THE STEAM-ENGINE. 



427 



and power of which depended mainly on physical principles, then altogether 

 new and but imperfectly understood. 



Not having the command of capital, and finding it impracticable to inspire 

 those who had, with the same confidence in the advantages of his invention 

 which he himself felt, he was unable to take any step toward the construction 

 of engines on a large scale. Soon after this, he gave up his shop in Glasgow, 

 and devoted himself to the business of a civil engineer. In this capacity he 

 was engaged to make a survey of the river Clyde, and furnished an elaborate 

 and valuable report upon its projected improvements. He was also engaged 

 in making a plan of the canal, by which the produce of the Monkland Colliery 

 was intended to be carried to Glasgow, and in superintending the execution 

 of that work. Besides these, several other engineering enterprises occupied 

 his attention, among which may be mentioned, the navigable canal across the 

 isthmus of Crinan, afterward completed by Rennie ; improvements proposed 

 in the ports of Ayr, Glasgow, and Greenock ; the construction of the bridges 

 at Hamilton, and at Rutherglen ; and the survey of the country through which 

 the celebrated Caledonian canal was intended to be carried. 



"If, forgetful of my duties as the organ of this academy," says M. Arago 

 (whose eloquent observations on the de-lays of this great invention, addressed 

 to the assembled members of the National Institute of France, we cannot for- 

 bear to quote), " I could think of making you smile, rather than expressing 

 useful truths, I would find here matter for a ludicrous contrast. I would call 

 to your recollection the authors, who at our weekly sittings demand with all 

 their might and main (a cor et a cris) an opportunity to communicate some 

 little remark some small reflection some trifling note, conceived and written 

 the night before ; I would represent them to you cursing their fate, when ac- 

 cording to your rules, the reading of their communication is postponed to the 

 next meeting, although during this cruel week, they are assured that their im- 

 portant communication is deposited in our archives in a sealed packet. On 

 the other hand, I would point out to you the creator of a machine, destined to 

 form an epoch in the annals of the world, undergoing patiently and without 

 murmur, the stupid contempt of capitalists conscious of his exalted genius, 

 yet stooping for eight years to the common labor of laying down plans, taking 

 levels, and all the tedious calculations connected with the routine of common 

 engineering. While in this conduct you cannot fail to recognise the serenity, 

 the moderation, and the true modesty of his character, yet such indifference, 

 however nobly may have been its causes, has something in it not altogether 

 blameless. It is not without reason that society visits with severe reprobation 

 those who withdraw gold from circulation and hoard it in their coffers. Is he 

 less culpable who deprives his country, his fellow-citizens, his age, of treasures 

 a thousand times more precious than the produce of the mine ; who keeps to 

 himself his immortal inventions, sources of the most noble and purest enjoyment 

 of the mind, who abstains from conferring upon labor those powers, by which 

 would be multiplied in an infinite proportion the products of industry, and by 

 which, with advantage to civilization and human nature, he would smooth away 

 the inequalities of the conditions of man."* 



Although Watt was thus attracted by pursuits foreign to his recent investiga- 

 tions respecting the improvement of steam power, he never lost sight of that 

 object. It was not until the year 1768, three years after his great discoveries, 

 that any step was taken to enable him to carry them into effect on a large scale. 

 At that time his friends brought him into communication with Dr. Roebuck, the 

 proprietor of the Carron Iron Works, who rented extensive coal works at Kin- 

 neal from the duchess of Hamilton. Watt was first employed by Roebuck as 



* Eloge, p. 308. 



