DISCOURSE OF W. B. TAYLOR. 303 



/ 



of its justice in giving to such persons an undue share of self-es- 

 teem and an exaltation of confidence in themselves, which in a great 

 degree compensate for what they conceive to be the want of a just 

 appreciation by the public. Unless however they are men of great 

 benevolence of disposition, who can look with pity on what they 

 deem the ignorance and prejudice of leaders of science, they are apt 

 to indulge in a bitterness of denunciation which might be injurious 

 to the reputation of the Institution, were their effects not neutral- 

 ized by the extravagance of the assertions themselves." * 



To the projectors and propellers of Paine electric engines, and 

 Keely motors, eager for a marketable certificate from such an 

 authority, Henry would calmly reply : " We may say that science has 

 established the great fact without the possibility of doubt, that 

 what is called power, or that which produces changes in matter, can- 

 not be created by man, but exists in nature in a state of activity or in 

 a condition of neutralization ; and furthermore that all the original 

 forces connected with our globe, as a general rule have assumed a 

 state of permanent equilibrium, and that the crust of the earth as 

 a whole (with the exception of the comparatively exceedingly small 

 proportion, consisting of organic matter such as coal, wood, etc.) is 

 as it were a burnt slag, incapable of yielding power ; and that all 

 the motions and changes on its surface are due to actions from celes- 

 tial space, principally from the sun. - - - All attempts to 

 substitute electricity or magnetism for coal power must be unsuc- 

 cessful, since these powers tend to an equilibrium from which they 

 can only be disturbed by the application of another power, which 

 is the equivalent of that which they can subsequently exhibit. 

 They are however, with chemical attraction, etc. of great impor- 

 tance as intermediate agents in the application of the power of heat 

 as derived from combustion. Science does not indicate in the slight- 

 est degree, the possibility of the discovery of a new primary power 

 comparable with that of combustion as exhibited in the burning of 

 coal. Whatever unknown powers may exist in nature capable of 

 doing work, must be in a state of neutralization, otherwise they 

 would manifest themselves spontaneously; and from this state of 

 neutralization or equilibrium, they can be released only by the action 



* Smithsonian Report for 1875, pp. 37, 38. 



