494 THE CENTURY, 



On the decease of Dr. Hook, there was published 

 &quot; The Miners Friend,&quot; (1702), by Thomas Savery,* 

 Gentleman. He there speaks of his model shown 

 to the Eoyal Society, &quot; June the 14th, 1699,&quot; thanking 

 the Society for &quot; your kindness in countenancing this 

 invention IN ITS FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE WORLD;&quot; that 

 is, within six months after the death of the Duke of Beau- 

 fort. 



The Patent of 1698, like all patents of that period, 

 contains no more account of Savery s engine than the 

 mere title, or designation of the nature and intention 

 of the invention 5 therefore, when the Act of Parliament 

 was applied for and obtained, there had still been no 

 publication indicating the modus operandi. It was not 

 until the 14th of June, 1699, that the Invention made 

 its first appearance in the world, in the rooms of the 

 Eoyal Society. And it was not until 1702, that 

 Savery published any account of his invention, and we 

 then expect to learn something interesting in regard to 

 the wonderful discovery. But all he has to say on the 

 matter is in these few lines : u And though my thoughts 

 have been long employed about water-works, I should 

 never have pretended to any invention of that kind, had I 

 not happily found out this new , but yet a much stronger 

 and cheaper force or cause of motion than any BEFORE 

 made use of. But finding this of rarefaction by fire, the 

 consideration of the difficulties the miners and colliers 

 labour under by the frequent disorders, cumbersomeness, 

 and in general of water-engines, encouraged me to invent 

 engines to work by this new force, that though I was 

 obliged to encounter the oddest and almost insuperable 

 difficulties, I spared neither time, pains, nor money, till 

 I had absolutely conquered them.&quot; 



* His address &quot;To the Gentlemen Adventurers in the Mines of England,&quot; is 

 dated &quot; London, Sep. 22, 1701.&quot; 



