Tales of scientific innovation and merchant enterprise, from steam power and life-saving medicines to new trade partners far away, and new ways to reach them.
The modern match is ignited by friction, a simple idea but one which had not occurred to anyone until 1826, when a Stockton pharmacist dropped a stick.
26
The Man Who Mapped the Moon
FromScience (Journal)
In 1609, Englishman Thomas Harriot turned his new-fangled telescope on the moon, and sketched for the first time the face of another world.
27
The Uganda Railway
ByWinston Spencer Churchill
When it opened in 1901, the Uganda Railway still wasn’t in Uganda, and
Westminster’s MPs were still debating whether or not to build it.
28
It’s Better by Rail
FromThe Annual Review
A contributor to the ‘Annual Review’ shared a flurry of facts about the
new Liverpool and Manchester Railway, showing what a blessing it already was.
29
Roses and Poor-Rates
ByThomas Babington Macaulay
When Robert Southey called for a fairer and greener economy, Thomas Macaulay
warned that only politicians and bureaucrats would thank him.
30
The Iron Seamstress
ByWilliam Blanchard Jerrold
William Jerrold saw the new-fangled sewing machine
as an opportunity to get women into the professions — but time was of the essence.
