oe | a, ee —— (<i: - La wae ee oe ee 
Ook ws” i cu Pare eet bs 
THE GLASGOW WATER-WORKS. 443 
explain the almost absolute silence which Watt main- 
tained during the several latter years of his life. I am 
far from denying that it was without influence ; but what 
occasion is there to seek for extraordinary causes, when 
already, under date of 1783, we read in a letter from 
Watt to his friend Dr. Black: “ Recollect well, that I 
have no desire to entertain the public with the experi- 
ments which I have made ;”—when we also meet else- 
where, these very singular words in the mouth of a man 
who has filled the world with his renown: “I know only 
two pleasures, idleness and sleep.” ‘This sleep, however, 
was very light ; and let us add, that the least excitement 
sufficed to rouse him from his favourite idleness. All 
the objects that were presented to him gradually received 
from him a mental suggestion of change of form, of 
nature, or of construction, which would have rendered 
them capable of important applications. These concep- 
tions, for want of opportunities of being produced, were 
lost to the world.* The following anecdote will explain 
my ideas. 
A company at Glasgow had erected large buildings 
and powerful engines on the right bank of the Clyde, 
intended to carry water to all the houses in the town. 
When this work was completed, they perceived that there 
existed on the opposite shore a spring, or rather a natural 
filter, which gave the water evidently superior qualities. 
* There can be no doubt that Watt was deeply affected by his mel- 
ancholy bereavement; but his mental energy was never impaired by 
it, nor his interest in science and literature weakened. Indeed there 
seems to be but little recollection of the lengthy silence above alluded 
to. The anecdote which follows respecting the lobster’s tail, which 
he imitated on a large scale by a sort of ball-and-socket movement, 
shows that his inventive powers were still bright and fertile in 1811. 
— Translator. 
