A World-Hunt For Filament Material - 6

A World-Hunt For Filament Material - 6

 "From Ceylon I proceeded to India, touching the great peninsula first at Cape Comorin,

and continuing northward by way of Pondicherry, Madura, and Madras; and thence to the

tableland of Bangalore and the Western Ghauts, testing many kinds of wood at every

point, but particularly the palm and bamboo families. From the range of the Western

Ghauts I went to Bombay and then north by the way of Delhi to Simla, the summer

capital of the Himalayas; thence again northward to the headwaters of the Sutlej River,

testing everywhere on my way everything likely to afford the desired carbon.

"On returning from the mountains I followed the valleys of the Jumna and the Ganges to

Calcutta, whence I again ascended the Sub-Himalayas to Darjeeling, where the numerous

river-bottoms were sprinkled plentifully with many varieties of bamboo, from the larger

sizes to dwarfed species covering the mountain slopes, and not longer than the grass of

meadows. Again descending to the plains I passed eastward to the Brahmaputra River,

which I ascended to the foot-hills in Assam; but finding nothing of superior quality in all

this northern region I returned to Calcutta and sailed thence to Rangoon, in Burmah; and

there, finding no samples giving more excellent tests in the lower reaches of the

Irrawaddy, I ascended that river to Mandalay, where, through Burmese bamboo

wiseacres, I gathered in from round about and tested all that the unusually rich Burmese

flora could furnish. In Burmah the giant bamboo, as already mentioned, is found

indigenous; but beside it no superior varieties were found. Samples tested at several

points on the Malay Peninsula showed no new species, except at a point north of

Singapore, where I found a species large and heavy which gave a test nearly equal to that

of the giant bamboo in Ceylon.

"After completing the Malay Peninsula I had planned to visit Java and Borneo; but

having found in the Malay Peninsula and in Ceylon a bamboo fibre which averaged a test

from one to two hundred per cent. better than that in use at the lamp factory, I decided it

was unnecessary to visit these countries or New Guinea, as my `Eureka' had already been

established, and that I would therefore set forth over the return hemisphere, searching

China and Japan on the way. The rivers in Southern China brought down to Canton

bamboos of many species, where this wondrously utilitarian reed enters very largely into

the industrial life of that people, and not merely into the industrial life, but even into the

culinary arts, for bamboo sprouts are a universal vegetable in China; but among all the

bamboos of China I found none of superexcellence in carbonizing qualities. Japan came

next in the succession of countries to be explored, but there the work was much

simplified, from the fact that the Tokio Museum contains a complete classified collection

of all the different species in the empire, and there samples could be obtained and tested.

"Now the last of the important bamboo-producing countries in the globe circuit had been

done, and the `home-lap' was in order; the broad Pacific was spanned in fourteen days;

my natal continent in six; and on the 22d of February, on the same day, at the same hour,

at the same minute, one year to a second, `little Maude,' a sweet maid of the school, led

me across the line which completed the circuit of the globe, and where I was greeted by

the cheers of my boys and girls. I at once reported to Mr. Edison, whose manner of

greeting my return was as characteristic of the man as his summary and matter-of- fact

manner of my dispatch. His little catechism of curious inquiry was embraced in four

small and intensely Anglo-Saxon words--with his usual pleasant smile he extended his

hand and said: `Did you get it?' This was surely a summing of a year's exploration not

less laconic than Caesar's review of his Gallic campaign. When I replied that I had, but

that he must be the final judge of what I had found, he said that during my absence he had

succeeded in making an artificial carbon which was meeting the requirements

satisfactorily; so well, indeed, that I believe no practical use was ever made of the

bamboo fibres thereafter.

"I have herein given a very brief resume of my search for fibre through the Orient; and

during my connection with that mission I was at all times not less astonished at Mr.

Edison's quick perception of conditions and his instant decision and his bigness of

conceptions, than I had always been with his prodigious industry and his inventive

genius.

"Thinking persons know that blatant men never accomplish much, and Edison's

marvellous brevity of speech along with his miraculous achievements should do much to

put bores and garrulity out of fashion."