lver watch, sophisticated with
magnetism, and keeping an eccentric time peculiar to it, was his only
ornament. On social occasions, of course, he adopted a more
conventional costume. Visitors to the laboratory often found him in his
shirt-sleeves, with dishevelled hair and grimy hands.

The writer of 'A Night with Edison' has described him as bending like
a wizard over the smoky fumes of some lurid lamps arranged on a brick
furnace, as if he were summoning the powers of darkness.

'It is much after midnight now,' says this author. 'The machinery below
has ceased to rumble, and the tired hands have gone to their homes.
A hasty lunch has been sent up. We are at the thermoscope. Suddenly a
telegraph instrument begins to click. The inventor strikes a grotesque
attitude, a herring in one hand and a biscuit in the other, and with
a voice a little muffled with a mouthful of both, translates aloud,
slowly, the sound intelligible to him alone: "London.--News of death
of Lord John Russell premature." "John Blanchard, whose failure was
announced yesterday, has suicided (no, that was a bad one) SUCCEEDED! in
adjusting his affairs, and will continue in business."'

His tastes are simple and his habits are plain. On one occasion, when
invited to a dinner at Delmonico's restaurant, he contented himself
with a slice of pie and a cup of tea. Another time he is said to have
declined a public dinner with the remark that 100,000 dollars would
not tempt him to sit through two hours of 'personal glorification.' He
dislikes notoriety, thinking that a man is to be 'measured by what he
does, not by what is said about him.' But he likes to talk about his
inventions and show them to visitors at Menlo Park. In disposition he
is sociable, affectionate, and generous, giving himself no airs, and
treating all alike. His humour is native, and peculiar to himself, so
there is some excuse for the newspaper reporters who take his jokes
about the capabilities of Nature AU SERIEUX; and publish them for
gospel.

His assistants are selected for their skill and physical endurance. The
chief at Menlo Park was Mr. Charles Batchelor, a Scotchman, who had
a certain interest in the inventions, but the others, including
mathematicians, chemists, electricians, secretary, bookkeeper, and
mechanics, were paid a salary. They were devoted to Edison, who, though
he worked them hard at times, was an indulgent master, and sometimes
joined them in a general holiday. All