Lost Secrets.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 28, 9 July 1903, Page 15

Lost Secrets.

The maxim which states that silence is golden has cost the world some of the greatest discoveries of modern times, for not a few of the inventors whose names would have been handed down to posterity as public benefactors have been killed b^ their secrets before they would consent to divulge them to their fellow-beings. In 1895 all Europe (says an exchange) was startled by the discovery of a new explosive called fulminito, which it was believed would revolutionize modern warfare. It was the invention of an Exeter scientist named bawbridge, and samples of the explosive which were tested by the Government revealed the fact that its power was three times greater than that of cordite, and in consequence it would treble the range of a rifle bullet. The German Government offered Sawbridge £20 000 for his invention, which he patriotically refused until the home authorities had had the first option of purchase. But, just as the latter were about to seal a contract with him, the news came that his laboratory had been blown up and himself with it. Unfortunately he left no records whatever, and although some of the leading experts of the day minutely examined the debris, they failed to discover the secret, which is probably lost forever.

Forty-two years ago an Italian priest named Luigi Taranti discovered a method of making stained glass, the coloring of which was declared equal to that made by the ancients, whose secret has been lost. Taranti immediately set to work to execute the hundreds of commissions he received in the secrecy ol his workshop at Ostia, near Home. The finest stained-glass windows in Italy were made by him and he guarded his secret well, for when a year later he was found dead of blood poisoning set up by the pigments he employed, it was realised that he had carried his secret with him. The cleverest workmen were called to examine the ingredients, but they one and all failed to penetrate the dead mans secret.

The person who could make composition billiard balls equal to those of ivory would qjuickly qualify as a millionaire, and it is not an impossible task, for it has already been done. Less than a decade ago a Scotch manufacturer put composition billiard balls on the market which were as good at but only a third of the price of those already in use He refrained from patenting his invention, and made all the balls himself, e\en his family being prohibited from sharing his secret. But just as he was beginning to taste the fruits of his experiments, he was one day mortally wounded by an accident in hia workshop and died before he could' make any statement. Experts were gnen specimens of the balls to analyse, but, m spite of the fact that they succeeded in tracing the materials used, they have long* since gi\ en up all hopes of being able to discover how they were put together.

The only man who has yet been successful in taking photographs in color was a martyr to his discovery, the secret of which is lost. Some years ago Dr. Herbert Franklin, of Chicago, submitted a number of colored photographs— of a somewhat crude nature it is true— to the leading American scientific institutions, and the encouragement he received was such that he built himself a laboratory, proof asrainst the wiles of spies, at a cost of 12,000 dollars, wherein to perfect his invention. In the preparation of his plates he used a charcoal fire, and one day when at work he omitted to open the ventilators and was found asphyxiated. He had refrained from divulging his secret to anyone, and, in consequence although some partially finished plates that hid the secret remained, the way they were prepared is a problem that has baffled scientists to this day Another victim to his secret " was Adams, the inventor of talhum, the greatest discovery in the metals of the age. Adams was confident that a metal could be produced which, although as hard as steel, was only hall its weight and price, and after five yeais' experimenting with an electrical process, tallium' was the result. Ihe invention was taken up throughout America, and orders for thousands of tons of the metal began to pour in from the leading railway companies. But it was too late. The enormous mental strain he had undergone, coupled with the sensation of finding millions within his grasp, took away his reason, and he

was confined in an asylum. He left no records to explain the process, and no amount of persuasion drew the secret from him, which perished locked up in his brain when two years later he died a hopeless lunatic.