Chapter XXIX: Section II: Progress of Mechanical Science

The relation between physical science and the mechanical arts are obvious in many ways. The exact boundaries between science and art are as undefinable as those which separate the kingdoms of nature from one another. If there are arts that cannot be called scientific, there are others which have contributed more to the store of knowledge than they ever drew from it, as the progress of science must be gathered from the records of experience, and in order to understand its importance, we must consult many of the varied pages of this record. In the progress of physical and mechanical science, as in that of social science and civilisation, the retarding obstacles everywhere mainly consist in the want or the imperfection of the requisite means――for observation, experiment, and verification in the former, for organisation and just and mutual union in the latter; in both spheres the chief retarding causes are the lack of appropriate and available means at the time and place when they were most needed. Many of the instruments and the apparatus required for observation and experiments in physical science are complicated and expensive, such as telescopes in astronomy, organs in acoustics, and so on, and skill and art are required to construct them; hence it has often happened that imperfect instruments and the want of the necessary apparatus have greatly retarded the progress of physical science. It is, therefore, plain that mechanical art is an indispensable element in the advancement of physical science, and that physical and mechanical science are important factors in the development of civilisation. For the necessities and the requirements of a progressive nation or empire are constantly increasing, and in order to hold its own, it must not only continue to improve and develop its moral and social organisations, but it must also exert itself to the utmost to advance its knowledge, science, and all the practical arts which minister to the life and to the enjoyment of mankind. This is the solemn decree of nature, and nothing else in the universe is available for the human race.

I will indicate briefly what Scotland has done to advance mechanical science and steam power. The order of exposition is determined by the intersective efforts of the chief actors in the early stage of this subject, and these were Mr. Watt, Dr. Black, Dr. Robison, and some other professors in the University of Glasgow. Of the discoveries and experiments of Dr. Black I have already spoken, and of his friendship and scientific relations with Mr. Watt; and it seems necessary now to introduce Dr. Robison,――a Scotsman, who contributed much to spread the knowledge of mechanical science in his native country and throughout the civilised world.

John Robison¹ was educated in the University of Glasgow from the twelfth year of his age to the nineteenth, and thus had the advantage of the instruction of those able professors who raised the fame of this ancient University――Adam Smith, Dr. Black, and Dr. Robert Simson.² From an early period of his life he manifested a strong bent for physical and mechanical science; and it was in his student days that he formed a friendship with Mr. Watt which continued throughout their lives. Their acquaintance began in 1757, and the occasion of it is told by Robison himself thus:――“I was then a student in the University of Glasgow, and studying the science which I now profess to teach. The University was then building an astronomical observatory. Mr. Watt was employed to repair and set up a very noble collection of instruments bequeathed to the University by Mr. Macfarlane of Jamaica, a gentleman well known to the scientific world. Mr. Watt had apartments and a workshop within the College. I had from my earliest youth a great relish for the natural sciences, and particularly for mathematical and mechanical philosophy. I was eager to be acquainted with the practice of astronomical observation, and my wishes were much encouraged by the celebrated Dr. Simson, professor of geometry; Dr. Dick, professor of natural philosophy; and Dr. Moore, professor of Greek――gentlemen eminent for their mathematical abilities. These gentlemen brought me with them into Mr. Watt’s shop; and when he saw me thus patronised, or introduced, his natural complaisance made him readily indulge my curiosity.

¹ Born in 1739; died in 1805.

² Dr. Simson held the chair of mathematics from 1711 to
1761, and at his death he bequeathed to the University his
collection of mathematical books, supposed to be the most
complete then in the kingdom.――Macgregor’s _History of
Glasgow_, page 343.

“After first feasting my eyes with the view of fine instruments, and prying into everything, I conversed with Mr. Watt. I saw a workman, and expected no more; but was surprised to find a philosopher, as young as myself, and always ready to instruct me. I had the vanity to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favourite study, and was rather mortified at finding Mr. Watt so much my superior. But his own high relish for those things made him pleased with the chat of any person who had the same tastes with himself, or his innate complaisance made him indulge my curiosity, and even encourage my endeavours to form a more intimate acquaintance with him. I lounged much about him, and, I doubt not, was frequently teasing him. Thus our acquaintance began.”¹

¹ _Narrative of Mr. Watt’s Inventions of the Improved Engine_,
by Professor Robison.

In 1759, Robison left Glasgow, and went to sea as tutor to a son of Admiral Knowles, with the rank of a midshipman. In this stage of his life he saw some service in Canada; and the information which he acquired by his extended means of observation was afterwards turned to good account. He returned to Glasgow in 1764, and then concentrated his attention on the study of chemistry under Dr. Black; and in 1766, on the removal of Dr. Black to Edinburgh, Robison was appointed professor of chemistry in the University of Glasgow. But in 1770, he again joined Admiral Knowles as his private secretary and accompanied him to Russia; and this led to his appointment as professor of mathematics in the naval school at Cronstadt in 1772. In nine months he learned to speak and write the Russian language with ease, and performed his duties in a manner satisfactory to all concerned. In 1774, he was elected to the chair of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, and was warmly invited to return to Scotland. He accepted the appointment, and spent the remainder of his life in incessant toil and scientific occupation.

His first course of lectures was delivered in Edinburgh, in 1774‒75, and embraced the sciences of mechanics, hydrodynamics, astronomy, optics, electricity, and magnetism, all of which he treated with remarkable clearness and precision. As a lecturer and expositor in his own department, he was among the most eminent of his time in Britain. He was succeeded in the chair by John Playfair, who had previously been for twenty years professor of mathematics in this University; and he is the author of the fine historical Dissertation on the progress of mathematical and physical science, published in one of the supplements of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, and some other writings connected with science.

Professor Robison’s works consist of――(1) _Elements of Mechanical Philosophy_, of which only the first volume was completed and published in 1804, containing “Dynamics” and “Astronomy;” and (2) upwards of forty separate treatises and articles contributed to the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, which treated on several of the more experimental branches of physical science, and on the following practical branches: (1) the art of music, with which he was himself practically conversant, (2) strength of materials, (3) carpentry, (4) roof, (5) the construction of arches and centres for bridges, (6) watch-work, (7) rivers, (8) waterworks, (9) pumps, (10) variations of the compass, (11) seamanship, (12) machinery, (13) steam, and (14) the steam-engine. As already mentioned, Sir David Brewster edited the above works, along with some selections from the author’s manuscript; and to the articles “Steam” and the “Steam-engine” Mr. Watt, at the request of Brewster, contributed notes and additions.

James Watt was born at Greenock in 1736, and received his education there,¹ in the commercial school and grammar school, in which he learned the elements of Latin and Greek, and attained a fair knowledge of mathematical science. To this was added the homely but important tuition which he received from his father, who carried on a business in articles used in navigation, ship fittings, and tackle. “He had a small forge set up for his own use; and was fond of repairing and making all sorts of instruments; he was also at a very early age informed about the use and principles of construction of the telescope, quadrants, and other optical instruments of which his father kept a stock for the supply of ships.” From the aptitude which he showed for this kind of handiwork and in accordance with his own choice, it was decided that he should qualify himself for the trade of a mathematical instrument maker.²

¹ His kinsman, James P. Muirhead, published his _Life of Watt_
in 1858, and he had before, in 1854, published _The Origin
and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt_, in
three volumes.

² Muirhead’s _Life of Watt_, pages 25‒30.

In 1755, Watt proceeded to London with the aim of attaining more skill in the art of instrument making. An agreement was made with Mr. John Morgan, a mathematical instrument maker in Finch Lane, Cornhill, that young Watt should receive one year’s instruction, for which he was to pay in return twenty guineas, and give his labour during that time in the business. As was expected, he made rapid progress. When his year’s working was completed, he announced “that he could now make a brass sector with a French joint, which is reckoned as nice a piece of framing work as is in the trade.”¹

¹ _Ibid._, pages 36, 37.

He returned to Scotland in the month of August, 1756, and shortly after proceeded to Glasgow with the object of finding employment; and in the month of October, the authorities of the University engaged him to clean and set up the Macfarlane collection of instruments in the College, as already mentioned. Thus it was that Watt was introduced and became so intimate with the professors and the leading men of this University; but he never attended any of Dr. Black’s courses of lectures, nor any other course of lectures in the University. He finished this piece of work before the month of December. He then tried to establish himself in the city of Glasgow; but he met with unforeseen obstacles. As he had not served a regular apprenticeship, and was not the son of a burgess, the rules of the craftsmen came into effect, and he was forbidden to set up a workshop.

But to the credit of the eminent men who then illumined the University of Glasgow, they nobly came to the rescue of the great mechanical genius. And in the summer of 1757, they gave him permission to occupy apartments and open a shop within the College buildings, and to use the title of “Mathematical Instrument Maker to the University.” He continued to occupy his rooms and workshop in the College till 1763, when he quitted them for a small house in the city; but the intimate and friendly relations which he had formed with the professors and others connected with the University were continued throughout his life. Turning attention to his inventions, touching steam itself, he says:――

“It was known very long before my time, that steam was condensed by coming into contact with cold bodies, and that it communicated heat to them.

“It was known by some experiments of Dr. Cullen, and others, that water and other liquids boiled in vacuo at very low heats; water below 100°.

“It was known to some philosophers, that the capacity or equilibrium of heat, as we then called it, was much smaller in mercury and in tin than in water.

“It was also known, that evaporation caused the cooling of the evaporating liquid, and bodies in contact with it.

“I had myself made experiments to determine the following facts:―― 1st, The capacities for heat of iron, copper, and some sorts of wood, comparatively with water. Similar experiments had also subsequently been made by Dr. Irvine, on these and other metals.

“2nd, The bulk of steam was compared with that of water.

“3rd, The quantity of water which could be evaporated in a certain boiler by a pound of coals.

“4th, The elasticities of steam at various temperatures greater than that of boiling water, and an approximation to the law which it followed at other temperatures.

“5th, How much water, in the form of steam, was required every stroke by a small Newcomen’s engine, with a wooden cylinder six inches diameter, and twelve inches long in the stroke.

“6th, I had measured the quantity of cold water required in every stroke to condense the steam in that cylinder, so as to give it a working power of about 7 pound on the inch.” He found that “water converted into steam can heat about six times its own weight of well water.... Being struck with this remarkable fact, and not understanding the reason of it, mentioned it to my friend Dr. Black, who then explained to me his doctrine of latent heat.”¹ This was in 1764.

¹ Letter and notes by Mr. Watt to Robison’s _Mechanical
Philosophy_, Volume II., pages 7, 8, 113‒116.

Touching the steam-engine, Watt says:――“My attention was first directed in the year 1759 to the subject of steam-engines, by the late Dr. Robison himself, then a student in the University of Glasgow, and nearly of my own age. He at that time threw out an idea of applying the power of the steam-engine to the moving of wheel carriages, and other purposes, but the scheme was not matured, and soon after abandoned on his going abroad.”¹

¹ _Ibid._, Volume II., page 113.

Watt’s first improvement on the steam-engine was made in 1765; and it consisted of the idea of introducing a separate condenser for the steam――a contrivance to prevent the cooling of the cylinder, and make the vacuum more perfect by condensing the steam in a vessel distinct from the cylinder. This was patented in the beginning of the year 1769, and in his specification he undertakes to lessen the consumption of steam and fuel in steam engines. This patent was renewed for a period of twenty-five years by an Act of Parliament in 1775. He took out another patent, in 1781, “for certain new methods of applying a continuous circular motion round an axis, and thereby give motion to the wheels of mills or other machines.” The specification contains a description of five different modes of rotative motions. In 1782, he took out another patent, and the specification in this one contains six contrivances for equalising steam-power on the expansive principle; and among these, the double-acting engine, in which the steam is alternately applied to press on each side of the piston, while a vacuum is formed on the other side.

One of the most important of his improvements of the steam-engine was inserted in his patent of ♦1784. This is the “parallel motion,” which he described thus:――“Methods of causing the piston-rods, pump-rods, and other parts of the engine, to move in perpendicular or other straight lines, and to enable the engine to act upon the working beams both in pushing and in pulling; and three varieties are described.” This specification also described improved modes of applying the steam-engine to drive mills which have many wheels requiring to move round in concert; a simple method of applying the power of the steam-engine to the working of heavy hammers or stampers; a portable steam-engine and machinery for moving wheeled carriages.¹

♦ “1874” replaced with “1784”

¹ Watt’s Notes to Robison’s _Mechanical Philosophy_, Volume
II., pages 118‒121, 149‒151; also Muirhead’s _Life of Watt_,
pages 180, 247, 278‒284, 285, 293‒296.

It was only after great perseverance, patience, hard toil, and thought, and many disappointments and untold anxieties that Mr. Watt at last attained success. It was fortunate for him, and for mankind, that from his first appearance in Glasgow he won not a few warm and able friends――men who knew and appreciated his great genius and the worth of his character, encouraged him, and stood by his side in one of the greatest trials of his life, to give their testimony to his rare genius and unimpeachable integrity.¹

¹ With regard to two of the gentlemen alluded to above, I
will quote Mr. Watt’s own words:――“Although Dr. Black’s
theory of latent heat did not suggest my improvements on the
steam-engine, yet the knowledge upon various subjects which
he was pleased to communicate to me, and the correct modes
of reasoning and of making experiments of which he set me
the example, certainly conduced very much to facilitate the
progress of my inventions; and I still remember with respect
and gratitude the notice he was pleased to take of me when
I very little merited it, and which continued throughout his
life.

“To Dr. Robison I am also bound to acknowledge my
obligations for very much information and occasional
assistance in my pursuits, and above all for his friendship,
which ended only with his life; a friendship which induced
him, when I was beset with a host of foes, to come to London
in the depth of winter, and appear as a witness for me in
a court of justice, whilst labouring under an excessively
painful disorder, which ultimately deprived him of life.
To the remembrance of that friendship is principally owing
my taking upon myself the office of his commentator at my
advanced age.”――Letter of Mr. Watt, in Robison’s _Mechanical
Philosophy_, Volume II., page 9.

Watt entered into partnership with Mr. Boulton, of Birmingham, and, after 1775, for many years he resided in that city; and continued his exertions, with little intermission, to the further improvement of the steam engines. The business proved successful, and Watt retired at the end of the last century, leaving two of his sons in the establishment, which continued to prosper. The ingenious improver of the steam-engine, after many efforts and struggles, was enabled to spend the evening of his days in comparative wealth and leisure.

Mr. Watt invented many things beside his improvements of the steam-engine, amongst which may be mentioned a micrometer for measuring distances, which he used in his surveys of the Crinan and Gilp, and the Tarbert intended canals, and in other surveys of canals which he was employed to make; also, a copying-machine, which was patented in 1780, described as a “new method of copying letters and other writings expeditiously.” At an early period of his career he built some organs. He planned and superintended the construction of the Monkland canal.

He wrote comparatively little, but he was an exceedingly well-informed man. He was fond of chemistry as well as mechanics, and was well versed in the theory and practice of both. He discovered the composition of water, and his friends have maintained his priority to Cavendish in this discovery. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in ♦1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785, and a correspondent member of the Institute of France in 1808. In 1806, the University of Glasgow conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D.; and in 1814, the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France elected him one of its eight foreign Associates. After the toils and heat of the day, his evening closed in calm serenity; full of honour and of years, beloved by his friends, and surrounded by his family, he passed away on the 25th of August, 1819, at Heathfield, near Birmingham, in the eighty-third year of his age. Statesmen, philosophers, men of science, and men of the world united in extolling the worth of his character and the greatness of his genius. From the notices of his death, I shall quote a part of the one which Lord Jeffrey wrote:――

♦ “1748” replaced with “1784”

“We have said that Mr. Watt was the great improver of the steam-engine; but, in truth, as to all that is admirable in its structure, or vast in its utility, he should rather be described as its inventor. It was by his inventions that its action was so regulated as to make it capable of being applied to the finest and most delicate manufactures, and its power so increased as to set weight and solidity at defiance. By his admirable contrivance, it has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and its flexibility――for the prodigious power which it can exert, and the ease, and precision, and ductility, with which it can be varied, distributed, and applied.... It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal before it――draw out without breaking a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can embroider muslin and forge anchors, cut steel into ribbons, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves.

“It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon this country. There is no branch of industry that has not been indebted to them; and, in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but multiplied a thousand-fold the amount of its productions.... It has increased indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and rendered cheap and accessible, all over the world, the materials of wealth and prosperity. It has armed the feeble arm of man, in short, with a power to which no limits can be assigned; completed the dominion of mind over the most refractory qualities of matter; and laid a sure foundation for those future miracles of mechanic power which are to aid and reward the labours of after generations. It is to the genius of one man, too, that all this is mainly owing, and certainly no man ever bestowed such a gift on his kind. The blessing is not only universal, but unbounded; and the fabled inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by the erring gratitude of their rude contemporaries, conferred less important benefits on mankind than the inventor of our present steam-engine.

“This will be the fame of Watt with future generations; and it is sufficient for his race and his country. But to those to whom he more immediately belonged, who lived in his society and enjoyed his conversation, it is not, perhaps, the character in which he will be most frequently recalled, most deeply lamented, or even most highly admired. Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr. Watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact information――had read so much, or remembered what he had read so accurately and well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was present to it. His stores of miscellaneous knowledge was immense――and yet less astonishing than the command he had at all times over them. It seemed as if every subject that was casually started in conversation with him, had been that which he had been last occupied in studying and exhausting; such was the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable clearness of the information which he poured out upon it without effort or hesitation. Nor was this promptitude and compass of knowledge confined in any degree to the studies connected with his ordinary pursuits. That he should have been minutely and extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in most of the branches of physical science, might perhaps have been conjectured; but it could not have been inferred from his usual occupations, and probably is not generally known that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology, and perfectly at home in all the details of architecture, music, and law. He was well acquainted, too, with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their most recent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together the metaphysical theories of the German logicians, or criticising the measures or the matter of the German poetry.

“It is needless to say, that, with those vast resources, his conversation was at all times rich and instructive in no ordinary degree: but it was, if possible, still more pleasing than wise, and had all the charms of familiarity, with all the substantial treasures of knowledge. No man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent towards all who approached him.... He had a certain quiet and grave humour, which ran through most of his conversation, and in a vein of temperate jocularity, which gave infinite jest and effect to the condensed and inexhaustible information which formed its main staple and characteristic.

“In his temper and disposition he was not only kind and affectionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all around him; and gave the most liberal assistance and encouragement to all young persons who showed any indications of talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice.... All men of learning and science were his cordial friends; and such was the influence of his mild character and perfect fairness and liberality, even upon the pretenders to these accomplishments, that he lived to disarm even envy itself, and died, we verily believe, without a single enemy.”

The application of steam power to navigation in the end of the last century, and to railway trains in the present, has produced the most striking results; and although Watt was not directly connected himself with the early attempts of steam navigation, still its introduction was greatly dependent on his improvements of the steam-engine. The development of steam-power in manufactories and other forms will be afterwards noticed; but before quitting the subject, I will describe the earliest attempts to propel ships by steam. Many projects were spoken of which were never realised. But Mr. Miller of Dalswinton, assisted by Mr. James Taylor, tutor in his family, formed a plan for vessels with paddle wheels to be driven by a steam-engine; and with the assistance of Mr. Symington of Wanlockhead, a practical engineer, a small engine and a boat were constructed and fitted up: and in October, 1788, this boat was launched on the Loch of Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, and she attained a speed of five miles an hour. They then built a larger boat, the engine of which Mr. Symington constructed at Carron ironworks; and, in 1789, this vessel was launched on the Forth and Clyde Canal and propelled by steam, and she attained a speed of about seven miles an hour. These are among the earliest attempts of steam navigation of which we have authentic record. For some time after, this new enterprise lingered; but in the very beginning of the present century Mr. Symington’s experiment was repeated on the Thames with complete success. While in America on the river Hudson, Mr. Robert Fulton, the son of a Scotsman who emigrated from Dumfriesshire, started a steamboat with an engine of Boulton and Watt, in 1807. It is a curious fact that, in the year 1814, Scotland had five steam vessels, while England had not a single one. In the following year, however, England had three, and in 1820, she had seventeen; while Scotland had fourteen. Subsequently, owing to causes easily understood, steam ships increased in number far more rapidly in England than in Scotland, though not faster in proportion to the population and wealth of the latter country.

The most striking and important of the improvements in steam vessels which have been made in the present century is the substitution of the screw-propeller for the paddle-wheels; while in the construction of ships themselves wood has been superseded by iron and steel.

With regard to the importance, the variety, the subtilty, and the power of its practical applications, and the latent or as yet undeveloped power inherent in it, the science of electricity takes a high rank; and with a brief and consequently a very imperfect notice of it in these various relations, this chapter will conclude.

The science of electricity is of modern growth; very little was known of its nature or powers prior to the last century, though some of its phenomena attracted the attention of a few scientific men in the seventeenth century. Between the years 1720 and 1736, Stephen Grey, assisted by Wheeler, discovered that the human body conducts electricity, that it acts at a distance――motion in light bodies being produced by frictional electricity at a distance of 666 feet; he also stated the fact of electric induction and other phenomena. About 1733, Dufay originated his dual theory of two electric fluids; and stated that two bodies similarly electrified repel each other, and attract bodies oppositely electrified. What was termed the Leyden Jar was discovered by several persons in 1745; and the following year Winckler constructed the Leyden Battery. About the same time, important researches were made by Watson, Canton, and others. In 1747, Franklin enounced his theory of a single fluid; he termed the vitreous electricity positive, and the resinous negative; and, in 1752, he demonstrated the identity of the electric spark and lightning, drawing electricity from a cloud by the use of a kite. Still this subtle and powerful element was then but little understood; and, in 1752, Professor Richmann was killed at St. Petersburg while repeating Franklin’s experiments. Since this period the subject has been treated continuously by many able and famous men of science.

The term electricity, as now applied, includes various phenomena of very different characters; such as magnetism, frictional electricity, and voltaic electricity. Two general properties may be noted――(1) polarity and (2) current action. In the first there is a uniformity through all its modes, and it is the pervading attribute which gives a distinctive character to all the phenomena: the second peculiarity of the electric forces is that they can be carried to any distance through solid conductors, so as to discharge themselves at any point. Frictional electricity is generated by mechanical force in electrical machines.

The practical applications of the electric forces are now numerous, and all of comparatively recent introduction. Although the idea of applying electricity to communicate signals was conceived by Watson about the middle of the last century, the earliest proposal of this appeared in the _Scots Magazine_ for February, 1753, when a correspondent from Renfrew, who signed himself C. M., proposed several kinds of telegraphs, acting by the attractive force of electricity, conveyed by a series of parallel wires equal in numbers to the letters of the alphabet, and insulated by supports of glass or jeweller’s cement at every twenty yards. Words were to be spelt by the electricity attracting letters, or by striking bells corresponding to letters. Towards the latter part of the last century and the early part of this various plans of telegraphs were proposed by different men; but 1837 is the date of the practical realisation of the electric telegraph. A few years later it began to be employed in connection with the working of railways; and it is obvious that the railway system could not have been developed without the aid of the electric telegraph, or some similar method of rapid and instantaneous signalling. The modes of electric telegraph have been much perfected, and the systems of communication immensely developed, within recent years.

Among those who have advanced the knowledge of electricity and the development of its practical application during the past half century, the veteran Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow, Lord Kelvin, holds a distinguished place. He has made many experiments, practical applications, and written much on the subject.

Submarine electric telegraphs were successfully introduced in 1851, when the first line between Dover and Calais was opened; and it has since been greatly developed, and direct telegraphic communication established between Europe and America many years ago. Electric clocks were introduced in 1854, and are now common.

An apparatus for regulating the electric light was first devised and exhibited by Staite and Petrie in 1848. Jules Duboscq’s electric lamp was shown at the Paris exhibition in 1855; and, in 1856, it was employed by Professor Tyndall for illustrating his lectures on light and colour, which he delivered that year at the Royal Institution in London. Since, the electric light has been greatly developed, and used for lighting public buildings, places of business, and the streets of cities; and if the cost of its production was reduced it would be more universally used for lighting purposes.

In 1854, M. Bonelli, of Turin, invented a plan of employing magnets and electro-magnets in weaving, by which he proposed to supersede the tedious and costly Jacquard system of cards. His loom was set up in London in 1859; and, in the summer of 1860, Professor Faraday lectured upon it at the Royal Institution. There are other applications of electricity which it is unnecessary to enumerate.

An exceedingly useful and beautiful application has recently been made in the science of acoustics, by the invention of the telephone, which transmits the sounds of spoken language along wires to a considerable distance.

In concluding this chapter, the importance of mathematical science was indicated, and the Scotch mathematicians noticed; Dr. Black’s researches and discovery of latent heat, and Leslie’s treatment of radiant heat and experiments were explained; I then indicated the results of more recent researches and referred to spectrum analysis. The writings, experiments, observations, and the discoveries of Sir David Brewster were noticed; and the contributions of several Scotsmen to geology were noted. The department of mechanical or applied science was then treated, and the writings of Dr. Robison and his teaching in this relation were noticed, and the bearing of the discovery of latent heat on the application of steam-power. A short account of Watt’s career was given; his experiments on steam, improvements on the steam-engine, his struggles, and ultimate success, his genius, accomplishments, and character, were noticed. The early attempts of steam navigation were explained; and finally some account was presented of the discovery and the varied applications of electricity.