LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ljHllill'J|'l|l!|]|WJ|]i||'|Mtrri 012 026 081 9 '%: pH8^ Abraham Lincoln DISCOVERIES f-i^v., isxi^d ) AND ^^^^^^^ INVENTIONS A LECTURE BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN DELIVERED IN i860 SAN FRANCISCO JOHN HOWELL 1915 FE8 -7 !Si6 g)Gl.A4275'd^^ A PREFATORY NOTE Di id In- The Lectm^e —^^ LJtscovertes ventions' '—by our greatest American^ presents a phase of Lincoln s activity about which little is generally known. It shows as clearly as any of his other writings how greaft was Lincoln's knowledge of the progress of mankind^ particularly as related in theBible^and it reveals also his debt to that Book of Books for inspiration and illustration^ as well as his masterly use of pure English^ largely gained through that study. In the fateful year of i860, the year of his election to the i>residencv^ Lincoln Zp'i tency^ took up, in the pause of his affairs after the long debate with Dotcglas, the cus- tom of lyceum lecturi?ig,then in great vogue. This lecture on '^Discoveries and Inventions'^ was delivered in towns near his home^ Springfield^ Illinois^ and in Springfield it selfi on Washington s birthday. Five days laterLincoln made his great speech at Cooper Union i7i New York, The lecture is not included with any collection of Ljin coin s addresses, Itap- pearedinprintforthefirsttime in ^Mn- sQX.y[2ig2iZ\n^inigog— the centennial of Lincoln' s birth. The originalmanuscript from which this edition^ the first in book form ^ is made^ was a cherished possession of the late Dr, Samuel Houston Melvin^ of Oakland^ California ^formerly a resi- dent of Springfield, Illinois^ and a friend of Mr, Lincoln, fust prior to Dr, Melvi?i s death, in i8q8, he made an affidavit setting forth the history of the manuscript; that statement is as follows: MEMORANDUM OF CERTAIN FACTS FOR INFORMATION OF THOSE WHO FOLLOW AFTER In the month of February^ i86i^ being at that time a resident of Springfield^ Illinois^ I called one evening at the residence of my friend ^Dr. John Todd. The do^or was an uncle of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. While there Mr. Lincoln came in^ bringing with him a wellfilled satchel^remarking as he set it down that it contained his literary bureau. Mr. Lincoln remained some fifteen or twenty minutes^ conversing mainly about the details of his prospective trip to Washington the following week^ and told us of the arrangements agreed upon for the family to follow him a few days later. When about to leave he hand- ed the grip above referred to to Mrs. Grimsley, the only daughter of Dr. Todd, who was then a widow but who subsequently became the wife of Rev. Dr. John H. Brown, a Presbyterian minister located in Springfield, remarking as he did so that he would leave the bureau in her charge; that if he ever re- turned to Springfield he would claim it, but if not she might make such disposition of its contents as she deemed proper. A tone of indescribable sadness was noted in the latter part of the sentence. Lincoln had shown me quite a number of letters a few days be- fore^ threatening his life, some predicting that he never would be inaugurated, and it was apparent to me that they were making an impression upon his mind, although he tried to laugh the matter off. About five years later the Nation was startled by the announcement of Lincoln s assassination. "The corporation of Springfield selected twelve of its citi- zens to proceed at once to Washington and accom- pany the remains of the dead President back to his old home. I was one of that number, and shall never forget the indescribable sadness manifested by mil- lions of mourners along the route of travel of the funeral cortege as it wended its way westward over two thousand miles. A few evenings after his body was laid to rest, I again called upon my neighbors, the family of Dr. 'Todd. Scenes and incidents con- ne^edwith the assassination and funeral of the dead President were discussed, and the remark made by Lincoln on his last visit to the house was referred to as indicating a presentiment that he would not return alive. This recalled the fa£f of his having left his so-called literary bureau, and his injun^ion as to its disposition. Mrs. Grimsley brought the grip from the place where it had been stored, and opened it with a view to examining its contents. Among them was found this manuscript, and attached to it by means of a piece of red tape was another of like character. They proved to be manuscripts of two lectures which he had prepared and delivered with- in a year prior to his eleSlion to the presidency— one at Jacksonville ^Illinois ^ and a few days later at De- catur ^Illinois; the other a little later at Cook' s Hall ^ Springfield, Illinois, at which I was present. Mrs. Grimsley told me to seleB from the contents of the bureau any one of the manuscripts it contained; and supposing at that titne that the two manuscripts be- longed to the same le^ure, I selected them. On sub- sequent examination I discovered that while they both treated upon the same subje^ (Inventions and Discoveries) they were separate lectures. T'wenty- five years later I disposed of one of the manuscripts to Mr. Gunther^' of Chicago. I'he other it is my hope and desire shall remain in possession of my family and its descendants. The manuscript is now owned by Dr, Melvin V son^ the Honor able Henry A, Melvin^ayusticeoftheSiipremeCourt of California^ through whose courtesy this edition is published. *This ivas published in ^^ Addresses and Letters of Lincoln,^ ^ The Century Company^ 1^04. DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS A LECTURE BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN ^ LL creation is a mine, and every man / ^k a miner. f ^^ The whole earth, and all within .A^ JIL. it, upon it, and round about it, in- cluding himself, in his physical, moral, and intellediual nature, and his susceptibilities, are the infinitely various ^'leads'' from which, man, from the first, was to dig out his destiny. In the beginning, the mine was unopened, and the miner stood naked, and know ledge less, upon it. Fishes, birds, beasts, and creeping things, are not miners, hnt feeders and lodgers merely. Beavers build houses ; but they build them in nowise differently, or better now, than they did, five thousand years ago. Ants and honey bees provide food for winter; but just in the same way they did, when Solomon referred the sluggard to them as patterns of prudence. Man is not the only animal who labors; but he is the only one who improves his workmanship. This improvement he effects by Discoveries and Inventions. His first im- portant discovery was the fa6l that he was naked ; and his first invention was the fig-leaf apron. This simple article, the apron, made of leaves, seems to have been the origin of clothing — the one thing for which nearly half of the toil and care of the human race has ever since been expended. The most impor- tant improvement ever made in conned:ion with clothing, was the invention oi spinning and 'weaving. The spinning jenny, and pow- er loom, invented in modern times, though great improvements ,^o wot^ as inventions ^ rank with the ancient arts of spinning and weav- ing. Spinning and weaving brought into the department of clothing such abundance and variety of material. Wool, the hair of several species of animals, hemp, flax, cot- ton, silk, and perhaps other articles, were all suited to it, affording garments not only adapted to wet and dry, heat and cold, but also susceptible of high degrees of orna- mental finish. Exactly when^ or where^ spin- ning and weaving originated is not known. At the first interview of the Almighty with Adam and Eve, after the fall. He made "coats of skins, and clothed them" ( Genesis iii: 2i). The Bible makesno other allusion to cloth- ing, before the flood. Soon after the deluge Noah's two sons covered him with a gar- ment; but of what tnaterial the garment was made is not mentioned (Genesis ix: 23). Abraham mentions "//zr^^*^" in such con- nection asto indicatethat spinningand weav- ing were in use in his day (Genesis xiv: 23), and soon after,reference to the art is frequent- ly made. ^^Line?i breeches" are mentioned (Exodus xxviii: 42), and it is said "all the women that were wise-hearted did spi?i with their hands" (Exodus xxxv: 25), and, "all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair ' ' ( Exodus xxxv: 26). The work of the ^^iveaver' is mentioned (Exodus xxxv: 35). In the book of Job, a very old book, date not exactly known, the *^ weavers' shuttle''' is mentioned. The above mention oi^^thread"hY Abra- ham is the oldest recorded allusion to spinning and weaving; and it was made about two thousand years after the creation of man, and now, near four thousand years ago. Profane authors think these arts originated in Egypt ; and this is not contradicted, or made improb- able, by anything in the Bible; for the allu- sion of Abraham, mentioned, was not made until after he had sojourned in Egypt. The discovery of the properties of iron, and the making oiiron tools, must have been among the earliest of important discoveries and inventions. We can scarcely conceive the possibility of making much of anything else, without the use of iron tools. Indeed, an iron hammer must have been very much needed to make \Sit, first iron hammer with. A stone probably served as a substitute. How could the ^'■gopher wood'' for the Ark have been gotten out without an axe? It seems to me an axe, or a miracle, was indispensable. Corresponding with the prime necessity for iron, we find at least one very early notice of it. Tubal-Cain was "an instructor of every artificer in brass and iro?i'' (Genesis iv: 22). Tubal-Cain was the seventh in descent from Adam ; and his birth was about one thousand years before the flood. After the flood, fre- quent mention is made of iron, and instru- ?nents made of iron. Thus "instrument of iron" at Numbers xxxv: i6; "bedstead of iron" at Deuteronomy iii: 1 1 ;" the iron fur- nace" at Deuteronomy iv: 20, and "iron tool" at Deuteronomy xxvii: 5. At Deuter- onomy xix: 5, very distinct mention of "the ax to cut down the tree" is made; and also at Deuteronomy viii: 9, the promised land is described as "a land whose stones are iron, andout of whose hills thou mayest digbrass." From the somewhat frequent mention of brass in connection with iron, it is not im- probable that brass — perhaps what we now call copper — was used by the ancients for some of the same purposes as iron. 'Transportation — the removal of person and goodsfrom placeto place — would be an early objeB^ if not a necessity^ with man. By his natural powers of locomotion, and without much assistance from discovery and inven- tion, he could move himself about with con- siderable facility; and even, could carry small burthens with him. But very soon he would wish to lessen the labor, while he might, at the same time, extend, and expedite the busi- ness. For thisobje6t,wheel-carriages,and wa- ter-crafts — wagons and boats — are the most important inventions. The use of the wheel and axle has been so long known , that it is dif- ficult, without refled:ion, to estimate it at its true value. The oldestrecordedallusiontothe wheel and axle is the mention of a "chariot" (Genesis xli: 43). This was in Egypt, upon the occasion of Joseph being made governor by Pharaoh. It was about twenty-five hun- dred years after the creation of Adam. That the chariot then mentioned was a wheel- carriage drawn by animals is sufficiently evidenced by the mention of chariot wheels (Exodus xiv: 25), and the mention of char- iots in connection with horses in the same chapter, verses 9 and 23. So much, at pres- ent, for land transportation. Now, as to transportation by water, I have concluded, without sufficient authority per- haps, to use the term *'boat" as a general name for all water-craft. The boat is indis- pensable to navigation. It is not probable that the philosophical principle upon which the use of the boat primarily depends — to- wit, the principle^ that anything will float, which cannot sink without displacing more than its own weight of water — was known, or even thought of, before the first boats were made. The sight of a crow standing on a piece of driftwood floating down the swollen current of a creek or river, might well enough suggest the specific idea to a savage, that he could himself get upon a log, or on two logs tied together, and somehow work his way to the opposite shore of the same stream. Such a suggestion, so taken, would be the birth of navigation; and such, not improba- bly, it really was. The leading idea was thus caught ; and whatever came afterwards, were but improvements upon, andauxiliaries to, it. As man is a land animal, it might be ex- pected he would learn to travel by land some- what earlier than he would by water. Still the crossing of streams, somewhat too deep for wading, would be an early necessity with him. If we pass by the Ark, which may be regarded as belonging rather to the miracu- lous than to hwnan invention, the first notice we have of water-craft is the mention of "ships" by Jacob (Genesis xlix: i 3). It is not till we reach the book of Isaiah that we meet with the mention of "oars" and "sails." As m2in^food — his first necessity — was to be derived from the vegetation of the earth, it was natural that his first care should be directed to the assistance of that vegetation. And accordingly we find that, even before the fall, the man was put into the garden of Eden "to dress it, and to keep it." And when afterwards, in consequence of the first trans- gression, labor was imposed on the race, as a penalty — a curse — we find the first born man — the first heir of the curse — was **a tiller of the ground." This was the beginning of agri- culture; andalthough,bothin point of time, and of importance, it stands at the head of all branches of human industry, it has de- rived less dired: advantage from Discovery and Invention, than almost any other. The plow, of very early origin; and reaping, and threshing, machines, of modern invention are, at this day, the principal improvements in agriculture. And even the oldest of these, the plow, could not have been conceived of, untilaprecedentconceptionhadbeen caught, and put into practice — I mean the concep- tion, or idea, of substituting other forces in nature,for man's own muscular power. These other forces,as now used, are principally, the strength of animals, and the power of the wind, of running streams, and of steam. Climbing upon the back of an animal, and making it carry us, might not occur very readily. I think the back of the camel would never have suggested it. It was, however, a matter of vast importance. The earliest in- stance of it mentioned, is when "Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass" (Genesis xxii: 3), preparatory to sacri- ficing Isaac as a burnt-offering; but the allu- sion to the saddle indicates that riding had been in use some time; for it is quite prob- able they rode bare-backed awhile, at least, before they invented saddles. The idea, being once conceived, of riding one species of animals, would soon be ex- tended to others. Accordingly we find that when the servant of Abraham went in search of a wife for Isaac, he took ten catnels with him; and, on his return trip, "Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man" (Genesis xxiv: 61). The horse, too, as a riding animal, is men- tioned early. The Red Sea being safely passed, Moses and the children of Israel sang to the Lord** the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea ' ' ( Exodus x v : i ) . Seeing that animals could bear man upon their backs, it would soon occur that they could also bear other burthens. Accordingly we find that Joseph's brethren, on their first visit to Egypt, **laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence" (Genesis xlii: 26) . Also it would occur that animals could be made to draw burthens after them, as well as to bear them upon their backs; and hence plows and chariots came into use early enough to be often mentioned in the books of Moses (Deuteronomy xxii: 10; Genesis xli: 43; xlvi: 29; Exodus xiv: 25). Of all the forces of nature, I should think the levW contains the largest amount of wc- tive power — that is, power to move things. Take any given space of the earth's surface — for instance, Illinois; and all the power ex- erted by all the men, and beasts, and running- water, and steam, over and upon it, shall not equal the one hundredth part of what is ex- erted by the blowing of the wind over and upon the same space. And yet it has not, so far in the world's history, become propor- tionably valuable as a motive power. It is ap- plied extensively, and advantageously,to sail- vessels in navigation. Add to this a few wind- mills, and pumps, and you have about all. That, as yet, no very successful mode of con- trollings and direBing the wind, has been dis- covered; and that, naturally, it moves by fits and starts — now so gently as to scarcely stir a leaf, and now so roughly as to level a forest — doubtless have been the insurmountable dif- ficulties. As yet, the wind is an untamed, and unharnessed force ; and quite possibly one of the greatest discoveries hereafter to be made, will be the taming, and harnessing of it. That the difficulties of controlling this power are very great is quite evident by the fa6t that they have already been perceived, and struggled with more than three thousand years; for that power was applied to sail-vessels, at least as early as the time of the prophet Isaiah. In speaking oi running streams , as a motive power, I mean its application to mills and other machinery by means of the ^^ water wheeT' — a thing now well known, and ex- tensively used; but, of which, no mention is made in the Bible, though it is thought to have been in use among the Romans. (Am. Ency.-Mill), the language of the Saviour "Two women shall be grinding at the mill, etc." indicates that, even in the populous city of Jerusalem, at that day, mills were oper- ated by hand— having, as yet had no other than human power applied to them. The advantageous use of Steafn-poiver is, unquestionably,a modern discovery. Andyet, as much as two thousand years ago the power of steam was not only observed, but an in- genious toy was actually made and put in motion by it, at Alexandria in Egypt. What appears strange is, that neither the inventor of the toy, nor any one else, for so long a time afterwards, should perceive that steam would move z/j-^/machinery as well as a toy. OF THIS BOOK 25O COPIES WERE PRINTED ON FABRIANO ITALIAN HAND -MADE PAPER AND I GOO COPIES ON AMERICAN DRAWING PAPER. THE FRONTISPIECE IS BY RAY F. COYLE. PRINTED BY THE BLAIR-MURDOCK COMPANY, SAN FRANCISCO, UNDER THE DIREC- TION OF JOHN HENRY NASH, IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, I915