864 Transactions of the American Institute. 



neering than in all Europe. Foreign engineers know we have 

 had more experience in hydraulic engineering. Perhaps for 

 this reason the government of Austria has recently selected 

 Mr. McAlpine, who is recognized as one of the first engi- 

 neers of the world, to examine the river Danube and make 

 it navigable. But American skill is not yet recognized in 

 the books. I am willing to give to Europeans all the credit they 

 deserve ; but as Americans, we should not forget that Oliver Evans, 

 solitary and alone, invented the high-pressure steam-engine. 



Prof. R. H. Thurston — I am afraid that your remarks put me in 

 the position of having forgotten to give credit to our own country ; 

 but in my first lecture at the Stevens Institute I had fully described 

 the work of Oliver Evans ; in the lecture of which I have read a part 

 to-night, I merely summarized the inventions to show that the steam- 

 engine is not one invention, but a growth or accretion of inven- 

 tions. 



The President — Every flouring mill and elevator in our country 

 is a monument to the genius of Oliver Evans ; and yet, in Dr. Hawkes' 

 "American Biography," his life is summed up in one line. 



Mr. J. K. Fisher — The high pressure engine was appreciated by 

 Watt, but his workmen could not make boilers steam tight. It was 

 the want of good workmanship that kept back the steam-engine. In 

 1820 even, it was very difficult to get a tight boiler. If we have 

 adopted the high pressure principle earlier than England, it is because 

 we are more fool-hardy. "We were led into it probably from the fact 

 that we began our engineering about the time when boilers could be 

 made to bear a high pressure without leaking. 



The President — This apology for the non-introduction of the high- 

 pressure engine does not seem to have much force, when we call to 

 mind the fact that Evans used his high-pressure engines from the year 

 1802 right onward ; and that for years many of his engines were 

 supplied with steam generated in a cylindrical wooden boiler bound 

 with iron hoops, and having a wrought-iron cylindrical flue within, in 

 which a fire was kept by means of wood. 



Adjourned. 



