Chapter Interest to Invisibility of I by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

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 extirpation 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 Morton 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 net, 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."

Investiture (Latin, clothing in or putting on canonicals.) The admission to office is generally made by investiture; thus, a pair of gloves is given to a Freemason in France; a cap is given to a graduate; a crown, etc., to a sovereign, etc. A crosier and ring used to be given to a church dignitary; but are now simply placed in his hands on his induction into office. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the kings of Europe and the pope were perpetually at variance about the right of investiture; the question was, should the sovereigns or should the pope invest clergymen or appoint them to their livings and dignities? (Latin, vestis, a garment; investio. (See Induction.)

Invincible Doctor William of Occam or Ockham (a village in Surrey), also called Doctor Singularis. (1270-1347.)

Invisibility according to fable, may be obtained in a multitude of ways. For example: -
   Albric's cloak, called Tarnkappe (3 syl.), which Siegfried got possession of, rendered him invisible. (Nibelungen Lied.)
   A chamelon carried in the breast will render a person invisible.
   A capon stone, called "Alectoria," will render any person invisible who carries it about his person. (See Mirror Of Stones.)
   A dead hand. It is believed that a candle placed in a dead man's hand gives no light to any but those who use it. (See Hand.)
   Fern- seed, mentioned by Shakespeare, and by Beaumont and Fletcher, possesses the same charm.
   Gyges' ring, taken from the flanks of a brazen horse, made the wearer invisible, provided he turned the ring inwards.
   Heliotrope, mentioned by Boccaccio in his Decameron (Day viii. 3), is a green stone, which renders a person invisible. So does the herb called heliotrope, according to Solinus, who says, "Herba etiam ejusdem nominis ... eum, a quocumque gestabitur, subtrahit visibus obviorum. " (Georgic, xl.)
   The helmet of Perseus (2