562 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



guish a single generation. It is at least unpliilosophical to be- 

 lieve that speed, and power, and tractability may not be attained 

 wliicli would, in the detail, rouse more wonder now, than would 

 the present successes have excited among the incredulous a hun- 

 dred years ago. A century's siege has but exhibited the real 

 power of steam. Caloric is prolific of revolution in every form 

 of matter, and the same electricity which rends a mountain, can 

 play with a feather. Shall the roving forces run wild in the 

 abundance of their energy 1 Shall not the air, and the earth, 

 and the ocean, be the theatre of their regulated action, and the 

 witnesses of their obedience to master minds 7 



The march of improvement is soon, accelerated, and irresistiljle. 

 In speculating upon the future of locomotion, we may contem- 

 plate, with approximate accuracy, the more immediate results of 

 present labors, we may anticipate some of the more important 

 changes, whose development may yet be the work of a century, 

 but shall we stand hopelessly, as well as in ignorance, on the con- 

 fines of the great unknown] While earthquakes yawn there is 

 power, while incessant change is the law of creation, it is abun- 

 dant, and while pulses beat it can be controlled. 



But the practical question is cost. In applying a natural 

 motor, then, conformity to only one of its essential conditions can 

 in practice render success difficult. Power must be generated 

 at such rates, that each individual will consult his personal ad- 

 vantage and convenience in its appliance. And it cannot be 

 urged that in such an extremity the natural forces would be em- 

 ployed at any cost, for economy must be relative, as well as 

 positive. To compete with rival agents is the problem. 



The question of safety is often urged by those in the operation 

 of whose devices a given amount of carelessness and ignorance 

 will necessitate less hazard. Although safety is morally a grand 

 desideratum, it is practically and comparatively an insignificant 

 condition of success, and its promotion is not a question in 

 physics. Inasmuch as a certain standard of excellence in marine 

 locomotion is attainable with greater comparative economy of 

 power and space than in locomotion on land, we may conclude 

 that whatever is established in the latter case will be at least 

 equally advantageous in the former. What forces, then, are 

 henceforth to be employed in the production of that power? 

 Till some new force or principle is discovered, the comparative 

 values of those already employed, may be justly estimated by 

 reference to their nature and history. Gravity is universal, but 



