Take some gunpowder in a fine state of division, and moisten it with Nitro-Glycerin until it becomes “the color of mud and about the consistency of putty”; assure the editor of the Barnumtown Inquirer, that it has five times the explosive power of Nitro-Glycerin, and forthwith a flaming article appears, upon the new explosive agent, “Lithofracteur.”[13] Make a compound of sawdust and Nitro-Glycerin, and let your patent prove that you are unacquainted with the commonest properties of sulphuric acid and charcoal, that, on the face of it, your preparation cannot possibly be made as you describe (that is not the business of the examiner, or if it be, he is so bothered by Prussian officers that these facts escape his notice), on payment of $35.00, a patent will issue, give it a name, say, “Dualin”, boldly assert that its properties are unequalled; let a governor of a state, whose experience is confined to fire-crackers, witness an explosion (it is not material what substance you explode before him), hire a steamer, give a splendid collation, invite all the reporters within reach, make any statements you please to them (they will be swallowed along with the collation, especially if washed down with plenty of Heidsick), and there is no telling where this halo of a patent may not carry the unscrupulous patentee.[14] [13] “Lithofracteur”—For a wonder this has not been patented. [14] “Dualin”—Patent No. 98,854, dated January 18, 1870, granted to Carl Dittmar, of Charlottenberg, Prussia. Claim as follows: “I claim a compound consisting of cellulose, nitro-cellulose, nitro-starch, nitro-mannite and Nitro-Glycerin, mixed in different combinations, depending on the degree of strength which it is desired the powder should possess in adapting its use to various purposes.” But these assertions involve loss of life, as, for instance, when Joseph Butloe was killed at the Hoosac Tunnel. He was attempting to introduce a dualin cartridge into a drill hole, and as it did not reach the bottom of the hole he endeavored to push it in further with a “tamping stick,” a method which the inventor of dualin advocated, and regarded as perfectly safe. Unfortunately, however, in the present case it was not so, the explosion following the first “tamp” instantly killing the operator, and exploding the mis-statements of the patentee. Truly, these gentlemen are wonderful mathematicians; they have discovered that a part is greater than the whole, that various mixtures of inert matter with Nitro-Glycerin, have greater explosive power than Nitro-Glycerin per se.