Section 14 of Passages from the Life of a Philosopher. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Passages from the Life of a Philosopher by Charles Babbage. Section 14, Recollections of the Duke of Wellington. My acquaintance with the late Duke of Wellington commenced in an official visit from himself and Mr. Goulburn, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to inspect the drawings and works of the Difference Engine No. 1. This was in November, 1829. Afterwards, I met the Duke in private society at the houses of one or two of his intimate friends, and subsequently I was honored, not unfrequently, by receiving him at my own. During the exhibition of 1851, I very often accompanied him in his examination of the contents of that building. I made no notes of any of the conversations, some of them highly interesting, which occurred on such occasions. Because I felt that the habit of recording privately the conversations with our acquaintances was a breach of faith towards the individual and tended to destroy all confidence in society, I now perceive, when it is too late, that a rigid adherence to that rule has deprived me of the power of relating circumstances of the greatest interest to survivors and of the highest credit to himself. I should not even have averted to the subject in the present work. Had I not observed in the fourth volume of the Life of the late General Sir Charles Nappier of Sindh, a passage which, if not explained, might lead to the erroneous interference that I had myself proposed to speak to the Duke of Wellington on a certain military subject, whereas I only did so at the repeated desire of Sir Charles himself, the loss of the Birkenhead. The following is a portion of a letter from General Sir Charles Nappier to his brother, General Sir William Nappier, extracted from the Life of Sir Charles Nappier. Volume 4, page 347, to General W. Nappier, 1852, May 2nd. I met Babbage at Miss Burdette Coots. He talked about the Birkenhead and was very eager, saying, cannot you speak to the Duke of Wellington? No, it would seem a criticizing of his conduct. Well, I, as a civilian, may, yes, and you will do good, for the Duke alluded to the subject at the Royal Academy dinner an hour ago. Babbage did so at once, asking him to move in the matter, and the Duke said he would. I also spoke to Hardinge, who told me he had had a mind to allude to it in his speech at the dinner, but feared it might seem a reflection on the Duke. I have been told that the Duke is only awaiting an official dispatch from Harry Smith or Kath Cart about the Birkenhead to act. This is probable as being like his cautious way, but to my thinking, not well in this case, the matter referred to arose thus several years ago a troop ship named the Birkenhead was wrecked on the African coast near the Cape of Good Hope. A very small portion only of the troops were saved. According to the testimony of the survivors, the discipline in order which prevailed on board up to the final catastrophe was admirable and almost beyond example. If any human means could have saved those invaluable lives, such discipline would have largely contributed to the result, sharing the general regret at this severe loss and sympathizing deeply with the feelings of the surviving relatives. It occurred to me that very simple and inexpensive means were available, which if employed would at least afford a melancholy consolation to the afflicted relatives. Might be retained with becoming pride in their families and would also add to the respectability of the social position of the soldier. Observing that military offenses punished by a court-martial were made public by being read at the head of every regiment, I suggested that in certain cases publicity should be given by the same means to noble acts of forbearance or of self-divotion. In the case of the Birkenhead, in which ship small detachments of several regiments were lost, I suggested that an order should be issued, stating, The circumstances under which the loss occurred, and the nation's approbation of the conduct of the departed, that their name should be read at the head of their respective regiments, that an official letter signed by the colonel or other proper officer of each regiment, describing the nature of the service under which the loss occurred, and conveying to the nearest surviving relative the expression of the high approbation the government entertained of such heroic conduct. Such official testimonials would soothe the feelings of many a relative, would become objects of just pride amongst the relations of the departed, and be handed down as heirlooms in many a village circle, Sir Charles Nabier approves. I mentioned these views to several of my acquaintances, and the idea seemed to meet with general approbation. I found my military friends fully alive to the advantage of such a course for the benefit of the service, and also as a consolation to surviving relatives amongst others. I proposed it to the late Sir General, Sir Charles Nabier. He highly approved of the plan, about which we had several conversations. In one of these I suggested that he should mention it to the Duke of Wellington. To which Sir Charles replied, No, I could not do that. You should tell him yourself. I smiled at the notion, not thinking that my friend was in earnest. A short time after I met Sir Charles Nabier at a large evening party, we were sitting together on a sofa talking. He resumed the plan I had proposed, spoke of it with much approbation, and concluded by saying, You ought to tell the Duke of it. I replied that I had thought he was only joking when he had, on a former occasion, made the same observation. No, indeed, said Sir Charles. I am serious. The Duke will attend to what you say more than to any of us. If you really think so, I replied, I will follow your counsel. I hope, I added, the Duke may excuse me as a civilian for speaking about it, but after such an expression of your opinion, I feel bound to take that course. Mentioned to the Duke, the conversation then turned upon other subjects, when shortly after the Duke of Wellington was announced. There, observed Sir Charles, is the Duke. Now go and talk to him about it. I promised to do so at a proper opportunity. After the Duke had made his bow to the Lady of the House, and recognized and conversed with many of his friends, I threw myself in his way, on the Duke shaking hands with me. I remarked that I was particularly glad to meet him, because an idea had occurred to me in which I thought he would take an interest. He stepped with me a little out of the crowd, and I then stated shortly my views. The Duke paid great attention to the subject, made several remarks upon it. And when we separated, I felt satisfied that he took a strong interest in it. I thought, however, that he had applied the idea rather more to the officers, whilst my main object was the interests of the privates. Much later in the evening I was taking some refreshment in another room. When the Duke entering, saw and rejoined me, he reverted to the subject. I observed that though officers and privates should have the same official acknowledgement, yet that the Commander-in-Chief and the Government possessed other more substantial means of benefiting the surviving relatives of the officers and of the privates, we had some further conversation about it, and then I felt quite satisfied that he both understood and approved of it. I rather think the Duke of Wellington moved in the House of Lords for certain papers, on which he intended to found some measure of the kind, but his death, shortly after, put an end to the question. During the year 1851 I very frequently accompanied the Duke of Wellington to the exhibition, or met him there by appointment at the Crystal Fountain. Sometimes one or two of his particular friends, usually ladies, were invited to join the party. On the first occasion I spoke to one of the attending police, simply for the purpose of facilitating our passage if we should get into a great crowd, which, of course, did occasionally happen. In these cases the policeman a little preceded us, and it was very interesting to observe the sudden changes in the countenances of those whom the Constable gently touched in order to accelerate our passage. On the first light pressure of the policeman's hand upon the arm of John Bull, he looked round with indignation, but when the policeman quietly asked him to be so good as to allow the Duke of Wellington to pass, the muscles of John Bull's countenance relaxed into a grateful smile. He immediately made way, and in several cases thanked the officer for giving him an opportunity of seeing the Duke. During the most crowded of those days, we, at one period, became entirely blocked up and stationary for upwards of 10 minutes. Our intelligent companion was himself wedged in at a short distance from us.  The Duke plays with the child. The Duke began to play with the infant, pretending to touch its ear with his finger, and then to touch its nose. The mother was gratified. The child was charmed. At last the crowd almost suddenly broke up, and we went on. After we had advanced about a dozen paces, I said to the Duke of Wellington, I must step back to speak to the mother of your young friend. I then asked her if she knew the gentle man who had been playing with her child for the last 10 minutes. She said, No, sir. I told her it was the Duke of Wellington. Her surprise and delight were equally great. I desired her to tell her boy when he grew up that, when an infant, the Duke of Wellington, had played with him. I then returned and told the Duke the object of my mission. His approbation was indicated by a happy smile. One morning the Duke of Wellington called in Dorset Street with the late Countess of Wilton. To whom he wished me to show the difference engine. Its home was at that period in my drawing room. We sat round it whilst I explained its mode of action, and made it calculate some small table of numbers. Lady Wilton's remark on Difference Engine. When I had concluded my explanation, Lady Wilton, addressing me, said, Now, Mr. Babbage, Can you tell me what was your greatest difficulty in contriving this machine? I had never previously asked myself that question, but I knew the nature of it well. It arose not from the difficulty of contriving mechanism to execute each individual movement, for I had contrived very many different modes of executing each, but it really arose from the almost innumerable combinations amongst all these contrivances, a number so vast that no human mind could examine them all. It instantly occurred to me that a similar difficulty must present itself to a general commanding of a vast army. When about to engage in a conflict with another army of equal or of greater amount, I therefore thought it must have been felt by the Duke of Wellington, and I determined to make a kind of psychological experiment upon him, carefully abstaining from any military term. I commenced my explanation to Lady Wilton. I soon perceived by his countenance that the Duke was already in imagination again in Spain. I then went on boldly with the explanation of my own mechanical difficulty, and when I had concluded, the Duke turned to Lady Wilton and said, I know that difficulty well. The author's sketch of the Duke's intellectual character. The success of this experiment induced me in a subsequent publication. Footnote, the exposition of 1852, second edition, page 222, and footnote. To give an analysis of one portion of the Duke of Wellington's intellectual character, although I made no mention of his name, many of his admirers, however, perceived at once the truth of those views and recognized the justice of their application. I therefore placed them before my readers in the following extract from the work referred to. It is now felt and admitted that it is the civil capacity of the Great Commander which prepares the way for his military triumphs, that his knowledge of human nature enables him to select the fittest agents, and to place them in the situations best adapted to their powers, that his intimate acquaintance with all the accessories which contribute to the health and comfort of his troops, enables him to sustain their moral and physical energy. It has been seen that he must have studied and properly estimated the character of his foes as well as of his allies, and have made himself acquainted with the personal character of the chiefs of both, and still further, that he must have scrutinized the secret motives which regulated their respective governments, when directly engaged in the operations of contending armies occupying a wide extent of country. He must be able, with rapid glance, to ascertain the force it is possible to concentrate upon each of many points in any given time, and the greater or less chance of faring in the attempt. He must also be able to foresee, with something more than conjecture, what amount of the enemy's force can be brought to the same spot in the same and in different times. With these elements he must undertake one of the most difficult of mental tasks, that of classifying and grouping the innumerable combinations to which either party may have recourse for purposes of attack or defense, out of the multitude of such combinations, which might baffle by their simple enumeration the strongest memory. Throwing aside the less important, he must be able to discover, to fix his attention, and to act upon the most favorable. Finally, when the course thus selected having been pursued, and perhaps partially carried out, is found to be entirely deranged by one of those many chances inseparable from such operations. Then, in the midst of action, he must be able suddenly to organize a different system of operations, new to all other minds, yet possibly, although unconsciously, anticipated by his own. The genius that can meet and overcome such difficulties must be intellectual, and would, under different circumstances, have been distinguished in many a different career. Nor even would it be very surprising that such a commander, estimating justly the extent of his own powers, and conscious of having planned the best combinations of which his mind is capable, should, having issued his orders, calmly lie down on the eve of the approaching conflict, and find in sleep that bodily restoration so indispensable to the full exercise of his faculties in the mighty struggle about to ensue. Soon after the queen came to the throne, the two universities presented addresses to Her Majesty. I accompanied that of Cambridge. The deputation was very numerous, and much, unseemly pushing, took place. I recollect a very short, dumpy fellow, pushing much more energetically than any other, for whom I made way, as I retired from the strife in which I was unwillingly involved. He not only pushed, but was continually jumping up like a parched pea in a heated frying pan, his object being to get a glimpse of Her Majesty, and the effect accomplished being to a light on the toes or graze the heels of his colleagues. I retired into a window close to the end of the position occupied by the gentlemen at arms. The Duke of Wellington, who had a short time before, as Chancellor of the University of Oxford, presented the address of that body, still remained in the State Apartments. He joined me in the recess of the window, and we entered into conversation. The Duke assists a pushing MA. After a time the little dumpy fellow, who had been regularly turned out of the crowd for his pushing, came up to us, and, mistaking the Duke of Wellington for a beef-eater or some palace attendant, complained, almost in tears, that he wanted to see the Queen, and that they had pushed him out, and that he had not been able to see the Queen. The Duke very good naturally said he would take him to a place where he could see Her Majesty without being pushed about. Accordingly, the Duke led him behind the gentlemen at arms to a situation in which the little man's wish was gratified, and then returned with him to the window, and resumed the conversation. On another occasion the University of Cambridge presented an address to the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The crowd was very great. On descending one of the flights of stairs, a short master of arts was unluckily cut by the string of his gown, hooking itself upon one of the large door handles. He was carried off his legs by the advancing rush. To bring back the pendant, master of arts, a single inch was impossible from the pressure onwards. So whilst two or three of his colleagues, with difficulty supported him, I took out my pen knife and cut the imprisoning ribbon. All parcels rejected. When I published the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, I sent my servant to Apsley House with a presentation copy for the Duke of Wellington. The next morning at breakfast my servant informed me that the porter absolutely refused to take it in. Although he stated from whom it came, I remarked to my brother-in-law, who was staying with me, that it was a very odd circumstance, and inquired what was to be done. He replied, when a man refuses to receive a parcel, nothing more can be done. I then observed that if any other person than the Duke had done so, I should have taken no further step. But I added, then I knew his character so well, that I was confident there was really a good and sufficient reason. Although I could not conjecture its nature. After breakfast I wrote a short note to the Duke, mentioning the circumstance, taking for granted that it arose entirely from some misconception of his orders. I then requested him not to take the trouble of writing to me to explain it, but added that I would send the volume to Apsley House on the following morning when, I had no doubt, the mistaken interpretation of his orders would have been rectified. About three o'clock the same day a servant of the Dukes brought me a note, inquiring if there were any answer to take back. The Duke stated in his note that letters, books, parcels, maps, and even merchandise were continually sent to him for the purpose of being forwarded to all parts of the world. This, he observed, through upon his house steward, so great a responsibility, that he had been compelled to give directions that no parcel should be received at Apsley House without a written order with his signature, like that which he now enclosed. As the Duke's servant was waiting, I gave him the book which he took back, and I retained the slip of paper for any other similar occasion. The Duke dressed in his carriage. The Duke was habitually an economist of time. One day I was going homeward in a cab to dress for a dinner engagement, when I thought I observed him writing down St. James's Street towards the House of Lords, un reaching the house of the friend with whom I was to dine. I found that the Duke of Wellington was expected at dinner. He arrived punctually. In the course of the evening I took an opportunity of asking him whether I was mistaken and supposing. I had seen him a short time before dinner writing down St. James's Street. I then expressed my surprise at the rapidity of his movements in getting back to Apsley House in time to dress and be punctual to his engagement. He said, No, I did not do that. I had ordered my carriage to meet me at the House of Lords, and I changed my dress whilst it was bringing me here. The most interesting conversations generally occurred when only a few of his intimate friends met together. On one of these occasions, at a very small dinner party, the characters of the French Marshals became the subject of conversation. The Duke, being appealed to, pointed out freely their various qualities and assigned to each his peculiar excellence. Curious question, the Duke's reply, One question, the most highly interesting of all, naturally presented itself to our minds. I was speculating how I could, without impropriety, suggested when, to my great relief, one of the party, addressing the Duke, said, Well, sir, how was it that, with such various great qualities, you licked them all, one after another. The Duke was evidently taken by surprise. He paused for a moment or two, and then said, Well, I don't know exactly how it was, but I think that if any unexpected circumstance occurred in the midst of a battle, which deranged its whole plan, I could perhaps organize another plan more quickly than most of them. This strongly confirms the view of the Duke of Wellington's character given in the preceding pages. After examining all the more important combinations which might be made for the conflict, and having selected those which appeared the best, it is quite natural, if any accident deranged the original plan, that he should perceive, more quickly than another commander, one amongst the many plans previously rejected, which was immediately applicable to the new and unexpected circumstances. Org, passages from the life of a philosopher by Charles Babbage. Section 15. In 1826, one of the secretary ships of the Royal Society became vacant. Dr. Wollaston and several others of the leading members of the Society and of the Council wished that I should be appointed. This would have been the more agreeable to me because my early friend Herschel was at that time the senior secretary. This arrangement was agreed to by Sir H. Davie and I left town with the full assurance that I was to have the appointment. In the meantime Sir H. Davie summoned a Council at an unusual hour, eight o'clock in the evening, for a special purpose, namely some arrangement about the treasurer's accounts. After the business relating to the treasurer was got through, Sir H. Davie observed that there was a secretary ship vacant, and he proposed to fill it up. Sir Humphrey Davie's discourses. Dr. Wollaston then asked Sir Humphrey Davie if he claimed the nomination as a right of the President, to which Sir H. Davie replied that he did, and then nominated Mr. Children. The President, as President, has no such right, and even if he had possessed it, he had promised Mr. Herschel that I should be his colleague. There were upright and eminent men on that Council, yet no one of them, had the moral courage to oppose the President's dictation, or afterwards to set it aside on the ground of its irregularity. A few years after, whilst I was on a visit at Wimbledon Park, Dr. and Mrs. Somerville came down to spend the day. Dr. Somerville mentioned a very pleasant dinner he had had with the late Mr. John Murray of Albemarle Street, and also a conversation relating to my book on the decline of science in England. Mr. Murray felt hurt at a remark I had made on himself, whilst criticising a then unexplained job of Sir Humphrey Davie's. Dr. Somerville assured Mr. Murray that he knew me intimately, and that if I were convinced that I had done him an injustice, nobody would be more ready to repair it. A few days after, Mr. Murray put into Dr. Somerville's hands papers explaining the whole of the transaction. These papers were now transferred to me. On examining them I found ample proof of what I had always suspected. The observation I had made which pained Mr. Murray fell to the ground, as soon as the real facts were known, and I offered to retract it in any suitable manner. One plan I proposed was to print a supplemental page and have it bound up with the remaining copies of the decline of science. Mr. Murray was satisfied with my explanation, but did not wish me to take the course I proposed, at least not at that time. Various objections may have presented themselves to his mind, but the affair was adjourned with the understanding that at some future time I should explain the real state of the facts which had led to this misinterpretation of Mr. Murray's conduct. Explanation of that job. The true history of the affair was this. Being on the Council of the Royal Society in 1827, I observed in our accounts a charge of 381 pounds, five shillings, as paid to Mr. Murray for five hundred copies of Sir Humphrey Davies' discourses. I asked publicly at the Council for an explanation of this item. The answer given by Dr. Young and others was that the Council had agreed to purchase these volumes at that price in order to induce Mr. Murray to print the President's speeches. To this I replied that such an explanation was entirely inadmissible. I then showed that even allowing a very high price for composing, printing and paper, if the Council wished to print five hundred copies of those discourses, they could have done it themselves for 150 pounds at the outside. I could not extract a single word to elucidate this mystery, about which, however, I had my own ideas. It appeared by the papers put into my hands that Sir Humphrey Davies had applied to Mr. Murray, and had sold him the copyright of the discourses for five hundred guineas, one of the conditions being that the Royal Society should purchase of him five hundred copies at the trade price. Mr. Murray paid Sir H. Davies the five hundred guineas in three bills at six, twelve and eighteen months. These bills passed through Drummond's to H. Davies' banker, and I have had them in my own hands for examination. Thus it appears that Mr. Murray treated the whole affair as a matter of business, and acted in this purchase in his usual liberal manner. I have had in my hand a statement of the winding-up of that account, copied from Mr. Murray's books, and I find that he was a considerable loser by this purchase. Sir H. Davies, on the other hand, contrived to transfer between three and four hundred pounds from the funds of the Royal Society into his own pocket. It was my determination to have called for an explanation of this affair at the election of our President and Officers at our anniversary on the 30th of November, if Sir H. Davies had been again proposed as President in 1827. The thormitrope of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of the Royal One day Herschel, sitting with me after dinner, amusing himself by spinning a pair upon the table, suddenly asked whether I could show him the two sides of a shilling at the same moment. I took out of my pocket a shilling, and holding it up before the looking-glass, pointed out my method. No, said my friend, that won't do. Then spinning my shilling upon the table, he pointed out his method of seeing both sides at once. The next day I mentioned the anecdote to the late Dr. Fitten, who a few days after brought me a beautiful illustration of the principle. It consisted of a round disc of card suspended between the two pieces of sewing silk. These threads being held between a finger and thumb of each hand were then made to turn quickly, when the disc of card, of course, revolved also. Upon one side of this disc of card was painted a bird, upon the other side an empty bird cage. On turning the thread rapidly the bird appeared to have got inside the cage. We soon made numerous applications, as a rat on one side and a trap upon the other, etc. It was shown to Captain Cater, Dr. Welleson and many of our friends, and was, after the lapse of a short time, forgotten. The thormatrope its retribution. Sometimes after, during dinner at the Royal Society Club, Sir Joseph Banks being in the chair, I heard Mr. Barrow, then Secretary to the Admiralty, talking very loudly about a wonderful invention of Dr. Paris, the object of which I could not quite understand. It was called the thormatrope, and was said to be sold at the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street. Suspecting that it had some connection with our unnamed toy, I went the next morning and purchased for seven shillings and sixpence a thormatrope, which I afterwards sent down to Slough to the late Lady Herschel. It was precisely the thing which her son and Dr. Fitten had contributed to invent, which amused all their friends for a time, and had then been forgotten. There was, however, one additional thormatrope made afterwards. It consisted of the usual disc of paper. One side was represented a thormatrope, the design upon it being a penny piece, with the motto, how to turn a penny. On the other side was a gentleman in black, with his hands held out in the act of spinning a thormatrope, the motto being a new trick from Paris. After my contest for Finsbury was decided, Mr. Rogers the banker and the brother of the poet, who have been one of my warmest supporters, proposed accompanying me to the hustings at the declaration of the poll. He had also invited a party of some of the most influential electors of his district to dine with him in the course of the week in order that they might meet me and consider about measures for supporting me at the next opportunity. The poet and philosopher at a crossing. On a cold, drizzling rainy day in November the final state of the poll was declared. Mr. Rogers took me in his carriage to the hustings and caught a cold, which seemed at first unimportant. On the day of the dinner when we met at Mr. Rogers's, who resided at Islington, he was unable to leave his bed. Miss Rogers, his sister who lived with him, and his brother the poet, received us, quite unconscious of the dangerous condition of their relative, who died the next day. Thus commenced a friendship with both of my much-valued friends, which remained unruffled in the slightest wave, until their lamented loss. Miss Rogers removed to a house in the regents' park in which the paintings by modern artists collected by her elder brother and increased by her own judicious taste were arranged. The society at that house comprised all that was the most eminent in literature and in art. The adjournment after her breakfast, to the delightful veranda overlooking the park, still clings to my fading memory, and the voices of her poet brother of Geoffrey and of Sidney Smith still survive in the vivid impressions of their wisdom and their wit. I do not think the genuine kindness of the poet's character was sufficiently appreciated. I occasionally walked home with him from parties during the first years of our acquaintance. In later years when his bodily strength began to fail, I always accompanied him, though sometimes not without a little contest. I have frequently walked with him from his sister's house in the regents' park to Inns' owned in St James' Place, and he has sometimes insisted upon returning part of the way home with me. On one of those occasions we were crossing a street near Cavendish Square.  As soon as we were safe the poet said very much as a child would, There now, that was all your fault. You would come home with me, and so I was nearly run over. However I found less and less resistance to my accompanying him, and only regretted that I could not be constantly at his side on those occasions. Soon after the publication of the economy of manufacturers, Mr Rogers told me that he had met one evening at a very fashionable party, a young dandy with whom he had had some conversation. The poet had asked him whether he had read that work. To this his reply was, Yes, it is a very nice book, just the kind of book that anybody could have written. How to Live Forever One day, when I was in great favor with the poet, we were talking about the preservation of health. He told me he would teach me how to live forever, for which I thanked him in a compliment after his own style, rather than in mine. I answered, only imbarme in your poetry, and it is done. Mr Rogers invited me to breakfast with him the next morning, when he would communicate the receipt. We were alone, and I enjoyed a very entertaining breakfast. The receipt consisted mainly of cold ablutions and the frequent use of the flesh brush. Mr Rogers himself used the latter to a moderate extent, regularly, three times every day, before he dressed himself, when he dressed for dinner, and before going to bed. About six or eight strokes of the flesh brush completed each operation. We then adjourned to a shop where I purchased a couple of the proper brushes, which I used for several years, and still use occasionally, with, I believe, considerable advantage. Rapidity of Composition Once at Mr Rogers' table I was talking with one of his guests about the speed with which some authors composed, and the slowness of others. I then turned to our host, and much to his surprise inquired how many lines a day on the average a poet usually wrote. My friend, when his astonishment had a little subsided, very good naturally, gave us the result of his own experience. He said that he had never written more than four lines of verse in any one day of his life. Footnote I'm not quite certain that the number was four, but I'm absolutely certain that it was either four or six. End footnote This I can easily understand, for Mr Rogers' taste was the most fastidious, as well as the most just, I ever met with. Another circumstance also, I think, contributed to this slowness of composition. An author may adopt either of two modes of composing. He may write off the whole of his work roughly, so as to get upon paper the plan and general outline, without attending at all to the language. He may afterwards study minutely every clause of each sentence and then every word of each clause. Or the author may finish and polish each sentence as soon as it is written. This latter process was, I think, employed by Mr Rogers, at least in his poetry. He then told us that Southie, composed with much greater rapidity than himself, as well in poetry, as in prose. Of the latter Southie frequently wrote a great many pages before breakfast. Once, at a large dinner party, Mr Rogers was speaking of an inconvenience arising from the custom then commencing of having windows formed of one large sheet of plate glass. He said that a short time ago he sat at dinner with his back to one of these single panes of plate glass. It appeared to him that the window was wide open, and such as the force of imagination that he actually caught cold. Different effects of imagination. It so happened that I was sitting just opposite to the poet. Hearing this remark, I immediately said, Dear me, how odd it is, Mr Rogers, that you and I should make such a different use of the faculty of imagination. When I go to the house of a friend in the country and unexpectedly remain for the night, having no nightcap, I should naturally catch cold. But by tying a bit of pack thread tightly round my head, I go to sleep imagining that I have a nightcap on. Consequently I catch no cold at all. This sally produced much amusement in all around, who supposed I had improvised it. But, odd as it may appear, it is a practice I have often resorted to. Mr Rogers, who knew full well the respect and regard I had for him, saw at once that I was relating a simple fact, and joined cordially in the merriment it excited. In the latter part of Mr Rogers' life, when being unable to walk, he was driven in his carriage round the Regent's Park, he frequently called at my door, and when I was able, I often accompanied him in his drive. On some one of these occasions, when I was unable to accompany him, I put into his hands a path full of proofsheets of a work I was then writing, thinking they might amuse him during his drive, and that I might profit by his criticism. Some years before, I had consulted him about a novel I had proposed to write solely for the purpose of making money, to assist me in completing the analytical engine. I breakfasted alone with a poet who entered fully into the subject. I proposed to give up a twelve-month to writing the novel, but I determined not to commence it unless I saw pretty clearly that I could make about five thousand pounds by the sacrifice of my time. The novel was to have been in three volumes, and there would probably have been reprints of another work in two volumes. Both of these works would have had graphic illustrations. The poet gave me much information on all the subjects connected with the plan, and amongst other things, observed that when he published his beautifully illustrated work on Italy, that he had paid nine thousand pounds out of his own pocket, before he received any return for that work. End of section 15. Section 16 of Passages from the Life of a Philosopher. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Gillian Henry. Passages from the Life of a Philosopher by Charles Babbage. Section 16. Recollections of Laplace, Bio and Humboldt. My first visit to Paris, anecdote of the 52 eggs, mistake about Woodhouse, Fourier, Bio, drawings of the Difference Engine, strong characteristic of Humboldt's mind. English clergyman at Paris. Great meeting of philosophers at Berlin, 1828. Introduces the author to Magnus and Dirichlet. Puts the Englishman upon the dining committee. Conversation in the Linden Walk. Humboldt's study. Various members of the family of Bonaparte. Lucien and his children. Louis, the king of Holland. Joseph, the king of Spain. His second daughter married to a son of Louis. To a son of Louis. Their taste. Drawings and lithographs. Her death. My first visit to Paris was made in company with my friend John Herschel. On reaching Abaville we wanted breakfast and I undertook to order it. Each of us usually required a couple of eggs. I preferred having mine moderately boiled, but my friend required his to be boiled quite hard. Having explained this matter to the waiter, I concluded by instructing him that each of us required two eggs, thus cooked, concluding my order with the words pour chacun deux. The garçon ran along the passage halfway towards the kitchen and then called out in his loudest tone. I brushed into such a fit of uncontrollable laughter at this absurd misunderstanding of chacun deux for cinquante deux, that it was some time before I could explain it to Herschel and but for his running into the kitchen to countermand it the half hundred of eggs would have assuredly been simmering over the fire. A few days after our arrival in Paris we dined with Laplace where we met a large party, most of whom were members of the institute. The story had already arrived at Paris having rapidly passed through several editions. 52 Eggs To my great amusement one of the party told the company that a few days before two young Englishmen being at Abbeville had ordered 52 eggs to be boiled for their breakfast and that they ate up every one of them, as well as a large pie which was put before them. My next neighbour at dinner asked me if I thought it probable. I replied that there was no absurdity a young Englishman would not occasionally commit. One morning Herschel and I called on Laplace who spoke to us of various English works on mathematical subjects. Amongst others he mentioned with approbation, we were both quite at a loss to know to what work he referred. Herschel and I had not written any joint work, although we had together translated the work of Laquois, the volume of the memoirs of the analytical society though really our joint production was not known to be such and it was also clear that Laplace did not refer to that work. Perceiving that we did not recognise the name of the author to whom he referred, Laplace varied the pronunciation by calling him the first word being pronounced as the French word and the second as the English word deuce. Upon further explanation it turned out that Laplace meant to speak of a work published by Woodhouse whose name is in the pronunciation of the French so very like Fourier and Bio. Poisson, Fourier and Bio were amongst my earliest friends in Paris. Fourier, then Secretary of the Institute, had accompanied the first Napoleon in his expedition to Egypt. His profound acquaintance with analysis remains recorded in his works. His unaffected and genial manner, the vast extent of his acquirements, and his admirable taste, conspicuous even in the apartments he inhabited, were most felt by those who were honoured by his friendship. With Monsieur Bio I became acquainted in early life. He was then surrounded by a happy family. In my occasional visits to Paris I never omitted an opportunity of paying my respects to him. When deprived of those supports and advanced in life, he still earnestly occupied himself in carrying out the investigations of his earlier years. His son, Monsieur Bio, a profound oriental scholar who did me the honour of translating the economy of manufacturers, died many years before his father. In one of my visits to Paris at a period when beards had become fashionable amongst a certain class of my countrymen, I met Bio. After our first greeting, looking me full in the face, he said, my dear friend, you are the best-shaved man in Europe. Bio and the Difference Engine At a later period I took with me to Paris the complete drawings of Difference Engine Number Two. As soon as I had hung them up round my own apartments to explain them to my friends, I went to the College de France where Monsieur Bio resided. I mentioned to him the fact and said that if it was a subject in which he was interested and had leisure to look at these drawings, I should have great pleasure in bringing them to him and giving him any explanation that he might desire. I told him, however, that I was fully aware how much the time of every man who really adds to science must be occupied and that I made this proposal rather to satisfy my own mind that I had not neglected one of my oldest friends, than in the expectation that he had time for the examination of this new subject. The answer of my friend was remarkable. After thanking me in the warmest terms for this mark of friendship, he explained to me that the effect of age upon his own mind was to render the pursuit of any new inquiry a matter of slow and painful effort, but that in following out the studies of his youth, he was not so much impeded. He added that in those subjects he could still study with satisfaction and even make advances in them, assisted in the working out of his views experimentally by the aid of his younger friends. I was much gratified by this unreserved expression of the state of the case, and I am sure those younger men who so kindly assisted the aged philosopher will be glad to know that their assistance was duly appreciated. The last time during Monsieur Bieux's life that I visited Paris, I went as usual to the College de France. I inquired of the servant who opened the door after the state of Monsieur Bieux's health, which was admitted to be feeble. I then asked whether he was well enough to see an old friend. Bieux himself had heard the latter part of this conversation. Coming into the passage, he seized my hand and said, My dear friend, I would see you even if I were dying. Alexander Humboldt One of the most remarkable characteristics of Humboldt's mind was that he not merely loved and pursued science for its own sake, but that he derived pleasure from assisting with his information and advice any other inquirer, however humble, who might need it. Humboldt at Paris In one of my visits to Paris, Humboldt was sitting with me when a friend of mine, an English clergyman who had just arrived in Paris and had only two days to spare for it, called upon me to ask my assistants about getting access to certain manuscripts. Putting into Humboldt's hand a tract lying on my table, I asked him to excuse me for a few minutes, whilst I gave what advice I could to my countrymen. My friend told me that he wanted to examine a manuscript which he was informed was in a certain library in a certain street in Paris, that he knew nobody in the city to help him in his mission. Humboldt, having heard this statement, came over to us and said, if you will introduce me to your friend, I can put him in the way of seeing the manuscripts he is in search of. He then explained that the manuscripts had been removed to another library in Paris and proposed to give my friend a note of introduction to the librarian and mentioned other manuscripts and other libraries in which he would find information upon the same subject. Many years after, being at Vienna, I heard that Humboldt was at Teutblitz, a circumstance which induced me to visit that town. On my arrival, I found he had left it a few days before on his return to Berlin. In the course of a few days, I followed him to that city and having arrived in the middle of the day, I took apartments in the Linden Walk and got all my travelling apparatus in order. I then went out to call on Humboldt, finding that he had gone to dine with his brother William, who resided at a short distance from Berlin, I therefore merely left my card. The next morning, at seven o'clock, before I was out of bed, I received a very kind note from Humboldt to ask me to breakfast with him at nine. In a post script, he added, What are the moving molecules of Robert Brown? These atoms of dead matter in rapid motion, when examined under the microscope, were then exciting great attention amongst philosophers. I met at breakfast several of Humboldt's friends, with whose names and reputation I was well acquainted. Great Meeting of German Philosophers Humboldt himself expressed great pleasure that I should have visited Berlin to attend the Great Meeting of German Philosophers, who in a few weeks were going to assemble in that capital. I assured him that I was quite unaware of the intended meeting, and had directed my steps to Berlin merely to enjoy the pleasure of his society. I soon perceived that this meeting of philosophers, on a very large scale, supported by the King and by all the science of Germany, might itself have a powerful influence upon the future progress of human knowledge. Amongst my companions at the breakfast table were Dirichlet and Magnus. In the court of the morning Humboldt mentioned to me that his own duties required his attendance on the King every day at three o'clock, and having also in his hands the organisation of the Great Meeting of Philosophers, it would not be in his power to accompany me as much as he wished, in seeing the various institutions in Berlin. He said that under these circumstances he had asked his two young friends Dirichlet and Magnus to supply his place. During many weeks of my residence in Berlin, I felt the daily advantage of this thoughtful kindness of Humboldt. Accompanied by one or other, and frequently by both, of my young friends, I saw everything to the best advantage, and derived an amount of information and instruction, which under less favourable circumstances it would have been impossible to have obtained. The next morning I again breakfasted with Humboldt. On the previous day I had mentioned that I was making a collection of the signs employed in map making. I now met von Buch and General Rohl, both of whom were profoundly acquainted with that subject. I had searched in vain for any specimen of a map shaded upon the principle of lines of equal elevation. Von Buch, the next morning, gave me an engraving of a small map upon that principle, which was I believe at that time the only one existing. After breakfast we went into Humboldt's study to look at something he wished to show us. In turning over his papers, which like my own were lying apparently in great disorder upon the table, he picked up the cover of a letter on which was written a number of names in different parallel columns. That, he observed incidentally, is for you. After he had shown us the object of our visit to his sanctum, he reverted to the envelope which he put into my hands, explaining that he had grouped roughly together for my use all the remarkable men then in Berlin and several of those who were expected. These he had arranged in classes, men of science, men of letters, sculptors, painters and artists generally, instrument makers and so on. This list I found very convenient for reference. The author put on the dining committee. When the time of the great meeting approached, it became necessary to prepare the arrangements for the convenience of the assembled science of Europe. One of the first things of course was the important question how they were to dine. A committee was therefore appointed to make experiment by dining successively at each of the three or four hotels competing for the honour of providing a table dote for the savans. Humboldt put me on that committee remarking that an Englishman always appreciates a good dinner. The committee performed their agreeable duty in a manner quite satisfactory to themselves and I hope also to the digestions of the Naturforciers. Conversation in the Linden Walk During the meeting much gaiety was going on at Berlin. One evening previous to our parties I was walking in the Linden Walk with Humboldt discussing the singularities of several of our learned acquaintance. My companion made many acute and very amusing remarks. Some of these were a little caustic but not one was ill natured. I had contributed a very small and much less brilliant share to this conversation when the clock striking warned us that the hour for our visits had arrived. I never shall forget the expression of archeness which lighted up Humboldt's countenance when shaking my hand he said in English my dear friend I think it may be as well that we should not speak of each other until we meet again. We then each kept our respective engagements and met again at the most richer shea of all a concert at Mendelssohn's. Of the Bonaparte family from my father's house on the coast near Tynmouth we could with a telescope see every ship which entered Torbay. When the anchored the news was rapidly spread that Napoleon was on board. On hearing the rumour I put a small telescope into my pocket and mounting my horse rode over to Torbay. A crowd of boats surrounded the ship then six miles distant but by the aid of my glass I saw upon the quarter deck that extraordinary man with many members of whose family I subsequently became acquainted. Of those who are no more I may without impropriety say a few words. My first acquaintance with several branches of the family of Napoleon Bonaparte arose under the following circumstances Lucian Bonaparte. When his elder brother Lucian to avoid the necessity of accepting a kingdom fled from his imperial brother and took refuge in England his position was either not well understood or perhaps was entirely mistaken. Lucian seems to have been looked upon with suspicion by our government and was placed in the middle of England under a species of espionage. Political parties then ran high and he did not meet with those attentions which has varied and highly cultivated tastes especially in the fine arts. Entitled him to receive as a stranger in a foreign land. A family connection of mine residing in Worcestershire was in the habit of visiting Lucian Bonaparte. Thus in my occasional visit to my brother-in-law's place I became acquainted with the Prince of Canino. In after years when he occasionally visited London I had generally the pleasure of seeing him. In 1828 I met up Rome the eldest son of Lucian who introduced me to his sisters Lady Dudley Stewart and the Princess Gabriele Louis the King of Holland. In the same year I became acquainted at Bologna with the Princess de Culano another daughter of Lucian who I afterwards met at Florence at the palace of her uncle Louis the former King of Holland. During a residence of several months in that city I was a frequent guest at the family table of the Comte Saint-Louis. One of his sons had married the Princess Charlotte the second daughter of the King of Spain and most accomplished excellent and charming person. They reminded me much of a sensible English couple in the best class of English society both had great taste in the fine arts. The Prince had a workshop at the top of the palace in which he had a variety of tools and a lithographic printing press. Occasionally in the course of their morning drives some picturesque scene in that beautiful country would arrest their attention stopping the carriage they would select a favourite spot and the Princess would then make a sketch of it. At other times they would spend the evening the Prince in extemporizing an imaginary scene which he described to his wife who with admirable skill embodied upon paper the tasteful conceptions of her husband. These sketches then passed up to the workshop of the Prince were transferred to stone and in a few days lithographic impressions descended to the drawing room. I fortunately possess some of these impressions which I highly value not only as the productions of an amiable and most accomplished lady but of one who did not shrink from the severer duties of life and died in fulfilling them. After the melancholy loss of her husband the Princess Charlotte remained with her father who resided at one period in the Regent's Park where I from time to time paid my respects to them. Occasionally I received them at my own house. One summer letters from Florence reached them announcing the dangerous illness of the Comte de Saint-Louis. The daughter of Joseph immediately set out alone for Florence to minister to the comfort of her uncle and father-in-law On her return from Italy she was attacked by cholera and died in the south of France. End of section 16 Section 17 Experience by Water So I took advantage of a slight recess in the rock to protect my clothes from the snow undressed and swam out after my game which I succeeded in capturing. The next day having got the cook to roast it I tried to eat it but this was by no means an agreeable task so for the future I left the seabirds to the quiet possession of their own dominion. Walking in the water Shortly after this whilst residing on the beautiful banks of the dart I constantly indulged in swimming in its waters one day an idea struck me that it was possible by the aid of some simple mechanism to walk upon the water or at least to keep in a vertical position and have head shoulders and arms above the water. My plan was to attach to each foot two boards closely connected together by hinges themselves fixed to the sole of the shoe. My theory was that in lifting up my leg as in the act of walking the two boards would close up towards each other whilst on pushing down on my foot the water would rush between the boards causing them to open out into a flat surface and thus offer greater resistance to my sinking in the water. I took a pair of boots for my experiment and cutting up a couple of old useless volumes with very thick binding I fixed the boards by hinges in the way I proposed I placed some obstacle between the two flaps of each book to prevent them from approaching too nearly to each other so as to impede their opening by the pressure of the water. I now went down to the river and thus prepared walked into the water. I then struck out to swim as usual and found little difficulty. Only it seemed necessary to keep the feet farther apart. I now tried the grand experiment. For a time by active exertion of my legs I kept my head and shoulders above water and sometimes also my arms. I was now floating down the river with a receding tide sustained in a vertical position with a very slight exertion of force but unfortunately one pair of my hinges got out of order and refused to perform its share of the propulsion. The result was that I became lopsided. I was therefore obliged to swim which I now did with considerable exertion but another difficulty soon occurred. The instrument on the disabled side refused to do its share in propelling me. The tide was rapidly carrying me down the river. My own exertions alone would have made me revolve in a small circle. Consequently I was obliged to swim in a spiral. It was very difficult to calculate the curve I was describing upon the surface of the water and still more so to know at what point, if at any, I might hope to reach its banks again. I became very much fatigued by my efforts and endeavoured to relieve myself for a time by resuming the vertical position. After floating or rather struggling for some time my feet at last touched the bottom. With some difficulty and much exertion I now gained the bank on which I lay down in a state of great exhaustion. This experiment satisfied me of the danger as well as of the practicability of my plan and ever after when in the water I preferred trusting to my own unassisted powers. Danger in the Thames Tunnel At the close of the year 1827 as I anticipated a long absence from England I paid a visit to the Thames Tunnel in the construction of which I took a great interest. My eldest son, then about 12 years of age accompanied me in this visit. I fortunately found the younger Brunel at the works who kindly took us with him into the workings.  As we were conversing together I observed some commotion in the upper cell on the right hand side. From its higher corner there entered a considerable stream of liquid mud. Brunel ran directly to the shield. A line of workmen was instantly formed and whatever tools or timber was required was immediately conveyed to the spot. On the proper time for running away I observed the progress with some anxiety since but a short time before a similar occurrence had been the prelude to the inundation of the whole tunnel. I remained watching the fit time if necessary to run away but also noticing what effect the apparent danger had on my son. After a short time it was clear that the ingress of liquid mud had been checked and in a few minutes more Brunel returned to me having this time succeeded in stopping up the breach. I then inquired what was really the nature of the danger we had escaped.  The next day I embarked for Holland and in about a week after I read in Gagliani's newspaper that the Thames had again broken into the tunnel that five or six of the workmen had been drowned and that Brunel himself had escaped with great difficulty by swimming. In 1818 during a visit to Plymouth I had an opportunity of going down in a diving bell. I was accompanied by two friends and the usual director of that machine. The diving bell in which I descended was a cast iron vessel about six feet long by four feet and a half wide and five feet eight inches high. In the top of the bell there were twelve circular apertures each about six inches in diameter filled by thick plate glass fixed by watertight cement exactly in the center there were a number of small holes through which the air was continually pumped in from above. At the ends of the bell are two seats placed at such a height that the top of the head is but a few inches below the top of the bell these will conveniently hold two persons each exactly in the middle of the bell and about six inches above its lower edge is placed a narrow board on which the feet of the divers rest. On one side nearly on a level with the shoulders is a small shelf with a ledge to contain a few tools chalk for writing messages and a ring to which a small rope is tied. A board is connected with this rope and after writing any orders on the board with a piece of chalk on giving it a pull this superintendent above round whose arm the other end of the rope is fastened will draw it up to the surface and if necessary return an answer by the same conveyance. In order to enter the bell it is raised about three or four feet above the surface of the water and the boat in which the persons who propose descending are seated is brought immediately under it. The bell is then lowered so as to enable them to step upon the footboard within it and having taken their seats the boat is removed and the bell gradually descends to the water. Sensations in a diving bell. On touching the surface and thus cutting off the communication with the external air a peculiar sensation is perceived in the ears it is not however painful the attention is soon directed to another object the air rushing in through the valve at the top of the bell overflows and escapes with a considerable bubbling noise under the sides the motion of the bell proceeds slowly and almost imperceptibly and on looking at the glass lenses close to the head when the top of the machine just reaches the surface of the water it may be perceived by means of the little impurities which float about in it flowing into the recesses containing the glasses a pain now begins to be felt in the ears arising from the increased external pressure this may sometimes be removed by the act of yawning or by closing the nostrils and mouth and attempting to force air through the ears as soon as the equilibrium is established the pain ceases but recommences almost immediately by the continuance of the descent on returning the same sensation of pain is felt in the ears but it now arises from the dense air which had filled them endeavoring as the pressure is removed to force its way out observation in diving bell if the water is clear and not much disturbed the light in the bell is very considerable and even at the depth of 20 feet was more than as usual in many sitting rooms within the distance of 8 or 10 feet the stones at the bottom begin to be visible the pain in the ears still continues to occur at intervals until the descent of the bell terminates by its resting on the ground the light is sufficient after passing through 20 feet of seawater even for delicate experiments and a far less quantity is enough for the work which is usually performed in those situations the temperatures of the hand and of the mouth under the tongue were measured by a thermometer but they did not seem to differ from those which had been determined by the same instrument previous to the descent at least the difference did not amount to one sixth of a degree of Fahrenheit scale the pulse was more frequent a small magnetic needle did not appear to have entirely lost its directive power when placed on the footboard in the middle of the bell but its direction was not the same as that which had indicated on shore this was determined by directing by means of signals the workmen above to move the bell in the direction of one of the coordinates a stick then being pressed against the bottom drew a line parallel to that coordinate its direction by compass was ascertained in the bell and the direction of the coordinate was determined on returning to the surface after leaving the bell signals are communicated by workmen in the bell to those above by striking against the side of the bell with a hammer those most frequently wanted are indicated by the fewest number of blows thus a single stroke is to require more air the sound is heard very distinctly by those above but it must be confessed that two persons unaccustomed to it the force with which a weighty hammer is driven against so brittle a material as cast iron is a little alarming after ascending a few inches from the bottom the air in the bell became slightly obscured at the distance of a few feet this appearance increased before it had half reached the surface it was evident that the whole atmosphere contained was filled with a mist or cloud which at last began to condense in large drops on the whole of the internal surface the explanation of this phenomenon seems to be that on the rising of the bell the pressure on the air within being diminished by a weight equal to several feet of water it began to expand and some portion of it escaping under the edges of the bell reduced the temperature of that which remains so much that it was unable to retain in the state of invisible vapor the water which it had previously held in solution thus the same principle which constantly produces clouds in the atmosphere filled the diving bell with mist submarine navigation this first led me to consider the much more extensive question of submarine navigation i was aware that falton had already descended in a diving vessel and remained under water during several hours he also carried down a copper sphere containing one cubic foot of space into which he had forced 200 atmospheres with these means he remained under water and moved about at pleasure during four hours open submarine vessel but a closed vessel is obviously a little use for the most important purposes to which submarine navigation would be applied in case of war in the article diving bell published in 1826 in the encyclopedia metropolitana i gave a description and drawings of an open submarine vessel which would contain sufficient air for the consumption of four persons during more than two days a few years ago i understand experiments were made in the seine at paris on a similar kind of open diving vessel such a vessel could be propelled by a screw and might enter without being suspected any harbor and place any amount of explosive matter under the bottoms of ships at anchor such means of attack would render even iron and iron clad ships unsafe when blockading a port for though chains were kept constantly passing under their keels it would yet to be possible to more explosive magazines at some distance below which would effectively destroy them end of section 17 recording by steven harvey section 18 of passages from the life of a philosopher this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org passages from the life of a philosopher by charles babbage section 18 experience by fire baked in an oven calling one morning upon chantry i met captain cater and the late sir thomas laurance the president of the royal academy chantry was engaged at that period and casting a large bronze statue an oven of considerable size had been built for the purpose of drying the molds i made several inquiries about it and chantry kindly offered to let me pay at a visit and thus ascertained by my own feelings the effects of high temperature on the human body i willingly accepted the proposal and captain cater offered to accompany me sir thomas laurance who was suffering from indisposition did not think it prudent to join our party in fact he died on the second or third day after our experiment the iron folding doors of the small room or oven were opened captain cater and myself entered and they were then closed upon us the further corner of the room which was paved with squared stones was visibly of a dull red heat the thermometer marked if i recollect rightly 265 degrees the pulse was quickened and i ought to have counted but did not count the number of inspirations per minute perspiration commenced immediately and was very copious we remained i believe about five or six minutes without very great discomfort and i experienced no subsequent inconvenience from the result of the experiment a living volcano i have never been so fortunate as to be conscious of having experienced the least shock of an earthquake although when a town had been destroyed in iskia i hastened on from roam in the hope of getting a slight shake my passion was disappointed so i consoled myself by a flirtation with a volcano visuvius coronets of smoke the situation of my apartments during my residence at naples enabled me constantly to see the cone of visuvius and the continual projections of matter from its crater amongst these were occasionally certain globes of air or of some gas which being shot upwards to a great height above the cone spread out into huge coronets of smoke having a singular motion amongst their particles a similar phenomenon sometimes occurs on a small scale during the firing of heavy ordinance i have frequently seen such at plimoth and elsewhere but i was not satisfied about the cause of this phenomenon i was told that it occurred more frequently if the muzzle of the gun were rubbed with grease but this did not always succeed artificial imitation soon after my return to london i made a kind of drum by stretching wet parchment over a large tin funnel on directing the point of the funnel at a candle placed a few feet distant and giving a smart blow upon the parchment it is observed that the candle is immediately extinguished this arises from what is called an air shot in fact the air in the tubular part is projected bodily forward and so blows out the candle the statements about persons being killed by cannonballs passing close to but not touching them if true are probably the results of air shots wishing to trace the motions of such air shots i added two small tubes towards the large end of the tin funnel in order that i might fill it with smoke and thus trace more distinctly the progress of the ball of air to my great delight the first blow produced a beautiful coronet of smoke exactly resembling on a small scale the explosions from cannon or the still more attractive ones from visuvius if phosphoretid hydrogen or any other gas which takes fire in air were thus projected upwards a very singular kind of firework would be produced it is possible in dark nights or in fogs that by such means signals might be made to communicate news or to warn vessels of danger visuvius was then in a state of moderate activity it had a huge cone of ashes on its summit surrounding an extensive crater of great depth in one corner of this was a smaller crater quite on a diminutive scale from which from time to time ejected red hot fragments of lava occasionally to the height of from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet above the summit of the mountain i had taken apartments in the kiaja just opposite the volcano in order that i might watch it with a telescope in fact as i lay in my bed i had an excellent view of the mountain my next step was to consult with salvatore the most experienced of the guides from whom i had purchased a good many minerals as to the possibility of getting a peep down the volcano's throat as sent to the crater by night salvatore undertook to report to me from time to time the state of the mountain around the base of which i made frequent excursions after about a fortnight the explosions were more regular and uniform and salvatore assured me that all the usual known indications led him to think that it was a fit time for my expedition as i wish to see as much as possible i made arrangements to economize my strength by using horses or mules to carry me wherever they could go where they could not carry me as for instance up the steep slope of the cone of ashes i employed men to convey me in a chair by these means i saw in the afternoon and evening of one day a good deal of the upper part of the mountain then took a few hours repose in a hut and reached the summit of the cone long before sunrise it was still almost dark we stood upon the irregular edge of a vast gulf spread out below at the depth of about 500 feet the plane at the bottom would have been invisible but for an irregular network of bright red cracks spread over the whole of its surface now and then the silence was broken by a rush upwards of a flight of red hot scoria from the diminutive crater within the large one these missiles however although projected high above the summit of the cone never extended themselves much beyond the small cavity from which they issued those who have seen the blood vessels of their own eye by the aid of an artificial light will have seen on a small scale a perfect resemblance of the plane which at that time formed the bottom of the great crater of asuvius sunrise from the summit as the morning advanced the light increased and some time before sunrise we had completed the tour of the top of the great crater then followed that glorious sight the sun when seen rising from the top of some lofty mountain i now began to speculate upon the means of getting a nearer view of the little miniature volcano in action at one corner of the gulf beneath us we had brought ropes with us and i had observed in our tour on the crater every dike of congealed lava by which the massive cone was split these presented buttresses with frequent ledges or huge steps by which i hoped with the aid of ropes to descend into the tartarus below having consulted with our chief guide salvatore i found that he was unwilling to accompany us and proposed remaining with the other guides on the upper edge of the crater upon the whole i was not discontented with the arrangement because it left a responsible person to keep the other guides in order and also sufficient force to lift us up bodily by the ropes if that should become necessary the abruptness of the rocky buttresses compelled us to use ropes but the attempt to traverse the steep inclines of light ashes and a fine sand would have been more dangerous from the risk of being engulfed in them to send into the crater having well examined the several disadvantages of these rough hue and irregular titanic stairs i selected one which seemed the most promising for facilitating our descent into the crater i was encumbered with one of troughton's heavy barometers strapped to my back looking much like cupid's quiver though probably rather heavier in my pocket i had an excellent box sextant and in a rough kind of basket two or three thermometers a measuring tape and a glass bottle and closed in a leather case commonly called a pocket pistol accompanied by a few biscuits we began our descent by the aid of two ropes each supported above by two guides i proceeded trusting to my rope to step wherever i could and then cautiously holding on by the rope to spring down to the next ledge in this manner we descended until we arrived at the last projecting ledge of the dike nothing then remained for us but to slide down a steep and lengthened incline of fine sand fortunately the sand itself was not very deep and was supported by some solid material beneath it i soon found that it was impossible to stand so i sat down upon this moving mass which evidently intended to accompany us in our journey at first to my great dismay i was relieved from the care of my barometer of which the runaway sand immediately took charge i then found myself getting deeper and deeper in the sand and still accelerating my downward velocity gravity had at last done its work and became powerless i soon dug myself out of my sandy couch and rushed to my faithful barometer lying at some distance from me with its head just unburied fortunately it was uninjured my companion with more skill or good fortune or with less incumbrances had safely alighted on the burning plane we now stood upon the area of this plane for it was perfectly flat was in shape somewhat elliptical the surface consisted of a black scoracious rock reticulated with ditches from one to three feet wide intersecting each other in every direction from some of these fumes not of the most agreeable odor were issuing all those above two feet deep showed that at that depth below us everything was of a dull red heat it was these ditches with red hot bottoms which in the darkness of the night had presented the singular spectacle i described as having witnessed on the evening before measurement of a base at one extremity of this old plane there was a small cone from which the eruptions before described appeared to issue my first step after examining the few instruments i had brought with me was to select a spot upon which to measure a base for ascertaining the depth of the crater from its upper edge having decided upon my baseline i took with my sextant the angle of elevation of the rim of the crater above a remarkable spot on a level with my eye then fixing my walking stick into a little crack in the scoria i proceeded to measure with a tape a baseline of three hundred forty feet arrived at this point i again took the angle of the elevation of the same part of the rim from the same remarkable spot on a level with the eye then by way of verification i re-measured my baseline and found it only differed from the former measure by somewhat less than one foot but my walking stick which had not penetrated the crack more than a few inches was actually in flames having noted down these facts including the state of the thermometer and perometer in my pocketbook i took first a survey and then a tour about my fiery domain i afterwards found from the result of this measurement that our baseline was five hundred seventy feet below one of the lowest points at the edge of the crater having collected a few mineral specimens i applied myself to observe and register the eruptions of the little embryo volcano at the further extremity of the elliptical plane descent into small active crater these periodical eruptions interested me very much i proceeded to observe and register them and found they occurred at tolerably regular intervals at first i performed this operation at a respectful distance and out of the reach of the projected red hot scoria but as i acquired confidence in their general regularity i approached from time to time more nearly to the little cone of scoria produced by its own eruptions i now perceived an opening in this little cone close to the perpendicular rock of the interior of the great crater i was very anxious to see real fluid lava so immediately after an eruption i rushed to the opening and thus got within the subsidiary crater but my curiosity was not gratified for i observed about 40 or 50 feet below me a huge projecting rock which being somewhat in advance effectively prevented me from seeing the lava lake if any such existed i then retreated to a respectful distance from this infant volcano to wait for the next explosion i continued to note the intervals of time between these jets of red hot matter and found that from 10 to 15 minutes was the range of the intervals of repose having once more reconnoitred the descent into the little volcano i seized the opportunity of the termination of one of the most considerable of its eruptions to run towards the gap and cautiously to pick my way down to the rock which hid from me as i supposed the liquid lava i was armed with two files one of common smelling salts and the other containing a solution of ammonia on reaching the rock i found it projected over a lake which was really filled by liquid fiery lava i immediately laid myself down and looking over its edge saw with great delight lava actually in a state of fusion waves in a lake of fluid lava presently i observed a small bubble swelling up on the surface of the fluid lava it became gradually larger and larger but did not burst i had some vague suspicion that this indicated a coming eruption but on looking at my watch i was assured that only one minute had elapsed since the termination of the last i therefore watched its progress after a time the bubble slowly subsided without breaking i now found the heat of the rock on which i was reposing and the radiation from the fluid lava almost insupportable whilst the sulfurous effluvium painfully affected my lungs on looking around i fortunately observed a spot a few feet above me from which i could in a standing position get a better view of the lake and perhaps suffer less inconvenience from its vapors having reached this spot i continued to observe the slow formation and absorption of these vesicles of lava one of them soon appeared another soon followed at a different part of the fiery lake but like its predecessor it disappeared as quietly another swelling now arose about halfway distant from the center of the cauldron which enlarged much beyond its predecessors in point of size it attained a diameter of about three feet and then burst but not with any explosion the waves it propagated in the fiery fluid passed on to the sides and were then reflected back just as would have happened in a lake of water of the same dimensions this phenomenon reappeared several times some of the bubbles being considerably larger in size and making a proportionally greater disturbance in the liquid of this miniature crater i would gladly have remained a longer time but the excessive heat the noxious vapors and the warning of my chronometer forbade it i climbed back through the gap by which i had descended and rushed as fast as i could to a safe distance from the coming eruption i was much exhausted by the heat although i suffered still greater inconvenience from the vapors from my observations of the eruptions before my descent into this little crater i had estimated that i might safely allow myself six minutes but not more than eight if i descended into the crater immediately after an eruption if my memory does not fail me i passed about six minutes in examining it and the next explosion occurred ten minutes after the former one on my return to naples i found that a pair of thick boots i had worn on this expedition were entirely destroyed by the heat and fell to pieces in my attempt to take them off biscuits and whiskey on my return from the pit of burning fire i sat down with my companion to refresh myself with a few biscuits contained in our basket cold water would have been the most refreshing fluid we could have desired but we had none and my impatient friend cried out i wish i had a glass of whiskey it immediately occurred to me to feel in my own basket for a certain glass bottle preserved in a tight letter case which fortunately being found i presented to my astonished friend with the remark that it contained half a pint of the finest irish whiskey this piece of good luck for my fellow traveler arose not from my love but from my dislike of whiskey shortly before my italian tour i had been traveling in the north of ireland and having exhausted my brandy was unable to replace it by anything but whiskey a drink which i can only tolerate under very exceptional circumstances hot springs during my residence at naples in 1828 the government appointed a commission of members of the royal academy of naples to visit iskia and make a report upon the hot springs in that island being a foreign member of the academy they did me the honor of placing my name upon that commission the weather was very favorable the party was most agreeable and during three or four days i enjoyed the society of my colleagues the delightful scenery and the highly interesting natural phenomena of that singular island hot springs of iskia none of the hot springs were deep in several we made excavations which in all cases gave increased heat to the water in one or two i believe if we had excavated to the small depth or bored a few feet we might have met with boiling water i took the opportunity of this visit to view the devastations made by the recent earthquake in the small town which had been destroyed the greater part of the town consisted of narrow streets formed by small houses built of squared stone in some of these streets the houses on one side were thrown down whilst those a few feet distant on the opposite side although severely damaged had their walls left standing the landlord of the hotel at which we took up our quarters assured me the effects of the recent earthquake were entirely confined to a small portion of the island which he pointed out from the front of his hotel and added that it was scarcely felt in other parts earthquakes at the commencement of this chapter i mentioned i had never been consciously sensible of the occurrence of an earthquake i think it may perhaps be useful to state that on a recent occasion i really perceived the effects of an earthquake although at the time i assigned them to a different cause unconscious witness of earthquake on the 6th of last october about half past three a.m most of the inhabitants of london who were awake at that hour perceived several shocks of an earthquake i also was awake although not conscious of the shocks of an earthquake as soon as i read of the event in the morning papers i was forcibly struck by its coincidence with my own observations although i had attributed them to an entirely different cause in order to explain this it is necessary to premise that i had on a former occasion instituted some experiments for the purpose of ascertaining how far off the passing of a cart or carriage would affect the steadiness of a star observed by reflection amongst other methods i had fixed a looking glass of about 12 by 16 inches by a pair of hinges to the front wall of my bedroom it was usually so placed that as i lay in bed at the distance of about 10 or 12 feet i could see by reflection a small gas light burner which was placed on my left hand by this arrangement any tremors propagated through the earth from passing carriages would be communicated to the looking glass by means of the front wall of the house which rose about 40 feet from the surface the image of the small gas burner reflected in the looking glass would be proportionally disturbed in this state of things at about half past three o'clock of the morning in question i observed the reflected image of the gas light move downwards and upwards two or three times i then listened attentively expecting to hear the sound of a distant carriage or cart hearing nothing of the kind i concluded that the earth wave had traveled beyond the limit of the sound wave arising from the carriage which produced it presently the image of the gas light again vibrated up and down and then suddenly fell about four or five inches lower down in the glass where it remained fixed for a time still thinking the observation of no consequence i shut my eyes and after perhaps another minute again saw the image in its lower position it then rose to its former position vibrated and shortly again descended it remained down for some time and then resumed its first position fire damp an opportunity presented itself several years after my examination of the suvious of witnessing another form under which fire occasionally exerts its formidable power i was visiting a friend the late sir john j guest baronet at murther tidville who possessed very extensive coal mines i inquired of my host whether any fire damp existed in them on receiving an affirmative answer i expressed a wish to become personally acquainted with the miners invisible but most dangerous enemy arrangements were therefore made for my visit to the subterranean world on the following day professor maul of utrekt who was also a guest expressed a wish to accompany me the entrance to the mine is situated in the side of a mountain its chief manager conducted our expedition to visit the fire king we found a coal wagon drawn by a horse and filled with clean straw standing on the railway which led into the workings the manager professor maul and myself together with two or three assistants with candles lanterns and davy lamps got into this vehicle which immediately entered the adit of the mine we advanced at a good pace passing at intervals doors which opened on our approach and then instantly closed each door had an attendant boy whose duty was confined to the regulation of his own door many were the doors we passed before we arrived at the termination of the tram road after traveling about a mile and a half our carriage stopped and we alighted we now proceeded on foot each carrying his own candle until we reached a kind of chamber where one of our attendance was left with the candles drive into the mountain we each holding a davy lamp in our hand advanced towards a small opening in the side of this chamber which was so low that we were compelled to crawl one after another on our hands and knees a powerful current of air rushed through this small passage on reaching the end of it we found ourselves in a much larger chamber from which the coal had been excavated at a little distance opposite to the path by which we had entered was a continuation of the same narrow hole which had led us to the waste in which we now stood from this opening issued the powerful stream of air which seemed to pass in a direct course from one opening to the other on our right hand the large chamber we had entered appeared to spread to a very considerable distance its termination being lost in darkness the floor was covered with fragments which had fallen from the roof so that besides the risk from explosion there was also a minor one arising from the possible fall of some huge massive slate from the roof of the excavation beneath which we stood an accident which I had already witnessed in the waste of another coal mine as we advanced over this flaky flooring it was evident that we were making a considerable ascent we in fact now occupied a vast cavern which had been originally formed by the extraction of the coal and then partially filled up by the falling in from time to time portions of the slaty roof temple of the fire king as we advanced cautiously with our devi lamps beyond the current of air which had hitherto accompanied us it was evident that a change had taken place in their light for the flames became much enlarged professor maul and myself mounted a huge heap of these fragments and thus came into contact with the air highly charged with carboratid hydrogen at this point there was a very sensible difference in the atmosphere even by a change of three feet in the elevation of the lamp holding up the lamp at the level of my head i could not see the wick of the lamp but a general flame seemed to fill the inside of its wire covering on lowering it to the height of my knee the wick resumed its large nebulous appearance my companion professor maul was very much delighted with this experiment he told me he had often at his lectures explained these effects to his pupils but that this was the first exhibition of them he had ever witnessed in their natural home although well acquainted with the miniature explosions of the experimentalist i found it very difficult to realize in my own mind the effects which might result from an explosion under the circumstances in which we were then placed i inquired of the manager who stood by my side what would probably be the effect if an explosion were to take place pointing to the vast heap of shale from which i had just descended he said the whole of that would be blown through the narrow channel by which we entered and every door we had passed through would be blown down we now retraced our steps and crawling back through the narrow passage rejoined our courage and were rapidly conveyed to the light of day end of section 18 recording by Stephen Harvey section 19 of passages from the life of a philosopher this is LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org passages from the life of a philosopher by Charles Babbage section 19 experience amongst workmen during one of my visits to Leeds combinations and trades unions were very prevalent a medical friend of mine who was going to Bradford on a professional visit very kindly offered to take me over in his carriage and bring me back again in the evening he had in that town a friend engaged in the manufactories of the place to whom he proposed to introduce me and who would willingly give me every assistance unfortunately on our arrival we found that this gentleman was absent on a tour my medical friend was much vexed but i assured him that i was never at a loss in a manufacturing town and we agreed to meet at our hotel for dinner i then went into the town to pick up what information i might be able to meet with intelligent operative passing a small manufacturing i think it was of doormats i inquired whether a stranger might be permitted to see it the answer being in the affirmative one of the men accompanied me around the works of course i asked him many questions which he answered as far as he could but several of them puzzled him and he very good humordly tried to supply the information i wanted by asking several of his fellow workmen one question about which i was anxious to be informed puzzled them all at last one of the men to whom he applied said why don't you go and ask sam brown my guide immediately went in search of his learned friend who gave me full information on the subjects of my inquiry much pleased by the intelligence and the cuteness of this man i thought it possible he might have read the economy of manufacturers on mentioning that work i found he was well acquainted with it and he asked my opinion of its merits i told him that having myself written the book i was not an impartial judge on hearing that i was its author his delight was unbounded he held out his brawny hand which i cordially grasped the most gratifying remark to me however amongst the many things in it to which he referred with approbation was the expression he applied to it as a whole sir said my new friend that book made me think to make a man think for himself is doing him far higher service than giving him much instruction i now told my new friend that i had studied a little the effects of combinations and also the results of cooperative shops and that i was very anxious to add to my stock of information upon both subjects but particularly on the latter knowing that there existed a cooperative shop in bradford i asked whether it would be possible to see it and make some inquiries as to its state and prospects he said if he could get permission for half an hour's absence he would accompany me to it and give me whatever information i wished as to its operation cooperative shops mr brown accordingly accompanied me to the cooperative shop where the information required was most readily given as we were returning my companion exclaimed oh how lucky there is the secretary of all our clubs he is the man to tell you all about them we accordingly crossed over to the other side the secretary as soon as he heard my name held out his hand and greeted me with a hearty grasp having told him the objects of my inquiry he expressed great anxiety to give me the fullest information he proposed to take me with him in the course of the evening to all the clubs in bradford in each of which he promised me that i should receive a most cordial welcome he offered to show me all their rules with the exception of certain ones which he assured me had no connection whatever with the objects of my inquiries and which the laws of the respective clubs required to be kept secret i think it right to mention this fact but i am bound also to add that i have a strong conviction of the truth and sincerity of my informant i believe that the one or two rules which i understood could not be communicated to a stranger were merely secret modes of recognition amongst the members of the different societies by which fellow members of the same societies might recognize each other in distant places however my limited time was now drawing to a close it was impossible to remain at bradford that night and my previous arrangements called me in two days to a distant part of the country i parted with regret from these friendly workmen and joining my companion at the hotel after a hasty dinner we were soon on our way back to leeds our conversation turned upon the large ironworks we should pass on our return which indeed were clearly indicated by the columns of fire in front of us tall chimneys illuminating the darkness of the night i was told by my friend that in one of the ironworks which we should pass there was a large tunnel through a rock which had originally been intended for a canal but that it was now used as an air chamber to equalize the supply of the blast furnaces also that an engine of a hundred horsepower continually blew air into this stony chamber i inquired whether it would be possible to get admission into this temple of aeolus as my friend fortunately for me was acquainted with the proprietors this was not difficult our courage drove up to the manager's house and my wish was immediately gratified a reverie a lantern was provided a small iron door the end of the cavern was opened and armed like deogenes i entered upon my search after truth i soon ascertained that there was very little current except close to the two years which supplied the several furnaces and also at the aperture through which tons of air were driven without cessation by the untiring fiery horse i tried to think seriously and reflecting on shadrach meshak and abednego i speculated whether their furnace might have been hotter than the one before me i was within a foot or two of a white heat but i had no thermometer with me and if i had had one its graduations might not have been upon the same scale as theirs so i gave up the speculation the intensity of that fire was peculiarly impressive it recalled the past disturbed the present and suggested the future the contemplation of the fiery abyss which had recalled the history of those ancient hebrus naturally turned my attention to the wonderful powers of endurance manifested by one of their modern representatives candor obliges me to admit that my speculations on the future were not entirely devoid of anxiety though i trust they were orthodox for whilst i admired the humanity of origen i was shocked by the heresy of morrice i now began to moralize effect of a draft on contemplation blown upon by a hundred horsepower i sympathized with disraeli refrigerated by his friends turning from that painful contemplation i was calmed by the freshness of the breeze the action of the pumps the coolness of the place and of the time for it was evening recall to my recollection m m so i hope for the sake of instruction that he would in his own adamantine versus snatch if possible from oblivion the moral anatomy of that unsuccessful statesman yet less even the poet himself should be forgotten i resolved to give each of them his last chance of celebrity preserved in the modest amber of my own simple prose emerging from my reverie i made the preconcerted signal the iron door was opened and we were again on our road to leads end of section 19 recording by steven harvey