STEAM-ENGINE IN NAVIGATION. 5 



numerable powers of nature, combined by the intelligence of 

 man ; and we behold in the introduction of what is called 

 STEAM-NAVIGATION, an example of the most perfect degree of 

 Civilization ; in the evasion and controul, by the due exertion 

 of the human faculties, of the brute forces of nature, which in 

 themselves are too vast and resistless to be within the grasp of 

 human strength. Dispensing with the aid of the winds and the 

 tides ; or accepting so much of it as may be exactly suited to 

 his designs, or, if they prove adverse to his wishes, defying 

 them; the seaman places in the solid of least resistance, which 

 the construction of his vessel presents, an Iron Machine, which, 

 set in motion by the vapour of water, agreeably to principles 

 of chemical and of mechanical science profoundly investigated, 

 imparts that motion to a wheel of paddles, (how different from 

 the single paddle of the savage boatman !) which impels the ves- 

 sel through the water with a swiftness and a certainty, equalled 

 by few operations of the arts, and scarcely exceeded by any. 



Since the delivery at Hazel wood of the Lecture of which the 

 present memoir is an amplification, I have met with a passage 

 in the " Last Days of a Philosopher" of the late SIR HUM- 

 PHRY DAVY, which is in all respects so apposite to my pre- 

 sent purpose, and presents a view of the subject so similar 

 to that which I have taken, that it would be neglecting an 

 efficient means of enforcing the arguments I am about to 

 offer, were I to omit its introduction in this place. The im- 

 portant part which was taken by its lamented author, in the 

 progress of those sciences, the influence of which on the for- 

 tunes of mankind he commemorates in these reflections, will 

 be remembered with interest by all ; by many, with interest, 

 deepened by regret, that a mind capable of such achievements 

 in the conquest of nature, should have been withdrawn from 

 this sphere of its activities from our admiration and our 

 friendship, comparatively so few in years. 



" The practical results of the progress of physics, chemistry, 

 and mechanics," says Sir Humphry Davy, "are of the most 

 marvellous kind; and to make them all distinct, would re- 

 quire a comparison of ancient and modern states : ships that 

 were moved by human labour in the ancient world, are trans- 

 ported by the winds; and a piece of steel touched by the magnet, 

 points to the mariner his unerring course from the old to the 

 new world; and by the exertions of one man of genius [JAMES 

 WATT], aided by the resources of chemistry, a power which 

 by the old philosophers could hardly have been imagined, has 

 been generated and applied to almost all the machinery of active 

 life the Steam-engine performs not only the labour of horses 

 but of man ; by combinations which appear almost possessed 



