登陆注册
4620100000040

第40章

Every day was a busy one with Siemens. His secretary was with him in his residence by nine o'clock nearly every morning, except on Sundays, assisting him in work for one society or another, the correction of proofs, or the dictation of letters giving official or scientific advice, and the preparation of lectures or patent specifications. Later on, he hurried across the Park 'almost at racing speed,' to his offices at Westminster, where the business of the Landore-Siemens Steel Company and the Electrical Works of Messrs. Siemens Brothers and Company was transacted. As chairman of these large undertakings, and principal inventor of the processes and systems carried out by them, he had a hundred things to attend to in connection with them, visitors to see, and inquiries to answer. In the afternoon and evenings he was generally engaged at council meetings of the learned societies, or directory meetings of the companies in which he was interested. He was a man who took little or no leisure, and though he never appeared to over-exert himself, few men could have withstood the strain so long.

Siemens was buried on Monday, November 26, in Kensal Green Cemetery.

The interment was preceded by a funeral service held in Westminster Abbey, and attended by representatives of the numerous learned societies of which he had been a conspicuous member, by many leading men in all branches of science, and also by a large body of other friends and admirers, who thus united in doing honour to his memory, and showing their sense of the loss which all classes had sustained by his death.

Siemens was above all things a 'labourer.' Unhasting, unresting labour was the rule of his life; and the only relaxation, not to say recreation, which he seems to have allowed himself was a change of task or the calls of sleep. This natural activity was partly due to the spur of his genius, and partly to his energetic spirit. For a man of his temperament science is always holding out new problems to solve and fresh promises of triumph. All he did only revealed more work to be done; and many a scheme lies buried in his grave.

Though Siemens was a man of varied powers, and occasionally gave himself to pure speculation in matters of science, his mind was essentially practical; and it was rather as an engineer than a discoverer that he was great. Inventions are associated with his name, not laws or new phenomena. Standing on the borderland between pure and applied science, his sympathies were yet with the latter; and as the outgoing President of the British Association at Southport, in 1882, he expressed the opinion that 'in the great workshop of nature there are no lines of demarcation to be drawn between the most exalted speculation and common-place practice.' The truth of this is not to be gain-said, but it is the utterance of an engineer who judges the merit of a thing by its utility. He objected to the pursuit of science apart from its application, and held that the man of science does most for his kind who shows the world how to make use of scientific results. Such a view was natural on the part of Siemens, who was himself a living representative of the type in question; but it was not the view of such a man as Faraday or Newton, whose pure aim was to discover truth, well knowing that it would be turned to use thereafter. In Faraday's eyes the new principle was a higher boon than the appliance which was founded upon it.

Tried by his own standard, however, Siemens was a conspicuous benefactor of his fellow-men; and at the time of his decease he had become our leading authority upon applied science. In electricity he was a pioneer of the new advances, and happily lived to obtain at least a Pisgah view of the great future which evidently lies before that pregnant force.

If we look for the secret of Siemens's remarkable success, we shall assuredly find it in an inventive mind, coupled with a strong commercial instinct, and supported by a physical energy which enabled him to labour long and incessantly. It is told that when a mechanical problem was brought to him for solution, he would suggest six ways of overcoming the difficulty, three of which would be impracticable, the others feasible, and one at least successful. From this we gather that his mind was fertile in expedients. The large works which he established are also a proof that, unlike most inventors, he did not lose his interest in an invention, or forsake it for another before it had been brought into the market. On the contrary, he was never satisfied with an invention until it was put into practical operation.

To the ordinary observer, Siemens did not betray any signs of the untiring energy that possessed him. His countenance was usually serene and tranquil, as that of a thinker rather than a man of action; his demeanour was cool and collected; his words few and well-chosen. In his manner, as well as in his works, there was no useless waste of power.

To the young he was kind and sympathetic, hearing, encouraging, advising; a good master, a firm friend. His very presence had a calm and orderly influence on those about him, which when he presided at a Public meeting insensibly introduced a gracious tone. The diffident took heart before him, and the presumptuous were checked. The virtues which accompanied him into public life did not desert him in private. In losing him, we have lost not only a powerful intellect, but a bright example, and an amiable man.

同类推荐
  • 文笔式

    文笔式

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 泉州府志选录

    泉州府志选录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 禅宗决疑集

    禅宗决疑集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • THE SIX ENNEADS

    THE SIX ENNEADS

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 祀义篇

    祀义篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 把生命浪费在美好的事物上

    把生命浪费在美好的事物上

    本书收录了吴晓波近年散文作品59篇,不同于商业作品的理性客观,散文中有他为人父的舐犊情深,有与故人相交的依稀往事,有身为知识分子的冷眼世情,有浸淫商业世界几十载的犀利勾画。时光有味,岁月留声,每一篇都是最诚挚的表达。
  • 凹凸世界零落衍凌

    凹凸世界零落衍凌

    世界的齿轮仍在转动,神的旨意,不可避免。黑暗中的光明,是耀眼的,光明中的黑暗,是多余的……
  • 动漫角色来我家

    动漫角色来我家

    神通广大的二次元角色一旦失去能力穿越到三次元,将会发生怎样的趣事?——骁勇善战的大海贼火拳艾斯成为了烧烤店店员;木叶三忍的蛤蟆仙人自来也当了工口小说作者;以不杀之枭闻名天下的芳村功善仍旧做着自己的老本行,在咖啡店里熟练的泡咖啡.......而我们的主角何辰,则每天都愁于为刚来这个世界的角色安排什么样的工作,日渐消瘦..............本书轻松幽默,欢迎试毒。
  • 春醪集

    春醪集

    本书是才子作家梁遇春珍藏版散文集,收录了《春醪集》和《泪与笑》以及书话、书信,是梁遇春26年短暂年华的丰富结晶。王蒙推荐,国家教育部推荐读物,《语文新课标必读丛书》,现代中国散文的奇异之作,“中国的兰姆”昙花般的青春絮语。
  • 他自月光而来

    他自月光而来

    【新文《阮先生不会谈恋爱》已发布,讲述娱乐圈的恐婚恐恋问题。 被英俊潇洒的神秘男子盯上了,对方声称自己来自月光。举手投足彰显王者贵气,什么?对方居然是外星球的执政官!曾经她无数次猜测,自己老公的模样,后来才发现,英俊温柔的他,竟有无数个模样。温柔霸气的庄医生,一国冷血的执政官和霸气侧漏的指挥官……最后,她愕然发现,她和他老公都在星际排行榜上。而且第一是他?第二,是她?阅读指南:充满爱的星际文+人工智能+外太空生物+CP乱乱炖剧情反转、反转、再反转!宠文一宠到底!
  • 当情深遇上久伴

    当情深遇上久伴

    当年的一次朝夕相处,令他对她念念不忘。几年后,当他再次出现在她的面前时,他的心依旧免不了悸动。可她并未认出他……阴差阳错,他开出天价,将她带走,留在自己的身边。“你为什么对我这么好?”她问。“因为你是令我第一个心动的女生。”他答。后来,她才发现,原来他就是当年的他……
  • 寰天劫

    寰天劫

    三生三世,置果成因。魔消道长,一印生死!若遇见是这命中注定的劫,那便寰天都成劫!若一剑斩不断这浩渺苍穹,那便撕裂寰宇,重组三界!不相忘,不能忘,那便勿须忘!寰天劫起,度灭由心,缘明缘晦,不昧初心。懵懂青衫少年郎,自苍莽北域走来,一步踏出,踏尽万古尘烟!
  • 天方夜谭(语文新课标课外必读第十辑)

    天方夜谭(语文新课标课外必读第十辑)

    国家教育部颁布了最新《语文课程标准》,统称新课标,对中、小学语文教学指定了阅读书目,对阅读的数量、内容、质量以及速度都提出了明确的要求,这对于提高学生的阅读能力,培养语文素养,陶冶情操,促进学生终身学习和终身可持续发展,对于提高广大人民的文学素养具有极大的意义。
  • 无上大帝

    无上大帝

    似乎黑暗永恒不灭,光明一点绽放无尽。当王者陨落,掀开动荡的初潮,一柄天剑自天外飞来,刺穿不死神明的胸膛,斩断真龙与凰的希望。地狱火流淌,沉浮成海,乱世之中,人可成仙?唯有横剑断沧桑。这一日,星海大陆中,北部神州一座漆黑的水牢内,少年睁开眼睛,破开桎梏,迈入红尘大世,自此留下一个个不灭传说……
  • 觞政

    觞政

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。