translator mistook for verre, which 
 means glass, and so it has come to pass that all English- 
 speaking people believe that Cinderella's slipper was made 
 of glass. In the German version the slipper is of gold. 
 
 The story is very old and a similar legend is told of 
 Rhodope, the famous Egyptian courtesan who was said to 
 have built the third pyramid. While she was bathing, 
 her slipper was carried off by an eagle and dropped in 
 the lap of the Egyptian king, who was so struck with its 
 beauty that he sought out the owner and made her his 
 queen. See " The Shakespeare Cyclopedia," page 258. 
 
 214 
 
THAT GLASS IS VERY HARD 
 
 E are led to believe that this error is very preva- 
 lent because the expression "as hard as glass" 
 is used as a comparison by some manufacturing 
 firms in their advertisements of goods in which 
 hardness is a specially desirable quality. And we are 
 confirmed in this view by the fact that the editor of one 
 of our mechanical journals actually defended the implied 
 statement on the ground that glass is very brittle! 
 
 Hardness, as we all know, is a comparative term. Copper 
 is hard when compared with lead; it is soft when compared 
 with brass, and brass is soft when compared with common 
 iron. The latter is soft when compared with steel, and 
 steel itself is soft when compared with iridium or with the 
 diamond. 
 
 Glass, however, according to all the scientific tests 
 used by the mineralogist and the physicist, is quite soft. 
 It is easily scratched by flint and by several minerals of 
 that grade, while flint is easily scratched by carborundum, 
 ruby, and some other substances the hardest material 
 known being the diamond. 
 
 It is a curious fact that, next to the diamond, the hardest 
 substance should be an artificial product carborundum. 
 It readily cuts the hardest materials, and is invaluable as 
 an abrasive. 
 
 Different kinds of glass vary greatly in hardness, but 
 they are all comparatively soft and may be cut by a good 
 steel tool. It is a common practice amongst amateur 
 
 215 
 
2l6 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 opticians to shape pieces of glass into lenses in the turning 
 lathe just as they would shape a piece of iron or steel. 
 An ordinarily hard steel graver will cut glass as if the 
 latter were cheese, and a bit of fine glass may soon be 
 brought so nearly to the proper curve that it will require 
 merely a little polishing to make a good magnifier. I have 
 three or four lenses which were thus made and which are 
 very convenient and serviceable. 
 
 It has been argued that glass must be hard because it 
 is so brittle. But sugar is quite as brittle and it is cer- 
 tainly very much softer. Hardness and brittleness have 
 no necessary relation to each other, although substances 
 which by the usual process of hardening are made as 
 hard as possible frequently become very brittle. This is 
 true of steel and glass, both of which when unannealed 
 are harder than usual and very brittle. But even the 
 most brittle glass is comparatively soft. 
 
 If our advertising friends would say "as smooth as glass'' 
 their claims would probably be much more attractive and 
 certainly far more accurate. Their goods being made of 
 hardened steel are far harder than any glass that ever 
 was produced. 
 
 THAT FRANKENSTEIN WAS A MONSTER 
 
 HIS atrocious literary blunder has become so 
 common and has been so frequently accepted 
 as true by writers of notable reputation that a 
 correspondent of one of our literary journals 
 actually defended the use of the expression, "the 
 monster Frankenstein," on the ground that the idea had 
 now become part of the mental furniture of the majority 
 
THAT FRANKENSTEIN WAS A MONSTER 217 
 
 of literary men! The assertion that the majority of 
 fairly well-read men, not to speak of men whose profession 
 is literature, are ignorant of the general outlines of the 
 story of Frankenstein is certainly incorrect, and to say 
 that if we only give a mistake or a falsehood circulation 
 enough it will be converted into a truth is to propound a 
 system of ethics which few will be willing to accept. 
 
 " Frankenstein," as many of the readers of this page know, 
 is the title of a romance written by Mrs. Mary Wolls tone- 
 craft Shelley, the wife of the famous poet. It was written 
 under very peculiar circumstances, which Mrs. Shelley 
 herself has detailed in the first and second prefaces to the 
 book and which have been so frequently quoted that it 
 is unnecessary to do more than allude to them here. Mrs. 
 Shelley was but nineteen when she began this story, one 
 of the most remarkable in the literature of the nineteenth 
 century. The substance of it is as follows: 
 
 Frankenstein was a student of science at Ingolstadt, 
 and the question " Whence did the principle of life pro- 
 ceed?" occupied his thoughts beyond any other. At 
 length he thought he had solved it and he set about con- 
 structing a human being into which he could infuse life. 
 To avoid the great difficulty of working on very minute 
 organs he made his man eight feet high and large in pro- 
 portion. After two years' hard work he finished the con- 
 struction of this being and succeeded in vitalizing it. 
 When he had accomplished his task and the creature 
 showed signs of life he was horror-struck at the sight of 
 the fearful monster he had created and he fled from it in 
 terror. The monster escaped to the woods and was the 
 terror of those who saw it, and the account which the 
 creature afterwards gave to Frankenstein of the way in 
 
2l8 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 which he subsisted and how he learned to speak and to 
 understand French showed wonderful imagination on the 
 part of the authoress. And the account which the monster 
 gave of the way in which he was treated by everybody 
 and his woeful sense of isolation is very pathetic. But 
 this expulsion from all association with any other being 
 led him to entertain bitter and vengeful feelings against 
 men in general and his creator in particular. He murdered 
 the younger brother of Frankenstein and contrived to 
 fix the crime on an innocent young girl who was executed 
 for it. He found Frankenstein in the mountains and made 
 him promise that he would create a mate for him, a female 
 with whom he might associate in love and sympathy. 
 
 Frankenstein made the promise and set about the work, 
 but before it was completed he repented and destroyed 
 the creature he was making. Thereupon the monster ap- 
 peared and threatened him with the most dire vengeance. 
 He killed the dearest friend that Frankenstein had and 
 swore that he would be with him on his wedding night. 
 When that night came the monster murdered the bride 
 of Frankenstein and then departed for the region of the 
 north pole. Frankenstein attempted to follow for the pur- 
 pose of destroying the demon, but in the northern seas he 
 was picked up in an exhausted condition by a ship on 
 board of which he expired after giving a full account of all 
 that had happened. The monster fled towards the north 
 with the expressed intention of immolating himself on an 
 immense funeral pyre. 
 
 From this the reader will see that Frankenstein was not 
 the monster and to the latter no name is given in the 
 romance. 
 
WORDS WHICH CONVEY ERRONEOUS IDEAS 
 
 T is an unfortunate fact that many of the words 
 in common use actually convey erroneous state- 
 ments of fact. This arises partly from the cor- 
 ruption to which all words in common use are 
 liable and partly from the changes which are constantly 
 going on in every living language. A change of this kind 
 is seen in the word admire, of which the old meaning was 
 simply to wonder, and in this sense it was used by Shake- 
 speare and Milton. But it carries a very different sig- 
 nification now. Again, take the word vulgar, which now 
 conveys the idea of something offensive. Formerly it 
 merely meant common, as when in " Twelfth Night" Shake- 
 speare makes Viola say: "for 'tis a vulgar proof " (Act III, 
 Scene i, line 135). And in this sense it is still used in 
 France, where they have a journal for the vulgarization of 
 science (" Vulgarisation Scientifique ")> or what we would 
 call the popularization of science. As a matter of fact, 
 however, the words vulgarization and popularization both 
 come from roots which signify the common people. 
 
 So too the word fond, which now means loving or affection- 
 ate, formerly meant foolish, and is so used by Shakespeare 
 in several passages, notably in "The Merchant of Venice/' 
 Act III, Scene 3, line 9, and other places in that play. 
 
 Perhaps the most curious transformation of meaning 
 occurs in the word telescope, which literally means an in- 
 strument for seeing things afar off, and in this sense it is 
 still used when speaking of the optical^ instrument. But 
 from the fact that the mechanical portion of telescopes 
 
 219 
 
220 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 was generally made of two or more tubes sliding into 
 each other the word came by analogy to be applied to any 
 combination in which this mere mechanical feature was 
 present, and now we speak of railroad cars " telescoping " 
 when, in a collision, they slide one into the other. In 
 this case optics or any of the features of seeing are entirely 
 absent and the mere mechanical motion alone is considered. 
 
 Numerous instances might be cited where changes in 
 the arts and in our customs give an apparently absurd 
 meaning to old words. Thus in the olden time distances 
 were marked by stones set up at regular intervals and 
 called milestones; to-day these markers are sometimes of 
 wood and sometimes of metal, but we still retain the old 
 term, milestone, and then we have wooden milestones and 
 iron milestones. 
 
 Again: The old-time pens were all made from the quills 
 of geese, swans, and crows, and were called pens because 
 that, in its Latin form, was the word for feathers. Now 
 quills have gone out of use and we have gold and steel 
 pens, literally, gold and steel feathers. 
 
 Before the introduction of steel pens almost all writing 
 in ink was done by means of quills. These wore out quite 
 rapidly and upon the writing master and some of his most 
 skillful pupils devolved the task of mending the pens used 
 in the writing lessons of each day. This was done by 
 means of an exceedingly sharp knife, and by practice 
 some of the boys became very expert at the work. The 
 knife used for this purpose was called a pen-knife, and we 
 still retain the name though the term has entirely lost its 
 significance. I remember well the time when steel pens 
 were almost unknown, and when a boy I have made and 
 mended hundreds if not thousands of quill pens. 
 
WORDS WHICH CONVEY ERRONEOUS IDEAS 221 
 
 The old alchemical nomenclature introduced several 
 words which now are stumblingblocks to the ordinary 
 reader of modern times. For example, silver nitrate got 
 its old name of lunar caustic from the fact that the old 
 alchemical name of .silver was luna or the moon, and its 
 compounds were known as lunar salts. The ancients were 
 acquainted with seven metals and also with seven planets,, 
 for in their system the sun and moon were classed with the 
 planets. This led to the theory that each metal had 
 special associations with its own planet iron with Mars, 
 copper with Venus, lead with Saturn, and so on. This 
 explains why salts of iron were called martial salts; salts 
 of copper, venereal salts; compounds of lead, saturnine 
 preparations, and so with the others. 
 
 The following list contains a few words which convey 
 erroneous ideas; the number might be greatly enlarged. 
 
 BLACK LEAD. This well-known substance has no lead 
 at all in its composition; it is simply a form of carbon, 
 charcoal and the diamond being other forms. Another 
 name for it is plumbago, but this is just as bad, for this 
 word is derived from the Latin name for lead (plumbum).. 
 The proper name is graphite, or writing "material. Black 
 lead no doubt got its name from the fact that pencils were 
 originally made of lead or of one of its alloys, and when 
 graphite was substituted for the metal it was quite natural 
 to call it black lead from its color. But nevertheless it is a 
 misnomer. 
 
 BLIND WORM. Although not found in this country, 
 the name of the creature is so often mentioned in English 
 literature that it is worth while to note the fact that it is 
 neither blind nor poisonous, qualities which are generally 
 attributed to it by the ignorant. It is really a small lizard. 
 
222 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 Its eyes are small but very bright and provided with 
 lids. 
 
 CAMEL'S-HAIR BRUSHES are not made from the hair of 
 camels but from hair from the tails of Russian and Sibe- 
 rian squirrels. Did any one ever try to use the hairs of 
 any of the large American or Canadian squirrels for this 
 purpose? 
 
 CATGUT. This is never made from the intestines of 
 cats but from those of sheep and sometimes of horses. It 
 is a curious fact that the highly fed and fat sheep of the 
 best farming countries do not yield materials that are 
 fit for making catgut. The lean, hardy sheep of the north 
 of Italy seem to furnish the best article. 
 
 CODDINGTON LENS. This very valuable improvement 
 in magnifying glasses was invented by Sir David Brews ter 
 and it ought to be called the " Brews ter lens" It is an 
 inexpensive form of simple microscope, and although not 
 equal to a well-made achromatic magnifier, it is very much 
 cheaper and is greatly superior to the ordinary double convex 
 lens. Coddington, who wrote several books on optics, never 
 claimed to be the inventor of this form, but like many other 
 inventions it has been credited to the wrong person. 
 
 GALVANIC BATTERY. This is a singular misnomer 
 which for a time was applied to what really ought to be 
 called the voltaic battery, since the combination of two 
 metals and an acid (or their equivalents) was really in- 
 vented by Volta. Galvani had been dead some years 
 before the voltaic pile or battery was given to the world. 
 
 FOXGLOVE. The syllable fox in this word is a corrup- 
 tion of the word folks, meaning the fairies or " little folks." 
 It should be folks' glove. 
 
 HYDROPHOBIA is a very misleading term as applied to 
 
WORDS WHICH CONVEY ERRONEOUS IDEAS 223 
 
 so-called mad dogs. A dog that is rabid does not dread 
 water; he will lap it or even swim in it. 
 
 JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. This is a curious corruption of 
 the Italian name, girasole articiocco, which means sunflower 
 artichoke. It has no relation to the city of Jerusalem. 
 The plant is a native of this continent. 
 
 RICE PAPER. The well-known Chinese rice paper, as 
 it is called, is not a paper at all but a thin slice of the pith 
 of a herbaceous Chinese plant (the Aralia papyrifera). 
 The pith forms a cylinder, and with a long and very sharp 
 knife a slice is cut from the surface, the cut going round 
 and round in a spiral. The moist slice of tissue is thus 
 unrolled from the cylinder of pith and dried under slight 
 pressure just enough to cause it to remain flat. It 
 cannot be written on with an ordinary pen and ink. The 
 Chinese use fine brushes, and I have in my possession some 
 beautiful water-color paintings done by a Chinese artist 
 on this material. This "rice paper" forms a beautiful 
 object under the microscope, as it shows the form and 
 arrangement of the cells very clearly under a low power. 
 Paper may be made and has been made from rice straw, 
 but it is an article very different from the real Chinese 
 "rice paper." 
 
 SEALING WAX. Good sealing wax, as used now, con- 
 tains no wax. But originally it consisted of almost pure 
 wax, and the seal was not affixed to the document as is 
 now done. The old seals were huge lumps of wax on which 
 the seal was impressed, and they were attached to the 
 document by means of a ribbon which passed through the 
 seal. Our modern sealing wax is composed largely of 
 shellac. 
 
 SPARROWGRASS. This word is obviously a corruption 
 
224 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 of asparagus, but it has obtained such a hold upon the 
 speech of the uneducated that the market gardeners actu- 
 ally contract it to " grass" and when speaking of asparagus 
 they call it " grass " for short. It has no affinity to the 
 true grasses, and sparrows do not seem to be particularly 
 fond of it, though they will occasionally eat it as they do 
 peas and many other green things in the spring. 
 
 WHALEBONE is not bone at all but a peculiar horny 
 substance of which the scientific name is baleen. 
 
 WORMWOOD. This is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon 
 wermod or wermode, which means the keeper or strengthener 
 of the mind. It has nothing to do with worms or wood. 
 The plant (absinthe) furnishes a powerful tonic. The 
 word vermuth seems to be a form of wermod. 
 
"KNOWLEDGE IS POWER' 1 
 
 proverb ever received more emphatic confirma- 
 tion than that given to the above during the 
 century just past. Whether the power be for 
 good or for evil, knowledge is its source. A 
 single modern battleship would be more than a match for 
 all the fleets in existence three hundred years ago. And 
 when we turn to the triumphs of peace we find ocean liners 
 that can brave any storm; while such well-known inven- 
 tions as railroads, telegraphs, telephones, fast printing 
 presses and others which have changed all our social con- 
 ditions, are all due to increased knowledge. 
 
 A few pages back we quoted the saying of Archimedes: 
 "Give me a fulcrum and I will raise the world." There 
 is a modern saying which has become almost as famous 
 amongst English-speaking peoples as is that of Archimedes 
 to the world at large. It is that which Bulwer Lytton 
 puts into the mouth of Richelieu, in his well-known play 
 of that name: 
 
 " Beneath the rule of men entirely great 
 THE PEN is MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD." 
 
 About thirty years ago it occurred to the writer that 
 these two epigrammatic sayings that of Archimedes and 
 that of Bulwer Lytton might be symbolized in an alle- 
 gorical drawing which would forcibly express the ideas 
 which they contain, and the question immediately arose - 
 Where will Archimedes get his fulcrum and what can he 
 
 use as a lever? 
 
 225 
 
226 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 
 
 And the mental answer was: Let the pen be the lever 
 and the printing press the fulcrum, while the sword, used 
 for the same purpose but resting on glory, or in other 
 words, having no substantial fulcrum, breaks in the attempt. 
 
 The little engraving which, with a new motto, forms a 
 fitting tailpiece to this volume, was the outcome. 
 
 It is true that the pen is mighty, and in the hands of 
 philosophers and diplomats it accomplishes much, but it is 
 only when resting on the printing press that it is provided 
 with that fulcrum which enables it to raise the world by 
 diffusing knowledge, inculcating morality, and providing 
 pleasure and culture for humanity at large. 
 
 When assigned to such a task the sword breaks, and 
 well it may. But we have a well-grounded hope that 
 through the influence of the pen and the printing press 
 there will soon come an era of universal 
 
 peace on jEartb and <3ooD "Mill toward Men, 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Absurdities in perpetual motion . . 42 
 Accuracy of modern methods of 
 
 squaring the circle 17 
 
 Adams, perpetual motion 71 
 
 Age, when a man becomes of ... 212 
 
 Ahaz, dial of 133 
 
 Air, liquid 65 
 
 Alchemical names 221 
 
 Alkahest, or universal solvent ... 104 
 
 Altar of Apollo 30 
 
 Angelo, Michael, finely engraved 
 
 seal 136 
 
 Angle, trisection of 33 
 
 Apollo, altar of 30 
 
 Approximations to ratio of diameter 
 
 to circumference of circle ... 17 
 
 De Morgan's illustration of ... 18 
 
 New illustration of 19 
 
 Archimedean screw 49 
 
 Archimedes, area of circle 13 
 
 Ratio of circumference to diameter 14 
 
 Archimedes and his fulcrum .... 171 
 
 Arithmetic of the ancients .... 15 
 
 Arithmetical problems 163 
 
 Chess-board problem 163 
 
 Nail problem 164 
 
 A question of population .... 165 
 
 How to become a millionaire. . . 166 
 
 Cost of first folio Shakespeare . . 168 
 
 Arithmetical puzzles 170 
 
 Archimedes and his fulcrum ... 171 
 
 Army Medical Museum 142 
 
 Artichoke, Jerusalem 223 
 
 Ball, Prof. W. W. R. . . 39, 129, 133, 134 
 
 Balloons for conveying letters ... 147 
 Balls proportion of weight to 
 
 diameter 32 
 
 Bastard editions of Scott 199 
 
 Bean jumping 128 
 
 Bee, king 178 
 
 Bees bred in decaying carcass ... 207 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bells kept ringing for eight years . 41 
 
 Bible in walnut shell 136 
 
 Bible, written at rate of 22 to square 
 
 inch 141 
 
 Black, Professor Joseph 184 
 
 Black lead a misnomer 221 
 
 Blind worm not blind 221 
 
 Boat-race without oars . 129 
 
 Bodies, our, made of materials of old 
 
 organisms 205 
 
 Bolognian phosphorus 102 
 
 Boots lifting oneself by straps of 128 
 
 Boyle and palingenesy 107 
 
 Bramwell, Sir Frederick 38 
 
 Brandt discovered phosphorus . 101, 180 
 
 Brick, to look through 151 
 
 Browne, Sir Thomas 179 
 
 Buckle and geometrical lines ... 119 
 "Budget of Paradoxes," De Morgan 
 
 6, 18, 118 
 
 Camel's hair brushes 222 
 
 Capillary attraction $3 
 
 Carbon bisulphide for perpetual mo- 
 tion 67 
 
 Carborundum as an abrasive ... 215 
 Carpenter, Edward fourth dimen- 
 sion 122 
 
 Catgut, not from cats 222 
 
 Catherine II 118 
 
 Centuries, mistakes in naming ... 212 
 
 " Century of Inventions " 74 
 
 Chess-board problem 163 
 
 Child lifting two horses 131 
 
 Perpetual motion by a 64 
 
 Cinderella's slipper not glass ... 214 
 
 Circle, squaring the 9 
 
 Supposed reward for squaring the 9 
 Resolution of Royal Academy of 
 
 Sciences on 10 
 
 What the problem is 12 
 
 Approximation to, by Archimedes 14 
 
 22 7 
 
228 
 
 INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Circle, ratio accepted by Jews ... 13 
 
 Ratio accepted by Egyptians . . 14 
 Symbol for ratio introduced by 
 
 Euler 14 
 
 Graphical approximations .... 22 
 Circumference of circle, to find, when 
 
 diameter is given 22 
 
 Clock that requires no winding. . . 38 
 
 Columbia College seal 140 
 
 Column of De Luc 40 
 
 Compass, watch used as a .... 134 
 
 Congreve, Sir William 53 
 
 Copper, art of hardening not lost . 194 
 
 Cube, duplication of 38 
 
 Crystallization seen by microscope . 108 
 
 Mistaken for palingenesy .... 106 
 
 Dancer microphotographs ... 144 
 
 Dangerous, fascination of the ... i 
 
 Declaration of Independence ... 145 
 
 De Luc's column 40 
 
 De Morgan Legend of Michael 
 
 Scott 6 
 
 Ignorance v. learning 8 
 
 Illustration of accuracy of modern 
 
 attempts to square the circle . 18 
 "Budget of Paradoxes" ... 6, 18 
 
 Trisection of angle 34, "8 
 
 On powder of sympathy .... 112 
 
 Anecdote of Diderot 118 
 
 DialofAhaz 133 
 
 Diderot, anecdote of 118 
 
 Digby, Sir Kenelm, and palingenesy 109 
 Sir Kenelm and powder of sym- 
 pathy . . . .' in 
 
 Dircks 56, 71, 75 
 
 Discoveries (great) rarely made by 
 
 accident 179 
 
 Discoveries, valuable, not due to per- 
 petual-motion-mongers .... 36 
 
 Dragon flies don't sting 209 
 
 Duplication of the cube 30 
 
 Dynamite acts in all directions . . 192 
 
 Egg problem interesting .... 173 
 
 Elixir of life 95 
 
 Energy of organic life due to change 206 
 
 Engineering, insect 130 
 
 Euler 14, 118 
 
 Exception proves rule 213 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fallacies in perpetual motion ... 65 
 
 Fallacies, popular notes on ... 177 
 
 Falstaff and the philosopher's stone 97 
 
 Faraday's discovery 93 
 
 Farrants, Prest. Royal Mic. Soc. . . 140 
 
 Figure, a, enlarged by cutting ... 126 
 
 Fire, how first produced 189 
 
 First folio Shakespeare, cost of . . 168 
 
 Fixation of mercury 92 
 
 Flies, small, are not young .... 208 
 
 Follies of Science, The Seven ... 2 . 
 
 D 'Israeli's list 2 
 
 An inappropriate term 3 
 
 Fourth dimension conception of . 117 
 
 Flatland 120 
 
 Kant and Gauss 121 
 
 Spiritualists 121 
 
 Edward Carpenter on 122 
 
 Possibility of a new sense .... 123 
 
 Foxglove should be folks' glove . . . 222 
 
 Frankenstein, not a monster ... 216 
 
 Frauds in perpetual motion .... 69 
 
 Freezing of mercury 93 
 
 Friction, advantages and disadvan- 
 tages of 186 
 
 Froment, micrographs 139 
 
 Galileo and the pendulum 180 
 
 Galvani, Madame 180 
 
 Galvanic battery, a misnomer ... 222 
 
 Gases, liquefaction of 93 
 
 Geiser's clock 7i 
 
 Geometrical quadrature impossible . 21 
 
 Gibberish, origin of word 96 
 
 Glass is not hard 215 
 
 Glass, powdered, not a poison ... 211 
 
 Glass slipper, mistake in translation 214 
 
 God, demonstration of existence of . 118 
 
 Gordian knots 203 
 
 Gordius aquaticus 201 
 
 Hair turning to snake 201 
 
 Hairs are not tubes 203 
 
 Hammer made of solid mercury . . 93 
 
 Hand, to look through 156 
 
 Hannibal's use of vinegar 197 
 
 Heat and cold, illusions 15 
 
 Hesse, Landgrave of 77 
 
 Hindoos, ratio accepted by .... 16 
 Holmes, O. W., and powder of sym- 
 pathy in 
 
INDEX 
 
 229 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Homer's Iliad in nutshell 136 
 
 Honecourt, Wilars de 42 
 
 Horsehair turning to snake .... 201 
 
 Horses lifted by child 131 
 
 Hydrofluoric acid 104 
 
 Hydrophobia a misleading term . . 222 
 
 Hydrostatic paradox 46 
 
 Iliad of Homer in nutshell .... 136 
 
 Impossible, fascination of the ... I 
 
 Insect engineering 130 
 
 Inventions, great, rarely made by 
 
 accident 179 
 
 Irradiation 152 
 
 Jews, ratio accepted by the .... 13 
 
 Keeley gold cure 97 
 
 Keeley motor 69 
 
 Kircher and palingenesy 106 
 
 Knowledge is power 225 
 
 Lacomme, on squaring circle ... 27 
 
 Lamps, ever-burning 100 
 
 Lens, Coddington 222 
 
 Lenses, largest not most powerful . 197 
 
 Library, Congressional, in hand-bag 145 
 
 Light from electric earth-currents . 103 
 Lightning often strikes more than 
 
 once in the same place .... 187 
 
 Lines, geometrical 119 
 
 Lines, direction of, deceptive . . . 154 
 
 Length of, deceptive' 153 
 
 Liquid air 65 
 
 Lodge, Sir Oliver, on conservation of 
 
 energy 5 
 
 Longitude, relation of squaring the 
 
 circle to 10 
 
 Lost arts 195 
 
 Me Arthur, on arithmetic of ancients 15 
 
 Machin 16 
 
 Magnetism for perpetual motion . . 61 
 
 Man lifting himself . 128 
 
 Mathematicians how they go to 
 
 heaven 8 
 
 Mercury, fixation of 92 
 
 freezing of 93 
 
 fulminating, exploded on hand . 193 
 Metals. See Transmutation. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Metius, Peter . 16 
 
 Micrography, or minute writing . . 136 
 
 Homer's Iliad in a nutshell . . . 136 
 
 Michael Angelo's seal 136 
 
 Ten Commandments 136 
 
 Bible in a nutshell 136 
 
 Earliest micrographic engraving . 139 
 Micrographic copy of seal of Co- 
 lumbia College 139 
 
 Peter's machine 141 
 
 Lord's Prayer written at rate of 22 
 
 Bibles to square inch 141 
 
 Webb's fine writing 142 
 
 Calculation in regard to .... 143 
 
 Microphotographs by Dancer . . 144 
 Pigeon-post in Franco-Prussian 
 
 War 146 
 
 Millionaire, to become a 166 
 
 Miracle dial of Ahaz 133 
 
 Morgan. See De Morgan. 
 
 Morton, President Henry 66 
 
 Motion, perpetual. See Perpetual 
 
 motion. 
 
 Muir, Professor, on Archimedes . . 14 
 
 Musitanus, Carolus g6 
 
 Nail problem 164 
 
 Newcomer's engine 183 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac 179, 180 
 
 Nicomedean line 29 
 
 Oil, why applied to whetstones 
 
 Orffyreus his real' name . . 
 
 His fraudulent machine . . . 
 
 Overbalancing wheels . . . . 
 
 185 
 77 
 77 
 43 
 
 Paint, luminous 102 
 
 Palingenesy 106 
 
 Paper, rice 223 
 
 Patent office U. S. and perpetual 
 
 motion 42 
 
 Pelican error in first folio Shake- 
 speare 178 
 
 Pen, a misnomer 220 
 
 mightier than the sword .... 173 
 
 Penknives 220 
 
 Perpetual lamps 100 
 
 Perpetual motion 36 
 
 What the problem is 37 
 
 Clock that requires no winding. . 38 
 
 Watch wound by walking .... 39 
 
230 
 
 INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Perpetual motion, clock wound by 
 
 tides '....... 41 
 
 By electricity 41 
 
 Absurdities 42 
 
 Overbalancing wheels 43 
 
 Dr. Young, on 44 
 
 Bellows action 45 
 
 Hydrostatic paradox 46 
 
 Bishop Wilkins 48 
 
 Archimedean screw 49 
 
 Archimedean screw, by mercury . 51 
 
 Congreve's, by capillary attraction 53 
 
 Tube and balls 56 
 
 Tube and rope 59 
 
 Magnetism 61 
 
 Self-moving railway carriage . . 63 
 
 A child's perpetual motion ... 64 
 
 Fallacies 65 
 
 Liquid air 65 
 
 Bisulphide of carbon 66 
 
 Frauds 69 
 
 Keeley motor 69 
 
 Geiser's clock 71 
 
 Adams 71 
 
 Redhoeffer 72 
 
 Lukens 72 
 
 How to stop the machine .... 73 
 
 Marquis of Worcester 74 
 
 Dircks' model 75 
 
 Orffyreus 77 
 
 Possibility of 78 
 
 Peters' micrographs 141 
 
 Philosopher's stone 97 
 
 Phosphorus, discovery of 
 
 101, 180 
 
 Pigeon-post 146 
 
 Population, a question of 165 
 
 Power, the, of the future 40 
 
 Ptolemy, on the circle 15 
 
 Puzzles, arithmetical 170 
 
 Railway carriage, self -moving ... 63 
 
 Ramsay, Sir William 89, 98 
 
 Ratio of diameter to circumference 
 
 carried to 127 places 17 
 
 Redhoeffer 's perpetual motion ... 72 
 
 Rice paper 223 
 
 Rosicrucius 100 
 
 Rule, exception proves 213 
 
 Rutherford . 16 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sanchoniathon 189 
 
 Schott, Father, and palingenesy . . 107 
 
 Schweirs, Dr 52 
 
 Scott, Michael, and his slave demons 6 
 Scott, Sir Walter, bastard editions . 199 
 Legend of the great Wizard Mi- 
 chael Scott 6 
 
 Powder of sympathy 112 
 
 Sealing wax 223 
 
 Self-moving railway carriage ... 63 
 
 Sense, possibility of a new .... 123 
 
 Senses illusions of 148 
 
 Taste and smell 149 
 
 Heat and cold 150 
 
 Hearing . 150 
 
 Touch 150 
 
 Sight size of spot 152 
 
 Length of lines 153 
 
 Direction of lines 154 
 
 Objects seen through hand ... 156 
 
 Looking through a brick .... 158 
 
 Serpent, forked tongue not a weapon 200 
 
 Serpent, has no sting in tail .... 199 
 
 Shadow going backward on dial . . 133 
 
 Shakespeare, cost of first folio . . . 168 
 
 Philosopher's stone 97 
 
 Witchcraft 114 
 
 Shakespeare's errors 177 
 
 Shanks value of ratio carried to 
 
 707 places 16 
 
 Sharp, Abraham 16 
 
 Shelley, Mrs 217 
 
 Sight, sense of, deceived 152 
 
 Smith, James, on squaring circle . . 28 
 
 Snake from horsehair 201 
 
 Snake lifted by spider 130 
 
 Soap bubbles 179 
 
 Solvent, universal 104 
 
 Space enlarged by cutting 126 
 
 Sparrowgrass 223 
 
 Spider lifting a snake 130 
 
 Steam is invisible 196 
 
 Sun-dial shadow going backward. 133 
 
 Taste and smell illusions .... 149 
 
 Tides, clock moved by 40 
 
 Will be the great source of power 
 
 of the future 40 
 
 Tidy, Professor 185 
 
 Time it would take Archimedes to 
 
 move the world 171 
 
INDEX 
 
 231 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Tongue of serpent 200 
 
 Touch, sense of, deceived 150 
 
 Transmutation of the metals ... 79 
 
 Ancient fables 79 
 
 Hermes Trismegistus 80 
 
 Treatises not allegorical .... 81 
 
 Seven metals 82 
 
 Metals named after planets ... 82 
 
 Methods of cheating 83 
 
 "Brief of the Golden Calf" ... 84 
 
 Story of unknown Italian .... 87 
 
 Possibility of effecting 88 
 
 Sir William Ramsay 89 
 
 Effect of such discovery on our 
 
 currency system 90 
 
 " Tribune," New York 29 
 
 Trisection of angle 33 
 
 Tube and balls 56 
 
 Tube and rope 59 
 
 Tyndall, Professor John 185 
 
 Universal medicine. See Elixir of 
 Life. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Van Ceulen, Rudolph 16 
 
 Vinegar, Hannibal's use of .... 197 
 
 Virgil on raising bees 207 
 
 Volcanoes not burning mountains . 190 
 
 Wallich, Dr 35 
 
 Walton, Isaac 178 
 
 Watch that is wound by walking . 39 
 
 Used as a compass 134 
 
 Watt, James, and the steam-engine 182 
 
 Wax, sealing 223 
 
 Webb micrographs 142 
 
 Whalebone not bone 224 
 
 Whetstones why oiled 185 
 
 Whewell's refutation of 3$ ratio . . 28 
 
 Wilkins, Bishop ^ 48 
 
 Witchcraft or magic 113 
 
 Worcester, Marquis of 74 
 
 Words, changes in 219 
 
 Worms bred in decaying carcass . . 207 
 
 Worms shall not eat us 204 
 
 Wormwood 224 
 
 Writing, fine 139 
 
 Young, Dr. Thomas 44 
 

 14 DAY USE 
 
 RN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 UHIERS 
 
 X 
 
 lea:; 
 ^^> 
 
 OF CALIFOBN 
 
 ^ Reaewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 27ftbtt ?f 
 
 REC'D LD 
 
 AUG 51963 
 
 <-* LD^21A-50m-ll,'62 
 
 y 
 
 (D3279slO)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
 Y OF CALiFORI 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR 
 
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAL 
 <5\S /fD 
 
 9.5:6 
 
 
 QJ/AVQ 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 o I f~~\ c\ ^"*Q86 
 \Jjs VwV ^in^nn: 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAL 
 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAL