Great Results from Small Beginnings.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 757, 16 July 1853, Page 2 (Supplement)

Great Results from Small Beginnings.

Berthold Shwartz, according to common report, having, in some of his experiments in alchemy, put intd a common mortar a mixture of saltpetre, and other combustible materials, accident! y dropped in a spark, when he was astonished to see the pestle fly off into the air. This incident furnished two ideas—that of the increased power of gunpowder when confined, and that of its applicability to the propulsion of heavy bodies. These two simple ideas, carried out into practice, produced guns, larsje and small, and revolutionized the (ntire system of war. The vibrations of the lid of an iron tea kettle gave the first hint of the expensive power of steam. The hint, followed out through innumerable experiments, finally ended in the modern tteam engine, which is fast revolutionizing tlu mode of both land and water carriage. The first idea of our modern railways—and it •s a very simple idea—came from a mine near Newcastle, England. The plan occurred to so mo cne of "laying rails, of timber exactly straight and parallel; and bulky cfrts were made, with four rollers fitting those rails, whereby the carnage was made so easy that one horse would draw four or five chaldrons of coal."

Thus coal was conveyed from the mines to the bank of the river Tyne. This mode was in practice in 1766 ; how much earlier, is not known to us, probable to no one; for, though a gre.it idea, it was like most other ideas, thought of Kttle account at the time of its origin. Like Columbus's method of making an egg stand 07) the big end by jarring it so as to break the yolk,

it was thought to be too simple too deserve any praise. Nevertheless, out of this simple idea sprang, one hundred and fifty years afterwards, the modern railway. It has been noticed by chemists, that flame cannot be made to pass tube ot _small diameter. In th*hands of 6ir Humphrey Davy, this fact grew into the miner's safety lamp, which, has saved the lives of thousands.' The magnet had been for centuries a plaything in Europe. At last its property, when freely suspended, of having taken a north and south position was noticed, and applied to navigation.— Tliis resulted in the discovery of America. The power of the sun's rays to discolour certain substances, had long been known. In the hands of Daguerre, this great- fact grew into a most beautiful and to taking miniatures. , ~ From Volta's simple pile, to Morse's magnetic telegraph, what a stride, yet this stride is only the currying out into practice of certain very simple properties of galvanism and magnetism. So we might go on to enumerate the instances in which a very simple idea has ended in mighty results.— Ohio Observer.