It was in 1690 that he published in the Actes of Leipsic the memoir which will forever and irrevocably assign to him the priority in the invention of steam engines and steamboats, and the title of which was:  “New method of cheaply obtaining the greatest motive powers.”

In 1704, Papin, poor and obliged to do everything for himself, finished his first steamboat; but for want of money he was unable to make a trial of it until August 15, 1707.  The trial was made upon the Fulda and Wera, affluents of the Weser.

The operation succeeded wonderfully, and, shortly afterward, Papin, being desirous of rendering the experiment complete, put his boat on the Weser; but the stupid boatmen of this river drew his craft ashore and broke it and its engine in pieces.

This catastrophe ruined Papin, and annihilated all his hopes.  The great man, falling into shocking destitution, broken down and conquered by adversity, returned to England in 1712 to seek aid and an asylum.

Everywhere repulsed, he returned to Cassel about 1714, sad and discouraged; and the man to whom we owe that prodigy, the steam engine, that instrument of universal welfare and riches, disappeared without leaving any trace of his death.—­Le Monde Illustre.

* * * * *

DECORATION.

THE STUDY OF ORNAMENTS.

[Footnote:  Authorities consulted in preparing this paper: “Analysis of Ornament,” Wornum; “Truth, Beauty, and Power,” Dresser; “Lectures on Art.”  F.W.  Moody; “Hopes and Fears for Art,” Wm. Morris; “Ornamental Art,” Hulme; “Manuals of Art Education,” Prang.]

By MISS MARIE R. GARESCHE, St. Louis High School.

Decoration is the science and art of beautifying objects and rendering them more pleasing to the eye.  As an art, individual taste and skill have much to do with the perfection of the results; as a science, it is subject to certain invariable laws and principles which cannot be violated, and a study of which, added to familiarity with some of the best examples, will enable any one to appreciate and understand it, even if lacking the skill and power to create original and beautiful designs.

The study of decoration offers many advantages.  It cultivates the imagination and the taste; it develops our capacity for recognizing and enjoying the beautiful in both nature and art; it adds to the pleasure and refinement of life.  Practically, its importance can hardly be overestimated, as it enters into almost all the industrial pursuits.  We can think of but few classes of objects, even the most simple, in which some attempt at ornamentation is not made.

Ornament is one of the principal means of enhancing the value of the raw material.  A piece of carved wood, or an artistically decorated porcelain vase, worth perhaps many hundred dollars, if reduced to the commercial value of the material of which they are composed would be valued at but a few dollars or cents.  The higher the ornamentation ranks, from an artistic point of view, the greater becomes the value of the article to which it is applied.  Knowledge of good designs is thus evidently important, to the purchaser of the object ornamented as well as to the designer who planned it.  This can only be attained by cultivation.