THE GROWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. 



21 



scribed, in a work published at Rome, a number of ingenious mechani- 

 cal contrivances, among which was a steam-engine (Fig. 5), in which 

 the steam, issuing from a boiler, impinged upon the vanes of an hori- 

 zontal wheel. 



This it was proposed to apply to many useful pm-poses. 



Fig. 4. De Catts's Appabatus, a. d. 1615. 



12. In illustration of the singular manner in which old inventions 

 disappear only to reappear in latter times, it may be remarked that 

 this contrivance was brought forward quite recently by a sanguine 

 inventor, who spent a considerable sum in building what he considered 

 a great improvement upon existing forms of steam-engines. 



The engine of Hero also has been frequently reinvented, and, un- 



