Human ingenuity… not always successful…

The editors of the June 13, 1885 issue of Scientific American ^[1] thought the following “invention” was worthy of both an image and supporting text.  Interesting to note that the preceding (lengthy) article on the same page was titled, “How the Sewage of Paris is Disposed of”.  Perhaps they should have ended this article with the words, “and with this in mind…”.  My advance apologies to the distant relatives of this inventor who may still be receiving royalties. ^[2]