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.”
