148 INTRODUCTION. 
of professor Hasler as principal, and James Ferguson of Albany, and Edmund 
Blunt of New-York, assistants. 
The charts used throughout the United States, both of the coast of the United 
States and the West Indies, are published by E. and G. W. Blunt, and they 
have entirely superseded the foreign charts, being original drawings, continuing 
the new discoveries and corrections with the general outline adopted in the 
English charts. 
In connection with this subject, it is proper to state that directions have been 
given for an accurate triangulation of the Niagara river at Niagara falls, and the 
result will be given in one of the following volumes. 
Unhappily there is not in this, nor in any other country, a taste sufficiently 
general for the study of the useful arts. Occasionally a brilliant invention arrests 
the attention of mankind, and homage is involuntarily yielded to a discoverer 
who has contributed to the well-being and happiness of our race. But the laws 
of mechanics, although fixed, invariable and easy of comprehension, remain un- 
studied and unregarded. Neglecting inquiry into the processes by which results 
have been attained, society is content to pay its tribute of admiration for the 
results themselves. Inventions are brought into general use, and curiosity con- 
cerning the inventor, and the progress of his discovery, ceases altogether ; or if, 
like the printing press and the steam engine, the invention marks a new era in 
the march of civilization, a confused association of the author’s name with his 
invention takes possession of the public mind, and millions repeat his praises 
without at all inquiring into the justice of the award. Although mechanical in- 
ventors are busy among us, we have few trophies of the genius of our citizens 
besides the application of the steam engine to navigation. MacAdam, the in- 
ventor of the well-known improvement in the mode of constructing common 
roads, was a native of New-York, although his genius received its development 
in England, whence we have received his invention. Paul K. Hodge has 
published a work called “The Steam Engine, its origin and gradual improve- 
ment from the time of Heron to the present day, as adapted to manufactures, lo- 
