Before he died, he recommended me to try for a
schoolmaster's certificate; and I promised him that I would. I
obtained a situation as master of a small village school, not
under Government inspection; and I studied during the year, and
obtained a second class certificate at the Durham Diocesan
College at Christmas, 1877. Early in the following year, the
school was placed under Government inspection, and became a
little more remunerative.
"I now went on with chemical analysis, making my own apparatus.
Requiring an intense heat on a small scale, I invented a furnace
that burnt petroleum oil. It was blown by compressed air. After
many failures, I eventually succeeded in bringing it to such
perfection that in 7 1/2 minutes it would bring four ounces of
steel into a perfectly liquefied state. I next commenced the
study of electricity and magnetism; and then acoustics, light,
and heat. I constructed all my apparatus myself, and acquired
the art of glass-blowing, in order to make my own chemical
apparatus, and thus save expense.
"I then went on with Algebra and Euclid, and took up plane
trigonometry; but I devoted most of my time to electricity and
magnetism. I constructed various scientific apparatus--a syren,
telephones, microphones, an Edison's megaphone, as well as an
electrometer, and a machine for covering electric wire with
cotton or silk.
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