James An English Inventor Gale, born near Plymouth in July, 1833. Before reaching manhood he became totally blind. He was for a time a partner in a manufacturing house, and afterward practised as a medical electrician at Plymouth. In 18(35 he announced that he had "discovered a means of rendering gunpowder non-explosive and explosive at will, the process for effecting the same being simple, effectual, and cheap, the quality and bulk of the gunpowder remaining uninjured." The invention consists in mixing powdered glass with the gunpowder, which renders it unexplosive, but which by a simple process can be separated from it again. Mr. Gale has also invented an ammunition slide gun, a fog shell, and a balloon shell. His biography, by John Plummer, was published in 1868, under the title, The Story of a Blind Inventor."