PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 309 



and an exaltation of confidence in themselves, which in a great 

 degree compensate for what they conceive to be the want of a 

 just appreciation of the public. Unless however they are men 

 of great benevolence of disposition, who can look with pity on 

 what they deem the ignorance and prejudice of leaders of science, 

 they are apt to indulge iu_ a bitterness of denunciation which 

 might be injurious to the reputation of the Institution, were their 

 etfects not neutralized by the extravagance of the assertions 

 themselves."* 



To the projectors and propellers of Paine electric engines, 

 and Keely motors, eager foT a marketable certificate from such 

 an authority, Henry would calmly reply : " We may say that 

 science has established the great fact — without the possibility of 

 doubt, that what is called power, or that which produces changes 

 in matter, cannot be created by man, but exists in nature in a 

 state of activity or in a condition of neutralization ; and further- 

 more that all the original forces connected with our globe, as a 

 general rule have assumed a state of permanent equilibrium, and 

 that the crust of the earth as a whole (with the exception of the 

 comparatively exceedingly small proportion, consisting of organic 

 matter such as coal, wood, etc.) is as it were a burnt slag, in- 

 capable of yielding power ; and that all the motions and changes 

 on its surface are due to actions from celestial space, principally 

 from the sun. . . . All attempts to substitute electricity or mag- 

 netism for coal power must be unsuccessful, since these powers 

 tend to an equilibrium from which they can only be disturbed by 

 the application of another power, which is the equivalent of that 

 which they can subsequently exhibit. They are however, with 

 chemical attraction, etc., of great importance as intermediate 

 agents in the application of the power of heat as derived from 

 combustion. Science does not indicate in the slightest degree, 

 the possibility of the discovery of a new primary power com- 

 parable with that of combustion as exhibited in the burning of 

 coal. Whatever unknown powers may exist in nature capable 

 of doing work, must be in a state of neutralization, otherwise 

 they would manifest themselves spontaneously ; and from this 

 state of neutralization or equilibrium, they can be released only 

 by the action of an extraneous power of equivalent energy ; and 

 we therefore do not hesitate to say that all declarations of the 

 discovery of a new power which is to supersede the use of coal 

 as a motive-power, have their origin in ignorance or deception, 

 and frequently in both. A man of some ingenuity in combining 

 mechanical elements, and having some indefinite scientific know- 

 ledge, imagines it possible to obtain a certain result by a given 

 combination of principles, and by long brooding over this sub- 



* Smithsonian Report for 1875, pp. 37, 38. 

 83 



