1823.] 
different in form from the steam-boats 
now in use; for, instead of a wheel 
with floats on each side, it had a 
screw that turned rapidly round un- 
der the keel of the vessel. ‘The screw 
was very much like that employed in 
Messrs. Whitbread and Co.’s brewery, 
for raising the malt from one story 
to another. 
Mr. Boulton, Mr. Rae, a Captain 
Langley, and the writer of this, had 
amused themselves for some time with 
the boat, which sailed exceedingly 
well across a large pond of water, Mr. 
Boulton exulting in the idea that 
steam would some day be employed 
in the same way. 
I afterwards left the party to go to 
Mr. Watt, who seldom stirred from 
home; and, when I had begun to copy 
a drawing, conversing as usual with 
that great inventor, 1 said I thought 
Mr. Watt could not easily euess how 
Mr. Boulton was employed; Mr. Watt 
said, ‘‘He would not try,—so many 
schemes came into Mr. Boulton’s 
head.” Being told what had been 
tried, Mr. Watt smiled as one would 
good-naturedly do ata child, and said, 
“That's very like Mr. Boulton’; but 
it’s nonsense: it will only answer for 
some maker of baubles and gimcracks, 
like those Mr. Rae, and his old master 
Mr. Cox, used to send to China.” 
Thus did the identical James Watt 
treat the idea forty-two years ago, 
Mr. Boulton drank tea with Mr. Watt 
the same evening, and was not slow to 
tell what he had seen; but Mr. Wait, 
with a graver face than usual, said, 
“Tt was time lost to think of such 
nonsense; for that practicability as to 
moving a boat, and doing it usefully 
and well, were quite different things.” 
The rotative motion was not applied 
to the steam-engine till 1782, and was, 
next to Mr. Watt’s original improve- 
ment, the greatest that has been made 
on the machine, not only by extending 
its use in a tenfold manner, but giving 
’ to its motion a regularity and precision 
which the reciprocating engine neyer 
could otherwise have attained. 
In addition to the before-mentioned 
anecdote, it is a well-known fact, that 
to Mr. Boulton’s ambition the public 
owes a great deal. Mr. Watt was 
satisfied with the reciprocating engine, 
but Mr. B. continually stimulated him 
to extend its use, and actually under- 
_took to pay all the expenses of expe- 
yiments and improvements from his 
1 
Mr. Playfair on the Origin of Steam- Navigation. 
508 
own share of the profits; which he 
did until success was no longer 
doubtful. : 
Three years afterwards I was dining 
with Mr. Watt, M. de Luc, Dr. Wi- 
thering, the botanical writer, and Mr. 
Keir, an able chemist, when a Mr. 
Guoygott, of Geneva, tutor to the two 
sons of the famous banker of Paris, 
Delessere, came ona call with a Iect- 
ter describing the first ascent of some 
living animals in a balloon in the 
Champs Elisées. This was the first 
intelligence of that curious discovery 
of the levity of gas being applied to 
elevate any weighty substance. The 
letter was written in an animated 
style, and the description of the sheep 
and other animals sailing over the 
trees was very picturesque; but, 
though it formed a topic of conversa- 
tion for the rest of the afternoon, M. 
de Luc was the only one who seemed 
to consider it as a matter of any im- 
portance. As for Mr. Watt, he in 
particuiar appeared to undervalue the 
discovery; one would have thought 
that with him la science du pot a& feu 
ciait la veritable science; but that was 
not the case. His mind went slowly, 
steadily, and profoundly, to werk: 
what he grasped he held faster than 
any other man; but what he did net 
grasp he would scarcely deign to 
touch. 
How different was this from most 
men of genius, who set a value on 
what is new far above its worth, and 
abandon it with a levity and careless- 
ness that prevent any great and useful 
result from being obtained! Qne in- 
ventor like Mr. Watt is of more value 
to mankind than a thousand of the 
fickle and versatile species,—though 
they, too, are of utility. 
It is strange that in this country, 
which excels in mechanical invention, 
and owes its wealth and greatness 
chiefly to mechanical improvements, 
neither titles nor decorations, nor 
even much wealih, falls to the share 
of such men as Mr. Watt. The coun- 
try gains more by his invention in 
twelve hours than all he ever gained 
by the invention; and more favours, 
and what are termed honours, are 
got by the defeat of a handful of 
Hindoos, than by a life spent in en- 
riching his native country by genius, 
industry, and inveution. 
W. PLayrair, 
for 
