674 DYNAMICAL AGENCIES OF CALORIC 



that requires only to be once fairly stated, to give 

 it the force of a self evident truth? I answer, that, 

 such is the influence of " stone blind custom," in 

 obscuring the perceptions of mankind, that they 

 generally disregard the plainest facts, when not 

 in accordance with established systems, however 

 unsatisfactory the latter may be, that it is there- 

 fore often necessary to insist upon the clearest 

 propositions to " add line upon line, and pre- 

 cept upon precept," until the light of common 

 sense shall penetrate the thickest crust of pre- 

 judice, and dispel the mists of error that have so 

 long dimmed our intellectual vision. 



The finest specimen of mechanism ever yet 

 devised by the skill of man is the steam-engine, 

 which is destined to augment the power of pro- 

 ducing wealth and happiness a hundred fold. 

 But as the grandest inventions of human genius 

 are only feeble imitations of nature, (which Plato 

 beautifully termed the art of God,) the process of 

 living combustion is absolutely perfect, and the 

 power thus obtained, applied with the admirable 

 wisdom and efficiency that characterize all the 

 operations of the Divine Architect. For in ad- 

 dition to the large amount of caloric that is wasted 

 by imperfect combustion in the furnace of a steam- 

 engine, including what is lost by radiation, or 

 passes off with smoke, there is a great loss of 

 power, owing to its being applied only to the 

 piston ; whereas, in the animal machine during 



