1839. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



413 



uot de]irive onr colleague of his natural forbearance. The Genevese pliiloso- 

 plier after having informed the illustrious engineer of the unaccouutable ab- 

 sence of his name in the first pubUcation of Cavendish's paper, and after 

 having quahfied this omission in terms which a regard for reputation so ex- 

 alted does not permit me to relate, thus writes to his friend, " I should almost 

 recommend you, considering your position, to draw from these discoveries 

 practical consequences for your fortune. You must avoid exciting jealousy." 

 These expressions wotuided tlie delicate mind of Watt. " If I do not 

 daini my rights instanter," replied he, " do not impute it to an indolence of 

 chai'acter, which renders it more easy for me to submit to injustice, than to 

 contest to olitain redress. As to pecuniary considerations they have no value 

 with nie ; besides my prospects depeuil not on the patronage of Mr. Caven- 

 dish and his friends, but on that of the public at large." 



Cau I have any fear of having attached too much importance to the theory, 

 wlucli \\"att conceived for exjilaining Priestley's experiments ? I think not. 

 Those who would refuse to this theoiy its just tribute because it now seems 

 an inevitable deduction from facts, forget that the finest discoveries of the 

 human mind have been particularly remai-kable for their simplicity. What 

 did Newton himself, when by repeating an experiment known tifteeu cen- 

 turies before, he discovered the composition of white light .' He gave such 

 a natural interpretation of this experiment, that it now ajipears impossible to 

 find another. " Even' thing," said he, " which is attained liy whatever process 

 from a pencil of white light, was contained in it in a state of combination, 

 for the glass prism has no creative power. If the parallel, and infinitely 

 divided pencil of solar light which falls on its first face, goes out from the 

 second by divergence and with a sensible breadth, it is because the glass sepa- 

 rates what in the white pencil was naturally unequally refrangible." Such 

 terms are nothing more than the literal translation of the well known experi- 

 ment of the prismatic solar prism. This interpretation, however, escaped 

 Aristotle, Descartes, and Robert Hooke. 



Let ns, how'cver, without leaving the subject, come to arguments, which 

 bear upon it more directly stUl. Watt's theory of the composition of water 

 arrives in London. If, according to the ideas of that day, it is so evident, 

 and so simple as it now appears, the council of the Royal Society will of course 

 adopt it. No such thing ; its strangeness throws a doulrt even over the ex- 

 periments of Priestley ; they even go so far as to laurih at it, said De Luc, 

 like the story of the golden tooth. A theorv', the conception of which pre- 

 sented no difficulty, would certainly have Ijeen despised by Cavendish ; re- 

 member, with what energy, Blagden under the dictation of this man of genius 

 daimed the priority over Lavoisier. Priestley on whom was to be reflected 

 a great part of the honoiu- attached to Watt's discovery ; Priestley, whose 

 sentiments of affection for the great engineer cannot be denied, WTote to him 

 on the 29th of April, 1783. " Look with surprise, and indignation on the 

 figure of a machine by means of which I have irrelTievably undermined your 

 beautiful hypothesis." In conclusion, an hypothesis, of which the Royal 

 Society made game, which brought out Cavendisli from his habitual reserve, 

 and, which Priestley, putting all self-love out of the question, endeavoiued 

 to refute, deserves to be recorded in the history of the sciences, as a great 

 discovery, whatever idea knowledge, now become vulgar, may give us of it in 

 these days.* 



Bleaching by chlorine, that beautiful invention of Berthollet, was intro- 

 duced into England by James Watt, after the journey to Paris, which he 

 made towards the end of 1786. He constructed all the necessary apparatus, 

 directed their arrangement, was present at the first trials, and then gave over 

 to his father-in-law, Mr. MacGregor, the management of this new process. 

 Notwithstanding all the solicitations of the illustrious engineer, our celebrated 

 countrv'man obstinately refmedf to be associated with an undertaking, which 

 exluljited no chance of faUure, and of wliich the profits seemed sure to be 

 Ten' great. 



IlariUy had the discover)' been effected of the numerous gaseous substances, 

 which now perform such a great part in the explanation of chemical pheuo-. 

 mena, than the idea was suggested of using them for methcal purposes 

 Doctor Beddoes carried out this thought with sagacity and perseverance ; 

 and he was enabled by means of private subscriptions to set up an establish- 

 ment at CUffon, near Bristol, called the Pneumatic Institution, in which the 

 therapeutic properties of all the gases were proposed to be carefully studied. 

 Tlie Pneumatic Institution was fortunate enough to have for some time at its 

 head, the young Humphrey Davy, who was then entering on the career of 

 sdence ; and it could also boast of reckoning among its founders James Watt. 

 The celebrated engineer did still more ; he conceived, described and executed 

 in his workshop at Soho, apparatus for engendering gases and administering 

 them to patients, and I find several editions of his papers in 179-t, 1795, and 

 1796. 



The ideas of our colleague were du-ectcd to this subject, when several of 

 his relations and friends bad been unfortunately carried off by pulmonary 

 diseases. It was particidarly to affections of the respu-atory organs that Watt 



• Lord Brougliam was present at the public meeting in which in the name of tlie 

 Academy of Sciences, I rendered this tribute of gratitude and admiration to tlie memory 

 of Watt ; on his return to England, he collected some valuable documents, and studied 

 over aaain the historical question to wliicli I have given so much attention, devoting to 

 it unscrupuliiiisly, that kind of judicial examination which might be expected from one 

 wlio was once Lord Hiiib Chancellor of England. I owe it to a kindness of which I 

 feel all the value, that i am able to lay before llie public tlie results still unpublished of 

 the labours of my illustrious colleague ; Ihcy will be found in the appendix to this eulo- 

 giuiii.— jVo/e of M. Aragci. 



+ This phrase is quite correct, however fabulous it may appear in the age we live iu. 

 (It is almost needless to say that this is a note of il. Arayo ) 



conceived the application of the specific properties of the new gases could lie 

 directed. He expected also some advantage from the action of iron or zinc 

 precipitated by hydrogen in impalpaljle molecules, and prepared in a certain 

 manner. I should add, moreover, that among the numerous medical certifi- 

 cates pubhslied by Doctor Beddoes, and announcing results more or less 

 effective, there is one signed John Carmichael, relative to the ratUcal cure of 

 ha;moptysy of Richard Newberry, a servant, whom Jlr. Watt himself caused 

 to respire from time to time a mixture of steam and carbonic acid. Although 

 I must acknowledge my complete incompetency on such a' subject, I may 

 certaiidy be permitted to regret that a method, which reckoned among its 

 adherents M'att and Jenner, should be now abandoned without our being 

 able to quote consecutive experiments in opposition to those of the Clifton 

 Pneumatic Institution.* 



Watt in Retirement — Pakticdlars respecting his Life and Cha- 

 racter — His Death — Numerous Statues erected to his Memory. 



Watt had manied in 1704 his cousin. Miss Miller. She was an accom- 

 plished lady, whose cultivated mind, unchangeal)le mildness, and cheerful 

 disposition soon rescued the celebrated engineer from that indolence, depres- 

 sion, and misanthropy, wiiicli nervous morbidity, and the injustice of the 

 world threatened to render permanent. Without the irrestible influence of 

 Miss Miller, Watt would not perhaps Have given to the world his admirable 

 inventions. Four children, two boys and two girls, were the offspring of tliis 

 union. Mrs. Watt died iu childbirth of a third boy who did not survive. 

 Her husband was then employed in the north of Scotland with the plans for 

 the Caledonian Canal. Why am I not pennitted to transcribe here in all 

 their simplicity, a few Unes from the journal, to which he consigned every 

 day his secret thoughts, his hopes, his fears ; why can I uot show him to you 

 lingeiing after his misfortune on the threshold of the house where his iitul 

 welcome no longer awaited him ; wanting the strength to enter the rooms iu 

 wiiich he was no longer to be delighted by the comfort of his life .' Perhaps 

 the true picture of such profound grief, might shame to silence those system- 

 atic theorists, who without being stopped by thousands and thousands of irre- 

 futable denials, refuse the viitues of the heart to every man whose mind has 

 been trained by the fertile, subUme, and imperishable truths of the exact 

 sciences. 



After a few years of widowhood, Watt had "again the happiness to find in 

 Miss MacGregor a helpmate worthy of him from the variety of her talents, 

 the soundness of her judgment, anil the firmness of her character.t 



Ou the termination of the privileges which parliament had granted to him. 

 Watt (in the beginning of 1800) retired entirely from business, in which he 

 was succeeded by his two sons. Under the enbghtened management of the 

 younger Mr. Boidton and the two Watts, the Soho factoiy continued to 

 prosper, and even to acquire a new and important developement, and it still 

 holds first rate standing among Englisli manufactm'es of large machinery. 

 Giegoiy Watt, the second son of our colleague, had already begun to distin- 

 guish himself in the world in a most brilliant manner by Ids hterary talents, 

 and his geological labours, wiicn he was cut off at the age of 27 years, by a 

 pulnionaiy affection. This unhappy circumstance greatly agitated the illus- 

 trious engineer, so that the affectionate attention of Ids family and friends 

 were scarcely able to maintain tranqmbty to a heart halfljroken. Tliis grief 

 too natural would seem to explain the almost absolute silence which Watt 

 manifested in the latter years of his life. I am far from denying that it may 

 have had some influence ; but why should we have recourse to extraordinary 

 causes, when we read as far back as 1783, in a letter from Watt to his friend 

 Doctor Black, " Remember that I have no wish to entertain the world with 

 the experiments I have made," when we find elsewhere these words so very 

 singidar in the mouth of a man who has filled the wide world with bis name, 

 " I only know two pleasures, indolence and sleep." This sleep, however, was 

 very light, and we may say, moreover, that the most trifling excitement was 

 sufficient to arouse Watt from his favoiu-ite indolence. Every object whicii 

 came before him received gradually in liis imagination, changes of form, con- 

 struction and nature, which would have rendered them susceptilde of im- 

 portant applications. These conceptions, for want of au opportunity of 

 bringing them out were lost to the world. The following is an anecdote 

 wliich will illustrate my idea. 



A company had erected on the right hank of the Clyde at Glasgow, exten- 

 sive building's, and powerful machinery, for the [iiu-pose of supphiug water to 

 every house in the city. When the works were completed, it was found out 

 that "on the left bank there was a spring or kind of natural filter which communi- 

 cated to the water qualities evidently sujierior. To remove the esfabUshment 

 was out of the question, and therefore they thought of passing right across 

 the river at the bottom a rigid iron jiipe, of wliich the mouth was to come 

 out in the drinkable water. The constniction of the timber work for caiTy- 

 ing such a jiipe on a muddy and shifting bottom, very rough ami always 

 covered with several feet of water, ap]ieared to require a considerable ex- 

 pense. AVatt was consulted, his answer was already made ; havingj- seen 

 a lobster on the tabic some days previously, he bad investigated, and found 

 out how the mechanism of it could in iron produce a jointed conduit which 



* Twenty years before the establishment of the Bristol Pneumatic Institution, Watt 

 hail already applied his chemical and inilieralogical acquirements lo perfect the produce 

 of a pottery which he had established Willi stniie frituds at Glasgow, and in which he 

 was a shareholder to the end of his life — Sole of M. Arago. 



t Mrs. Watt (Mac Gregor) died in 1832, at a veiy advanced age. She had the mis- 

 fortune to survive the two children, who were the oll'spiiiig of her marriage with Watt. 

 — .Vo(e of M. Arugo. 



