ciently strong to be used as warp. The cotton was carded and spun by the women in the weavers' families, and when the demand for these cloths increased greatly, they were unable to prepare sufficient weft to keep the looms employed. The limit to which this species of employment could be carried was soon reached, and if some better method than spinning by the one threadwheel (which was the only machine known) had not been discovered, the progress of the cotton manufacture must have been stopped, or at best would have been insignificant.

It was natural, this being the state of things, that attempts should be made to contrive some more effective mode; and, in fact, long before this time, spinning by machinery had been thought of by more than one person. A Mr. Wyatt, of Lichfield, invented an apparatus for the purpose so early as 1733; but his undertakings were unsuccessful, and the machines were allowed to perish, no model of them being preserved.

As has been said, Arkwright was apprehensive that his projects would meet with opposition in Lancashire, and he therefore went to Nottingham, where, happily, he took his model to Messrs. Need and Strutt, stocking weavers of that place, the latter of whom was well qualified to judge of the adaptation of the new machinery to its proposed object. He at once was satisfied of its great value, and in 1769 Arkwright obtained his first patent for spinning with rollers, and Need and Strutt became his partners in the manufac

turing concerns which it was proposed to carry on under it.

The most important improvement in the apparatus was the application of the two pairs of rollers, the one revolving faster than the other, by means of which the thread was reduced to a great degree of fineness- -a most beautiful and effective contrivance, which appears to have been undoubtedly Arkwright's original idea.

A spinning-mill was now erected in Nottingham, worked by horse power, and in 1771 another was built at Cromford, in Derbyshire, to which motion was given by water, being the first works of the kind in this country.

We may now regard our ingenious mechanic as fairly launched on the tide of prosperity, but even after he had succeeded in forming this partnership, a period of five years expired from the first establishment of the works at Cromford before any profit was realized, and a capital of more than £12,000 had been expended. But the greatest troubles he had to encounter were occasioned by the annoying charges brought against him as a plagiarist or pirate of other men's ideas. He was even denied altogether the merit of being an original inventor, and a series of expensive and wearisome trials were instituted for the purpose of invalidating his patents.

There would be little interest in relating the particulars of these charges. Suffice it to say that, while some of them were undoubtedly fallacious, and others doubtfully supported, the several inventions which his

patents embraced would probably, but for him, have been of no avail. None but himself had the courage and determination to face the fatigues, difficulties, and dangers that lay in the way of achieving such great results and over them all he, at last, completely triumphed.

To him alone belongs also the merit of having combined the various portions of the machinery with admirable skill and judgment, and of having been the first to turn it to practical use on anything like an extensive scale.

When he started on his career, he was poor, friendless, and utterly unknown; and his example stands out as a most marvellous proof of what a resolute heart, combined with ingenuity and perseverance, may accomplish. This-as Mr. Coleridge has well said—is the grand lesson which the history of Arkwright's life is fitted to teach us ;-to give ourselves wholly to one object, and never to despair of reaching it. It was the character of the man to devote his whole heart and faculties to whatever he engaged in, and this was the cause of his success.

At length the undertaking, so long a source of anxiety and expense, began to be remunerative, and from that time wealth continued to flow in abundantly to the proprietors. The works were greatly extended, and several new ones formed; and this tide of prosperity continued, notwithstanding the adverse decisions of the courts in regard to his patents. For several years the market prices of cotton twist were

fixed by Arkwright, all other spinners conforming to his scale. The increase of the cotton trade was the increase of his property, and in pursuing his own fortune, he became the source of riches to others—a public benefactor, and a friend to the poor. He had not the tastes and pursuits of a man of education and refinement; but with praiseworthy constancy he adhered to business, and found in it his pleasure. Even to the close of his life the management of his different factories was his daily occupation: into every department of these great establishments he at once introduced plans of arrangement and systematic order, which have since been universally adopted, and have remained, after long experience, unaltered and unimproved to the present time. Surely there could not be given a stronger proof of the originality and comprehensiveness of mind of this remarkable man.

Mr. Arkwright served the office of High Sheriff of the county of Derby in 1786, and on occasion of presenting an address, was knighted by the hand of George III. He died in the month of August, 1792, at his house at Cromford, in the sixtieth year of his age, leaving behind him a fortune estimated at little short of half a million sterling.

Surely his country owes him a debt of gratitude, as one whose skilful industry has exerted a most powerful influence upon the condition of her manufacturing interests.

CLAUDE LOUIS BERTHOLLET,

THE CHEMIST.

Born 1748-Died 1822.

AMONG the illustrious men renowned for their devotedness to the cause of science, and its application to the practical purposes of civil and social advantage, M. Berthollet holds a high and honourable place. His name has long been known in every part of Europe, and will ever rank among those of the distinguished chemists of the nineteenth century. He was born at Taloire, in Savoy, in 1748, and was connected, on his mother's side, with one of the noble families of that country. Although far from being wealthy, his parents bestowed on him an excellent education. Yielding to his early predilection for science, he studied medicine; and after taking his degree as M.D. at the University of Turin, he went to Paris, where he devoted himself with great diligence to the study of chemistry. But his researches, however important to his subsequent career, were not at first remunerative, in the sense of procuring him money; and he must have been compelled to quit Paris for want of means, had he not found in Tronchin, a pupil of the great Boerhaave, who was then high in popularity as a physician, a kind and generous friend. Both were Savoyards, descended from families originally banished from