M. Arago's Biographical Memoir of James Watt. 293 



Royal Society, " which Watt has displayed in his admirable 

 inventions, has contributed more to demonstrate the practical 

 utility of science, to aggrandize the power of man over the ma- 

 terial world, and to multiply and spread wide the convenien- 

 cies of life, than the labours of any other individual in modern 

 times." Davy, in fact, did not hesitate to place Watt in a more 

 elevated position even than Archimedes. 



Mr Huskisson likewise, the President of the Board of Trade, 

 proclaimed, that, regarded in reference to the prosperity of 

 the human race, the inventions of Watt appeared to him to 

 merit the highest possible admiration. He explained in what 

 way the economy of labour, the indefinite multiplication and 

 the extreme cheapness of the productions of industry, contri- 

 buted to advance knowledge, and promote its wide extension. 

 " The steam-engine," he remarked, " in the hands of man 

 is not only the most powerful instrument he can employ in 

 changing the appearance of the physical world, it also acts 

 as a moral and irresistible lever in pushing forward the grand 

 cause of civilization." In this point of view Watt appeared 

 to him distinguished among the chief benefactors of man- 

 kind. And, as an Englishman, he did not hesitate to say, 

 that \\athout the inventions of Watt, the British nation could 

 never have sustained the immense expense of its last war with 

 France. 



The same idea occurs in the speech of another member of 

 Parliament, who expresses his sentiments in no less decided 

 terms : I allude to Sir James Mackintosh. " It is the dis- 

 veries of Watt which have enabled England to sustain the 

 most arduous and dangerous conflict in which she has ever been 

 engaged. All things considered, I declare, without hesita- 

 tion, that no one had ever more urgent claims than Watt to 

 the homage of his country, or to the veneration and respect 

 of future ages." 



We shall now turn to the result of numbers and figures, 

 which, as it appears to me, are still more eloquent than the 

 various passages we have just been perusing. The younger 

 Mr Boulton informs us, that, in the year 1819, the establish- 

 ment at Soho alone, had manufactured of Watt's machines, a 

 number whose steady labour would have required not fewer 



