182 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 



for eleven years in a series of experiments in which he had 

 used frogs' legs as electroscopes. 



The power of steam was known long before teakettles 

 had come into use; and as the case of Watt and his inven- 

 tions affords a very good example of the erroneous ideas so 

 generally entertained on such subjects, it may be well to 

 consider it at length. 



THAT THE IDEA OF THE STEAM ENGINE WAS 

 SUGGESTED TO JAMES WATT BY THE AC- 

 TION OF THE STEAM ON THE LID OF HIS 

 MOTHER'S TEAKETTLE 



HERE is a large and elaborate engraving of 

 James Watt as a boy standing before a fire on 

 which a teakettle is boiling while he watches 

 the lid jump up and down. On one side is an 

 elderly woman (mother or grandmother) earnestly watching 

 the boy. Young Watt is dressed in the height of the fashion 

 of the period knee breeches, powdered wig, and other 

 habiliments such as no Scottish lad of his station in life 

 ever wore. This engraving has had a large circulation 

 and has no doubt impressed the minds of many with the 

 truth of the story that Watt's great invention was due to 

 the accident of his watching the motion of the kettle lid 

 as the steam rose from the boiling water. 



The incident which the engraving is supposed to repre- 

 sent is pure fiction. The power of steam was well known 

 long before the days of Watt. Hero of Alexandria, 130 

 years before the Christian era, had applied steam to the pro- 



