MR. DRUMMOND SUPPORTS MR. SMITH's CLAIMS. 91 



speeds up to seventeen miles an hour, made in 1834. 

 When you have duly considered all this, I shall hope to 

 receive from you a statement that hitherto you have done 

 me less than justice, doubtless from not possessing the 

 means to verify dates. That, however, is no reason why I 

 should do Mr. Assheton Smith injustice. He has informed 

 me that he had for many years believed that hollow water 

 lines were best. He assures me that he did so long before 

 he saw any published account of my experiments. When- 

 ever I have had occasion to give the history of the progress 

 of the wave principle, I have mentioned Mr. Smith's con- 

 struction of the Fire-king, as a confirmation of the truth of 

 the wave principle, and as having additional value from its 

 being made by an independent party. In return for these 

 dates I have given you, you will oblige me if you will look 

 up the exact date of the first trial of the Fire-hing, at which 

 I was present. I know it was 1839-40, but you have the 

 means of being quite exact. Hoping to show you the Big 

 Ship when you come to London, 



" Believe me to be most truly yours, 



" J. Scott Russell.'* 



> This letter was forwarded by Mr. Napier to Mr. Smith, 

 who returned it to him in a letter dated Tedworth, 

 May 13th, 1857, in which he says, "Mr. Scott Eussell's 

 letter surprises me excessively^^ and proceeds to refer to the 

 presence of the latter at the Fire-king's trial. There the 

 matter rested, as far as Mr. Smith was concerned, for he 

 adds, " I'll take no further trouble in the matter." But an 

 able letter was inserted in the Times by his friend Mr. John 

 Dnimmond, in which Mr. Smith's claims to be considered 

 the practical inventor of the hollow lines was established. 

 After the death of Mr. Smith, his widow, whose sole 

 interest and wish appeared to be to vindicate the memory 

 of her husband from the unjust aspersions which had been 

 cast upon him as regarded his general pursuits, and feeling 



