s invented many devices. All in all he held nearly fifty patents from the United States and England for useful inventions in naval warfare, bridge foundations and superstructure, dredging machines, navigation, river and harbor works, and ship-railway construction. In January, 1887, when his bill was to come up, he went to Washington. He was in such poor health that he was not able to remain there, but on his doctor's advice he went with his wife and one daughter to Nassau. While sick there, he was still at work on improvements for his ship-railway. He was wont to say to his intimate friends, "I shall not die until I accomplish this work, and see with my own eyes great ships pass from ocean to ocean over the land." But in Nassau it was soon known that he was dying; and still he said, "I cannot die; I have not finished my work." He died March 8, 1887, not quite sixty-seven years of age. No one has finished his work. * * * * * In any career there are three main elements of success: talent, education, work. Eads's life, like that of so many other self-made men, seems to show us that education is less important than the other two. But while it is true that he had not the formal education of an engineer, he had a certain very broad training gained in experience, and had read hard. Education, after all, is n
