AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 561 



of a dungeon had dethroned the reason of De Cans, and oblivion 

 had swallowed up his memory and his prophesy, when the Mar- 

 quis of Worcester, and his famous cotemporaries again provoked 

 the sleeping giant. Smeaton and his followers feebly called forth 

 his ability, and Watt roused him into partial action. But, that 

 giant is half slumbering yet, and he but plays with the devices 

 which men have made to bind him. Anon shall he spring into 

 living energy, and every creature shall feel and rejoice in his 

 power. Development of such quality, though of limited extent, 

 has been associated with every attempt to apply the other natural 

 forces. 



Locomotion, at high velocities, with heavy loads, and at such 

 cost as will render it universally convenient and remunerative, 

 is the most backward, and preeminently the most difficult branch 

 of engineering. Thus far the motor has been caloric, and its 

 most effective and adaptable agent has been water. Two grand 

 eras have marked the history of steam locomotion. The first 

 was in 1804, when the original reduction of the idea to practice 

 by Oliver Evans, was embodied in his " Oructer Amphil)olos;" 

 the second was in 1829, when the general arrangement, and at 

 least the principles which now prevail, were introduced with the 

 " Rocket," by George Stephenson, and less signally, though per- 

 haps not less meritoriously and really, by John Ericsson, in the 

 " Novelty.'' Trevithick, Murdock, and cotemporaneous engi- 

 neers almost immediately instituted those combinations and modi- 

 fications, which complete this momentous era. 



It is now ninety-three years since a new fundamental princi- 

 ple has characterized the steam engine, sixty-five years since the 

 introduction of the grand idea upon which boilers depend for 

 efficiency and economy, and twenty-seven years since the loco- 

 motive has been radically changed. The time is ripe for another 

 revolution. Within a few years, renewed, vigorous and promis- 

 ing exertions have employed the first mechanical engineers of 

 every progressive country. Some grand combination of the 

 products of many fertile minds is about to fulfill the prophesy of 

 the enthusiast. That er/i may have arrived; but since a steam- 

 ship crossed the Atlantic while a philosopher demonstrated the 

 impracticability of such an achievement, and since a hundred 

 years will hardly have witnessed the perfection of that which 

 Watt projected, we may safely conclude that the full appreciation 

 and development of a new principle, or power, will not distin- 



[Am. Inst.] 36 



