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Men of Invention and Industry-Part16_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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weight, and can scarcely be moved without some bodily labour.

But the fourth, the marine chronometer or watch, is of small



dimensions, and is easily handled. It still possesses the power

of going accurately; as does "Mr. Kendal's watch," which was made



exactly after it. These will always prove the best memorials of

this distinguished workman.



Before concluding this brief notice of the life and labours of

John Harrison, it becomes me to thank most cordially Mr.



Christie, Astronomer-Royal, for his kindness in exhibiting the

various chronometers deposited at the Greenwich Observatory, and



for his permission to inspect the minutes of the Board of

Longitude, where the various interviews between the inventor and



the commissioners, extending over many years, are faithfully but

too procrastinatingly recorded. It may be finally said of John



Harrison, that by his invention of the chronometer--the

ever-sleepless and ever-trusty friend of the mariner --he



conferred an incalculable benefit on science and navigation, and

established his claim to be regarded as one of the greatest



benefactors of mankind.

POstscript.--In addition to the information contained in this



chapter, I have been recently informed by the Rev. Mr. Sankey,

vicar of Wragby, that the family is quite extinct in the parish,



except the wife of a plumber, who claims relationship with

Harrison. The representative of the Winn family was created Lord



St. Oswald in 1885. Harrison is not quite forgotten at Foulby.

The house in which he was born was a low thatched cottage, with



two rooms, one used as a living room, and the other as a sleeping

room. The house was pulled down about forty years ago; but the



entrance door, being of strong, hard wood, is still preserved.

The vicar adds that young Harrison would lie out on the grass all



night in summer time, studying the details of his wooden clock.

Footnotes to Chapter III.



[1] Originally published in Longmam's Magazine, but now rewritten

and enlarged.



[2] Popular Astronomy. By Simon Newcomb, LL.D., Professor U.S.

Naval Observatory.



[3] Biographia Britannica, vol. vi. part 2, p. 4375. This volume

was published in 1766, before the final reward had been granted



to Harrison.

[4] This clock is in the possession of Abraham Riley, of Bromley,



near Leeds. He informs us that the clock is made of wood

throughout, excepting the escapement and the dial, which are made



of brass. It bears the mark of "John Harrison, 1713."

[5] Harrison's compensationpendulum was afterwards improved by



Arnold, Earnshaw, and other English makers. Dent's prismatic

balance is now considered the best.



[6] See Mr. Folkes's speech to the Royal Soc., 30th Nov., 1749.

[7] No trustworthy lunar tables existed at that time. It was not



until the year 1753 that Tobias Mayer, a German, published the

first lunar tables which could be relied upon. For this, the



British Government afterwards awarded to Mayer's widow the sum of

5000L.



[8] Sir Isaac Newton gave his design to Edmund Halley, then

Astronomer-Royal. Halley laid it on one side, and it was found



among his papers after his death in 1742, twenty-five years after

the death of Newton. A similar omission was made by Sir G. B.



Airy, which led to the discovery of Neptune being attributed to

Leverrier instead of to Adams.



CHAPTER IV.

JOHN LOMBE: INTRODUCER OF THE SILK INDUSTRY INTO ENGLAND.



"By Commerce are acquired the two things which wise men accompt

of all others the most necessary to the well-being of a



Commonwealth: That is to say, a general Industry of Mind and

Hardiness of Body, which never fail to be accompanyed with Honour



and Plenty. So that, questionless, when Commerce does not

flourish, as well as other Professions, and when Particular



Persons out of a habit of Laziness neglect at once the noblest

way of employing their time and the fairest occasion for



advancing their fortunes, that Kingdom, though otherwise never so

glorious, wants something of being compleatly happy."--A Treatise



touching the East India Trade (1695).

Industry puts an entirely new face upon the productions of



nature. By labour man has subjugated the world, reduced it to




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