severe suffering, he discovered a general method of solving this class of problems, by the summation of certain series; and as there was only one step from this discovery to that of Fluxions, Pascal might, with more leisure and better health, have won from Newton and from Leibnitz the glory of that great invention.
THE DISCOVERER OF GUTTA PERCHA.
The Gutta Percha Tree, or Gutta Tuban, as it ought more properly to be called—the Percha being a spurious article—abounds in the indigenous forests of Singapore, although it was only about the year 1840 that it was discovered by Europeans. The first notice taken of it appears to have been by Dr. W. Montgomerie, in a letter to the Bengal Medical Board, in the beginning of 1843, wherein he commends the substance as likely to prove useful for some surgical purposes; and supposes it to belong to the Fig tribe. In April, 1843, the substance was taken to Europe by Dr. D. Almeida, who presented it to the Royal Society of Arts of London; but it did not at first attract much attention, as the Society simply acknowledged the receipt of the gift. Its uses would rather appear to have been found out by the Malays, who first manufactured some of the Gutta Percha into whips, and brought them into the town at Singapore for sale, where they were seen by Europeans.
SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S MAGNET.
The smallest natural Magnets generally possess the greatest proportion of attractive power. Sir Isaac Newton wore in his ring a magnet which weighed only three grains; yet it was able to take up 746 grains, or nearly 250 times its own weight—whereas magnets weighing above two pounds seldom lift more than five or six times their own weight.
COAL GAS in BALLOONS.
Mr. Green has the merit of being the first person who made experiments on the buoyant properties of Coal Gas. In some of his preliminary trials, he ascertained that the ascensive force of a small balloon, three feet in diameter, was equal to eleven ounces; but, when filled in the old way, with hydrogen gas, not more than fifteen ounces.
CUVIER AND NAPOLEON.
After Cuvier had presented to Buonaparte, in a Council of State, his Report of the Progress of the Mathematical and Natural Sciences since the year 1789, the Emperor expressed, in a very happy manner, the satisfaction which he had received from the document. "He has praised me," said Napoleon, "as I like to be praised." Cuvier, however, as he himself said, had only invited the Emperor to imitate Alexander, and to employ his power in promoting the advancement of the natural sciences.
LAST MOMENTS OF LEIBNITZ.
The passing of the mighty spirit of Leibnitz from this scene of existence was a deeply impressive scene. He had suffered from occasional illness during several preceding years. These attacks, however, passed away, and the philosopher resumed his speculations with renewed energy. In November, 1716, his complaint returned with great violence.
"The closing scene suggests gloomy reflections, as the lurid glare, which, during his extraordinary life, had attracted the eyes of the world, disappears; while we have not the record we could desire, indicating that the moral sensibilities of the Philosopher were rightly alive to the decisive nature of the awful change. His seventy years are ended, and the lightning seems lost among dark clouds. During the last day of his life, we are told, he was buried in conversation with his physician on the nature of his disease, and on the doctrines of alchymy. Towards evening, his servant asked him if he would receive the Eucharist. 'Let me alone,' said he, 'I have done ill to no one. I have nothing to confess. All must die.' He raised himself on his bed, and tried to write. The darkness of death was gathering around him. He found himself unable to read what he had written. He tore the paper, and, lying down, covered his face, and a few minutes after 9 o'clock, on the evening of the 14th of November, 1716, he ceased to breathe! It is most solemn to contemplate a human spirit, whose course of thought throughout life was unsurpassed for power of speculation, and daring range of mind among the higher objects of knowledge, and which, at the period of its departure, was in the depths of a controversy about the mysteries of a supersensible world—thus summoned into that world, to become conversant in its final relations with that Being who had entrusted it with such mental power, and whose nature and attributes had so often tasked its speculative energies."—North British Review.
FRANKLIN'S DISCOVERIES.
Of all this great man's scientific excellencies, the most remarkable is the smallness, the simplicity, the apparent inadequacy of the means which he employed in his experimental researches. His discoveries were all made with hardly any apparatus at all; and if, at any time, he had been led to employ instruments of a somewhat less ordinary description, he never rested satisfied until he had, as it were, afterwards translated the process, resolving the problem with such simple machinery, that you might say he had done it wholly unaided by apparatus. The experiments by which the identity of lightning and electricity was demonstrated, were made with a sheet of brown paper, a bit of twine or silk thread, and an iron key!—Lord Brougham.
CARNÔT, WHEN A CHILD.
The aptitude and taste for military affairs of Carnôt, destined afterwards to perform so important a part in the history of Europe, displayed itself in a singular manner while he was yet a child. Being taken for the first time to a theatre, where some siege or other warlike operation was represented, he astonished the audience by interrupting the piece to complain of the manner in which the general had disposed his men and his guns, crying out to him that his men were in fire, and loudly calling upon him to change his position. In fact, the men were so placed as to be commanded by a battery.
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