Chapter XL

TREASURES AND CURIOSITIES OF THE PATENT OFFICE—THE MODEL ROOM—ITS
RELICS AND INVENTIONS.

The Patent Office Building—The Model Room—“The Exhibition of the
Nation”—A Room Two Hundred and Seventy Feet in Length—The
Models—Wonders and Treasures of the Room—Benjamin Franklin’s
Press—Model Fire-Escapes—Wonderful Fire-Extinguishers—The
Efforts of Genius—Sheep-Stalls, Rat-Traps, and Gutta Percha—An
Ancient Mariner’s Compass—Captain Cook’s Razor—The Atlantic
Cable—The Signatures of Emperors—An Extraordinary Turkish
Treaty—Treasures of the Orient—Rare Medals—The Reward of Major
Andre’s Captors—The Washington Relics—His Old Tent—His Blankets
and Bed-Curtains—His Chairs and Looking-Glass—His Primitive
Mess-Chest and old Tin Plates—Model of an Extraordinary
Boat—Abraham Lincoln as an Inventor—The Hat Worn on the Fatal
Night—The Gift of the Tycoon—The Efforts of Genius—A Machine to
Force Hens to Lay Eggs—A Hook for Fishing Worms out of the
Human Stomach, 436

CHAPTER XLI.

THE BUREAU OF PATENTS—CRAZY INVENTORS AND WONDERFUL INVENTIONS

Patent-Rights in Steamboats—The Corps of Examiners—Twenty
Thousand Applications _per annum_—Fourteen Thousand Patents
Granted in One Year—Wonderful Expansion of Inventive
Genius—“The Universal Yankee”—Second-hand Inventions—Where the
Inventions Come From—Taking Out a Patent for the Lord’s
Prayer—A Patent for a Cow’s Tail—A Lady’s Patent—Hesitating to
Accept a Million Dollars—How Patentees are Protected—The
American System—Exploits of General Leggett—His Efficiency in
Office—The Inventor Always a Dreamer—Perpetual Motion—The
Invention of a D. D.—Silencing the Doctor—A New Process of
Embalming—A Dead Body Sent to the Office—Utilizing Niagara—An
Englishman’s Invention—Inventors in Paris—How to Kill Lions and
Tigers in the United States with Catmint—A Fearful Bomb
Shell—Eccentric Letters—Amusing Specimens of Correspondence, 446

CHAPTER XLII.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

The Secretary-of-War—His Duties—The Department of the Navy—The
Custody of the Flags—Patriotic Trophies—The War of the
Rebellion—Captured Flags—An Ugly Flag and a Strange Motto—The
Stars and Stripes—The Black Flag—No Quarter—The Washington
Aqueduct—Topographical Engineers—The Ordnance Bureau—The War
Department Building—During the War—Lincoln’s Solitary
Walk—Secretary Stanton—The Exigencies of War—The Medical
History of the War—Dr. Hammond—Dr. J. H. Baxter—The Inspection
of over Half a Million Persons—Who is Unfit for Military
Service—Curious Calculations Respecting Height, Health, and
Color, 460