No preface

Preface [ix-x]
The biographies of great Scientists are of necessity filled with a multitude of detail, much of which is of little or no interest to the general reader; hence the author of the present volume has endeavoured to give a description of the lives of some of the most outstanding men of Science in an easy and readable form. It is not claimed that this is the first work of such a character, but, so far as the author knows, it is the first to deal with the subject in a comprehensive manner, linking the Ancient to the Modern. In order to make a story as readable as possible, it has been deemed better to avoid a constant reference to dates at which the different events have occurred in the men’s lives, and to state rather the ages of the men at such times. The date of birth and death of each Hero is, however, mentioned in the text, and also beneath the respective chapter headings, while a complete list, arranged in chronological order, of all the Scientists mentioned in the text is given in an Appendix at page 339. […]

Chapter 1. Who are the heroes of science? [17-19]
If we agree with the poet Milton that “Peace hath her victories, no less renown’d than War,” we shall have no difficulty in appreciating the statement that there are Heroes of Science. It goes without saying that the word Heroes does not signify Martyrs; fortunately, there have been very few martyrs of Science. Men need not sacrifice their lives because of their scientific beliefs. Wherever Men of Science have been imprisoned, and in a few isolated cases put to death, we shall find that it has been owing to their conflict with the religious beliefs of the people. There have been martyrs of Science in other respects. Within recent years several X-ray operators, intent on healing disease in others, have been attacked by invisible radiations which have brought about a slow and lingering death. Then there have been cases of men willing that some dangerous experiment should be performed upon them, in the hope that others might benefit by the experience thus gained. However, the Heroes whose lives we are about to [18] consider are men who have been in the forefront of the advancement of knowledge. It is true that some of these have had to sacrifice much; to undergo great hardships and yet fight on. Some have had to suffer the ridicule of the wise men of their time, and the hatred of those who should have been their friends. But the word Heroes is used here in no such restricted sense, although it is certain that every Hero of Science must have made some sacrifice in his daily life. We may count all who have made a great advance in Science to be true Heroes. Of course, it is impossible to consider the lives of all such men. Unfortunately, there are many of the Heroes of Antiquity whose biographies are almost entire blanks, while among the modern Men of Science there are many who have done much useful work, but in whose lives there have been no outstanding features which would interest the general reader. For these reasons the Heroes selected for our present purpose are those in whose lives we find most of general interest; they are all prominent Men of Science. Many of us, when children, received instruction in Biblical History, being told the story of some incident in the life of Joseph at one time, the story of Jacob at another, and the story of Moses at another time. Each story was of interest to us, but the interest was increased greatly when we found how all these individual stories were linked together. How old Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy corn; their meeting with Joseph; his settling his father Jacob, or Israel, in Egypt; the increasing descendants of Israel causing a later Pharaoh to fear for his kingdom; their consequent bondage; and [19] the ultimate release of these children of Israel by Moses. For the same reason I have endeavoured to link up, so far as it is possible, the stories of the different Heroes of Science. I have gone back to the beginning of Science, some two thousand and five hundred years ago, and I have called a halt at the other end, only omitting the Scientists living at the present time. This arrangement will help to emphasise the very long break in the advance of Science, which lasted throughout the Middle Ages. Indeed, we shall have to jump from the beginning of the Christian era right on to the time of Queen Elizabeth, with only two prominent stepping-stones between. […]

Preface [4]
The present work is in some respects a sequel to the Pioneers of Electricity, and it deals with the lives and principal achievements of those distinguished men to whom we are indebted for the introduction of the electric telegraph and telephone, as well as other marvels of electric science.

Preface [v-viii]
[vi] To collect a ‘complete record’ of the stories of heroism in every-day life would be an impossible task. Turning over the lists of the Royal Humane Society, of the Lifeboat Institution, of the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of the Police Register, of the recipients of the Albert Medal and of the Royal Red Cross, I have come upon such an overwhelming mass of material that, in view of the difficulty of making a wise selection, my heart has well-nigh fainted within me. […] [vii] We live in a sensational age. Sensational fiction, sensational journalism, sensational speech-making – these are the every-day features of our times. To the lovers of the sensational I offer a new, and at the same time a healthy, gratification of their taste. Such as they are, I venture to dedicate these stories of heroism in every-day life to the working men and boys of Great Britain. Whatever may be lacking in the completeness of my work, there is certainly no lack of love, no lack of sympathy with the great working class. I have faith in the future of the English people. I believe that they will not allow themselves to be misled by the passion and prejudice of the hour. I believe that the sound commonsense and love of fair-dealing which has always characterized them will characterize them still. We live in a transition period. The old order is passing away and giving place to new. This is inevitable. Change and decay are written on all human institutions. But in all the changes that are surely coming (political and social), let us not forget one broad principle – namely, that it is ‘Righteousness’ (and righteousness alone) ‘that exalteth a nation.’ No material advantages an prove of lasting benefit unless they are accompanied by the [viii] growth and development of the higher nature.

The preface is remarkable for expressing a sense of an emerging new order; heroism of working-class people appears to be reassuring in times of change. The book intends to commemorate the heroism of everyday life because it is important for the nation. The people whose deeds are described perform deeds of bravery as part of their work-life or in everyday situations of emergency.

The first story, “A Cornish Hero”, is about a fisherman from Cornwall, Alfred Collins, who saves shipwrecked people: [16] “Those who are called to swell the ranks of the great army of the brave and true of heart belong to every class of society, as well as to every nation and tongue. We have our Bayards, our gentle knights […]; but serried close against them, equaling and sometimes distancing them in the race, are simple unlettered men, utterly incapable of giving expression to the nobility of their natures, save by some thrilling act of heroism, revealing the one-ness of nature which ‘makes the whole world kin.’”
The second story, “Underground Heroes”, is about heroic behaviour exhibited during an accident in a mine.
The fourth narrative is dedicated to Alice Ayres, who saved children during a fire but lost her own life:
[65] “Alice Ayres leaves behind her an example of presence of mind, courage, and fidelity to duty, such as the world has seldom seen, and which may fitly bear comparison with the noblest achievement of former ages. High up on the roll-call of heroes must we place the young maid-of-all-work whose deed of signal valour we have just described. The honours of a grand funeral […] bespeak the gratitude and admiration of the public. But this is not enough. The name of Alice Ayres must be a household word; her memory must be engraven on our hearts, and our children’s children must tell the story of the nineteenth-century heroine.”
Another story is about Hannah Rosbotham, “A Brave Schoolmistress” who saved children during a storm.

The book is part of “Dyer Brothers’ Illustrated Penny Library of Deeds worth recording”.

No preface

This was a penny publication in pamphlet form affordable for working-class readers.
In “A Brave Exploit in Newfoundland”, men from a fishermen’s village endanger their own lives to save shipwrecked people: [7] “The Royal Humane Society of England never bestowed its rewards to greater advantage than by presenting to Alfred Moores a silver medal and to four of his most intrepid companions each a similar memento in bronze. These mementoes will serve a double purpose, by inciting the rising youth of Ponch Cove to similar deeds of prowess, and by commanding for their possessors the esteem of every lover of mankind.”
In “Heroism in a Mine“, seven miners in the Welsh Rhondda Valley save colleagues from a flooded mine; this accident had been a nation-wide media event: [13] “Why should the chief decorations for valour be confined to the soldier reeking from the carnage of the battlefield. At any rate, in these valleys, the solitude of which is only disturbed by the whistle of the passing locomotive and the rattle of the engines on the pit bank, as long as they live these will be marked men, and their deeds, like former deeds of the race to which they belong, will be the theme of bards at many an Eisteddfod.”
In “A Quarryman’s Noble Sacrifice”, a quarryman removes a stone from the rails to prevent an approaching train from derailing and loses his life through this deed.
“A Brave Policeman” saves people during a fire.

Epigraph [3]
“Many a mind of richest work,
In many a man of low estate,
Illumes the bye-way of the earth,
Unseen, but good; unknown, but great.”

Preface [n. pag.]
In the spring of 1865 the late Earl of Derby addressed a letter to the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, suggesting that ‘a National Portrait Exhibition, chronologically arranged, might not only possess great historical interest, by bringing together portraits of all the most eminent contemporaries of their respective eras, but might also serve to illustrate the progress and condition, at various periods, of British art.’ The suggestion was acted upon. […] and in April 1866, the first Exhibition was opened at South Kensington, consisting of pictures of a date not later than the close of the reign of James II.

Epigraph on title page
“There are homesteads which have witness’d deeds
That battle-fields, with all their banner’d pomp,
Have little to compare with. Life’s general play
May, so it have an actor great enough,
Be well perform’d upon a humble stage.”
Westland Marston

Preface [v-x]
[…] The present age, whilst it deprecates moral or intellectual energy being urged forward into pretentiousness, has grown too accurate in its appreciation of the relative duties of the sexes, to permit either to ignore responsibility, by consuming life in selfish ease. No man or woman has a right to become a mere cipher in existence, and both are called upon to imitate Him who “deems it not beneath the dignity of His transcendent majesty, to work unceasingly for all.” To draw, therefore, from the great moralist’s expressions, any discouragement to the practice of those heroic [vi] virtues which seek not notoriety, yet cannot escape it, would be to pervert not less the truth than, possibly, the meaning of the speaker. An invidious desire to restrict woman’s legitimate influence, is no new thing; and although the universal increase of education confessedly demands her proportionate advancement, to keep pace with the day, we find narrow prejudice still striving to depress her in the social scale. In his defence of female education, Sidney Smith strongly animadverts upon this tendency. […] The real answer, however, to those casuists who impugn whatever may lead woman out of that inane repose, in which they seek to keep her, is derived from facts themselves. Any virtue elicited by a great event, becomes, ipso facto, matter of history, [vii] and therefore celebrated; yet this does not invalidate its claim to be essentially domestic. Feminine heroism comprehends those elements which make better wives, mothers, and daughters; and if circumstances reveal such characteristics as devotion, fidelity, piety, unselfishness, in their highest culmination, we can no more ignore them, than we can repudiate those plants, which, growing unobtrusive in the forest, restore a nation to health, disarm infection, or mitigate the agony of death. In a similar manner, domestic heroism desires not fame, which is alien to its very nature, yet becomes of public import, as its unassuming virtue spreads from the cottage to the throne, cheers the home or the hospital, and alleviates even the scaffold and the gaol. Still, it cannot be denied that association with aspects of severer duty, is apt to give a masculine hardness to the mind and the manners, inauspicious to feminine delicacy, the especially graceful attribute of the sex. The constant habit of thinking for herself, of ruling rather than obeying, nay, even conversance with subjects of hospital and camp life, wears off from woman, under such circumstances, her soft and gentle character. Our observation may be thought strange; but we think that such heroines never proved their claim to the appellation more, than when they voluntarily sacrificed the attractiveness of feminine sensibility, by the exercise of self-imposed obnoxious offices. Possibly upon this result, the jealousy of allowing [viii] women a more active sphere, is founded. The heart, like the hand, gets coarse by familiarity with roughness, and, to sensitive minds, certain pursuits would be simply intolerable; but here constitutional disposition comes in, and the natural tendency of the individual predisposes to such practice. In fact, each follows his or her bias; so that often, except where physical suffering is concerned, a heroine has voluntarily chosen a path she need never have entered upon. Yet, after all, what is life but one appeal to duty? Or what are its functions, but demands upon submission to the severest discipline? So long, therefore, as the obligation rests upon both sexes, to “bear one another’s burdens,” those elements must be encouraged in woman, which qualify her the better to discharge her responsibility. There is an evil in the present day, which particularly calls for the study of pure models of excellence. We allude to the all-pervading proneness to selfish luxury, which is a sad impediment to woman’s work. Whatever, then, can direct the mind to noble example, checks this tendency to perversion from our being’s high end and aim; “for all education of the sex upon dignified and important subjects, multiplies, beyond measure, the chances of human improvement, by preparing and medicating those early impressions, which, in a great majority of instances, are quite decisive of character and genius.” If, indeed, the sex would entitle itself to the quaint [ix] compliment of Malherbe, that “the Creator may have repented of having formed man, but never woman,” it is clear that graver thoughts of her true destiny, must be imparted into the old system of educating her to be merely a pretty puppet in the drawing-room. Hence, such subjects have been selected as stand highest in the roll of fame; this series being devoted especially to the illustration of the domestic virtues. To condense is more difficult than to elaborate; but it will be well if these records stimulate examination of fuller biographies; and although courage, conjugal and filial piety, philanthropy, and self-culture, may impart an unavoidable resemblance to such annals, – for, alas, the list of human virtues is soon run out, though never fulfilled! – yet the variety of circumstances, as well as of individual constitution, presents ample materials for thought. To enhance such motives, therefore, as, while they discourage assumption, teach woman to endure – her chief lesson in this life! – and unselfishly to support others – her main prerogative! – at a period when her greater activity is demanded, is the object of this work. But let it be remembered that true greatness is of Nature, not of Art, and that Heroism cannot be instilled. It must be instinctive; and though it may be imitated, yet its primary elements cannot be acquired. Education may teach us to shun the shoals, but it can as little construct the ruling mind, which guides the vessel over them, as create [x] those tides which prostrate all obstacles, by the resistless energy of an indomitable will. Virtue, genius, greatness, are of loftier source, and like happiness, belong to a higher sphere than this; the artist can imitate, but cannot inspire his model; and though Prometheus is said to have formed the fairest image of humanity, the vivifying spark which taught the soul and eye to speak, was caught from heaven!
E.O.

Very slim volume for female readers. The book is dedicated to Charles Kean.

Preface [vii-viii]
In the selection of the characters for “Heroines of History,” I believe I have chosen some of the most eminent of our sex. It has been my wish to combine the heroines of numerous histories in one volume, and to show my readers, as in the cases of Margaret of Anjou and Isabella of Castile, that both these illustrious women – although so gifted with courage, energy, and military skill – possessed those qualities which adorn their sex. In Marie Antoinette, it has been my aim to show that the majestic demeanour of high rank, education, and principle, however unaccustomed to the adversities of fate, never shine so brightly as when they are treated with indignity, and insulted with impunity, by their inferiors. Mary Stuart I have introduced to show that jealousy causes much misery in the world. Margaret of Anjou appears in the beautiful combination of a queen, a general, a wife, a woman, and a mother. The case of Isabella of Valois proves that a really virtuous person can withstand spendid offers, and it likewise shows that life is but a passing shadow; while that of Isabella of Castile points out that no earthly individual is perfect, for with all her splendid talents, she possessed one fault – jealousy, which was a bar, were the truth [viii] known, to the domestic happiness of King Ferdinand of Arragon and Queen Isabella of Castile. Catherine de Medici shows a disposition composed of treachery, intrigue, ambition, and dissimulation; form which we may learn that vice may triumph, but that virtuous people are carried down to posterity, while all that the vicious obtain is hatred, contempt, and detestation of the world. I will not intrude longer on your time by any further remarks on the remaining “Heroines of History.” It is my wish to attend to accuracy, which may perhaps procure me the patronage I sincerely hope to obtain, and that it may not be deemed presumptuous in me to cherish the fond hope that I may be enabled to introduce a new epoch in History, by combining the Heroines of all ages and nations. And now, my readers, I will take my farewell of you for the present.
Mary Eugenia Johnson

This was a low-priced publication sold at 1s6d.

Preface [n. pag.]
This little work has no pretensions to originality. It is compiled from works too voluminous and too expensive to have place where they should oftenest be found, in the cottage and the workshop, in the hope that it may serve to revivify, in the heart of Young England especially, the failing memory of our glorious Sea Captains. Chiefly indebted to Hepworth Dixon’s Life of Blake, Southey’s Life of Nelson, and Osler’s Life of Lord Exmouth, the compiler especially adverts to them, not only as containing matter which every Englishman should know by heart, but as models of biographical excellence. These, as well as Barrow’s numerous memoirs, remain to be read by those who would know all the details in the lives of the Naval Heroes of Great Britain. In the compass of a book like the present it was impossible to give the memoirs of all our illustrious admirals; only those, therefore, have been selected whose great sea genius or decisive successes more signally recommend them to the emulation and gratitude of Englishmen.

This was a low-priced publication sold at 1s6d.

Preface [n. pag.]
This little work has no pretensions to originality. It is compiled from works too voluminous and too expensive to have place where they should oftenest be found, in the cottage and the workshop, in the hope that it may serve to revivify, in the heart of Young England especially, the failing memory of our glorious Sea Captains. Chiefly indebted to Hepworth Dixon’s Life of Blake, Southey’s Life of Nelson, and Osler’s Life of Lord Exmouth, the compiler especially adverts to them, not only as containing matter which every Englishman should know by heart, but as models of biographical excellence. These, as well as Barrow’s numerous memoirs, remain to be read by those who would know all the details in the lives of the Naval Heroes of Great Britain. In the compass of a book like the present it was impossible to give the memoirs of all our illustrious admirals; only those, therefore, have been selected whose great sea genius or decisive successes more signally recommend them to the emulation and gratitude of Englishmen.