STEAM. 



modern times, has 'had its power and influence increased in a 

 manifold ratio by its union with the steam engine. It is thus 

 that literature is cheapened, and, by being cheapened, diffused ; 

 it is thus that Reason has taken the place of Force, and the pen 

 has superseded the sword ; it is thus that war has almost ceased 

 upon the earth, and that the differences which inevitably arise 

 between civilised nations are for the most part adjusted by peaceful 

 negotiation. 



If this last result of a high state of civilisation and intelligence 

 fails to be manifested, the case can only arise where a barbarous 

 power intervenes, which is deaf to reason, and only controllable 

 by brute force. 



4. The steam-engine is a piece of mechanism by which fuel is 

 rendered capable ^>f executing any kind of labour. By it coals are 

 made to spin, weave, dye, print, and dress silks, cottons, woollens, 

 and other cloths; to make paper, and print books on it when 

 made ; to convert corn into flour ; to press oil from the olive, and 

 wine from the grape ; to draw up metal from the bowels of the 

 earth ; to pound and smelt it, to melt and mould it ; to forge it ; 

 to roll it, and to fashion it into every form that the most way ward 

 caprice can desire. Do we traverse the deep ? they lend wings 

 to the ship, and bid defiance to the natural opponents, the winds 

 and the tides. Does the wind-bound ship desire to get out of 

 port ? they throw their arms around her, and place her on the 

 open sea. Do we traverse the land ? they are harnessed to our 

 chariot, and we outstrip the flight of the swiftest bird, and equal 

 in speed the fury of the tempest. 



The substance by which these powers are rendered active is one 

 which Nature has provided in boundless quantity in all parts of 

 the earth, and though it has no price, its value is inestimable. 

 This substance is WATEB. 



5. Those who desire to comprehend clearly and fully this vast 

 agency, to which so much of the advancement and civilisation of 

 mankind is due, must learn successively, 1st. The principles on 

 which heat is evolved from fuel ; 2nd. The expedients by which 

 that heat is imparted to water ; 3rd. The quantity of it which is 

 absorbed in the conversion of water into steam ; 4th. The mecha- 

 nical power developed in this physical change ; and 5th. The 

 mechanism by which that power is applied to industrial uses. 



It is obvious that the last of these points would include the 

 exposition of the structure and operation of the varieties of steam- 

 engines which have been applied to the purposes of commerce and 

 manufactures, to railways and navigation. Upon this large 

 subject it is not our present purpose to enter. We shall, however, 

 explain the preceding, so as to enable our readers, with moderate 

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