2 THE HISTORY OF [SECT. i. 



employed, and for which alone it has become valuable, it appears to be mere 

 trifling to search for authorities, and absolutely unworthy of occupying the time 

 or attention of a man of real science. The blast of an eolipile is certainly not a 

 mode of employing steam capable of producing the species of useful effect which is 

 obtained by a steam engine, and, as a proof of its inefficiency, the same principle 

 of action (that is, by impulse) has never been rendered applicable to produce 

 mechanical power for useful purposes in a steam engine. 



It is not my object, therefore, to inquire when it was first ascertained that steam 

 has force ; but, to endeavour to trace the history of its suggestion in a practical 

 form, and of its employment in the arts and manufactures ; to develop the various 

 changes and improvements the steam engine has received ; and to exhibit, among 

 the host of projectors, those who have really advanced our knowledge, either 

 regarding the principles, the construction, or the arrangement of this powerful 

 prime mover. 



It is easy to perceive that I have assigned myself a difficult task, but it is equally 

 evident that if it be accomplished in a judicious and candid manner, it will form 

 a valuable addition to an interesting and useful branch of mechanical science ; 

 hence, I am encouraged to proceed, and trust to leave my reader with an impres- 

 sion, that I have been just in deciding between the claimants of the invention of 

 each of the parts of the steam engine. 



1663. MARQUIS of WORCESTER, died 1667. 



4. The idea of employing the impulsive force of the eolipile seems to be the 

 only one which had been formed for using steam as a source of motion before the 

 time of the Marquis of Worcester ; and he, in a little work entitled ' A Century of 

 the Names and Scantlings of Inventions,' undoubtedly describes a method of 

 employing the pressure of steam for raising water to great heights. l His work was 

 first published in 1663, and under the sixty-eighth invention we have the following 

 name and scantling : 



" LXVIII. A Fire Water Work. An admirable and most forcible way to drive 

 up water by fire, not by drawing or sucking it upwards ; for that must be, as the 

 philosopher calleth it, infra sph&ram activitatis, which is but at such a distance. 

 But this way hath no bounder if the vessels be strong enough ; for I have taken a 

 piece of a whole cannon, whereof the end was burst, and filled it three-quarters 

 full of water, stopping and screwing up the broken end, as also the touchhole, and, 



1 Another engine, which the marquis terms a " Water-commanding Engine," seems to have been 

 the one for which he obtained an act of parliament, allowing him the monopoly of the profits 

 arising from its use. 



