The hand-hammer has always been an important tool, and, in the form of
the stone celt, it was perhaps the first invented.  When the hammer of
iron superseded that of stone, it was found practicable in the hands of
a "cunning" workman to execute by its means metal work of great beauty
and even delicacy.  But since the invention of cast-iron, and the
manufacture of wrought-iron in large masses, the art of hammer-working
has almost become lost; and great artists, such as Matsys of Antwerp
and Rukers of Nuremberg were,[4] no longer think it worth their while
to expend time and skill in working on so humble a material as
wrought-iron.  It is evident from the marks of care and elaborate
design which many of these early works exhibit, that the workman's
heart was in his work, and that his object was not merely to get it out
of hand, but to execute it in first-rate artistic style.

When the use of iron extended and larger ironwork came to be forged,
for cannon, tools, and machinery, the ordinary hand-hammer was found
insufficient, and the helve or forge-hammer was invented.  This was
usually driven by a water-wheel, or by oxen or horses.  The tilt-hammer
was another form in which it was used, the smaller kinds being worked
by the foot.  Among Watt's various inventions, was a tilt-hammer of
considerable power, which he at first worked by means of a water-wheel,
and afterwards by a steam engine regulated by a fly-wheel.  His first
hammer of this kind was 120 lbs. in weight; it was raised eight inches
before making each blow.  Watt afterwards made a tilt-hammer for Mr.
Wilkinson of Bradley Forge, of 7 1/2 cwt., and it made 300 blows a
minute.  Other improvements were made in the hammer from time to time,
but no material alteration was made in the power by which it was worked
until Mr. Nasmyth took it in hand, and applying to it the force of
steam, at once provided the worker in iron with the most formidable of
machine-tools.  This important invention originated as follows:

In the early part of 1837, the directors of the Great Western
Steam-Ship Company sent Mr. Francis Humphries, their engineer, to
consult Mr. Nasmyth as to some engineering tools of unusual size and
power, which were required for the construction of the engines of the
"Great Britain" steamship.  They had determined to construct those
engines on the vertical trunk-engine principle, in accordance with Mr.
Humphries' designs; and very complete works were erected by them at
their Bristol dockyard for the execution of the requisite machinery,
the most important of the tools being supplied by Nasmyth and Gaskell.
The engines were in hand, when a difficulty arose with respect to the
enormous paddle-shaft of the vessel, which was of such a size of
forging as had never before been executed.  Mr. Humphries applied to
the largest engineering firms throughout the country for tenders of the
price at which they would execute this part of the work, but to his
surprise and dismay he found that not one of the firms he applied to
would undertake so large a forging.  In this dilemma he wrote to Mr.
Nasmyth on the 24th November,1838, informing him of this unlooked-for
difficulty.  "I find," said he, "there is not a forge-hammer in England
or Scotland powerful enough to forge the paddle-shaft of the engines
for the 'Great Britain!' What am I to do?  Do you think I might dare to
use cast-iron?"

This letter immediately set Mr. Nasmyth a-thinking.  How was it that
existing hammers were incapable of forging a wrought-iron shaft of
thirty inches diameter? Simply because of their want of compass, or
range and fall, as well as power of blow.  A few moments' rapid thought
satisfied him that it was by rigidly adhering to the old traditional
form of hand-hammer--of which the tilt, though driven by steam, was but
a modification--that the difficulty had arisen.  When even the largest
hammer was tilted up to its full height, its range was so small, that
when a piece of work of considerable size was placed on the anvil, the
hammer became "gagged," and, on such an occasion, where the forging
required the most powerful blow, it received next to no blow at
all,--the clear space for fall being almost entirely occupied by the
work on the anvil.

The obvious remedy was to invent some method, by which a block of iron
should be lifted to a sufficient height above the object on which it
was desired to strike a blow, and let the block fall down upon the
work,--guiding it in its descent by such simple means as should give
the required precision in the percussive action of the falling mass.
Following out this idea, Mr. Nasmyth at once sketched on paper his
steam-hammer, having it clearly before him in his mind's eye a few
minutes after receiving Mr. Humphries' letter narrating his
unlooked-for difficulty.  The hammer, as thus sketched, consisted of,
first an anvil on which to rest the work; second, a block of iron
constituting the hammer or blow-giving part; third, an inverted
steam-cylinder to whose piston-rod the block was attached.  All that
was then required to produce by such means a most effective hammer, was
simply to admit steam in the cylinder so as to act on the under side of
the piston, and so raise the block attached to the piston-rod, and by a
simple contrivance to let the steam escape and so permit the block
rapidly to descend by its own gravity upon the work then on the anvil.
Such, in a few words, is the rationale of the steam-hammer.

By the same day's post, Mr. Nasmyth wrote to Mr. Humphries, inclosing a
sketch of the invention by which he proposed to forge the "Great
Britain" paddle-shaft.  Mr. Humphries showed it to Mr. Brunel, the
engineer-inchief of the company, to Mr. Guppy, the managing director,
and to others interested in the undertaking, by all of whom it was
heartily approved.  Mr. Nasmyth gave permission to communicate his
plans to such forge proprietors as might feel disposed to erect such a
hammer to execute the proposed work,--the only condition which he made
being, that in the event of his hammer being adopted, he was to be
allowed to supply it according to his own design.

The paddle-shaft of the "Great Britain" was, however, never forged.
About that time, the substitution of the Screw for the Paddle-wheel as
a means of propulsion of steam-vessels was attracting much attention;
and the performances of the "Archimedes" were so successful as to
induce Mr. Brunel to recommend his Directors to adopt the new power.
They yielded to his entreaty.  The great engines which Mr. Humphries
had designed were accordingly set aside; and he was required to produce
fresh designs of engines suited for screw propulsion.  The result was
fatal to Mr. Humphries.  The labour, the anxiety, and perhaps the
disappointment, proved too much for him, and a brain-fever carried him
off; so that neither his great paddle-shaft nor Mr. Nasmyth's
steam-hammer to forge it was any longer needed.

The hammer was left to bide its time.  No forge-master would take it
up.  The inventor wrote to all the great firms, urging its superiority
to every other tool for working malleable iron into all kinds of forge
work.  Thus he wrote and sent illustrative sketches of his hammer to
Accramans and Morgan of Bristol, to the late Benjamin Hick and Rushton
and Eckersley of Bolton, to Howard and Ravenhill of Rotherhithe, and
other firms; but unhappily bad times for the iron trade had set in; and
although all to whom he communicated his design were much struck with
its simplicity and obvious advantages, the answer usually given
was--"We have not orders enough to keep in work the forge-hammers we
already have, and we do not desire at present to add any new ones,
however improved."  At that time no patent had been taken out for the
invention.  Mr. Nasmyth had not yet saved money enough to enable him to
do so on his own account; and his partner declined to spend money upon
a tool that no engineer would give the firm an order for.  No secret
was made of the invention, and, excepting to its owner, it did not seem
to be worth one farthing.

Such was the unpromising state of affairs, when M. Schneider, of the
Creusot Iron Works in France, called at the Patricroft works together
with his practical mechanic M. Bourdon, for the purpose of ordering
some tools of the firm.  Mr. Nasmyth was absent on a journey at the
time, but his partner, Mr. Gaskell, as an act of courtesy to the
strangers, took the opportunity of showing them all that was new and
interesting in regard to mechanism about the works.  And among other
things, Mr. Gaskell brought out his partner's sketch or "Scheme book,"
which lay in a drawer in the office, and showed them the design of the
Steam Hammer, which no English firm would adopt.  They were much struck
with its simplicity and practical utility; and M.  Bourdon took careful
note of its arrangements.  Mr. Nasmyth on his return was informed of
the visit of MM. Schneider and Bourdon, but the circumstance of their
having inspected the design of his steam-hammer seems to have been
regarded by his partner as too trivial a matter to be repeated to him;
and he knew nothing of the circumstance until his visit to France in
April, 1840.  When passing through the works at Creusot with M.
Bourdon, Mr. Nasmyth saw a crank shaft of unusual size, not only forged
in the piece, but punched.  He immediately asked, "How did you forge
that shaft?"  M. Bourdon's answer was, "Why, with your hammer, to be
sure!"  Great indeed was Nasmyth's surprise; for he had never yet seen
the hammer, except in his own drawing!  A little explanation soon
cleared all up.  M. Bourdon said he had been so much struck with the
ingenuity and simplicity of the arrangement, that he had no sooner
returned than he set to work, and had a hammer made in general
accordance with the design Mr. Gaskell had shown him; and that its
performances had answered his every expectation.  He then took Mr.
Nasmyth to see the steam-hammer; and great was his delight at seeing
the child of his brain in full and active work.  It was not, according
to Mr. Nasmyth's ideas, quite perfect, and he readily suggested several
improvements, conformable with the original design, which M. Bourdon
forthwith adopted.

On reaching England, Mr. Nasmyth at once wrote to his partner telling
him what he had seen, and urging that the taking out of a patent for
the protection of the invention ought no longer to be deferred.  But
trade was still very much depressed, and as the Patricroft firm needed
all their capital to carry on their business, Mr. Gaskell objected to
lock any of it up in engineering novelties.  Seeing himself on the
brink of losing his property in the invention, Mr. Nasmyth applied to
his brother-in-law, William Bennett, Esq., who advanced him the
requisite money for the purpose--about 280L.,--and the patent was
secured in June 1840.  The first hammer, of 30 cwt., was made for the
Patricroft works, with the consent of the partners; and in the course
of a few weeks it was in full work.  The precision and beauty of its
action--the perfect ease with which it was managed, and the untiring
force of its percussive blows--were the admiration of all who saw it;
and from that moment the steam-hammer became a recognised power in
modern mechanics.  The variety or gradation of its blows was such, that
it was found practicable to manipulate a hammer of ten tons as easily
as if it had only been of ten ounces weight.  It was under such
complete control that while descending with its greatest momentum, it
could be arrested at any point with even greater ease than any
instrument used by hand.  While capable of forging an Armstrong
hundred-pounder, or the sheet-anchor for a ship of the line, it could
hammer a nail, or crack a nut without bruising the kernel.  When it
came into general use, the facilities which it afforded for executing
all kinds of forging had the effect of greatly increasing the quantity
of work done, at the same time that expense was saved.  The cost of
making anchors was reduced by at least 50 per cent., while the quality
of the forging was improved.  Before its invention the manufacture of a
shaft of 15 or 20 cwt. required the concentrated exertions of a large
establishment, and its successful execution was regarded as a great
triumph of skill; whereas forgings of 20 and 30 tons weight are now
things of almost every-day occurrence.  Its advantages were so obvious,
that its adoption soon became general, and in the course of a few years
Nasmyth steam-hammers were to be found in every well-appointed workshop
both at home and abroad.  Many modifications have been made in the
tool, by Condie, Morrison, Naylor, Rigby, and others; but Nasmyth's was
the father of them all, and still holds its ground.[5]

Among the important uses to which this hammer has of late years been
applied, is the manufacture of iron plates for covering our ships of
war, and the fabrication of the immense wrought-iron ordnance of
Armstrong, Whitworth, and Blakely.  But for the steam-hammer, indeed,
it is doubtful whether such weapons could have been made.  It is also
used for the re-manufacture of iron in various other forms, to say
nothing of the greatly extended use which it has been the direct means
of effecting in wrought-iron and steel forgings in every description of
machinery, from the largest marine steam-engines to the most nice and
delicate parts of textile mechanism.  "It is not too much to say,"
observes a writer in the Engineer, "that, without Nasmyth's
steam-hammer, we must have stopped short in many of those gigantic
engineering works which, but for the decay of all wonder in us, would
be the perpetual wonder of this age, and which have enabled our modern
engineers to take rank above the gods of all mythologies.  There is one
use to which the steam-hammer is now becoming extensively applied by
some of our manufacturers that deserves especial mention, rather for
the prospect which it opens to us than for what has already been
actually accomplished.  We allude to the manufacture of large articles
in DIES.  At one manufactory in the country, railway wheels, for
example, are being manufactured with enormous economy by this means.
The various parts of the wheels are produced in quantity either by
rolling or by dies under the hammer; these parts are brought together
in their relative positions in a mould, heated to a welding heat, and
then by a blow of the steam hammer, furnished with dies, are stamped
into a complete and all but finished wheel.  It is evident that
wherever wrought-iron articles of a manageable size have to be produced
in considerable quantities, the same process may be adopted, and the
saving effected by the substitution of this for the ordinary forging
process will doubtless ere long prove incalculable.  For this, as for
the many other advantageous uses of the steam-hammer, we are primarily
and mainly indebted to Mr. Nasmyth.  It is but right, therefore, that
we should hold his name in honour.  In fact, when we think of the
universal service which this machine is rendering us, we feel that some
special expression of our indebtedness to him would be a reasonable and
grateful service.  The benefit which he has conferred upon us is so
great as to justly entitle him to stand side by side with the few men
who have gained name and fame as great inventive engineers, and to whom
we have testified our gratitude--usually, unhappily, when it was too
late for them to enjoy it."

Mr. Nasmyth subsequently applied the principle of the steam-hammer in
the pile driver, which he invented in 1845.  Until its production, all
piles had been driven by means of a small mass of iron falling upon the
head of the pile with great velocity from a considerable height,--the
raising of the iron mass by means of the "monkey" being an operation
that occupied much time and labour, with which the results were very
incommensurate.  Pile-driving was, in Mr. Nasmyth's words, conducted on
the artillery or cannon-ball principle; the action being excessive and
the mass deficient, and adapted rather for destructive than impulsive
action.  In his new and beautiful machine, he applied the elastic force
of steam in raising the ram or driving block, on which, the block being
disengaged, its whole weight of three tons descended on the head of the
pile, and the process being repeated eighty times in the minute, the
pile was sent home with a rapidity that was quite marvellous compared
with the old-fashioned system.  In forming coffer-dams for the piers
and abutments of bridges, quays, and harbours, and in piling the
foundations of all kinds of masonry, the steam pile driver was found of
invaluable use by the engineer.  At the first experiment made with the
machine, Mr. Nasmyth drove a 14-inch pile fifteen feet into hard ground
at the rate of 65 blows a minute.  The driver was first used in forming
the great steam dock at Devonport, where the results were very
striking; and it was shortly after employed by Robert Stephenson in
piling the foundations of the great High Level Bridge at Newcastle, and
the Border Bridge at Berwick, as well as in several other of his great
works.  The saving of time effected by this machine was very
remarkable, the ratio being as 1 to 1800; that is, a pile could be
driven in four minutes that before required twelve hours.  One of the
peculiar features of the invention was that of employing the pile
itself as the support of the steam-hammer part of the apparatus while
it was being driven, so that the pile had the percussive action of the
dead weight of the hammer as well as its lively blows to induce it to
sink into the ground.  The steam-hammer sat as it were on the shoulders
of the pile, while it dealt forth its ponderous blows on the pile-head
at the rate of 80 a minute, and as the pile sank, the hammer followed
it down with never relaxing activity until it was driven home to the
required depth.  One of the most ingenious contrivances employed in the
driver, which was also adopted in the hammer, was the use of steam as a
buffer in the upper part of the cylinder, which had the effect of a
recoil spring, and greatly enhanced the force of the downward blow.

In 1846, Mr. Nasmyth designed a form of steam-engine after that of his
steam-hammer, which has been extensively adopted all over the world for
screw-ships of all sizes.  The pyramidal form of this engine, its great
simplicity and GET-AT-ABILITY of parts, together with the circumstance
that all the weighty parts of the engine are kept low, have rendered it
a universal favourite.  Among the other labour-saving tools invented by
Mr. Nasmyth, may be mentioned the well-known planing machine for small
work, called "Nasmyth's Steam Arm," now used in every large workshop.
It was contrived for the purpose of executing a large order for
locomotives received from the Great Western Railway, and was found of
great use in accelerating the work, especially in planing the links,
levers, connecting rods, and smaller kinds of wrought-iron work in
those engines.  His circular cutter for toothed wheels was another of
his handy inventions, which shortly came into general use.  In
iron-founding also he introduced a valuable practical improvement.  The
old mode of pouring the molten metal into the moulds was by means of a
large ladle with one or two cross handles and levers; but many dreadful
accidents occurred through a slip of the hand, and Mr. Nasmyth
resolved, if possible, to prevent them.  The plan he adopted was to fix
a worm-wheel on the side of the ladle, into which a worm was geared,
and by this simple contrivance one man was enabled to move the largest
ladle on its axis with perfect ease and safety.  By this means the work
was more promptly performed, and accidents entirely avoided.

Mr. Nasmyth's skill in invention was backed by great energy and a large
fund of common sense--qualities not often found united.  These proved
of much service to the concern of which he was the head, and indeed
constituted the vital force.  The firm prospered as it deserved; and
they executed orders not only for England, but for most countries in
the civilized world.  Mr. Nasmyth had the advantage of being trained in
a good school--that of Henry Maudslay--where he had not only learnt
handicraft under the eye of that great mechanic, but the art of
organizing labour, and (what is of great value to an employer)
knowledge of the characters of workmen.  Yet the Nasmyth firm were not
without their troubles as respected the mechanics in their employment,
and on one occasion they had to pass through the ordeal of a very
formidable strike.  The manner in which the inventor of the
steam-hammer literally "Scotched" this strike was very characteristic.

A clever young man employed by the firm as a brass founder, being found
to have a peculiar capacity for skilled mechanical work, had been
advanced to the lathe.  The other men objected to his being so employed
on the ground that it was against the rules of the trade.  "But he is a
first-rate workman," replied the employers, "and we think it right to
advance a man according to his conduct and his merits."  "No matter,"
said the workmen, "it is against the rules, and if you do not take the
man from the lathe, we must turn out."  "Very well; we hold to our
right of selecting the best men for the best places, and we will not
take the man from the lathe."  The consequence was a general turn out.
Pickets were set about the works, and any stray men who went thither to
seek employment were waylaid, and if not induced to turn back, were
maltreated or annoyed until they were glad to leave.  The works were
almost at a standstill.  This state of things could not be allowed to
go on, and the head of the firm bestirred himself accordingly with his
usual energy.  He went down to Scotland, searched all the best
mechanical workshops there, and after a time succeeded in engaging
sixty-four good hands.  He forbade them coming by driblets, but held
them together until there was a full freight; and then they came, with
their wives, families, chests of drawers, and eight-day clocks, in a
steamboat specially hired for their transport from Greenock to
Liverpool.  From thence they came by special train to Patricroft, where
houses were in readiness for their reception.  The arrival of so
numerous, well-dressed, and respectable a corps of workmen and their
families was an event in the neighbourhood, and could not fail to
strike the "pickets" with surprise.  Next morning the sixty-four
Scotchmen assembled in the yard at Patricroft, and after giving "three
cheers," went quietly to their work.  The "picketing" went on for a
little while longer, but it was of no use against a body of strong men
who stood "shouther to shouther," as the new hands did.  It was even
bruited about that there were more trains to follow!  It very soon
became clear that the back of the strike was broken.  The men returned
to their work, and the clever brass founder continued at his
turning-lathe, from which he speedily rose to still higher employment.

Notwithstanding the losses and suffering occasioned by strikes, Mr.
Nasmyth holds the opinion that they have on the whole produced much
more good than evil.  They have served to stimulate invention in an
extraordinary degree.  Some of the most important labour-saving
processes now in common use are directly traceable to them.  In the
case of many of our most potent self-acting tools and machines,
manufacturers could not be induced to adopt them until compelled to do
so by strikes.  This was the ease with the self-acting mule, the
wool-combing machine, the planing machine, the slotting machine,
Nasmyth's steam arm, and many others.  Thus, even in the mechanical
world, there may be "a soul of goodness in things evil."

Mr. Nasmyth retired from business in December, 1856.  He had the moral
courage to come out of the groove which he had so laboriously made for
himself, and to leave a large and prosperous business, saying, "I have
now enough of this world's goods; let younger men have their chance."
He settled down at his rural retreat in Kent, but not to lead a life of
idle ease.  Industry had become his habit, and active occupation was
necessary to his happiness.  He fell back upon the cultivation of those
artistic tastes which are the heritage of his family.  When a boy at
the High School of Edinburgh, he was so skilful in making pen and ink
illustrations on the margins of the classics, that he thus often
purchased from his monitors exemption from the lessons of the day.  Nor
had he ceased to cultivate the art during his residence at Patricroft,
but was accustomed to fall back upon it for relaxation and enjoyment
amid the pursuits of trade.  That he possesses remarkable fertility of
imagination, and great skill in architectural and landscape drawing, as
well as in the much more difficult art of delineating the human figure,
will be obvious to any one who has seen his works,--more particularly
his "City of St.  Ann's," "The Fairies," and "Everybody for ever!"
which last was exhibited in Pall Mail, among the recent collection of
works of Art by amateurs and others, for relief of the Lancashire
distress.  He has also brought his common sense to bear on such
unlikely subject's as the origin of the cuneiform character.  The
possession of a brick from Babylon set him a thinking.  How had it been
manufactured? Its under side was clearly marked by the sedges of the
Euphrates upon which it had been laid to dry and bake in the sun.  But
how about those curious cuneiform characters? How had writing assumed
so remarkable a form?  His surmise was this:  that the brickmakers, in
telling their tale of bricks, used the triangular corner of another
brick, and by pressing it down upon the soft clay, left behind it the
triangular mark which the cuneiform character exhibits.  Such marks
repeated, and placed in different relations to each other, would
readily represent any number.  From the use of the corner of a brick in
writing, the transition was easy to a pointed stick with a triangular
end, by the use of which all the cuneiform characters can readily be
produced upon the soft clay.  This curious question formed the subject
of an interesting paper read by Mr. Nasmyth before the British
Association at Cheltenham.

But the most engrossing of Mr. Nasmyth's later pursuits has been the
science of astronomy, in which, by bringing a fresh, original mind to
the observation of celestial phenomena, he has succeeded in making some
of the most remarkable discoveries of our time.  Astronomy was one of
his favourite pursuits at Patricroft, and on his retirement became his
serious study.  By repeated observations with a powerful reflecting
telescope of his own construction, he succeeded in making a very
careful and minute painting of the craters, cracks, mountains, and
valleys in the moon's surface, for which a Council Medal was awarded
him at the Great Exhibition of 1851.  But the most striking discovery
which he has made by means of big telescope--the result of patient,
continuous, and energetic observation--has been that of the nature of
the sun's surface, and the character of the extraordinary light-giving
bodies, apparently possessed of voluntary motion, moving across it,
sometimes forming spots or hollows of more than a hundred thousand
miles in diameter.

The results of these observations were of so novel a character that
astronomers for some time hesitated to receive them as facts.[6]  Yet
so eminent an astronomer as Sir John Herschel does not hesitate now to
describe them as "a most wonderful discovery."  "According to Mr.
Nasmyth's observations," says he, "made with a very fine telescope of
his own making, the bright surface of the sun consists of separate,
insulated, individual objects or things, all nearly or exactly of one
certain definite size and shape, which is more like that of a willow
leaf, as he describes them, than anything else.  These leaves or scales
are not arranged in any order (as those on a butterfly's wing are), but
lie crossing one another in all directions, like what are called spills
in the game of spillikins; except at the borders of a spot, where they
point for the most part inwards towards the middle of the spot,[7]
presenting much the sort of appearance that the small leaves of some
water-plants or sea-weeds do at the edge of a deep hole of clear water.
The exceedingly definite shape of these objects, their exact similarity
one to another, and the way in which they lie across and athwart each
other (except where they form a sort of bridge across a spot, in which
case they seem to affect a common direction, that, namely, of the
bridge itself),--all these characters seem quite repugnant to the
notion of their being of a vaporous, a cloudy, or a fluid nature.
Nothing remains but to consider them as separate and independent
sheets, flakes, or scales, having some sort of solidity.  And these
flakes, be they what they may, and whatever may be said about the
dashing of meteoric stones into the sun's atmosphere, &c., are
evidently THE IMMEDIATE SOURCES OF THE SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT, by
whatever mechanism or whatever processes they may be enabled to
develope and, as it were, elaborate these elements from the bosom of
the non-luminous fluid in which they appear to float.  Looked at in
this point of view, we cannot refuse to regard them as organisms of
some peculiar and amazing kind; and though it would be too daring to
speak of such organization as partaking of the nature of life, yet we
do know that vital action is competent to develop heat and light, as
well as electricity.  These wonderful objects have been seen by others
as well as Mr. Nasmyth, so that them is no room to doubt of their
reality." [8]

Such is the marvellous discovery made by the inventor of the
steam-hammer, as described by the most distinguished astronomer of the
age.  A writer in the Edinburgh Review, referring to the subject in a
recent number, says it shows him "to possess an intellect as profound
as it is expert."  Doubtless his training as a mechanic, his habits of
close observation and his ready inventiveness, which conferred so much
power on him as an engineer, proved of equal advantage to him when
labouring in the domain of physical science.  Bringing a fresh mind, of
keen perception, to his new studies, and uninfluenced by preconceived
opinions, he saw them in new and original lights; and hence the
extraordinary discovery above described by Sir John Herschel.

Some two hundred years since, a member of the Nasmyth family, Jean
Nasmyth of Hamilton, was burnt for a witch--one of the last martyrs to
ignorance and superstition in Scotland--because she read her Bible with
two pairs of spectacles.  Had Mr. Nasmyth himself lived then, he might,
with his two telescopes of his own making, which bring the sun and moon
into his chamber for him to examine and paint, have been taken for a
sorcerer.  But fortunately for him, and still more so for us, Mr.
Nasmyth stands before the public of this age as not only one of its
ablest mechanics, but as one of the most accomplished and original of
scientific observers.



[1] Originally prepared for John Hick, Esq., C.E., of Bolton, and
embodied by him in his lectures on "Self Help," delivered before the
Holy Trinity Working Men's Association of that town, on the 18th and
20th March, 1862; the account having been kindly corrected by Mr.
Nasmyth for the present publication.

[2] Most of the tools with which he began business in Manchester were
made by his own hands in his father's little workshop at Edinburgh, He
was on one occasion "hard up" for brass with which to make a wheel for
his planing machine.  There was a row of old-fashioned brass
candlesticks standing in bright array on the kitchen mantelpiece which
he greatly coveted for the purpose.  His father was reluctant to give
them up; "for," said he, "I have had many a crack with Burns when these
candlesticks were on the table."  But his mother at length yielded;
when the candlesticks were at once recast, and made into the wheel of
the planing machine, which is still at work in Manchester.

[3] Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts, ii. 739.

[4] Matsys' beautiful wrought-iron well cover, still standing in front
of the cathedral at Antwerp, and Rukers's steel or iron chair exhibited
at South Kensington in 1862, are examples of the beautiful hammer work
turned out by the artisans of the middle ages.  The railings of the
tombs of Henry VII. and Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abbey, the hinges
and iron work of Lincoln Cathedral, of St.  George's Chapel at Windsor,
and of some of the Oxford colleges, afford equally striking
illustrations of the skill of our English blacksmiths several centuries
ago.

[5] Mr. Nasmyth has lately introduced, with the assistance of Mr.
Wilson of the Low Moor Iron Works, a new, exceedingly ingenious, and
very simple contrivance for working the hammer.  By this application
any length of stroke, any amount of blow, and any amount of variation
can be given by the operation of a single lever; and by this
improvement the machine has attained a rapidity of action and change of
motion suitable to the powers of the engine, and the form or
consistency of the articles under the hammer.--Mr. FAIRBAIRN'S Report
on the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855, p. 100.

[6] See Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of
Manchester, 3rd series, vol. 1. 407.

[7] Sir John Herschel adds, "Spots of not very irregular, and what may
be called compact form, covering an area of between seven and eight
hundred millions of square miles, are by no means uncommon.  One spot
which I measured in the year 1837 occupied no less than three thousand
seven hundred and eighty millions, taking in all the irregularities of
its form; and the black space or nucleus in the middle of one very
nearly round one would have allowed the earth to drop through it,
leaving a thousand clear miles on either side; and many instances of
much larger spots than these are on record."

[8] SIR JOHN HERSCHEL in Good Words for April, 1863.




CHAPTER XVI.

WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN.

"In science there is work for all hands, more or less skilled; and he
is usually the most fit to occupy the higher posts who has risen from
the ranks, and has experimentally acquainted himself with the nature of
the work to be done in each and every, even the humblest department."
J. D. Forbes.


The development of the mechanical industry of England has been so
rapid, especially as regards the wonders achieved by the machine-tools
above referred to, that it may almost be said to have been accomplished
within the life of the present generation.  "When I first entered this
city," said Mr. Fairbairn, in his inaugural address as President of the
British Association at Manchester in 1861, "the whole of the machinery
was executed by hand.  There were neither planing, slotting, nor
shaping machines; and, with the exception of very imperfect lathes and
a few drills, the preparatory operations of construction were effected
entirely by the hands of the workmen.  Now, everything is done by
machine-tools with a degree of accuracy which the unaided hand could
never accomplish.  The automaton or self-acting machine-tool has within
itself an almost creative power; in fact, so great are its powers of
adaptation, that there is no operation of the human hand that it does
not imitate."  In a letter to the author, Mr. Fairbairn says, "The
great pioneers of machine-tool-making were Maudslay, Murray of Leeds,
Clement and Fox of Derby, who were ably followed by Nasmyth, Roberts,
and Whitworth, of Manchester, and Sir Peter Fairbairn of Leeds; and Mr.
Fairbairn might well have added, by himself,--for he has been one of
the most influential and successful of mechanical engineers.

William Fairbairn was born at Kelso on the 19th of February, 1787.  His
parents occupied a humble but respectable position in life.  His
father, Andrew Fairbairn, was the son of a gardener in the employment
of Mr. Baillie of Mellerston, and lived at Smailholm, a village lying a
few miles west of Kelso.  Tracing the Fairbairns still further back, we
find several of them occupying the station of "portioners," or small
lairds, at Earlston on the Tweed, where the family had been settled
since the days of the Solemn League and Covenant.  By his mother's
side, the subject of our memoir is supposed to be descended from the
ancient Border family of Douglas.

While Andrew Fairbairn (William's father) lived at Smailholm, Walter
Scott was living with his grandmother in Smailholm or Sandyknowe Tower,
whither he had been sent from Edinburgh in the hope that change of air
would help the cure of his diseased hip-joint; and Andrew, being nine
years his senior, and a strong youth for his age, was accustomed to
carry the little patient about in his arms, until he was able to walk
by himself.  At a later period, when Miss Scott, Walter's aunt, removed
from Smailholm to Kelso, the intercourse between the families was
renewed.  Scott was then an Edinburgh advocate, engaged in collecting
materials for his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, or, as his aunt
described his pursuit, "running after the auld wives of the country
gatherin' havers."  He used frequently to read over by the fireside in
the evening the results of his curious industry, which, however, were
not very greatly appreciated by his nearest relatives; and they did not
scruple to declare that for the "Advocate" to go about collecting
"ballants" was mere waste of time as well as money.

William Fairbairn's first schoolmaster was a decrepit old man who went
by the name of "Bowed Johnnie Ker,"--a Cameronian, with a nasal twang,
which his pupils learnt much more readily than they did his lessons in
reading and arithmetic, notwithstanding a liberal use of "the tawse."
Yet Johnnie had a taste for music, and taught his pupils to SING their
reading lessons, which was reckoned quite a novelty in education.
After a short time our scholar was transferred to the parish-school of
the town, kept by a Mr. White, where he was placed under the charge of
a rather severe helper, who, instead of the tawse, administered
discipline by means of his knuckles, hard as horn, which he applied
with a peculiar jerk to the crania of his pupils.  At this school
Willie Fairbairn lost the greater part of the singing accomplishments
which he had acquired under "Bowed Johnnie," but he learnt in lieu of
them to read from Scott and Barrow's collections of prose and poetry,
while he obtained some knowledge of arithmetic, in which he proceeded
as far as practice and the rule of three.  This constituted his whole
stock of school-learning up to his tenth year.  Out of school-hours he
learnt to climb the ruined walls of the old abbey of the town, and
there was scarcely an arch, or tower, or cranny of it with which he did
not become familiar.

When in his twelfth year, his father, who had been brought up to
farm-work, and possessed considerable practical knowledge of
agriculture, was offered the charge of a farm at Moy in Ross-shire,
belonging to Lord Seaforth of Brahan Castle.  The farm was of about 300
acres, situated on the banks of the river Conan, some five miles from
the town of Dingwall.  The family travelled thither in a covered cart,
a distance of 200 miles, through a very wild and hilly country,
arriving at their destination at the end of October, 1799.  The farm,
when reached, was found overgrown with whins and brushwood, and covered
in many places with great stones and rocks; it was, in short, as nearly
in a state of nature as it was possible to be.  The house intended for
the farmer's reception was not finished, and Andrew Fairbairn, with his
wife and five children, had to take temporary refuge in a miserable
hovel, very unlike the comfortable house which they had quitted at
Kelso.  By next spring, however, the new house was ready; and Andrew
Fairbairn set vigorously to work at the reclamation of the land.  After
about two years' labours it exhibited an altogether different
appearance, and in place of whins and stones there were to be seen
heavy crops of barley and turnips.  The barren years of 1800 and 1801,
however, pressed very hardly on Andrew Fairbairn as on every other
farmer of arable land.  About that time, Andrew's brother Peter, who
acted as secretary to Lord Seaforth, and through whose influence the
former had obtained the farm, left Brahan Castle for the West Indies
with his Lordship, who--notwithstanding his being both deaf and
dumb--had been appointed to the Governorship of Barbadoes; and in
consequence of various difficulties which occurred shortly after his
leaving, Andrew Fairbairn found it necessary to give up his holding,
whereupon he engaged as steward to Mackenzie of Allengrange, with whom
he remained for two years.

While the family lived at Moy, none of the boys were put to school.
They could not be spared from the farm and the household.  Those of
them that could not work afield were wanted to help to nurse the
younger children at home.  But Andrew Fairbairn possessed a great
treasure in his wife, who was a woman of much energy of character,
setting before her children an example of patient industry, thrift,
discreetness, and piety, which could not fail to exercise a powerful
influence upon them in after-life; and this, of itself, was an
education which probably far more than compensated for the boys' loss
of school-culture during their life at Moy.  Mrs. Fairbairn span and
made all the children's clothes, as well as the blankets and sheeting;
and, while in the Highlands, she not only made her own and her
daughters' dresses, and her sons' jackets and trowsers, but her
husband's coats and waistcoats; besides helping her neighbours to cut
out their clothing for family wear.

One of William's duties at home was to nurse his younger brother Peter,
then a delicate child under two years old; and to relieve himself of
the labour of carrying him about, he began the construction of a little
waggon in which to wheel him.  This was, however, a work of some
difficulty, as all the tools he possessed were only a knife, a gimlet,
and an old saw.  With these implements, a piece of thin board, and a
few nails, he nevertheless contrived to make a tolerably serviceable
waggon-body.  His chief difficulty consisted in making the wheels,
which he contrived to surmount by cutting sections from the stem of a
small alder-tree, and with a red-hot poker he bored the requisite holes
in their centres to receive the axle.  The waggon was then mounted on
its four wheels, and to the great joy of its maker was found to answer
its purpose admirably.  In it he wheeled his little brother--afterwards
well known as Sir Peter Fairbairn, mayor of Leeds--in various
directions about the farm, and sometimes to a considerable distance
from it; and the vehicle was regarded on the whole as a decided
success.  His father encouraged him in his little feats of construction
of a similar kind, and he proceeded to make and rig miniature boats and
ships, and then miniature wind and water mills, in which last art he
acquired such expertness that he had sometimes five or six mills going
at a time.  The machinery was all made with a knife, the water-spouts
being formed by the bark of a tree, and the millstones represented by
round discs of the same material.  Such were the first constructive
efforts of the future millwright and engineer.

When the family removed to Allengrange in 1801, the boys were sent to
school at Munlachy, about a mile and a half distant from the farm.  The
school was attended by about forty barefooted boys in tartan kilt's,
and about twenty girls, all of the poorer class.  The schoolmaster was
one Donald Frazer, a good teacher, but a severe disciplinarian.  Under
him, William made some progress in reading, writing, and arithmetic;
and though he himself has often lamented the meagreness of his school
instruction, it is clear, from what he has since been enabled to
accomplish, that these early lessons were enough at all events to set
him fairly on the road of self-culture, and proved the fruitful seed of
much valuable intellectual labour, as well as of many excellent
practical books.

After two years' trial of his new situation, which was by no means
satisfactory, Andrew Fairbairn determined again to remove southward
with his family; and, selling off everything, they set sail from
Cromarty for Leith in June, 1803.  Having seen his wife and children
temporarily settled at Kelso, he looked out for a situation, and
shortly after proceeded to undertake the management of Sir William
Ingleby's farm at Ripley in Yorkshire.  Meanwhile William was placed
for three months under the charge of his uncle William, the parish
schoolmaster of Galashiels, for the purpose of receiving instruction in
book-keeping and land-surveying, from which he derived considerable
benefit.  He could not, however, remain longer at school; for being of
the age of fourteen, it was thought necessary that he should be set to
work without further delay.  His first employment was on the fine new
bridge at Kelso, then in course of construction after the designs of
Mr. Rennie; but in helping one day to carry a handbarrow-load of stone,
his strength proving insufficient, he gave way under it, and the stones
fell upon him, one of them inflicting a serious wound on his leg, which
kept him a cripple for months.  In the mean time his father, being
dissatisfied with his prospects at Ripley, accepted the appointment of
manager of the Percy Main Colliery Company's farm in the neighbourhood
of Newcastle-on-Tyne, whither he proceeded with his family towards the
end of 1803, William joining them in the following February, when the
wound in his leg had sufficiently healed to enable him to travel.

Percy Main is situated within two miles of North Shields, and is one of
the largest collieries in that district.  William was immediately set
to work at the colliery, his first employment being to lead coals from
behind the screen to the pitmen's houses.  His Scotch accent, and
perhaps his awkwardness, exposed him to much annoyance from the "pit
lads," who were a very rough and profligate set; and as boxing was a
favourite pastime among them, our youth had to fight his way to their
respect, passing through a campaign of no less than seventeen pitched
battles.  He was several times on the point of abandoning the work
altogether, rather than undergo the buffetings and insults to which he
was almost a daily martyr, when a protracted contest with one of the
noted boxers of the colliery, in which he proved the victor, at length
relieved him from further persecution.

In the following year, at the age of sixteen, he was articled as an
engineer for five years to the owners of Percy Main, and was placed
under the charge of Mr. Robinson, the engine-wright of the colliery.
His wages as apprentice were 8s. a week; but by working over-hours,
making wooden wedges used in pit-work, and blocking out segments of
solid oak required for walling the sides of the mine, he considerably
increased his earnings, which enabled him to add to the gross income of
the family, who were still struggling with the difficulties of small
means and increasing expenses.  When not engaged upon over-work in the
evenings, he occupied himself in self-education.  He drew up a scheme
of daily study with this object, to which he endeavoured to adhere as
closely as possible,--devoting the evenings of Mondays to mensuration
and arithmetic; Tuesdays to history and poetry; Wednesdays to
recreation, novels, and romances; Thursdays to algebra and mathematics;
Fridays to Euclid and trigonometry; Saturdays to recreation; and
Sundays to church, Milton, and recreation.  He was enabled to extend
the range of his reading by the help of the North Shields Subscription
Library, to which his father entered him a subscriber.  Portions of his
spare time were also occasionally devoted to mechanical construction,
in which he cultivated the useful art of handling tools.  One of his
first attempts was the contrivance of a piece of machinery worked by a
weight and a pendulum, that should at the same time serve for a
timepiece and an orrery; but his want of means, as well as of time,
prevented him prosecuting this contrivance to completion.  He was more
successful with the construction of a fiddle, on which he was ambitious
to become a performer.  It must have been a tolerable instrument, for a
professional player offered him 20s. for it.  But though he succeeded
in making a fiddle, and for some time persevered in the attempt to play
upon it, he did not succeed in producing any satisfactory melody, and
at length gave up the attempt, convinced that nature had not intended
him for a musician.[1]

In due course of time our young engineer was removed from the workshop,
and appointed to take charge of the pumps of the mine and the
steam-engine by which they were kept in work.  This employment was more
to his taste, gave him better "insight," and afforded him greater
opportunities for improvement.  The work was, however, very trying, and
at times severe, especially in winter, the engineer being liable to be
drenched with water every time that he descended the shaft to regulate
the working of the pumps; but, thanks to a stout constitution, he bore
through these exposures without injury, though others sank under them.
At this period he had the advantage of occasional days of leisure, to
which he was entitled by reason of his nightwork; and during such
leisure he usually applied himself to reading and study.

It was about this time that William Fairbairn made the acquaintance of
George Stephenson, while the latter was employed in working the
ballast-engine at Willington Quay.  He greatly admired George as a
workman, and was accustomed in the summer evenings to go over to the
Quay occasionally and take charge of George's engine, to enable him to
earn a few shillings extra by heaving ballast out of the collier
vessels.  Stephenson's zeal in the pursuit of mechanical knowledge
probably was not without its influence in stimulating William Fairbairn
himself to carry on so diligently the work of self-culture.  But little
could the latter have dreamt, while serving his apprenticeship at Percy
Main, that his friend George Stephenson, the brakesman, should yet be
recognised as among the greatest engineers of his age, and that he
himself should have the opportunity, in his capacity of President of
the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle, of making public
acknowledgment of the opportunities for education which he had enjoyed
in that neighbourhood in his early years.[2]