Very
few heard of these men. Now and then one would be discovered by a
clergyman working in his parish; now and then one emerged from
obscurity by means of a letter or a paper contributed to some journal.
Most of them lived and died unknown.
Yet there was one. His case is remarkable because it first set rolling
the ball of reform, He was by trade a metal turner and fitter; he had
the reputation of being an unsociable man because he went home every
day after work and stayed there; he was unmarried and lived alone in a
small, four-roomed cottage near Kilburn, one of a collection of
Workmen's villages. Here it was known that he had a room which he had
furnished with a furnace, a table, shelves and bottles, and that he
worked every evening at something. One day there appeared in a
scientific paper an article containing an account of certain
discoveries of the greatest importance, signed by a name utterly
unknown to scientific men. The article was followed by others, all of
the greatest interest and originality. The man himself had little idea
of the importance of his own discoveries. When his cottage was
besieged by leaders in the world of science, he was amazed; he showed
his simple laboratory to his visitors; he spoke of his labours
carelessly; he told them that he was a metal turner by trade, that he
worked every day for an employer at a wage of thirty-five shillings a
week, and that he was able to devote his evenings to reading and
research.
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