318 WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1853 



more to improve the art of locomotion. He indeed predicted 

 that steam wagons would be used on common roads, and 

 made attempts to reduce his idea to practice. The time how- 

 ever for the introduction of this invention has not even yet 

 arrived, and at present we see no prospect of its coming. 

 But he was more successful in the invention of the American 

 high-pressure engine, which was so essential to the develop- 

 ment of the vast resources of the interior regions of our con- 

 tinent. This engine was at the time of its introduction 

 admirably adapted, in its cheapness, simplicity of arrange- 

 ment, smallness of dimensions, and great power, to the abun- 

 dance of fuel, the extent of transportation, and the primitive 

 state of the arts in our country. The low-pressure engine 

 used by Fulton was procured from England; and had steam 

 navigation been confined to the employment of the complex 

 and expensive machines of this class, the Mississippi and its 

 tributaries would have remained for years unnavigated, ex- 

 cept by the canoe of the native or the flat-boat of the pioneer. 



The invention and introduction of the high-pressure en- 

 gine required the application of genius, energy, and courage. 

 The use of high steam had been proposed in England, but 

 had been discarded on account of the supposed danger at- 

 tendant on its use, and it was reserved for this country to 

 demonstrate its practical importance. Without precursory 

 labors equivalent to those of Evans the present railway loco- 

 motive would not have been in existence. 



It gives me pleasure to pay this passing tribute to the mem- 

 ory of one to whom our country owes so deep a debt of grati- 

 tude, and whose name deserves a more conspicuous place 

 than it now holds in the history of American inventions. 



Every age of the world since the commencement of the 

 historic period has been characterized by some leading or 

 dominant idea, and each age has bequeathed something of 

 value to — or made some abiding impression on — that which 

 followed. 



The great characteristic of the present time is the applica- 

 tion of science to art ; or in other words, the development 

 of the inventive faculty of the human mind. The last cen- 



