Inventors. By Philip J. Hubert, jun. (Sampson Low, Marston, and
Co.)—This is an American book, and largely occupied with American heroes. Benjamin Franklin comes first in the list Fulton, the inventor, as he may be called, of the steamboat ; Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton-gin ; Elias Howe (sewing machine), Morse (a claimant to the discovery of the electric telegraph), Charles Goodyear (indiarubber), John Ericsson (im- provement in steam navigation), C. H. McCormick (reaping machines), Edison, A. G. Bell, and a whole company of less famous people are the subjects of Mr. Hubert's volume. The honours of priority of invention are not conceded in every case, but it is a brilliant company, and the combined distinction which it bestows on the States is very great. Ericsson, it should be observed, was a Swede by birth, but spent a great part of his life in America. The story of these men is not in all cases a happy one. Whitney and Goodyear in particular reaped but little advantage from their ingenuity. The volume is one of the " Men of Achievement Series."
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