Inventors Punished
by their own inventions.
BASTILLE. Hugues Aubriot, Provost of Paris, who built the Bastile,
was the first person confined therein. The charge against him was
heresy.
BRAZEN BULL. Perillos, who invented the Brazen Bull for Phalaris,
Tyrant of Agrigentum, was the first person baked to death in the
horrible monster.
CAPTAIN. Cowper Coles, inventor of the turret-ship, perished in the Captain off Finisterre September 7th, 1870.
CATHERINE WHEEL. The inventor of St. Catherine's Wheel, a diabolical
machine consisting of four wheels turning different ways, and each
wheel armed with saws, knives, and teeth, was killed by his own
machine; for when St. Catherine was bound on the wheel, she fell off,
and the machine flew to pieces. One of the pieces struck the inventor,
and other pieces struck several of the men employed to work it, all of
whom were killed.
(Metaphrastes.)
GUILLOTINE. J. B. V. Guillotin, M.D., of Lyons, was guillotined, but
it is an error to credit him with the invention of the instrument. The
inventor was Dr. Joseph Agnace Guillotin.
HAMAN, son of Hammedatha, the Amalekite, of the race of Agag,
devised a gallows fifty cubits high on which to hang Mordecai, by way
of commencing the extripation of the Jews; but the favourite of
Ahasuerus was himself hanged on his gigantic gallows. In modern history
we have a repetition of this incident in the case of Enguerrand de
Marigni, Minister of Finance to Philippe the Fair, who was hung on the
gibbet which he had caused to be erected at Montfaucon for the
execution of certain felons; and four of his successors in office
underwent the same fate.
HOPKINS (Matthew,) the witch-finder, was himself tried by his
own tests, and put to death as a wizard.
IRON CAGE. The Bishop of
Verdun, who invented the Iron Cages, too small to allow the person
confined in them to stand upright or lie at full length, was the first
to be shut up in one; and Cardinal La Balue, who recommended them to
Louis XI., was himself confined in one for ten years.
IRON SHROUD. Ludovico Sforza, who invented the Iron Shroud, was the
first to suffer death by this horrible torture.
MAIDEN. The Regent Mortou of Scotland, who invented the Maiden, a
sort of guillotine, was the first to be beheaded thereby. This was in
the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
OSTRACISM. Clisthenes introduced the custom of Ostracism, and was
the first to be banished thereby.
The PERRIERE was an instrument for
throwing stones of 3,000 lbs. in weight; and the inventor fell a victim
to his own invention by the accidental discharge of a perrière against
a wall.
PORTA A FAENZA. Filippo Strozzi counselled the Duke Alessandro de'
Medici to construct the Porta a Faenza to intimidate the Florentines,
and here he was himself murdered.
SALISBURY (the Earl of) was the first to use cannon, and was
the first Englishman killed by a cannon ball.
UTROP'IUS induced the
Emperor Arcadius to abolish the benefit of sanctuary; but a few days
afterwards he committed some offence and fled for safety to the nearest
church. St. Chrysostom told him he had fallen into
his own not, and he was put to death. (Life of St. Chrysostom.)
WINSTANLEY (Mr.) erected the first Eddystone lighthouse. It
was a wooden polygon, 100 feet high, on a stone base. but it was washed
away by a storm in 1703, and the architect himself perished in his own
edifice.
Inventors Punished
A curious instance of the sin of invention is mentioned
in the Bridge of Allan Reporter, February, 1803:
“It is told of Mr. Ferguson's grandfather, that he invented a pair of
fanners for cleaning grain, and for this proof of superior ingenuity he
was summoned before the Kirk Session, and reproved for trying to place
the handiwork of man above the time-honoured practice of cleaning the
grain on windy days, when the current was blowing briskly through the
open doors of the barn.”
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Inventors Punished from Infoplease:
- Inventors Punished - Inventors Punished by their own inventions. BASTILLE. Hugues Aubriot, Provost of Paris, who built ...
- Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: I - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "I"
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