Here a little
bit of sulphur, and there a little parcel of lead; here a little
degree of heat, a little hotter than would warm a man's hands,
and in which a man could live for ten minutes or a quarter of an
hour; and yet they never seem to come to the point. I think it is
because their materials did not allow them to come to the manly
assertion that somebody else did make this invention, giving to
that somebody a local habitation and a name. We want to know the
name, and the habitation, and the location of the man upon the
face of this globe, who invented vulcanized rubber, if it be not
he, who now sits before us.
"Well there are birds which fly in the air, seldom lighting, but
often hovering. Now I think this is a question not to be hovered
over, not to be brooded over, and not to be dealt with as an
infinitesimal quantity of small things. It is a case calling for
a manly admission and a manly defense. I ask again, if there is
anybody else than Goodyear who made this invention, who is he? Is
the discovery so plain that it might have come about by accident?
It is likely to work important changes in the arts everywhere. IT
INTRODUCES QUITE A NEW MATERIAL INTO THE MANUFACTURE OF THE ARTS,
THAT MATERIAL BEING NOTHING LESS THAN ELASTIC METAL. It is hard
like metal and as elastic as pure original gum elastic.
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