Transcribers Note: An effort has been made to keep the project as authentic as possible. Two printers errors have been corrected: "toothach" has been changed to "toothache", and "recals" has been changed to "recalls". Hyphenated words have been standardized as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INVENTION AND DISCOVERY: Curious Facts and Characteristic Sketches. [Illustration] W^M. W. SWAYNE, BROOKLYN AND NEW YORK. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS. -------------- PAGE Alchemists, The Last of the 110 Alpine Perils--Professor Forbes on 30 Amber an Article of International Trade 66 Amsterdam Pile, The 150 Antiquity of Lightning Conductors 67 Antiquity of Refined Sugar 87 Arkwright's Spinning Frame 128 Art of Stereotype, The 105 Artesian Well of Grenelle, The 132 Ascent of the Jungfrau Alp, by Forbes, &c. 44 Astronomical Shoemaker, An 51 Babbage's Calculating Machine 59 Balloon Travelling, Rate of 103 Balloon Voyage from London to Nassau 86 Banks', Sir Joseph, Balance 37 Benefit of a Wife to an Author 40 Black, Dr., The Death of 133 Brindley the Engineer 43 Brongniart's Early Life 33 Brougham's, Lord, Scientific Blunders 90 Buckingham Palace Gates 37 Burning Mirrors of Archimedes, The 140 Carnot when a Child 23 Catching Electric Eels 74 Character of Engineers in their Works 43