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第73节

industrial biography-第73节

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〃But he is a first…rate workman;〃 replied the employers; 〃and we

think it right to advance a man according to his conduct and his

merits。〃  〃No matter;〃 said the workmen; 〃it is against the rules; and

if you do not take the man from the lathe; we must turn out。〃  〃Very

well; we hold to our right of selecting the best men for the best

places; and we will not take the man from the lathe。〃  The consequence

was a general turn out。  Pickets were set about the works; and any

stray men who went thither to seek employment were waylaid; and if

not induced to turn back; were maltreated or annoyed until they were

glad to leave。  The works were almost at a standstill。  This state of

things could not be allowed to go on; and the head of the firm

bestirred himself accordingly with his usual energy。  He went down to

Scotland; searched all the best mechanical workshops there; and after

a time succeeded in engaging sixty…four good hands。  He forbade them

coming by driblets; but held them together until there was a full

freight; and then they came; with their wives; families; chests of

drawers; and eight…day clocks; in a steamboat specially hired for

their transport from Greenock to Liverpool。  From thence they came by

special train to Patricroft; where houses were in readiness for their

reception。  The arrival of so numerous; well…dressed; and respectable

a corps of workmen and their families was an event in the

neighbourhood; and could not fail to strike the 〃pickets〃 with

surprise。  Next morning the sixty…four Scotchmen assembled in the yard

at Patricroft; and after giving 〃three cheers;〃 went quietly to their

work。  The 〃picketing〃 went on for a little while longer; but it was

of no use against a body of strong men who stood 〃shouther to

shouther;〃 as the new hands did。  It was even bruited about that there

were more trains to follow!〃  It very soon became clear that the back

of the strike was broken。  The men returned to their work; and the

clever brass founder continued at his turning…lathe; from which he

speedily rose to still higher employment。



Notwithstanding the losses and suffering occasioned by strikes; Mr。

Nasmyth holds the opinion that they have on the whole produced much

more good than evil。  They have served to stimulate invention in an

extraordinary degree。  Some of the most important labour…saving

processes now in common use are directly traceable to them。  In the

case of many of our most potent self…acting tools and machines;

manufacturers could not be induced to adopt them until compelled to

do so by strikes。  This was the ease with the self…acting mule; the

wool…combing machine; the planing machine; the slotting machine;

Nasmyth's steam arm; and many others。  Thus; even in the mechanical

world; there may be 〃a soul of goodness in things evil。〃



Mr。 Nasmyth retired from business in December; 1856。  He had the moral

courage to come out of the groove which he had so laboriously made

for himself; and to leave a large and prosperous business; saying; 〃I

have now enough of this world's goods; let younger men have their

chance。〃  He settled down at his rural retreat in Kent; but not to

lead a life of idle ease。  Industry had become his habit; and active

occupation was necessary to his happiness。  He fell back upon the

cultivation of those artistic tastes which are the heritage of his

family。  When a boy at the High School of Edinburgh; he was so skilful

in making pen and ink illustrations on the margins of the classics;

that he thus often purchased from his monitors exemption from the

lessons of the day。  Nor had he ceased to cultivate the art during his

residence at Patricroft; but was accustomed to fall back upon it for

relaxation and enjoyment amid the pursuits of trade。  That he

possesses remarkable fertility of imagination; and great skill in

architectural and landscape drawing; as well as in the much more

difficult art of delineating the human figure; will be obvious to any

one who has seen his works;more particularly his 〃City of St。

Ann's;〃 〃The Fairies;〃 and 〃Everybody for ever!〃  which last was

exhibited in Pall Mail; among the recent collection of works of Art

by amateurs and others; for relief of the Lancashire distress。  He has

also brought his common sense to bear on such unlikely subject's as

the origin of the cuneiform character。  The possession of a brick from

Babylon set him a thinking。  How had it been manufactured? Its under

side was clearly marked by the sedges of the Euphrates upon which it

had been laid to dry and bake in the sun。  But how about those curious

cuneiform characters? How had writing assumed so remarkable a form?

His surmise was this:  that the brickmakers; in telling their tale of

bricks; used the triangular corner of another brick; and by pressing

it down upon the soft clay; left behind it the triangular mark which

the cuneiform character exhibits。  Such marks repeated; and placed in

different relations to each other; would readily represent any

number。  From the use of the corner of a brick in writing; the

transition was easy to a pointed stick with a triangular end; by the

use of which all the cuneiform characters can readily be produced

upon the soft clay。  This curious question formed the subject of an

interesting paper read by Mr。 Nasmyth before the British Association

at Cheltenham。



But the most engrossing of Mr。 Nasmyth's later pursuits has been the

science of astronomy; in which; by bringing a fresh; original mind to

the observation of celestial phenomena; he has succeeded in making

some of the most remarkable discoveries of our time。  Astronomy was

one of his favourite pursuits at Patricroft; and on his retirement

became his serious study。  By repeated observations with a powerful

reflecting telescope of his own construction; he succeeded in making

a very careful and minute painting of the craters; cracks; mountains;

and valleys in the moon's surface; for which a Council Medal was

awarded him at the Great Exhibition of 1851。  But the most striking

discovery which he has made by means of big telescopethe result

of patient; continuous; and energetic observationhas been that of

the nature of the sun's surface; and the character of the

extraordinary light…giving bodies; apparently possessed of voluntary

motion; moving across it; sometimes forming spots or hollows of more

than a hundred thousand miles in diameter。



The results of these observations were of so novel a character that

astronomers for some time hesitated to receive them as facts。*

 'footnote。。。

See Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester;

3rd series; vol。1。  407。

 。。。'

Yet so eminent an astronomer as Sir John Herschel does not hesitate

now to describe them as 〃a most wonderful discovery。〃  〃According to

Mr。 Nasmyth's observations;〃 says he; 〃made with a very fine

telescope of his own making; the bright surface of the sun consists

of separate; insulated; individual objects or things; all nearly or

exactly of one certain definite size and shape; which is more like

that of a willow leaf; as he describes them; than anything else。

These leaves or scales are not arranged in any order (as those on a

butterfly's wing are); but lie crossing one another in all

directions; like what are called spills in the game of spillikins;

except at the borders of a spot; where they point for the most part

inwards towards the middle of the spot;*

 'footnote。。。

Sir John Herschel adds; 〃Spots of not very irregular; and what may be

called compact form; covering an area of between seven and eight

hundred millions of square miles; are by no means uncommon。  One spot

which I measured in the year 1837 occupied no less than three

thousand seven hundred and eighty millions; taking in all the

irregularities of its form; and the black space or nucleus in the

middle of one very nearly round one would have allowed the earth to

drop through it; leaving a thousand clear miles on either side; and

many instances of much larger spots than these are on record。〃

 。。。'

presenting much the sort of appearance that the small leaves of some

water…plants or sea…weeds do at the edge of a deep hole of clear

water。  The exceedingly definite shape of these objects; their exact

similarity one to another; and the way in which they lie across and

athwart each other (except where they form a sort of bridge across a

spot; in which case they seem to affect a common direction; that;

namely; of the bridge itself);all these characters seem quite

repugnant to the notion of their being of a vaporous; a cloudy; or a

fluid nature。  Nothing remains but to consider them as separate and

independent sheets; flakes; or scales; having some sort of solidity。

And these flakes; be they what they may; and whatever may be said

about the dashing of meteoric stones into the sun's atmosphere; &c。;

are evidently THE IMMEDIATE SOURCES OF THE SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT; by

whatever

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