INVENTION, THE MASTER-KEY TO PROGRESS INVENTION THE MASTER-KEY TO PROGRESS BY REAR-ADMIRAL BRADLEY A. FISKE, LL.D. UNITED STATES NAVY Former Aid for Operations of the Fleet, President U. S. Naval Institute, Gold Medallist of U. S. Naval Institute, the Franklin Institute and the Aero Club of America. Author of "Electricity in Theory and Practice," "War Time in Manila," "The Navy as a Fighting Machine," "From Midshipman to Rear-Admiral," "The Art of Fighting," etc. Inventor of the Gun Director System, the Naval Telescope Sight, the Stadimeter, the Turret Range Finder, the Horizometer, the Torpedoplane, etc., etc., etc. NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE Copyright, 1921, By E. P. Dutton & Company _All Rights Reserved_ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE To show that inventors have accomplished more than most persons realize, not only in bringing forth new mechanisms, but in doing creative work in many walks of life, is, in part, the object of this book. To suggest what they may do, if properly encouraged, is its main intention. For, since it is to inventors mainly that we owe all that civilization is, it is to inventors mainly that we must look for all that civilization can be made to be. The mind of man cannot even conceive what wonders of beneficence inventors may accomplish: for _the resources of invention are infinite_. The author is indebted to Ginn & Company, Boston, for the use of illustrations from "General History for Colleges and High Schools," by Philip Van Ness Myers, and "Ancient Times, A History of the Early World," by James Henry Breasted, and to George H. Doran Company, New York, for the use of a map from "A History of Sea Power," by William Oliver Stevens and Allan Westcott. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INVENTION IN PRIMEVAL TIMES 1 II. INVENTION IN THE ORIENT 24 III. INVENTION IN GREECE 51 IV. INVENTION IN ROME: ITS RISE AND FALL 81 V. INVENTION OF THE GUN AND OF PRINTING 101 VI. COLUMBUS, COPERNICUS, GALILEO AND OTHERS 125 VII. THE RISE OF ELECTRICITY, STEAM AND CHEMISTRY 148 VIII. THE AGE OF STEAM, NAPOLEON AND NELSON 179 IX. INVENTIONS IN STEAM, ELECTRICITY, AND CHEMISTRY CREATE A DANGEROUS ERA 203 X. CERTAIN IMPORTANT CREATIONS OF INVENTION, AND THEIR BENEFICENT INFLUENCE 231 XI. INVENTION AND GROWTH OF LIBERAL GOVERNMENT AND AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 255 XII. INVENTION OF THE MODERN MILITARY MACHINE, TELEPHONE, PHONOGRAPH AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 279