ON THE STEAM-ENGINE. 



TWO LECTURES. 



BY P. J. BRAMWELL, ESQ., M. INST. C.E., F.R.S. 



LECTUKE L 



AMONG all the subjects to which science lias been applied, 

 it must be universally admitted there is none more tho- 

 roughly and generally important than that of the steam- 

 engine. By the aid of the steam-engine we traverse the sea, 

 by its aid we go at the rate of fifty miles an hour upon rail- 

 ways, by its aid we manufacture every article we wear, we 

 prepare the food that we eat, and we even prepare the ground 

 to receive the grain which we convert into food ; by it we 

 get rid of our sewage, we supply ourselves with water, and, 

 although the creature of fire, by it we extinguish fires ; in 

 fact, it is not too much to say that either directly or indi- 

 rectly, there is no one thing which enters into the ordinary 

 life of a civilised being to the preparation of which the 

 steam-engine has not contributed. 



The subject is so vast that I feel the greatest possible diffi- 

 culty in dealing with it in the course of two lectures ; in 

 fact, so great a difficulty that I hardly know how to begin, 

 or what points to touch. As to the points which must be 

 left untouched, they will of necessity be very many indeed. 

 I think you will be of opinion that (whatever we may be 

 compelled to exclude) it would be impossible, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of this science collection, to refrain from some allu- 



