Von Kempelen and his Discovery E-Book

Edgar Allan Poe

• Herausgeber: SAMPI Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 14

Beschreibung

Edgar Allan Poe's "Von Kempelen and his Discovery" tells of the fictional discovery of a way to turn lead into gold. The protagonist, a scientist, deceives the public and challenges concepts of credibility and greed, until his secret is tragically revealed.

Leseprobe

The Oval Portrait

Edgar Allan Poe

SYNOPSIS

Edgar Allan Poe's "Von Kempelen and his Discovery" tells of the fictional discovery of a way to turn lead into gold. The protagonist, a scientist, deceives the public and challenges concepts of credibility and greed, until his secret is tragically revealed.

Keywords

Invention, Fraud, Fiction

NOTICE

This text is a work in the public domain and reflects the norms, values and perspectives of its time. Some readers may find parts of this content offensive or disturbing, given the evolution in social norms and in our collective understanding of issues of equality, human rights and mutual respect. We ask readers to approach this material with an understanding of the historical era in which it was written, recognizing that it may contain language, ideas or descriptions that are incompatible with today's ethical and moral standards.

Names from foreign languages will be preserved in their original form, with no translation.

Von Kempelen and his Discovery

After the very minute and elaborate paper by Arago, to say nothing of the summary in ‘Silliman’s Journal,’ with the detailed statement just published by Lieutenant Maury, it will not be supposed, of course, that in offering a few hurried remarks in reference to Von Kempelen’s discovery, I have any design to look at the subject in a scientific point of view. My object is simply, in the first place, to say a few words of Von Kempelen himself (with whom, some years ago, I had the honor of a slight personal acquaintance), since everything which concerns him must necessarily, at this moment, be of interest; and, in the second place, to look in a general way, and speculatively, at the results of the discovery.