It is difficult to realize that only the other day an effort was made in Paris to replace the old magneto signaling system, with its little crank at the right of the telephone which has not been seen in large cities in this country for many years, by the much more convenient automatic signaling system. But the Paris correspondent of the New York Times says that such was the case. And, more curious still, the effort to introduce this improvement met with disfavor! The correspondent explains: “Hitherto excitable Frenchmen whiled away the time while awaiting ‘Central’ to answer, by grinding furiously at the crank bell-call. The new system denied them this form of relief. The result was that their pent-up feelings found outlet in imprecations and wild gesticulations. In many cases the telephones were damaged by poundings and shakings and had to be removed. It is said that the French Minister of Telephones was forced to admit that the imported system was a complete failure. ‘The new system may be good enough for the highly-trained Americans,’ he is quoted as saying, ‘but I am convinced that my excitable countrymen need the safety-valve of the old-fashioned bell.’”—The Western Electrician.
(2819)
Sagacity—See [Retreat Discouraged].
Sagacity in Evil—See [Impudence, Brazen].
SAGACITY SUPPLEMENTING SCIENCE
An English writer tells this story:
Once a French chemist came to Yorkshire, his object being to make his fortune. He believed that he might do this by picking up something which Yorkshiremen threw away. That something was soap-suds. The cloth-workers of Yorkshire use tons and tons of soap for scouring their materials, and throw away millions of gallons of soap-suds. Besides this, there are manufactories of sulfuric acid near at hand, and a large demand for machinery grease just thereabouts. He accordingly bought iron tanks, and erected works in the midst of the busiest center of the woolen manufacture. But he failed to pay expenses, for in his calculations he had omitted to allow for the fact that the soap liquor is much diluted, and therefore he must carry much water in order to obtain a little fat. This cost of carriage ruined his enterprise, and his works were offered for sale.
When he was about to demolish the works, the Frenchman took the purchaser, a shrewd Yorkshireman, into confidence, and told the story of his failure. The Yorkshireman, having finally assured himself that the carriage was the only difficulty, made an offer of partnership on the basis that the Frenchman should do the chemistry of the work, and that he should do the rest.
Accordingly, he went to the works around, and offered to contract for the purchase of all their soap-suds, if they would allow him to put up a tank or two on their premises. This he did; the acid was added, the fat rose to the surface, was skimmed off, and carried, without the water, to the central works. The Frenchman’s science and skill, united with the Yorkshireman’s practical sagacity, built up a flourishing business, and the grease thus made is still in great demand and high repute for lubricating the rolling-mills of iron-works, and for many other kinds of machinery.
(2820)