, and what he got out was dirty and bitter. One of his pupils in
1801 set up a beet sugar factory near Breslau under the patronage of the
King of Prussia, but the industry was not a success until Napoleon took
it up and in 1810 offered a prize of a million francs for a practical
process. How the French did make fun of him for this crazy notion! In a
comic paper of that day you will find a cartoon of Napoleon in the
nursery beside the cradle of his son and heir, the King of Rome--known
to the readers of Rostand as l'Aiglon. The Emperor is squeezing the
juice of a beet into his coffee and the nurse has put a beet into the
mouth of the infant King, saying: "Suck, dear, suck. Your father says
it's sugar."
In like manner did the wits ridicule Franklin for fooling with
electricity, Rumford for trying to improve chimneys, Parmentier for
thinking potatoes were fit to eat, and Jefferson for believing that
something might be made of the country west of the Mississippi. In all
ages ridicule has been the chief weapon of conservatism.
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