, but he applied his powers of
observation and his workmanship upon the things which were nearest him.
He worked in wood, and to wood he first turned his attention.

He was still fond of machines going upon wheels. He had enjoyed the
sight of the big watch going upon brass wheels when he was a boy; but,
now that he was a workman in wood, he proposed to make an eight-day
clock, with wheels of this material. He made the clock in 1713, when
he was twenty years old,[4] so that he must have made diligent use of
his opportunities. He had of course difficulties to encounter, and
nothing can be accomplished without them; for it is difficulties that
train the habits of application and perseverance. But he succeeded in
making an effective clock, which counted the time with regularity.
This clock is still in existence. It is to be seen at the Museum of
Patents, South Kensington; and when we visited it a few months ago it
was going, and still marking the moments as they passed. It is
contained in a case about six feet high, with a glass front, showing a
pendulum and two weights. Over the clock is the following inscription:

"This clock was made at Barrow, Lincolnshire, in the year 1715, by John
Harrison, celebrated as the inventor of a nautical timepiece, or
chronometer, which gained the reward of 20,000L., offered by the Board
of Longitude, A.D. 1767.

"This clock strikes the hour, indicates the day of the month, and with
one exception (the escapement) the wheels are entirely made of wood."

This, however, was only a beginning. Harrison proceeded to make better
clocks; and then he found it necessary to introduce metal, which was
more lasting. He made pivots of brass, which moved more conveniently
in sockets of wood with the use of oil. He also caused the teeth of
his wheels to run against cylindrical rollers of wood, fixed by brass
pins, at a proper distance from the axis of the pinions; and thus to a
considerable extent removed the inconveniences of friction.

In the meantime Harrison eagerly improved every incident from which he
might derive further information. There was a clergyman who came every
Sunday to the village to officiate in the neighbourhood; and having
heard of the sedulous application of the young carpenter, he lent him a
manuscript copy of Professor Saunderson's discourses. That blind
professor had prepared several lectures on natural philosophy for the
use of his students, though they were not int