What would the historical
student not give for a film faithfully portraying the
inauguration of George Washington! The motion picture has become
an important factor in instruction in history and science in the
schools and this development is still in its infancy.
CHAPTER VII. THE STORY OF RUBBER
One day in 1852, at Trenton, New Jersey, there appeared in the
Circuit Court of the United States two men, the legal giants of
their day, to argue the case of Goodyear vs. Day for infringement
of patent. Rufus Choate represented the defendant and Daniel
Webster the plaintiff. Webster, in the course of his plea, one of
the most brilliant and moving ever uttered by him, paused for a
moment, drew from himself the attention of those who were hanging
upon his words, and pointed to his client. He would have them
look at the man whose cause he pleaded: a man of fifty-two, who
looked fifteen years older, sallow, emaciated from disease, due
to long privations, bitter disappointments, and wrongs. This was
Charles Goodyear, inventor of the process which put rubber into
the service of the world. Said Webster:
"And now is Charles Goodyear the discoverer of this invention of
vulcanized rubber? Is he the first man upon whose mind the idea
ever flashed, or to whose intelligence the fact ever was
disclosed, that by carrying heat to a certain height it would
cease to render plastic the India Rubber and begin to harden and
metallize it? Is there a man in the world who found out that fact
before Charles Goodyear? Who is he? Where is he? On what
continent does he live? Who has heard of him? What books treat of
him? What man among all the men on earth has seen him, known him,
or named him? Yet it is certain that this discovery has been
made.
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