FOOTNOTES:

"Heathfield, January 26th, 1805.* *"I, perhaps, have said too much to you and Mrs. Campbell on the state of my mind. I, therefore, think it necessary to say thatI am not low spirited; and were you here, you would find me as cheerful in the company of my friends as usual; my feelings for the loss of poor Gregory are not passion, but a deep regret that such was his and my lot."I know that all men must die, and I submit to the decrees of nature, I hope with due reverence to the Disposer of Events. Yet one stimulus to exertion is taken away, and, somehow or other, I have lost my relish for my usual avocations. Perhaps time may remedy that in some measure; meanwhile, I do not neglect the means of amusement which are in my power.""Heathfield, April 8th, 1805.* *"It is rather mortifying to see how easily the want of even the best of us is dispensed with in the world; but it is very well it should be so. We here, however, cannot help feeling a terrible blank in our family. When I look at my son's books, his writings and drawings, I always say to myself, where are the mind that conceived these things, and the hands that executed them? In the course of nature, he should have said so of mine; but it was otherwise ordered, and our sorrow is unavailing. As Catullus says:—---- 'Nunc it, per iter tenebricosum,Illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.At vobis male sit, malæ tenebræOrci, quæ omnia bella devoratis!'"But Catullus was a heathen; let us hope that he (G.) is now rejoicing in another and a better world, free from our cares, griefs, and infirmities. Some one has said, I shall not wholly die; and Gregory's name, his merits and virtues, will live at least as long as those do who knew him. You are not, from this, to conceive that we give way to grief; on the contrary, you will find us as cheerful as we ought to be, and as much disposed to enjoy the friends we have left as ever; but we should approach to brutes if we had no regrets."

"Heathfield, January 26th, 1805.

* *"I, perhaps, have said too much to you and Mrs. Campbell on the state of my mind. I, therefore, think it necessary to say thatI am not low spirited; and were you here, you would find me as cheerful in the company of my friends as usual; my feelings for the loss of poor Gregory are not passion, but a deep regret that such was his and my lot.

"I know that all men must die, and I submit to the decrees of nature, I hope with due reverence to the Disposer of Events. Yet one stimulus to exertion is taken away, and, somehow or other, I have lost my relish for my usual avocations. Perhaps time may remedy that in some measure; meanwhile, I do not neglect the means of amusement which are in my power."

"Heathfield, April 8th, 1805.

* *"It is rather mortifying to see how easily the want of even the best of us is dispensed with in the world; but it is very well it should be so. We here, however, cannot help feeling a terrible blank in our family. When I look at my son's books, his writings and drawings, I always say to myself, where are the mind that conceived these things, and the hands that executed them? In the course of nature, he should have said so of mine; but it was otherwise ordered, and our sorrow is unavailing. As Catullus says:—

---- 'Nunc it, per iter tenebricosum,Illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.At vobis male sit, malæ tenebræOrci, quæ omnia bella devoratis!'

---- 'Nunc it, per iter tenebricosum,

Illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.

At vobis male sit, malæ tenebræ

Orci, quæ omnia bella devoratis!'

"But Catullus was a heathen; let us hope that he (G.) is now rejoicing in another and a better world, free from our cares, griefs, and infirmities. Some one has said, I shall not wholly die; and Gregory's name, his merits and virtues, will live at least as long as those do who knew him. You are not, from this, to conceive that we give way to grief; on the contrary, you will find us as cheerful as we ought to be, and as much disposed to enjoy the friends we have left as ever; but we should approach to brutes if we had no regrets."

Mr. Watt, at the date of these letters, had entered on his seventieth year, a period after which great mental exertions are rarely made.[Pg313]

In the summer of 1819, symptoms of indisposition manifested themselves which soon rendered Watt aware of his approaching dissolution. "I am very sensible," said he to his afflicted friends, "of the attachment you show me, and I hasten to thank you for it, as I am now come to my last illness." He died on the 25th of August, 1819. His remains were deposited in the church of Handsworth, near his estate of Heathfield. His son has raised over his grave a Gothic chapel, in the centre of which is placed a statue by Chantrey.

The personal character of Watt could not fail to excite the admiration and the love of those distinguished persons, whose pride and happiness it was to be admitted to a share in the friendship of the great engineer. Among these were reckoned some of the men who will leave upon the present age the deepest and most lasting impressions of their genius, and such persons have bequeathed to posterity the sentiments with which he inspired them. We cannot here do more justice to the personal character of the subject of this notice than by repeating the portraiture of it which has been given by three of the most distinguished of his friends, and of the most illustrious men of the present age.

At a meeting convened in 1824, for erecting a monument to Watt, Lord Brougham pronounced a speech, from which we extract the following observations:—

"I had the happiness of knowing Mr. Watt, for many years, in the intercourse of private life; and I will take upon me to bear a testimony in which all who had that gratification I am sure will join, that they who only knew his public merit, prodigious as that was, knew but half his worth. Those who were admitted to his society will readily allow that anything more pure, more candid, more simple, more scrupulously loving of justice, than the whole habits of his life and conversation, proved him to be, was never known in society. One of the most astonishing circumstances in this truly great man, was the versatility of his talents. His accomplishments were so various, the powers of his mind were so vast, and yet of such universal application, that it was hard to say whether we should most admire the extraordinary grasp of his understanding, or the accuracy of nice research with which he could bring it to bear upon the most minute objects of investigation. I forget of whom it was said, that his mind resembled the trunk of an elephant, which can pick up[Pg314]straws, and tear up trees by the roots. Mr. Watt, in some sort, resembled the greatest and most celebrated of his own inventions, of which we are at a loss whether most to wonder at the power of grappling with the mightiest objects, or of handling the most minute; so that, while nothing seems too large for its grasp, nothing seems too small for the delicacy of its touch, which can cleave rocks, and pour forth rivers from the bowels of the earth, and, with perfect exactness, though not with greater ease, fashion the head of a pin, or strike the impress of some curious die. Now, those who knew Mr. Watt, had to contemplate a man whose genius could create such an engine, and indulge in the most abstruse speculations of philosophy, and could at once pass from the most sublime researches of geology and physical astronomy, the formation of our globe, and the structure of the universe, to the manufacture of a needle or a nail; who could discuss, in the same conversation, and with equal accuracy, if not with the same consummate skill, the most forbidding details of art and the elegances of classical literature, the most abstruse branches of science and the niceties of verbal criticism."There was one quality in Mr. Watt which most honourably distinguished him from too many inventors, and was worthy of all imitation—he was not only entirely free from jealousy, but he exercised a careful and scrupulous self-denial, and was anxious not to appear, even by accident, as appropriating to himself that which he thought belonged to others. I have heard him refuse the honour universally ascribed to him, of being the inventor of the steam engine, and call himself simply its improver; though, in my mind, to doubt his right to that honour, would be as inaccurate as to question Sir Isaac Newton's claim to his greatest discoveries, because Descartes in mathematics, and Galileo in astronomy and mechanics, had preceded him; or to deny the merits of his illustrious successor, because galvanism was not his discovery, though, before his time, it had remained as useless to science as the instrument called a steam engine was to the arts before Mr. Watt. The only jealousy I have known him to betray, was with respect to others, in the nice adjustment he was fond of giving to the claims of inventors. Justly prizing scientific discovery above all other possessions, he deemed the title to it so sacred, that you might hear him arguing by the hour to settle disputed rights; and if you ever perceived his temper ruffled, it was when one man's invention was claimed by, or given to another; or when a clumsy adulation pressed upon himself that which he knew to be not his own."

"There was one quality in Mr. Watt which most honourably distinguished him from too many inventors, and was worthy of all imitation—he was not only entirely free from jealousy, but he exercised a careful and scrupulous self-denial, and was anxious not to appear, even by accident, as appropriating to himself that which he thought belonged to others. I have heard him refuse the honour universally ascribed to him, of being the inventor of the steam engine, and call himself simply its improver; though, in my mind, to doubt his right to that honour, would be as inaccurate as to question Sir Isaac Newton's claim to his greatest discoveries, because Descartes in mathematics, and Galileo in astronomy and mechanics, had preceded him; or to deny the merits of his illustrious successor, because galvanism was not his discovery, though, before his time, it had remained as useless to science as the instrument called a steam engine was to the arts before Mr. Watt. The only jealousy I have known him to betray, was with respect to others, in the nice adjustment he was fond of giving to the claims of inventors. Justly prizing scientific discovery above all other possessions, he deemed the title to it so sacred, that you might hear him arguing by the hour to settle disputed rights; and if you ever perceived his temper ruffled, it was when one man's invention was claimed by, or given to another; or when a clumsy adulation pressed upon himself that which he knew to be not his own."

In the preface to theMonasterySir Walter Scott speaks of Watt in the following terms:—

"There were assembled about half a score of our northern lights.* *Amidst this company stood Mr. Watt, the man whose genius discovered the means of multiplying our national resources to a degree, perhaps, even beyond his own stupendous powers of calculation and combination; bringing the treasures of the abyss to the summit of the earth—giving the feeble arm of man the momentum of an Afrite—commanding manufactures to arise as the rod of the prophet produced water in the desert—affording the means of dispensing with that time and tide which wait for no man—and of sailing without that wind which defied the command and threats of Xerxes himself. This potent commander of the elements—this abridger of time and space—this magician, whose cloudy[Pg315]machinery has produced a change on the world, the effects of which, extraordinary as they are, are, perhaps, only now beginning to be felt—was not only the most profound man of science—the most successful combiner of powers, and calculator of numbers, as adapted to practical purposes—was not only one of the most generally well informed, but one of the best and kindest of human beings."There he stood, surrounded by the little band I have mentioned of northern literati, men not less tenacious, generally speaking, of their own fame and their own opinions, than the national regiments are supposed to be jealous of the high character which they have won upon service. Methinks I yet see and hear what I shall never see or hear again. In his eighty-second year, the alert, kind, benevolent old man, had his attention alive to every one's question, his information at every one's command."His talents and fancy overflowed on every subject. One gentleman was a deep philologist—he talked with him on the origin of the alphabet, as if he had been coeval with Cadmus; another a celebrated critic—you would have said the old man had studied political economy and belles lettres all his life. Of science it is unnecessary to speak—it was his own distinguished walk. And yet, Captain Clutterbuck, when he spoke with your countryman, Jedediah Cleishbotham, you would have sworn he had been coeval with Claverse and Burley, with the persecutors and persecuted, and could number every shot the dragoons had fired at the fugitive Covenanters. In fact, we discovered that no novel of the least celebrity escaped his perusal, and that the gifted man of science was as much addicted to the productions of your native country, in other words, as shameless and obstinate a peruser of novels, as if he had been a very milliner's apprentice of eighteen."

"There he stood, surrounded by the little band I have mentioned of northern literati, men not less tenacious, generally speaking, of their own fame and their own opinions, than the national regiments are supposed to be jealous of the high character which they have won upon service. Methinks I yet see and hear what I shall never see or hear again. In his eighty-second year, the alert, kind, benevolent old man, had his attention alive to every one's question, his information at every one's command.

"His talents and fancy overflowed on every subject. One gentleman was a deep philologist—he talked with him on the origin of the alphabet, as if he had been coeval with Cadmus; another a celebrated critic—you would have said the old man had studied political economy and belles lettres all his life. Of science it is unnecessary to speak—it was his own distinguished walk. And yet, Captain Clutterbuck, when he spoke with your countryman, Jedediah Cleishbotham, you would have sworn he had been coeval with Claverse and Burley, with the persecutors and persecuted, and could number every shot the dragoons had fired at the fugitive Covenanters. In fact, we discovered that no novel of the least celebrity escaped his perusal, and that the gifted man of science was as much addicted to the productions of your native country, in other words, as shameless and obstinate a peruser of novels, as if he had been a very milliner's apprentice of eighteen."

In the Edinburgh newspaper, called theScotsman, of the 4th September, 1819, immediately after the decease of Watt, the following sketch was published from the pen of Lord Jeffrey:—

"This name fortunately needs no commemoration of ours; for he that bore it survived to see it crowned with undisputed and unenvied honours; and many generations will probably pass away before it shall have gathered 'all its fame.' We have said that Mr. Watt was the greatimproverof the steam engine; but, in truth, as to all that is admirable in its structure, or vast in its utility, he should rather be described as itsinventor. It was by his inventions, that its action was so regulated as to make it capable of being applied to the finest and most delicate manufactures, and its power so increased, as to set weight and solidity at defiance. By his admirable contrivance, it has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and its flexibility—for the prodigious power which it can exert, and the ease, and precision, and ductility with which it can be varied, distributed, and applied. The trunk of an elephant, that can pick up a pin or rend an oak, is as nothing to it. It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal before it—draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can embroider muslin, and forge anchors—cut steel into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves.[Pg316]"It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon this country. There is no branch of industry that has not been indebted to them; and, in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but multiplied a thousand fold the amount of its productions. It is our improved steam engine that has fought the battles of Europe, and exalted and sustained, through the late tremendous contest, the political greatness of our land. It is the same great power which now enables us to pay the interest of our debt, and to maintain the arduous struggle in which we are still engaged (1819), with the skill and capital of countries less oppressed with taxation. But these are poor and narrow views of its importance. It has increased indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and rendered cheap and accessible all over the world the materials of wealth and prosperity. It has armed the feeble hand of man, in short, with a power to which no limits can be assigned; completed the dominion of mind over the most refractory qualities of matter; and laid a sure foundation for all those future miracles of mechanic power which are to aid and reward the labours of after generations. It is to the genius of one man, too, that all this is mainly owing; and certainly no man ever bestowed such a gift on his kind. The blessing is not only universal, but unbounded; and the fabled inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by the erring gratitude of their rude contemporaries, conferred less important benefits on mankind than the inventor of our present steam engine."This will be the fame of Watt with future generations; and it is sufficient for his race and his country. But to those to whom he more immediately belonged, who lived in his society and enjoyed his conversation, it is not, perhaps, the character in which he will be most frequently recalled—most deeply lamented—or even most highly admired. Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr. Watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact information—had read so much, or remembered what he had read so accurately and well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was presented to it. His stores of miscellaneous knowledge were immense; and yet less astonishing than the command he had at all times over them. It seemed as if every subject that was casually started in conversation with him, had been that which he had been last occupied in studying and exhausting;—such was the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable clearness of the information which he poured out upon it without effort or hesitation. Nor was this promptitude and compass of knowledge confined in any degree to the studies connected with his ordinary pursuits. That he should have been minutely and extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in most of the branches of physical science, might perhaps have been conjectured; but it could not have been inferred from his usual occupations, and probably is not generally known, that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology; and perfectly at home in all the details of architecture, music, and law. He was well acquainted, too, with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their most recent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together,[Pg317]the metaphysical theories of the German logicians, or criticising the measures or the matter of the German poetry."His astonishing memory was aided, no doubt, in a great measure, by a still higher and rarer faculty—by his power of digesting, and arranging in its proper place, all the information he received; and of casting aside and rejecting, as it were instinctively, whatever was worthless or immaterial. Every conception that was suggested to his mind seemed instantly to take its place among its other rich furniture, and to be condensed into the smallest and most convenient form. He never appeared, therefore, to be at all incumbered or perplexed with theverbiageof the dull books he perused, or to the idle talk to which he listened; but to have at once extracted, by a kind of intellectual alchemy, all that was worthy of attention, and to have reduced it, for his own use, to its true value and to its simplest form. And thus it often happened, that a great deal more was learned from his brief and vigorous account of the theories and arguments of tedious writers, than an ordinary student could ever have derived from the most painful study of the originals; and that errors and absurdities became manifest from the mere clearness and plainness of his statement of them, which might have deluded and perplexed most of his hearers without that invaluable assistance."It is needless to say that, with those vast resources, his conversation was at all times rich and instructive in no ordinary degree: but it was, if possible, still more pleasing than wise; and had all the charms of familiarity with all the substantial treasures of knowledge. No man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent toward all who approached him. He rather liked to talk,—at least in his latter years; but though he took a considerable share of the conversation, he rarely suggested the topics on which it was to turn, but readily and quietly took up whatever was presented by those around him, and astonished the idle and barren propounders of an ordinary theme by the treasures which he drew from the mine they had unconsciously opened. He generally seemed, indeed, to have no choice or predilection for one subject of discourse rather than another; but allowed his mind, like a great cyclopædia, to be opened at any letter his associates might choose to turn up, and only endeavoured to select from his inexhaustible stores, what might be best adapted to the taste of his present hearers. As to their capacity he gave himself no trouble; and indeed such was his singular talent for making all things plain, clear, and intelligible, that scarcely any one could be aware of such a deficiency in his presence. His talk, too, though overflowing with information, had no resemblance to lecturing or solemn discoursing, but, on the contrary, was full of colloquial spirit and pleasantry. He had a certain quiet and grave humour which ran through most of his conversation; and a vein of temperate jocularity, which gave infinite zest and effect to the condensed and inexhaustible information which formed its main staple and characteristic. There was a little air of affected testiness, and a tone of pretended rebuke and contradiction, with which he used to address his younger friends, that was always felt by them as an endearing mark of his kindness and familiarity; and prized, accordingly, far beyond all the solemn compliments that ever proceeded from the lips of authority. His voice was deep and powerful, though he commonly spoke in a low and somewhat monotonous tone, which harmonised admirably with the weight and brevity of his observations, and set off to the greatest advantage the pleasant[Pg318]anecdotes, which he delivered with the same grave brow, and the same calm smile playing soberly on his lips. There was nothing of effort, indeed, or impatience, any more than of pride or levity, in his demeanour; and there was a finer expression of reposing strength, and mild self-possession in his manner, than we ever recollect to have met with in any other person. He had in his character the utmost abhorrence for all sorts of forwardness, parade, and pretensions; and, indeed, never failed to put all such impostures out of countenance, by the manly plainness and honest intrepidity of his language and deportment."In his temper and dispositions, he was not only kind and affectionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all around him; and gave the most liberal assistance and encouragement to all young persons who showed any indications of talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice. His health, which was delicate from his youth upwards, seemed to become firmer as he advanced in years; and he preserved, up almost to the last moment of his existence, not only the full command of his extraordinary intellect, but all the alacrity of spirit and the social gaiety which had illumined his happiest days. His friends in this part of the country never saw him more full of intellectual vigour and colloquial animation—never more delightful or more instructive—than in his last visit to Scotland in autumn 1817. Indeed, it was after that time that he applied himself, with all the ardour of early life, to the invention of a machine for mechanically copying all sorts of sculpture and statuary; and distributed among his friends some of its earliest performances, as the productions of a young artist just entering on his eighty-third year."This happy and useful life came, at last, to a gentle close. He had suffered some inconvenience through the summer; but was not seriously indisposed till within a few weeks of his death. He then became perfectly aware of the event which was approaching; and with his usual tranquillity and benevolence of nature, seemed only anxious to point out to the friends around him, the many sources of consolation which were afforded by the circumstances under which it was about to take place. He expressed his sincere gratitude to Providence for the length of days with which he had been blessed, and his exemption from most of the infirmities of age; as well as for the calm and cheerful evening of life that he had been permitted to enjoy, after the honourable labours of the day had been concluded. And thus, full of years and honours, in all calmness and tranquillity, he yielded up his soul without pang or struggle; and passed from the bosom of his family to that of his God."

"It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon this country. There is no branch of industry that has not been indebted to them; and, in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but multiplied a thousand fold the amount of its productions. It is our improved steam engine that has fought the battles of Europe, and exalted and sustained, through the late tremendous contest, the political greatness of our land. It is the same great power which now enables us to pay the interest of our debt, and to maintain the arduous struggle in which we are still engaged (1819), with the skill and capital of countries less oppressed with taxation. But these are poor and narrow views of its importance. It has increased indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and rendered cheap and accessible all over the world the materials of wealth and prosperity. It has armed the feeble hand of man, in short, with a power to which no limits can be assigned; completed the dominion of mind over the most refractory qualities of matter; and laid a sure foundation for all those future miracles of mechanic power which are to aid and reward the labours of after generations. It is to the genius of one man, too, that all this is mainly owing; and certainly no man ever bestowed such a gift on his kind. The blessing is not only universal, but unbounded; and the fabled inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by the erring gratitude of their rude contemporaries, conferred less important benefits on mankind than the inventor of our present steam engine.

"This will be the fame of Watt with future generations; and it is sufficient for his race and his country. But to those to whom he more immediately belonged, who lived in his society and enjoyed his conversation, it is not, perhaps, the character in which he will be most frequently recalled—most deeply lamented—or even most highly admired. Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr. Watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact information—had read so much, or remembered what he had read so accurately and well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was presented to it. His stores of miscellaneous knowledge were immense; and yet less astonishing than the command he had at all times over them. It seemed as if every subject that was casually started in conversation with him, had been that which he had been last occupied in studying and exhausting;—such was the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable clearness of the information which he poured out upon it without effort or hesitation. Nor was this promptitude and compass of knowledge confined in any degree to the studies connected with his ordinary pursuits. That he should have been minutely and extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in most of the branches of physical science, might perhaps have been conjectured; but it could not have been inferred from his usual occupations, and probably is not generally known, that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology; and perfectly at home in all the details of architecture, music, and law. He was well acquainted, too, with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their most recent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together,[Pg317]the metaphysical theories of the German logicians, or criticising the measures or the matter of the German poetry.

"His astonishing memory was aided, no doubt, in a great measure, by a still higher and rarer faculty—by his power of digesting, and arranging in its proper place, all the information he received; and of casting aside and rejecting, as it were instinctively, whatever was worthless or immaterial. Every conception that was suggested to his mind seemed instantly to take its place among its other rich furniture, and to be condensed into the smallest and most convenient form. He never appeared, therefore, to be at all incumbered or perplexed with theverbiageof the dull books he perused, or to the idle talk to which he listened; but to have at once extracted, by a kind of intellectual alchemy, all that was worthy of attention, and to have reduced it, for his own use, to its true value and to its simplest form. And thus it often happened, that a great deal more was learned from his brief and vigorous account of the theories and arguments of tedious writers, than an ordinary student could ever have derived from the most painful study of the originals; and that errors and absurdities became manifest from the mere clearness and plainness of his statement of them, which might have deluded and perplexed most of his hearers without that invaluable assistance.

"It is needless to say that, with those vast resources, his conversation was at all times rich and instructive in no ordinary degree: but it was, if possible, still more pleasing than wise; and had all the charms of familiarity with all the substantial treasures of knowledge. No man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent toward all who approached him. He rather liked to talk,—at least in his latter years; but though he took a considerable share of the conversation, he rarely suggested the topics on which it was to turn, but readily and quietly took up whatever was presented by those around him, and astonished the idle and barren propounders of an ordinary theme by the treasures which he drew from the mine they had unconsciously opened. He generally seemed, indeed, to have no choice or predilection for one subject of discourse rather than another; but allowed his mind, like a great cyclopædia, to be opened at any letter his associates might choose to turn up, and only endeavoured to select from his inexhaustible stores, what might be best adapted to the taste of his present hearers. As to their capacity he gave himself no trouble; and indeed such was his singular talent for making all things plain, clear, and intelligible, that scarcely any one could be aware of such a deficiency in his presence. His talk, too, though overflowing with information, had no resemblance to lecturing or solemn discoursing, but, on the contrary, was full of colloquial spirit and pleasantry. He had a certain quiet and grave humour which ran through most of his conversation; and a vein of temperate jocularity, which gave infinite zest and effect to the condensed and inexhaustible information which formed its main staple and characteristic. There was a little air of affected testiness, and a tone of pretended rebuke and contradiction, with which he used to address his younger friends, that was always felt by them as an endearing mark of his kindness and familiarity; and prized, accordingly, far beyond all the solemn compliments that ever proceeded from the lips of authority. His voice was deep and powerful, though he commonly spoke in a low and somewhat monotonous tone, which harmonised admirably with the weight and brevity of his observations, and set off to the greatest advantage the pleasant[Pg318]anecdotes, which he delivered with the same grave brow, and the same calm smile playing soberly on his lips. There was nothing of effort, indeed, or impatience, any more than of pride or levity, in his demeanour; and there was a finer expression of reposing strength, and mild self-possession in his manner, than we ever recollect to have met with in any other person. He had in his character the utmost abhorrence for all sorts of forwardness, parade, and pretensions; and, indeed, never failed to put all such impostures out of countenance, by the manly plainness and honest intrepidity of his language and deportment.

"In his temper and dispositions, he was not only kind and affectionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all around him; and gave the most liberal assistance and encouragement to all young persons who showed any indications of talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice. His health, which was delicate from his youth upwards, seemed to become firmer as he advanced in years; and he preserved, up almost to the last moment of his existence, not only the full command of his extraordinary intellect, but all the alacrity of spirit and the social gaiety which had illumined his happiest days. His friends in this part of the country never saw him more full of intellectual vigour and colloquial animation—never more delightful or more instructive—than in his last visit to Scotland in autumn 1817. Indeed, it was after that time that he applied himself, with all the ardour of early life, to the invention of a machine for mechanically copying all sorts of sculpture and statuary; and distributed among his friends some of its earliest performances, as the productions of a young artist just entering on his eighty-third year.

"This happy and useful life came, at last, to a gentle close. He had suffered some inconvenience through the summer; but was not seriously indisposed till within a few weeks of his death. He then became perfectly aware of the event which was approaching; and with his usual tranquillity and benevolence of nature, seemed only anxious to point out to the friends around him, the many sources of consolation which were afforded by the circumstances under which it was about to take place. He expressed his sincere gratitude to Providence for the length of days with which he had been blessed, and his exemption from most of the infirmities of age; as well as for the calm and cheerful evening of life that he had been permitted to enjoy, after the honourable labours of the day had been concluded. And thus, full of years and honours, in all calmness and tranquillity, he yielded up his soul without pang or struggle; and passed from the bosom of his family to that of his God."

The English nation has ever shown itself insensible to the claims of genius and high intellectual endowments, except where the results have been brought directly to bear in statesmanship or war. Of this inability to appreciate the highest order of intellectual excellence Watt affords a striking example. When it was suggested to the British government by those better capable than that government was of appreciating the genius of this great man, that the nation would do itself honour by erecting a splendid monument at his own[Pg319]cost to him to whom it was so deeply indebted for the extension of its resources and the augmentation of its power, the reply was that such a measure could not be adopted as it might be drawn into a precedent in like cases thereafter! A precedent in like cases!! When will the time arrive when the world will produce a like case? The monument which has been erected in Westminster Abbey was in fact raised by private subscription, the nation having thus stigmatised itself through the act of its government with the everlasting disgrace of refusing the honour proposed to it. The other statues and monuments which have been erected to this great man, have been for the most part raised by the filial piety and the never-dying affection and veneration of the present Mr. James Watt. A statue has been presented by him to the University of Glasgow, and placed in one of the halls of that college. The inhabitants of Greenock have also erected a marble statue of Watt, for which, and for a library, a building has been erected at the expense of about 3,500l.which has been defrayed by Mr. James Watt. A colossal bronze statue has been erected on a handsome granite pedestal, standing at one of the corners of George Square, Glasgow. The monument in Westminster Abbey, erected by the subscription raised at the public meeting already alluded to, is a colossal statue of Carrara marble, by Chantrey.

Watt was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785; a member of the Batavian Society in 1787; and a corresponding member of the Institut of France in 1808. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the University of Glasgow, in 1806; and in 1814, the highest scientific honour which can be attained by a philosopher, was conferred on him by the Academy of Sciences of the Institut of France, who nominated him one of its eight foreign associates.

On the pedestal of the monument in Westminster Abbey is engraved the following inscription from the pen of Lord Brougham:—[Pg320]

NOT TO PERPETUATE A NAMEWHICH MUST ENDURE WHILE THE PEACEFUL ARTS FLOURISH,BUT TO SHOWTHAT MANKIND HAVE LEARNED TO HONOUR THOSEWHO BEST DESERVE THEIR GRATITUDE,THE KINGHIS MINISTERS, AND MANY OF THE NOBLESAND COMMONERS OF THE REALMRAISED THIS MONUMENT TOJAMES WATT,WHO DIRECTING THE FORCE OF AN ORIGINAL GENIUS,EARLY EXERCISED IN PHILOSOPHIC RESEARCHTO THE IMPROVEMENT OFTHE STEAM ENGINE,ENLARGED THE RESOURCES OF HIS COUNTRY,INCREASED THE POWER OF MAN,AND ROSE TO AN EMINENT PLACEAMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOLLOWERS OF SCIENCEAND THE REAL BENEFACTORS OF THE WORLD.BORN AT GREENOCK MDCCXXXVI.DIED AT HEATHFIELD IN STAFFORDSHIRE MDCCCXIX.

JAMES WATT,

WHO DIRECTING THE FORCE OF AN ORIGINAL GENIUS,EARLY EXERCISED IN PHILOSOPHIC RESEARCHTO THE IMPROVEMENT OFTHE STEAM ENGINE,ENLARGED THE RESOURCES OF HIS COUNTRY,INCREASED THE POWER OF MAN,AND ROSE TO AN EMINENT PLACEAMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOLLOWERS OF SCIENCEAND THE REAL BENEFACTORS OF THE WORLD.BORN AT GREENOCK MDCCXXXVI.DIED AT HEATHFIELD IN STAFFORDSHIRE MDCCCXIX.

WATT'S CHAPEL IN HANDSWORTH CHURCH.

FOOTNOTES:[25]See Buchanan on the Economy of Fuel and Management of Heat, especially as it relates to heating and drying by means of Steam.[26]See Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia, articleSteam-drying Machine.[27]The following are the words in which Watt makes this remarkable announcement to Priestley:—"Let us now consider what obviously happens in the deflagration of the inflammable (hydrogen) and dephlogisticated air (oxygen). These two kinds of air unite with violence; they become red hot, and upon cooling, totally disappear. When the vessel is cooled, a quantity of water is found in it equal to the weight of the air employed. This water is then the only remaining product of the process; and water, light, and heat are all the products."Are we not then authorised to conclude, that water is composed of dephlogisticated air (oxygen) and phlogiston (hydrogen), deprived of part of their latent or elementary heat; that dephlogisticated or pure air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat and light; and that the latter are contained in it in a latent state, so as not to be sensible to the thermometer or to the eye; and if light be only a modification of heat, or a circumstance attending it, or a component part of the inflammable air (hydrogen), then pure or dephlogisticated air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat."[28]Those who desire to investigate this controversy more in detail will find very full information on the subject in the Translation of Arago's Eloge, with notes and appendix by J. P. Muirhead, Esq. Murray, London, 1839.[29]An account of this remarkable apparatus, accompanied by an engraving made from a drawing supplied by Watt, was communicated by Sir John Robison to theEdinburgh Philosophical Journalin 1820.Seevol. iii, p. 60.

[25]See Buchanan on the Economy of Fuel and Management of Heat, especially as it relates to heating and drying by means of Steam.

[26]See Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia, articleSteam-drying Machine.

[27]The following are the words in which Watt makes this remarkable announcement to Priestley:—"Let us now consider what obviously happens in the deflagration of the inflammable (hydrogen) and dephlogisticated air (oxygen). These two kinds of air unite with violence; they become red hot, and upon cooling, totally disappear. When the vessel is cooled, a quantity of water is found in it equal to the weight of the air employed. This water is then the only remaining product of the process; and water, light, and heat are all the products."Are we not then authorised to conclude, that water is composed of dephlogisticated air (oxygen) and phlogiston (hydrogen), deprived of part of their latent or elementary heat; that dephlogisticated or pure air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat and light; and that the latter are contained in it in a latent state, so as not to be sensible to the thermometer or to the eye; and if light be only a modification of heat, or a circumstance attending it, or a component part of the inflammable air (hydrogen), then pure or dephlogisticated air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat."

[27]The following are the words in which Watt makes this remarkable announcement to Priestley:—

"Let us now consider what obviously happens in the deflagration of the inflammable (hydrogen) and dephlogisticated air (oxygen). These two kinds of air unite with violence; they become red hot, and upon cooling, totally disappear. When the vessel is cooled, a quantity of water is found in it equal to the weight of the air employed. This water is then the only remaining product of the process; and water, light, and heat are all the products.

"Are we not then authorised to conclude, that water is composed of dephlogisticated air (oxygen) and phlogiston (hydrogen), deprived of part of their latent or elementary heat; that dephlogisticated or pure air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat and light; and that the latter are contained in it in a latent state, so as not to be sensible to the thermometer or to the eye; and if light be only a modification of heat, or a circumstance attending it, or a component part of the inflammable air (hydrogen), then pure or dephlogisticated air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat."

[28]Those who desire to investigate this controversy more in detail will find very full information on the subject in the Translation of Arago's Eloge, with notes and appendix by J. P. Muirhead, Esq. Murray, London, 1839.

[29]An account of this remarkable apparatus, accompanied by an engraving made from a drawing supplied by Watt, was communicated by Sir John Robison to theEdinburgh Philosophical Journalin 1820.Seevol. iii, p. 60.

locomotive

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES ON RAILWAYS.

[Pg321]TOCINX

NON-CONDENSING ENGINES.—LEUPOLD'S ENGINE.-TREVETHICK AND VIVIAN.—EFFECTS OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT.—HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE.—BLENKINSOP.—MESSRS. CHAPMAN.—WALKING ENGINE.—MR. STEPHENSON'S ENGINES AT KILLINGWORTH.—LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.—EXPERIMENTAL TRIAL.—THE ROCKET.—THE SANSPAREIL.—THE NOVELTY.—SUBSEQUENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE.—LARDNER'S EXPERIMENTS IN 1832.—ADOPTION OF BRASS TUBES.—MR. BOOTH'S REPORT.—DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST IMPROVED LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.—POWER OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.—EVAPORATION OF BOILERS.—LARDNER'S EXPERIMENTS IN 1838.—RESISTANCE TO RAILWAY TRAINS.—RESTRICTIONS ON GRADIENTS.—COMPENSATING EFFECT OF GRADIENTS.—EXPERIMENT WITH THE HECLA.—METHODS OF SURMOUNTING STEEP INCLINATIONS.

(180.)In the various modifications of the steam engine which we have hitherto considered, the pressure introduced on one side of the piston derives its efficacy either wholly or partially from the vacuum produced by condensation on the other side. This always requires a condensing apparatus, and a constant and abundant supply of cold water. An engine of this kind must therefore necessarily have considerable dimensions and weight, and is inapplicable to uses in which a small and light machine only is admissible. If the condensing apparatus be dispensed with, the piston will always be resisted by a force equal to the atmospheric[Pg322]pressure, and the only part of the steam pressure which will be available as a moving power, is that part by which it exceeds the pressure of the atmosphere. Hence, in engines which do not work by condensation, steam of a much higher pressure than that of the atmosphere is indispensably necessary, and such engines are therefore calledhigh-pressure engines.

We are not, however, to understand that every engine, in which steam is used of a pressure exceeding that of the atmosphere, is what is meant by anhigh-pressure engine; for in the ordinary engines in common use, constructed on Watt's principle, the safety-valve is loaded with from 3 to 5 lbs. on the square inch; and in Woolf's engines, the steam is produced under a pressure of 40 lbs. on the square inch. These would therefore be more properly calledcondensing enginesthanlow-pressure engines; a term quite inapplicable to those of Woolf. In fact, byhigh-pressure enginesis meant engines in which no vacuum is produced, and, therefore, in which the piston works against a pressure equal to that of the atmosphere.

In these engines the whole of the condensing apparatus, viz. the cold-water cistern, condenser, air-pump, cold-water pump, &c., are dispensed with, and nothing is retained except the boiler, cylinder, piston, and valves. Consequently, such an engine is small, light, and cheap. It is portable also, and may be moved, if necessary, along with its load, and is therefore well adapted to locomotive purposes.

(181.)High-pressure engines were one of the earliest forms of the steam engine. The contrivance, which is obscurely described in the article already quoted (7.), from the Century of Inventions, is a high-pressure engine; for the power there alluded to is the elastic force of steam working against the atmospheric pressure. Newcomen, in 1705, applied the working-beam, cylinder, and piston to the atmospheric engine; and Leupold, about 1720, combined the working-beam and cylinder with the high-pressure principle, and produced the earliest high-pressure engine worked by a cylinder and piston. The following is a description of Leupold's engine:—[Pg323]

Fig. 82.

A(fig.82.) is the boiler, with the furnace beneath it;C Care two cylinders with solid pistonsP P′, connected with the working-beamsB B′, to which are attached the pump-rodsR R′, of two forcing pumpsF F′, which communicate with a great force-pipeS;Gis afour-way cock(66.) already described. In the position in which it stands in the figure, the steam issues from below the pistonPinto the atmosphere, and the piston is descending by its own weight; steam from the boiler is at the same time pressing up the pistonP′, with a force equal to the difference between the pressure of the steam and that of the atmosphere. Thus the pistonRof the forcing-pump is being drawn up, and the pistonP′is forcing the pistonR′down, and thereby driving water into the force-pipe[Pg324]S. On the arrival of the pistonPat the bottom of the cylinderC, andP′at the top of the cylinderC′, the position of the cock is changed as represented infig.83.The steam, which has just pressed up the pistonP′, is allowed to escape into the atmosphere, while the steam, passing from the boiler below the pistonP, presses it up, and thusPascends by the steam pressure, andP′descends by its own weight. By these means the pistonRis forced down, driving before it the water in the pump-cylinder into the force-pipeS, and the pistonR′is drawn up to allow the other pump-cylinder to be re-filled; and so the process is continued.

Fig. 83.

A valve is placed in the bottom of the force-pipes, to prevent the water which has been driven into it from returning. This valve opens upwards; and, consequently, the weight of the water pressing upon it only keeps it more effectually closed. On each descent of the piston, the pressure transmitted to the valve acting upwards being greater than the weight of the water resting upon it, forces it open, and an increased quantity of water is introduced.

(182.)From the date of the improvement of Watt until the commencement of the present century, non-condensing engines were altogether neglected in these countries. In the year 1802, Messrs. Trevethick and Vivian constructed the first non-condensing engine of this kind which was ever brought into extensive practical use in this kingdom. A section of this machine, made by a vertical plane, is represented infig.84.

The boilerA Bis a cylinder with flat circular ends. The fire-place is constructed in the following manner:—A tube enters the cylindrical boiler at one end; and, proceeding onwards near the other extremity, is turned and recurved, so as to be carried back parallel to the direction in which it entered. It is thus conducted out of the boiler, at another part of the same end at which it entered. One of the ends of this tube communicates with the chimneyE, which is carried upwards as represented in the figure. The other mouth is furnished[Pg325]with a door; and in it is placed the grate, which is formed of horizontal bars, dividing the tube into two parts; the upper part forming the fire-place, and the lower the ash-pit. The fuel is maintained in a state of combustion, on the bars, in that part of the tube represented atC D; and the flame is carried by the draught of the chimney round the curved flue, and issues atEinto the chimney. The flame is thus conducted through the water, so as to expose the latter to as much heat as possible.

Fig. 84.

A section of the cylinder is represented atF, immersed in the boiler, except a few inches of the upper end, where the four-way cockGis placed for regulating the admission of the steam. A tube is represented atH, which leads from this four-way cock into the chimney; so that the waste steam, after working the piston, is carried off through this tube, and passes into the chimney. The upper end of the piston-rod is furnished with a cross-bar, which is placed in a direction at right angles to the length of the boiler, and also to the[Pg326]piston-rod. This bar is guided in its motion by sliding on two iron perpendicular rods fixed to the sides of the boiler, and parallel to each other. To the ends of this cross-bar are joined two connecting rods, the lower ends of which work two cranks fixed on an axis extending across and beneath the boiler, and immediately under the centre of the cylinder. This axis is sustained in bearings formed in the legs which support the boiler, and upon its extremity is fixed the fly-wheel as represented atB. A large-toothed wheel is placed on this axis; which, being turned with the cranked axle, communicates motion to other wheels; and through them, to any machinery which the engine may be applied to move.

Fig. 85.

As the four-way cock is represented in the figure, the steam passes from the boiler through the curved passageGabove the piston, while the steam below the piston is carried off through a tube which does not appear in the figure, by which it is conducted to the tubeH, and thence to the chimney. The steam, therefore, which passes above the piston presses it downwards; while the pressure upwards does not exceed that of the atmosphere. The piston will therefore descend with a force depending on the excess of the pressure of the steam produced in the boiler above the atmospheric pressure. When the piston has arrived at the bottom of the cylinder, the cock is made to assume the position represented infig.85.This effect is produced by the motion of the piston-rod. The steam now passes from above the piston, through the tubeH, into the chimney, while the steam from the boiler is conducted through another tube below the piston. The pressure above the piston, in this case, does not exceed that of the atmosphere; while the pressure below it will be that of the steam in the boiler. The piston will therefore ascend with the difference of these pressures. On the arrival of the piston at the top of the cylinder, the four-way cock is again turned to the position represented infig.85., and the piston again descends; and in the same manner the process is continued. A safety-valve is placed on the boiler atV, loaded with a weightW, proportionate[Pg327]to the strength of the steam with which it is proposed to work.

In the engines now described, this valve was frequently loaded at the rate of from 60 to 80 lbs. on the square inch. As the boilers of high-pressure engines were considered more liable to accidents from bursting than those in which steam of a lower pressure was used, greater precautions were taken against such effects. A second safety-valve was provided, which was not left in the power of the engine-man. By this means he had a power to diminish the pressure of the steam, but could not increase it beyond the limit determined by the valve which was removed from his interference. The greatest cause of danger, however, arose from the water in the boiler being consumed by evaporation faster than it was supplied; and therefore falling below the level of the tube containing the furnace. To guard against accidents arising from this circumstance, a hole was bored in the boiler, at a certain depth, below which the water should not be allowed to fall; and in this hole a plug of metal was soldered with lead, or with some other metal, which would fuse at that temperature which would expose the boiler to danger. Thus, in the event of the water being exhausted, so that its level would fall below the plug, the heat of the furnace would immediately melt the solder, and the plug would fall out, affording a vent for the steam, without allowing the boiler to burst. The mercurial steam-gauge, already described, was also used as an additional security. When the force of the steam exceeded the length of the column of mercury which the tube would contain, the mercury would be blown out, and the tube would give vent to the steam. The water by which the boiler was replenished was forced into it by a pump worked by the engine. In order to economise the heat, this water was contained in a tubeT, which surrounded the pipeH. As the waste steam, after working the piston, passed off throughH, it imparted a portion of its heat to the water contained in the tubeT, which was thus warmed to a certain temperature before it was forced into the boiler by the pump. Thus a part of the heat, which was originally[Pg328]carried from the boiler in the form of steam, was returned again to the boiler with the water with which it was fed.

It is evident that engines constructed in this manner may be applied to all the purposes to which the condensing engines are applicable.

(183.)Two years after the date of the patent of this engine, its inventor constructed a machine of the same kind for the purpose of moving carriages on railroads; and applied it successfully, in the year 1804, on the railroad at Merthyr Tydvil, in South Wales. It was in principle the same as that already described. The cylinder however was in a horizontal position, the piston-rod working in the direction of the line of road: the extremity of the piston-rod, by means of a connecting rod, worked cranks placed on the axletree, on which were fixed two cogged wheels: these worked in others, by which their motion was communicated finally to cogged wheels fixed on the axle of the hind wheels of the carriage, by which this axle was kept in a state of revolution. The hind wheels being fixed on the axletree, and turning with it, were caused likewise to revolve; and so long as the weight of the carriage did not exceed that which the friction of the road was capable of propelling, the carriage would thus be moved forwards. On this axle was placed a fly-wheel to continue the rotatory motion at the termination of each stroke. The fore wheels are described as being capable of turning like the fore wheels of a carriage, so as to guide the vehicle. The projectors appear to have contemplated, in the first instance, the use of this carriage on common roads; but that notion seems to have been abandoned, and its use was only adopted on the railroad before mentioned. On the occasion of its first trial, it drew after it as many carriages as contained ten tons of iron a distance of nine miles; which stage it performed without any fresh supply of water, and travelled at the rate of five miles an hour.

(184.)Capital and skill have of late years been directed with extraordinary energy to the improvement of inland transport; and this important instrument of national wealth and civilisation has received a proportionate impulse. Effects are now witnessed, which, had they been narrated a few years[Pg329]since, could only have been admitted into the pages of fiction or volumes of romance. Who could have credited the possibility of a ponderous engine of iron, loaded with some hundred passengers, in a train of carriages of corresponding magnitude, and a large quantity of water and coal, taking flight from Manchester and arriving at Liverpool, a distance of above thirty miles, in little more than an hour? And yet this is a matter of daily and almost hourly occurrence. The rapidity of transport thus attained is not less wonderful than the weights transported. Its capabilities in this respect far transcend the exigencies even of the two greatest commercial marts in Great Britain. Loads, varying from fifty to one hundred and fifty tons, are transported at the average rate of fifteen miles an hour; and in one instance we have seen a load—we should rather say acargo—of waggons, conveying merchandise to the amount of two hundred and thirty tons gross, transported from Liverpool to Manchester at the average rate of twelve miles an hour.

The astonishment with which such performances must be viewed, might be qualified, if the art of transport by steam on railways had been matured, and had attained that full state of perfection which such an art is always capable of receiving from long experience, aided by great scientific knowledge, and the unbounded application of capital. But such is not the present case. The art of constructing locomotive engines, so far from having attained a state of maturity, has not even emerged from its infancy. So complete was the ignorance of its powers which prevailed, even among engineers, previous to the opening of the Liverpool railway, that the transport of heavy goods was regarded as the chief object of the undertaking, and its principal source of revenue. The incredible speed of transport, effected even in the very first experiments in 1830, burst upon the public, and on the scientific world, with all the effect of a new and unlooked-for phenomenon. On the unfortunate occasion which deprived this country of Mr. Huskisson, the wounded body of that statesman was transported a distance of about fifteen miles in twenty-five minutes, being at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour. The revenue of the road arising from passengers since its opening,[Pg330]has, contrary to all that was foreseen, been nearly double that which has been derived from merchandise. So great was the want of experience in the construction of engines, that the company was at first ignorant whether they should adopt large steam engines fixed at different stations on the line, to pull the carriages from station to station, or travelling engines to drag the loads the entire distance. Having decided on the latter, they have, even to the present moment, laboured under the disadvantage of the want of that knowledge which experience alone can give. The engines have been constantly varied in their weight and proportions, in their magnitude and form, as the experience of each successive month has indicated. As defects became manifest they were remedied; improvements suggested were adopted; and each year produced engines of such increased power and efficiency, that their predecessors were abandoned, not because they were worn out, but because they had been outstripped in the rapid march of improvement. Add to this, that only one species of travelling engine has been effectively tried; the capabilities of others remain still to be developed; and even that form of engine which has received the advantage of a course of experiments on so grand a scale to carry it towards perfection, is far short of this point, and still has defects, many of which, it is obvious, time and experience will remove.

If, then, the locomotive engine, subject thus to all the imperfections inseparable from a novel contrivance—with the restrictions on the free application of skill and capital, arising from the nature of the monopolies granted to railway companies—with the disadvantage of very limited experience, the great parent of practical improvement, having been submitted to experiments hitherto only on a limited scale, and confined almost to one form of machine;—if, under such disadvantages, such effects have been produced as are now daily witnessed by the public, what may not be looked for from this extraordinary power when the enterprise of the country shall be more unfettered—when greater fields of experience are opened—when time, ingenuity, and capital have removed or diminished existing imperfections, and have brought to light new and more powerful principles? This is not mere speculation[Pg331]on abstract possibilities, but refers to what is in actual progress. The points of greatest wealth and population—the centres of largest capital and most active industry throughout the country—will soon be connected by lines of railway; and various experiments are proposed, with more or less prospect of success, for the application of steam engines on stone roads where the intercourse is not sufficient to render railways profitable.

The important commercial and political effects attending such increased facility and speed in the transport of persons and goods, are too obvious to require any very extended notice here. A part of the price (and in many cases a considerable part) of every article of necessity or luxury, consists of the cost of transporting it from the producer to the consumer; and consequently every abatement or saving in this cost must produce a corresponding reduction in the price of every article transported; that is to say, of every thing which is necessary for the subsistence of the poor, or for the enjoyment of the rich—of every comfort, and of every luxury of life. The benefit of this will extend, not to the consumer only, but to the producer: by lowering the expense of transport of the produce, whether of the soil or of the loom, a less quantity of that produce will be spent in bringing the remainder to market, and consequently a greater surplus will reward the labour of the producer. The benefit of this will be felt even more by the agriculturist than by the manufacturer; because the proportional cost of transport of the produce of the soil is greater than that of manufactures. If two hundred quarters of corn be necessary to raise four hundred, and one hundred more be required to bring the four hundred to market, then the net surplus will be one hundred. But if by the use of steam carriages the same quantity can be brought to market with an expenditure of fifty quarters, then the net surplus will be increased from one hundred to one hundred and fifty quarters; and either the profit of the farmer, or the rent of the landlord, must be increased by the same amount.

But the agriculturist would not merely be benefited by an increased return from the soil already under cultivation. Any[Pg332]reduction in the cost of transporting the produce to market would call into cultivation tracts of inferior fertility, the returns from which would not at present repay the cost of cultivation and transport. Thus land would become productive which is now waste, and an effect would be produced equivalent to adding so much fertile soil to the present extent of the country. It is well known, that land of a given degree of fertility will yield increased produce by the increased application of capital and labour. By a reduction in the cost of transport, a saving will be made which may enable the agriculturist to apply to tracts already under cultivation the capital thus saved, and thereby increase their actual production. Not only, therefore, would such an effect be attended with an increased extent of cultivated land, but also with an increased degree of cultivation in that which is already productive.

It has been said, that in Great Britain there are above a million of horses engaged in various ways in the transport of passengers and goods, and that to transport each horse requires as much land as would, upon an average, support eight men. If this quantity of animal power were displaced by steam engines, and the means of transport drawn from the bowels of the earth, instead of being raised upon its surface, then, supposing the above calculation correct, as much land would become available for the support of human beings as would suffice for an additional population of eight millions; or, what amounts to the same, would increase the means of support of the present population by about one third of the present available means. The land which now supports horses for transport would then support men, or produce corn for food.

The objection that a quantity of land exists in the country capable of supporting horses alone, and that such land would be thrown out of cultivation, scarcely deserves notice here. The existence of any considerable quantity of such land is extremely doubtful. What is the soil which will feed a horse and not feed oxen or sheep, or produce food for man? But even if it be admitted that there exists in the country a small portion of such land, that portion cannot exceed, nor indeed equal, what would be sufficient for the number of horses[Pg333]which must after all continue to be employed for the purposes of pleasure, and in a variety of cases where steam must necessarily be inapplicable. It is to be remembered, also, that the displacing of horses in one extensive occupation, by diminishing their price must necessarily increase the demand for them in others.

The reduction in the cost of transport of manufactured articles, by lowering their price in the market, will stimulate their consumption. This observation applies of course not only to home but to foreign markets. In the latter we already in many branches of manufactures command a monopoly. The reduced price which we shall attain by cheapness and facility of transport will still further extend and increase our advantages. The necessary consequence will be, an increased demand for manufacturing population; and this increased population again reacting on the agricultural interests, will form an increased market for that species of produce. So interwoven and complicated are the fibres which form the texture of the highly civilised and artificial community in which we live, that an effect produced on any one point is instantly transmitted to the most remote and apparently unconnected parts of the system.

The two advantages of increased cheapness and speed, besides extending the amount of existing traffic, call into existence new objects of commercial intercourse. For the same reason that the reduced cost of transport, as we have shown, calls new soils into cultivation, it also calls into existence new markets for manufactured and agricultural produce. The great speed of transit which has been proved to be practicable, must open a commerce between distant points in various articles, the nature of which does not permit them to be preserved so as to be fit for use beyond a certain time. Such are, for example, many species of vegetable and animal food, which at present are confined to markets at a very limited distance from the grower or feeder. The truth of this observation is manifested by the effects which have followed the intercourse by steam on the Irish Channel. The western towns of England have become markets for a prodigious quantity of Irish produce, which it had been previously[Pg334]impossible to export. If animal food be transported alive from the grower to the consumer, the distance of the market is limited by the power of the animal to travel, and the cost of its support on the road. It is only particular species of cattle which bear to be carried to market on common roads and by horse carriages. But the peculiar nature of a railway, the magnitude and weight of the loads which may be transported on it, and the prodigious speed which may be attained, render the transport of cattle, of every species, to almost any distance, both easy and cheap. In process of time, when the railway system becomes extended, the metropolis and populous towns will therefore become markets, not as at present to districts within limited distances of them, but to the whole country.

The moral and political consequences of so great a change in the powers of transition of persons and intelligence from place to place are not easily calculated. The concentration of mind and exertion which a great metropolis always exhibits, will be extended in a considerable degree to the whole realm. The same effect will be produced as if all distances were lessened in the proportion in which the speed and cheapness of transit are increased. Towns at present removed some stages from the metropolis, will become its suburbs; others, now at a day's journey, will be removed to its immediate vicinity; business will be carried on with as much ease between them and the metropolis, as it is now between distant points of the metropolis itself. Let those who discard speculations like these as wild and improbable, recur to the state of public opinion, at no very remote period, on the subject of steam navigation. Within the memory of persons who have not yet passed the meridian of life, the possibility of traversing by the steam engine the channels and seas that surround and intersect these islands, was regarded as the dream of enthusiasts. Nautical men and men of science rejected such speculations with equal incredulity, and with little less than scorn for the understanding of those who could for a moment entertain them. Yet we have witnessed steam engines traversing not these channels and seas alone, but sweeping the face of the waters round every coast in Europe. The[Pg335]seas which interpose between our Asiatic dominions and Egypt, and those which separate our own shores from our West Indian possessions, have offered an equally ineffectual barrier to its powers, and the establishment of a regular steam communication between the capitals of the Old and New World has ceased to be a question of practicability, having become merely one of commercial profit. If steam be not used as the only means of connecting the most distant points of our planet, it is not because it is inadequate to the accomplishment of that end, but because the supply of the material, from which at the present moment it derives its powers, is restricted by local and accidental circumstances.[30]

We propose in the present chapter to lay before our readers some account of the means whereby the effects above referred to have been produced; of the manner and degree in which the public have availed themselves of these means; and of the improvements of which they seem to us to be susceptible.

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