Part 1 (1/2)

Jaraphy

Edited by Samuel Smiles

PREFACE

I have hadMemoir of my friend Mr Nasmyth Some twenty years since (in April 1863), when I applied to hi his mechanical inventions, he replied: ”My life presents no striking or remarkable incidents, and would, I fear, prove but a tame narrative The sphere to which my endeavours have been confined has been of a comparatively quiet order; but, vanity apart, I hope I have been able to leave a few marks of my existence behind me in the shape of useful contrivances, which are in reat works of industry”

Mr Nasmyth, nevertheless, kindly furnishedhimself, as well as his former master and instructor, Henry Maudslay, of London, for the purpose of being inserted in Industrial Biography, or Ironworkers and Toolmakers, which was published at the end of 1863 He was of opinion that the outline of his life there presented was sufficiently descriptive of his career as athe years that have elapsed since then, Mr Nasmyth has been prevailed upon by some of his friends more especially by Sir John Anderson, late of Woolwich arsenal--to note down the reminiscences of his life, with an account of his inventions, and to publish thely spent so the last two years in writing out his recollections Having consulted me on the subject, I recommended that they should be published in the foriven his consent

Mr Nasmyth has furnished me with abundant notes of his busy life, and he has requestedthe-knife” I hope, however, that in editing the book I have not o or instructive Ihas been submitted to his correction and received his final approval

The narrative abundantly illustrates Mr Nas; namely, common sense applied to the use of materials

In his case, co and perfecting work by an with tools; and every step in advance has been accoh their improvement Handicraft labour, in bone, stone, or wood, was the first stage in the development of man's power; and tools or machines, in iron or steel, are the last andhiently direct the active and inert forces of nature

It will be observed that Mr Nasmyth, on his first start in life, owed much to the influence of his father, as not only an admirable artist--”the founder,” as Sir David Wilkie ter school of Scotland”--but an excellent es show his original ner; and are sufficient to establish his ability as a ineer Indeed, one of Mr Nas the notes of the folloork, has been to introduce a Memorial to the memory of his father, to whoreatly attached through life Hence the numerous references to him, and the illustrations from his works of art, of architecture, as well as of ht point out that Mr Nas upon popular education; not only as regards economical use of time, careful observation, close attention to details, but as respects the uses of Drawing The observations which he e of this art are very important In this matter he concurs with Mr Herbert Spencer in his work on Education ”It is very strange,”

Mr Naso, ”that amidst all our vaunted iht, or what may be commonly called the correctness of eye, has been so little attended to” He accordingly urges the teaching of rudi is,” he says, ”the Education of the Eye

It is e”

The illustrations given in the course of the following book will serve to show his ownwhether as respects Mechanical details, the Moon's surface, or the fairyland of Landscape

It is perhaps not saying too much to aver that had he not devoted his business life to Mechanics, he would, like his father, his brother Patrick, and his sisters, have taken a high position as an artist

In the following Memoir we have only been able to introduce a few specis; but ”The Fairies,” ”The Antiquary,”

and others, will give the reader a good idea of Mr Nasmyth's artistic ability Since his retireht, Mr Nasmyth's principal pursuit has been Astronoraph on ”The Moon,” published in 1874, exhibits his ardent and philosophic love for science in one of its sublimest aspects

His splendid astronomical instruments, for the most part made entirely by his own hands, have enabled him to detect the ” leaf-shaped”

objects which form the structural element of the Sun's luminous surface The discovery was shortly after verified by Sir John Herschel and other astronomers, and is now a received fact in astronoical List of soiven at the end of the volume, which shows, so far, what he has been enabled to accoin at a very early age, and were continued for about thirty years of a busy and active life Very few of theh widely adopted, are unacknowledged as his invention They, nevertheless, did much to advance the mechanical arts, and still continue to do excellent service in the engineering world

The chapter relating to the origin of the Cuneiform Character, and of the Pyrayptian Architecture, is placed at the end, so as not to interrupt the personal narrative That chapter, it is believed, will be found very interesting, illustrated, as it is, by Mr Nass

SS

LONDON, October 1885

CHAPTER 1 My Ancestry

Our history begins before we are born We represent the hereditary influences of our race, and our ancestors virtually live in us