178 Description o/’Mr Perkins’s New Steam-Engine. 
inch may be generated by one bushel of coals, as could be pro- 
duced in the old engine by nine bushels. This most important 
result, was obtained by actual experiment. ( 
Since these great improvements have been effected, Mr Per- 
kins has made a discovery that seems, in its practical importance, 
to surpass them all. He now entirely dispenses with the use 
of the condenser, and works the engine against the atmosphere 
alone ; and by methods with which we are not acquainted, and 
which indeed it would not be prudent for him to disclose at 
present, he is enabled to arrest the heat after it has performed 
its mechanical functions , and actually pump it back to the gene- 
rator , to unite with a fresh portion of water , and renew its use- 
ful labours. In an operation like this, a considerable portion 
of the heat must still be lost, but the wonder is that any should 
be saved; and we venture to say, that the most sanguine spe- 
culator on the omnipotence of the steam-engine, never dared 
even to imagine the possibility of such an invention. 
We are well aware, that, in announcing this discovery, we are 
exposing ourselves to the criticisms of those whose belief is na- 
turally limited by their own experience ; but it is satisfactory to 
know, that Captain Basil Hall, (whose account of Mr Perkins’s 
discoveries and inventions, as delivered before the Boyal Society 
of Edinburgh, gave such universal satisfaction,) has been en- 
trusted with Mr Perkins’s discovery, and that he speaks confi- 
dently of the soundness of its principles, as well as the practi- 
cability of its application *. 
We cannot quit this subject, without congratulating the 
country on the brilliant prospects with which these inventions 
promise to invest all our national concerns* At any period of 
the history of British industry, they must have excited the 
highest expectations ; but, originating as they have done, 
when our commerce, our manufactures, and our agriculture, 
the three stars of our national prosperity, have just passed the 
* After the I Oth June, Mr Perkins, whose address is Perkins and Company, 
41. Water Lane, Fleet Street, is ready to take orders for his New Engines, and 
his apparatus for producing low pressure steam for working the ordinary engines. 
The price, we believe, of the new engine, is only half that of Bolton and Watt’s, 
with one-third of the savings ©f fuel for a. period of years, wldch we have not , heard 
stated. 
