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MEN OF INVENTION AND INDUSTRY
by Samuel Smiles

"Men there have been, ignorant of letters; without art, without eloquence; who yet had the wisdom to devise and the courage to perform that which they lacked language to explain. Such men have worked the deliverance of nations and their own greatness. Their hearts are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence."--MACAULAY.
Contents.
Preface
CHAPTER I
Phineas Pett: Beginings of English Shipbuilding
CHAPTER II
Francis Pettit Smith: Practical introducer of the Screw Propeller
CHAPTER III
John Harrison: Inventor of the Marine Chronometer
CHAPTER IV
John Lombe: Introducer of the Silk Industry into England
CHAPTER V
William Murdock: His Life and Inventions
CHAPTER VI
Frederick Koenig: Inventor of the Steam-printing Machine
CHAPTER VII
The Walters of 'The Times': Inventor of the Walter Press
CHAPTER VIII
William Clowes: Book-printing by Steam
CHAPTER IX
Charles Bianconi: A lession of Self-Help in Ireland
CHAPTER X
Industry in Ireland: Through Connaught and Ulster to Belfast
CHAPTER XI
Shipbuilding in Belfast: By Sir E. J. Harland, Engineer and Shipbuilder
CHAPTER XII
Astronomers and students in humble life: A new
Chapter in
the 'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties'
PREFACE
I offer this book as a continuation of the memoirs of men of invention and industry published some years ago in the 'Lives of Engineers,' 'Industrial Biography,' and 'Self-Help.'
The early chapters relate to the history of a very important branch of British industry--that of Shipbuilding. A later chapter, kindly prepared by Sir Edward J. Harland, of Belfast, relates to the origin and progress of shipbuilding in Ireland.
Many of the facts set forth in the Life and Inventions of William Murdock have already been published in my 'Lives of Boulton and Watt;" but these are now placed in a continuous narrative, and supplemented by other information, more particularly the correspondence between Watt and Murdock, communicated to me by the present representative of the family, Mr. Murdock, C.E, of Gilwern, near Abergavenny.
I have also endeavoured to give as accurate an account as possible of the Invention of the Steam-printing Press, and its application to the production of Newspapers and Books,--an invention certainly of great importance to the spread of knowledge, science, and literature, throughout the world.
The chapter on the "Industry of Ireland" will speak for itself. It occurred to me, on passing through Ireland last year, that much remained to be said on that subject; and, looking to the increasing means of the country, and the well-known industry of its people, it seems reasonable to expect, that with peace, security, energy, and diligent labour of head and hand, there is really a great future before Ireland.
The last chapter, on "Astronomers in Humble Life," consists for the most part of a series of Autobiographies. It may seem, at first sight, to have little to do with the leading object of the book; but it serves to show what a number of active, earnest, and able men are comparatively hidden throughout society, ready to turn their hands and heads to the improvement of their own characters, if not to the advancement of the general community of which they form a part.
In conclusion, I say to the reader, as Quarles said in the preface to his 'Emblems,' "I wish thee as much pleasure in the reading as I had in the writing." In fact, the last three chapters were in some measure the cause of the book being published in its present form.
London, November, 1884.
CHAPTER I
.
PHINEAS PETT: BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH SHIP-BUILDING.
"A speck in the Northern Ocean, with a rocky coast, an ungenial climate, and a soil scarcely fruitful,--this was the material patrimony which descended to the English race--an inheritance that would have been little worth but for the inestimable moral gift that accompanied it. Yes; from Celts, Saxons, Danes, Normans--from some or all of them--have come down with English nationality a talisman that could command sunshine, and plenty, and empire, and fame. The 'go' which they transmitted to us--the national vis--this it is which made the old Angle-land a glorious heritage. Of this we have had a portion above our brethren--good measure, running over. Through this our island-mother has stretched out her arms till they enriched the globe of the earth....Britain, without her energy and enterprise, what would she be in Europe?"--Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1870).
In one of the few records of Sir Isaac Newton's life which he left for the benefit of others, the following comprehensive thought occurs:
"It is certainly apparent that the inhabitants of this world are of a short date, seeing that all arts, as letters, ships, printing, the needle, &c., were discovered within the memory of history."
If this were