THE STORY OF STEAM 285 



their travel, so the great ease with which steam 

 enables the trading and traveling of the present day 

 to be done, has advanced the nations of the whole 

 world. 



Useful inventions made in one country are pro- 

 cured and used in other countries. Never a book is 

 written but may be translated and sent to all other 

 nations. Because of the ease of manufacture all the 

 people may now have the books and comforts that 

 only the well-to-do could procure a century or more 

 ago. 



Now the ancients knew about steam, and used it 

 in ways to frighten or amuse the people, but it was 

 centuries before the thought of one man found a way 

 to put it to practical use. 



You have all heard how the boy, James Watt, used 

 to amuse himself watching the steam come out of 

 the nose of the teakettle and seeing what it would do. 

 His eyes were quick to see that the steam lifted the 

 lid of the teakettle, because steam filled a great deal 

 of space and wanted to fill more. He also saw that 

 that same space-filling steam could be reduced to a 

 few drops of water again as soon as it was chilled. 



In after years the thoughtful play of his boyhood 

 helped him to invent an engine that would harness 

 steam to do work that it would take thousands of 

 people and horses to do. This boy, who used to 

 spend his playtime doing mathematical problems, 

 watching steam, making experiments in chemistry 

 and constructing useful machines, became such a 

 benefactor to the world as few could ever hope to be. 

 He invented the steam engine. 



