4 os Vel Sy ied 
COMPLETION OF HIS ENGINE. 393 
metal cylinder in a wooden case of larger diameter, filling 
the intermediate annular space with steam.* 
Now the engine was complete. The improvements 
effected by Watt are evident; there can be no doubt of 
their immense utility. As a means of drainage, then, 
you would expect to see them substituted for Newco- 
men’s comparatively ruinous engines. Undeceive your- 
selves: the author of a discovery has always to contend 
against those whose interest may be injured, the obstinate 
partisans of every thing old, and finally, the envious. 
And these three classes united, I regret to acknowledge 
it, form the great majority of the public. In my calcu- 
lation I even deduct those who are doubly influenced to 
avoid a paradoxical result. This compact mass of oppo- 
nents can only be disunited and dissipated by time; yet 
time is insufficient, it must be attacked with spirit and 
unceasingly ; our means of attack must be varied, imitat- 
ing the chemist in this respect,—he learning from ex- 
perience, that the entire solution of certain amalgams 
requires the successive application of several acids. 
Force of character and perseverance of will, which in 
the long run disintegrate the best woven intrigues, are 
not always found conjoined with creative genius. In 
case of need, Watt would be a convincing proof of this. 
His capital invention—his happy idea on the possibility 
* It is the cylinder and piston that constitute the eminent virtue 
of the engine, the steam being only the agent employed to work the 
pump, so to speak. Every modification, therefore, which can promote 
the action of this most convenient and powerful agent is a crucial ad- 
vantage. It is, therefore, that the vast improvements made by Watt 
—not only in working the piston-rod in the aperture of the stuffing- 
box, but also in promoting the uniform warmth of the cylinder by a 
jacket or outer casing—brought the steam-engine substantially to its 
present rank.— Translator. 
17 * 
