Aniili&dversions on Mr. Genet's Memorial, fyc. SO 



norance of the difference between the open ended cylinder, 

 practically called the atmospheric engine, and the tight cylin- 

 der, called the double acting engine, or that he has purposely 

 selected the complicated operation of the double acting en- 

 gine, for the unfair purpose of showing that my parallel was 

 incorrect, and my definition of the steam engine injudicious." 

 Had this paragraph been penned by some injudicious friend 

 to Mr. G. I should have been inclined to have exonerated 

 that gentleman from the tissue of error which it involves ; but 

 it is from his own pen, and must, therefore, be treated ac- 

 cordingly. 



Let us first ascertain who selected the double acting en- 

 gine, as the subject of comparison, for the unfair purpose of 

 showing the parallel to be incorrect. In page 6 1 of his me- 

 morial, in the very paragraph in which Mr. Genet runs the 

 parallel, he says, "Now let us examine if by mechanical 

 means, we can avail ourselves of the upward force on an hy- 

 drostat, with as much advantage as Mr. Watt has availed 

 himself of the downward force of the piston, and weight of 

 the steam engine, to procure the rotatory motion, so ingeni- 

 ously and successfully applied by Mr. Fulton to navigation. 

 But before I avail myself of the Hydrostatic power to accom- 

 plish that object, as I intend to proceed step by step, (pari 

 passu,) in a parallel line with the steam engine, I must first 

 settle a perfect balance of forces between us, and take as a 

 pattern one of the largest boats plying on the Hudson, for 

 example, the Chancellor Livingston. 1 ' 



That Mr. Genet supposed the engine on board the Chan- 

 cellor Livingston, and the other boats on the Hudson, to be 

 acted upon by atmospheric pressure, is evident, and this cer- 

 tainly gives a degree of consistency to his remarks, although 

 without this admission they would be altogether inexplicable. 

 Will Mr. Genet inform me in what part of the United States 

 I can see an atmospheric engine ? Will he point out any en- 

 gine, in any part of the world, in which Mr. Watt has 

 availed himself of this power ? or of " the downward force of 

 the piston, and weight of the steam engine, to procure the 

 rotatory motion" ? — The fact is, that one of the earliest im- 

 provements of Mr. Watt, and one made long before he had 

 contrived the double acting engine, was the abandoning, alto- 

 gether, the employment of atmospheric pressure, as a motive 

 power. Yet notwithstanding this fact, which Mr. Genet 

 might undoubtedly have learned from many volumes in his 



