Excerpt from A Pathfinder: Discovery, Invention and Industry; How the World Came to Have Aquadag and Oildag; Also, Carborundum, Artificial Graphite and Other Valuable Products of the Electric Furnace The subject of this work has for a number of years had in process of preparation a history of his life and work. It has not been his intention to publish it, his sole purpose being to record the events of his life for the benefit of his family and friends. Recently he permitted the pub lishers to read this autobiographical sketch, and in view of the prominence he has attained, we urged him to give, to the youth and young men of the country, this life-story, and with much hesitation he finally assented to such publica tion, and we here give it in his own words, with the belief that it may prove of very material benefit to many of the young men of the world, relating, as it does, his boyhood inspirations, struggles as a young man, contentions against many vicissitudes, his persistent dedication Of himself to a fixed purpose, his final triumphs, and the acceptance of the results he has attained by the scientific and industrial world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.