M3D5 



TO 



BENNET WOODCROFT, Esq. F.R.S. 



LATE PEOFESSOE OF MACHINEEY IN THE LONDON UNIVEESITY, 

 ASSISTANT TO THE COMMISSIONEES OP PATENTS, 

 ETC., ETC., ETC. 



Dear Sir, 



An acquaintance of one quarter of a century 

 emboldens me to inscribe to you my present work 

 relating to Samuel Hartlib^s life and publications. I 

 acknowledge it forms but a small memento of friend- 

 ship, yet it enables me publicly to declare my sincere 

 estimation of your character, and satisfaction that 

 you occupy a government position, in wbicli you are 

 emphatically " the right man in the right place.'' 



As the founder of the Patent Office Museum at 

 South Kensington you have rendered an essential ser- 

 vice to inventors, by fully informing them through its 

 medium in respect to what has been done to effect im- 

 provements in various arts and manufactures ; as well 

 as thereby to encourage and stimulate advancement, by 

 popularising a knowledge of the best and most approved 

 manufactures. We have thus before us in a palpable 

 form the historic page of the progress of our country in 



A 



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