All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

30 All About Inventions a pennyworth of material recognition to himself. Even a lucrative appointment which had been pro- mised to him as a reward for his ingenuity failed to materialise. It was suddenly cancelled. As may be supposed, the trusting village lad cherished a decidedly harsh opinion of the world in general, and a deep disgust at the treatment which had been meted out to him, but indirectly it proved the most valuable lesson he had ever learned. He bought experience at an early age. Ever after he trod with extreme wariness during the critical periods when it became necessary to submit creative genius to the stern test of practical application. Bessemer displayed many illustrations of his re- markable inventive ability before he ever turned a thought to the study which caused his name to vi- brate through the world. Unfortunately, he was not liberally endowed with the sinews of war, and so had to depend upon the fertility of his creative faculty to earn the wherewithal to continue his inventive pursuits. His attention was drawn towards gold- printing, in which bronze powder is used. He noticed that the work was costly, and to him the reason seemed decidedly obscure. The material then in use was a German product, and he instantly endeavoured to ascertain if he could not beat the Teuton at his own game. After considerable experiment he suc- ceeded, and to such a degree that he could market his commodity at about a thirtieth of the price demanded by the German producers. This discovery was not patented : it was worked secretly. Once the commodity had secured a firm hold upon the market he decided to lay down an