234 Literary and Philosophical Society. 



made the steam-engine a power in the world ; he seems 

 for a time to have represented his father in Manchester. 

 There were at one time a few sheets written by him 

 amongst the Society's papers, but they do not at present 

 appear ; and unfortunately the Society has none of that 

 correspondence which it was once proud of. This is 

 strange. The reason of the presence of Mr. Watt, junr., in 

 this town seems to be shown by the allusion in the follow- 

 ing letter : but he does not seem to have stayed long, and 

 we know that he succeeded to his father's business, and 

 lived a long and successful life. He was generally called 

 Watt of Aston Hall. 



It is of interest to read this letter, and Mr. Muirhead's 

 remarks, as it shows distinctly that Watt had found the only 

 true method of 'burning smoke,' namely, giving it heat 

 and air at the same time. If this is attended to, smoke 

 will be burnt ; those who do not see this and depend on 

 form and shape of brick or iron, are deceived. Those who 

 give heat and air always succeed. 



From ' The Life of James Watt} by James Patrick 

 Muirhead, M.A., 1858, //. 304 to 306. 



' It is astonishing,' writes his son Mr. James Watt to 

 him from Manchester in 1790, 'what an impression the 

 smoke-consuming power of the engine has made upon the 

 minds of everybody hereabouts ; nobody would believe it 

 until the engine was set a-going, and even then they 

 scarcely trusted to the evidence of their senses. You 

 would be diverted to hear the strange hypotheses which 

 have been started to account for it. However, it has 



