from stuffing, and ought to give reasonable satisfaction. The various styles of folding boxes are good illustrations of the single idea inventions. Many flourishing concerns are based on same. To be an inventor one should be a close observer. They should make sure of just what they see. I heard of a business man who had a very valuable horse. He left particular orders that great care should be taken and see that the horse did not get loose and go in the new clover field. He went off to his business, some distance away, and soon a neighbor came at top speed and said, "Your horse is in the clover field." The business man left his office in great haste and ran home, where he found the horse in the stable where he had left him. The cow had been put in the clover field. The neighbor said he did not look so very close. He saw an animal in the field. It seemed to have four corners, with a leg from each corner to the ground, and thought it might be the horse. He wouldn't make an inventor—"A left-over in the process of nature's selection." A device to turn the sheets of music for piano players should be worthy of study. Some one ought to get up a paste that could be put in a tooth and adhere. It should become hard and be lasting. Most anything to obviate the barbarous riveting process.

Has it ever occurred to you the vast amount of waste going on in putting up goods in tin packages? It presents a great field for invention of the simple "lucky" kind. The person who hits the right thing will become vastly wealthy. Try to devise a shape of package that will answer and be useful after it is emptied. Now, simply to illustrate the idea, say we put tomatoes up in a tin cup with a lid that would serve as a cake cutter. Nice little buckets might answer. Smoking tobacco packages ought to answer for match boxes to hang on the wall. Come, now, there is a fortune waiting. Who among the students will be first to claim it? Nothing would please me more than to hear of some one or more of you making a hit. Think. "He who would eat the nut must crack it."

Some people think there have been so many patents taken out already there is no chance to get up any more. The truth is, no doubt, the chances are on the increase. New sciences are being developed, as for instance, electricity, and each new machine turns out work that enables the inventor to do something he could not well do before. Machinery now will shape wire to any required form; castings are greatly improved; wood turnings are cheap and in almost every imaginable shape. The inventor of to-day has almost every possible detail want at hand, and so he can undertake things heretofore out of reach. Naturally, as the country grows things come into demand that were not worth while before. Indeed, from every point of view the field seems to broaden.

Suppose a two-inch tube has a one-inch hole through the side. It is desired to cover the hole with a band, so arranged that when the band is turned it will revolve a rod inside of the tube. Can you reason how to do it? Grates used under boilers for steam purposes expand when heated. When cast in one piece the bars warp and soon wear out. A grate was patented made in pieces; each single bar was loose; due allowance was made for expansion. They are oval on top, broad and tapering. They do not warp. The space between the bars widened towards the bottom, hence the ashes would not clog. Draw an end view of such bars; the idea will show plainly. I favor drawing to impress thought. The matter rests with yourself. "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink."

Since so simple a device as an air cushion will render the fall of an elevator harmless, there should be something doing with trains of cars. No telescoping. Who will quiet the awful noise of the trolley car, particularly in cities? Overhead they might slide the cars to advantage, using a cog motor on third rail. Method is a species of invention. It lends force to action.

What day of the week was March 20, 1886?