ESTIMATION OF WATT'S MERITS. 461 



said : " The genius exerted by Watt in his admirable 

 inventions, has contributed more to show the practical 

 utility of science, to enlarge the power of man over the 

 material world, to multiply and to spread the conven- 

 iences of life, than the efforts of any other man of mod- 

 ern times." Finally, Davy does not hesitate to place 

 Watt above Archimedes ! 



Then Huskisson, Minister of the Board of Trade, 

 divesting himself for a moment of the character (qualite) 

 of an Englishman (?), proclaims, that compared in their 

 bearings on the happiness of the whole human species, 

 Watt's inventions would still appear to him to deserve 

 the highest admiration. He explains in what manner 

 the economy of labour, the indefinite multiplication and 

 cheapness of industrial products, contribute to excite and 

 to spread knowledge. He said : " The steam-engine 

 is not only, in the hands of man, the most powerful 

 instrument they use to alter the face of the physical 

 world ; it acts also as a moral and irresistible lever for 

 pushing on the great cause of civilization." 



From this point of view, Watt appeared to him in a 

 distinguished rank among the benefactors of humanity. 

 As an Englishman he does not hesitate to say that with- 

 out Watt's creations the British nation could not have 

 stood the immense expenses of its recent war with 

 France. 



The same idea may be observed in the discourse of 

 another member of Parliament, in that of Sir James 

 Mackintosh : see whether he expresses himself in less 

 positive terms. "It was the inventions of Watt that 

 enabled England to sustain the severest, the most dan- 

 gerous conflicts that she was ever engaged in." Every- 

 thing considered, Mackintosh declares, without hesitation, 



