ON MILITART ROOXETi/ 55 



In a note, that k should not b<? entirely lost, we are in- The inventioa 



trviiued that ** The inreutwn" of the military roi-ket is <^f ^»l*taty 



•' rockets th«r»- 



*' exclusively c!u« to one gvntleinau only.' ^ fora 



AfttM- what has been advanced on Major Dirom's au- 

 thority, and tlie cases quoted from the "Asiatic R«- 

 seardies," it would be snperfjuons to combat this grasping 

 assertion. There is a most obvious distinction between an 

 itivtjutor and nil improifcr; for improvement depends upon 

 ot/iej-Sy as well as on the genius and abilities of him who un- 

 dertakes the management of the article <o be improved. No 

 man wouUl say, ti)at Mr. James Watt of Glasgow invented 

 the steam engine, and leave the Marquis of Worcester'* 

 ** Gentary of Inventions,'* the names of Savery, Newcomen, 

 Cravvley, and others out of the question. Nor, at the same 

 moment, would any one withold/rom the worthy Mr. Watt 

 all the admiration and gratitude so justly due to this incom- 

 parable mechanic, this wonderful, this towering genius, 

 whose name in that particular bmnch can never be forgot- 

 ten. Upon this part of my i subject I, therefore, »hall not ascribable 



offer the following as the most letjitimate inference; that ^" *"y ^"^ 

 , . , ,. . , . nov/ living. 



there is no such person now Iivmg, as the inventor of mili- 



Uiry rockets, : 



The outlines of my claim to ^^ ceriain identities'', on Claim of the 

 uhich so much of the construction, perfection, and rffi*'^^^^^'^' 

 eacy of modern rockets depend, are already before the pub- 

 lic*; and I liave never retracted a single syllable of that 

 ap[)eal. The head or carcase of the pyrotechnie-firroto, 

 however my original design may have been tortured ond 

 garbled, was proposed by mystlf ; and it is of little eon- 

 sequence to iTie, which eiid of the instrument k ptreferi^d ^ 



to begin the coini)i!stion, as loi.g as the eiiect evenuiully 

 succeeds. -;., 



That many very important improvements have succeed(.»d His stiggesti- 

 »ince Oct. 24, 131)3, I am perfectly disposed to allow; I am ons improved 

 not inclined to arrogate to myself the title of an intentot ^^^^ 

 of military rockets, nor can 1 allow it, as I have said, to 

 aay other person whatever. Circumstantial evidence is 

 often ?<*f tdie utmost value, and, when complete, is generally 

 amply conclusive— ^in my case this species of proof is n«it 

 '* GsntlemAn*3 Magazine, Feb. 1-803; and Times, |soy. H, 1SG9. 



VuL. XXVUI.— Jan. isn- F <ie6cieut. 



