I sent a message to my dear 



A thousand leagues and more to Her 



The dumb sea-levels thrilled to hear, 

 And lost Atlantis bore to Her. 



KIPLING. 



Great inventions are never, and great discoveries 

 are seldom, the work of any one mind. Every 

 great invention is really either an aggregation of 

 minor inventions or the final step of a progres- 

 sion. It is not a creation, but a growth as truly 

 so as is that of the trees in the forest. . . . We shall 

 see, as we examine the records of its history, 

 that although James Watt was an inventor, and 

 probably the greatest of the inventors of the 

 steam-engine, he was still but one of the many 

 men who have aided in perfecting it. 



THURSTON, History of the Growth of the Steam- 

 Engine. 



