Animadversions on Mr. Genet's Memorial, fyc. 83 



were his information as meagre as that of our author. The 

 palpable errors committed by Mr. Genet, in his " Memorial," 

 are followed, in his " Reply," by others equally palpable. It 

 may be said, that although the existence of these errors should 

 be admitted, they do not affect the merit of his own inventions ; 

 but let it be remembered, that this merit is altogether gratui- 

 tous, that Mr. Genet has attempted to run a parallel between 

 his hydronaut and the steam-engine, without understanding 

 the operation of the latter, and that there is but little proba- 

 bility, that one who has, manifestly, not only forgotten what 

 he must once have known, but who has ceased for forty years, 

 to keep pace with the improvements in mechanical and chemi- 

 cal science, and their practical application, will present the 

 world with any of those great discoveries, which involve a long 

 train of reasoning, and correct theoretical and practical knowl- 

 edge. In the race of improvement, the starting point should 

 be the goal at which others have arrived. 



I have asserted that Mr. Genet is not acquainted with the 

 structure, and operation of the steam-engine, and it is incum- 

 bent on me to prove the correctness of this assertion ; unfortu- 

 nately for my opponent he has rendered this task perfectly 

 easy. In his "Reply" p, 316, after detailing a portion of the 

 information which he received from Mr. Watt, he says, " None 

 of the subsequent improvements were omitted by Mr. Watt, 

 to show the gradual progress of the steam system of mechan- 

 ics, and reach his own improvement ; in the first place, upon 

 the open ended cylinder, in which the expansive force of 

 steam was employed to raise the piston, which in its fall, 

 after the destruction of the steam, as I have stated it, became, 

 under the pressure of the atmosphere on the piston, and the 

 weight of the said piston, the available force. And in the 

 second place, upon the tight cylinder which is constructed in 

 such a manner, that on one side, instead of the atmosphere, 

 the steam is made to press on the piston, whilst on the other 

 side the cylinder is open to the condenser. 



" This summary description of the two different modes of 

 guiding and using the power of steam, improved in succes- 

 sion by Mr. Watt, and which have both their respective ad- 

 vantages and disadvantages, and are both in use, will, I pre- 

 sume, Sir, satisfy you and your readers, that, in the critique 

 of the parallel which I have drawn between the operation of 

 the steam-piston in an open cylinder, and my hydrostat, 

 equally placed in an open cylinder, Dr. Jones has proved 



