The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

1901.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 3^
discoverer of that law was a curious Frenchman named Dumas, who was once invited to
a court ball given at the Tuilleries. A strong and penetrating odor pervaded the royal
ballroom. The guests coughed and sneezed. Dumas also coughed and .sneezed, and
wondered why. He tells us that he finally recognized the odor as that of hydrochloric
acid, and found that the wax tapers by which the ballroom was illuminated had been
bleached with chlorine. Experiments which this discovery subsequently induced him to
make proved to him that for the hydrogen in organic compounds other elements could
be substituted, atom for atom, and that every organic compound was, therefore, a step.
to some other organic compound. No generalization has contributed more to (lie prog
ress of organic chemistry than this law of substitution.
Such anecdotes can be told ad infinitum. Enough have been given to show clearly
how simple things are often straws which have guided the current of scientific thought.
to epoch-making discoveries — Scientific American.
[There can be no doubt about the great importance of curiosity in the development,
of science, and we can subscribe to all that is said above, except that the reference to-
Newton implies that he was the first to perceive that bodies fall because the earth attracts,
them. If we are not greatly mistaken this was held to be true before Newton's discov-
ery of the law of universal gravitation; but the difficulty was that there was no apparent
reason why this action should be confined to bodies near by ;— that is, no reason why the-
earth should not attract bodies in space just as well as those near its surface, although,
with a less intensity on account of their greater distance. Nobody, before the time of
Newton, knew enough mathematics to be able to prove that the earth really does attract
the heavenly bodies in this way. Newton's fame, so far as it rests on his study of gravitation,
is due to the fact that he solved the whole problem of gravitation, and showed
that every hody in the solar system attracts every other body according to a certain
definite law, which is known as the "law of inverse squares." Newton was so great a
man that the luster of his name will never be sensibly dimmed by giving all the credit
we can to the other learned men of Ins time — Editor The Locomotive.]
Abstract of Statement.— January 1, 1901.
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Companv.
ASSETS.
Cash in office and bank, - - - $150,068.3?-
Premiums in course of collection (net), - - - 223,391.28-
Loaned on bond and mortgage, first liens, - - - 458,450.00
Bonds and stocks, market value, - - - 1.825,788.48
.._.-- $2,701,027.00
17,851.85
Real estate, - - - 30,712.00
Interest accrued, - - - 12.010.93
Total assets,
------ ------
LIABILITIES.
Premium reserve,
Losses in process of adjustment,
- $1,561,434.30
Capital stock, - - $500,000.00
Net surplus, - - - 621,740.85
Surplus as regards policy -holders, - $1,121,740.85 1,121,740.85
Total liabilities, including capital and surplus, - - $2, 701, 027. 00.