inverted in water; on the removal of the finger, the water will be drawn up into a vacuous space in contradiction to the usual law of fluids." This law of atmospheric pressure seems to have been lost after the time of Hero, until rediscovered by Torricelli, an Italian philosopher, in the 17th century. There is also evidence that Hero understood partially the principle of the expansion of air and gases by heat, and the contraction of the same by condensation and cold.

BLASCO DE GARAY (A.D. 1543).

Blasco de Garay, a Spaniard, who flourished about 1543, next claims our attention. An interval of nearly 1,700 years therefore intervenes before we find the account of any other application of steam power. But in the year 1543, Blasco de Garay, a sea captain, in the service of Charles V. of Spain, succeeded in propelling a ship of 200 tons burden, in the harbour of Barcelona, at the rate of three miles an hour. We know but little of the nature of the apparatus, except that it contained a boiler that was very liable to burst, and that the power was transmitted through paddle wheels, and that the vessel was under very complete control. There seems every reason to believe that the motion here used was high-pressure steam. We do not read of this invention being tried again, though approved of by the Emperor and his ministers. There have been great disputes, especially between France and England, relative to the honour of having invented the steam engine. The Treasurer of Charles V., Ravaga, opposed the further use of Garay's invention on the ground that it was-1st. Dangerous; 2nd. Complicated; and, 3rd. That the speed was small. The government, however, paid for the machine, and rewarded the inventor. It is remarkable how every great invention that has blessed the world has been opposed at first. Jenner and his plan of vaccination were abused from the pulpits of the land. Railways were denounced as likely to result in the ruin of the country; and even the use of coal has been forbidden by law,

SOLOMON DE CAUS (A.D. 1615).

Solomon de Caus was an architect and engineer to Louis XIII, who flourished about 1615. In the above year, a French work was published, entitled "Les Raisons des

Forces Mouvantes avec diverses Machines tout utiles que plaisantes," at Frankfort. The writer describes an apparatus for elevating water in a tube, and casting copper balls by the agency of fire. No reference is, however, made to steam here; but water heated and expanded, in connection with air, appears to have been the cause of the results described. M. Argo claims for de Caus the invention of the steam engine, but, I think, without just ground. And it ought, in fairness, to be mentioned, that it is probable that de Caus obtained his knowledge in England, where he was employed from 1612 to 1615, by the Prince of Wales, in decorating the gardens at Richmond. The description of this machine, however, is so imperfect, that it is difficult to form a very clear idea of what is meant: but there does not appear to have been any idea of steam ALONE as a motive power. Flurence Bivault, a gentleman of the bedchamber of Henry IV., and a preceptor of Louis XIII., in a work published in 1605, on Artillery, says, "that if a bombshell be one-third filled with water, and plugged, then thrown into the fire, it will burst with great violence." It would appear from this that he knew the expansive nature of water when converted into steam.

GIOVANNI BRANCA (A.D. 1629).

This gentleman (who was an Italian), in the year 1629 published a work, in which, among other inventions, he describes a machine propelled by high-pressure steam. The machine was worked by means of a wheel, with vanes (like a water wheel), against which the steam was forced by means of jets, thus causing the wheel to revolve, and give motion to the machine. By means of this machine, they turned wheels and stones for the grinding of gunpowder, mortar, stones, and also, in some cases, of raising water by means of buckets. It never, however, came into general use. One pleasing fact connected with the "History of the Steam Engine," is, that all nations have a share in the honour of bringing it to perfection, as though Providence designed to show that all were to share the blessings that this great agent for the world's advancement would produce. It is almost impossible to overrate the benefits that the steam engine, in its many forms, has conferred upon the world. It is a means of civilising and elevating mankind, and will, doubtless, do much more yet to bless society, by

accomplishing that which is now done by manual labour. The whole tendency of the improvements in machinery for the last 50 years has been to iessen human labour, and mitigate the curse which requires that we are "to get our bread by the sweat of our brow." I believe, too, that the moral and religious condition of the world has much more to do with its physical and social advancement than many imagine. Without virtue and religion, no nation will make solid and lasting progress in science, art, or useful inventions.

THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER (EDWARD SOMERSET, A.D. 1663).

This nobleman was largely engaged, on the Royalist side, in the Parliamentary wars. He was for some time confined a prisoner in Ireland, from which place he escaped, and joined the standard of Charles II., in France. He was again unfortunate, was caught, and confined in the Tower of London till the Restoration, in 1663. It appears that, while there, he turned his attention to writing a work entitled "A History of the Names and Scantlings of Inventions." Under the sixty-eighth invention he describes as follows:

"An admirable and most forcible way to drive up water by fire, not drawing or sucking it up afterwards; for that must be, as the philosopher calleth it, infra sphæram activitatis,' which is but at such a distance; but this way hath no bounder, if the vessels be strong enough, for I have taken a piece of whole cannon, whereof the end was burst, and filled it three-fourths full of water, stopping and screwing up the broken end, as also the touch-hole, and also making a constant fire under it. Within twenty-four hours it burst, and made a crack. So that, having a way to make my vessels so that they are strengthened by the force within them, and the one to fill the other, I have seen the water run like a constant fountain-stream, forty feet high. One vessel of water rarefied by the fire driveth up forty of cold water, and a man that tends the work has to turn two cocks, that one vessel of water being consumed, another begins to force and re-fill with cold water, and so successively, the fire being tended and kept constant, which the self-same person may likewise abundantly perform in the interim between the necessity of turning the said cocks." Some of the so-called inventions are ridiculous and absurd. that relative to the steam engine deserves our notice.

But

It is said that, while confined in the Tower, he was one day cooking his dinner, and while so engaged, he saw the lid of the pot lift up. This led him to study the cause of this strange phenomenon, and endeavour to turn the power he had discovered to some practical purposes. On his release from the Tower, he gave the world the benefit of his investigations. Few noblemen have laid the world under deeper obligations than the Marquis of Worcester; and it is the more interesting to us, in consequence of his connection with our own county (Gloucestershire), by birth and property. How much greater the pleasure of reflecting on the history and inventions of those whose genius has been directed to the improvement of society, than on the doings of those who have merely lived to deluge the world in blood, in order to promote their own selfish ends and personal advantage.

In another place we read-"That his water-work is, by many years' experience and labour, so advantageously contrived that a child's force bringeth up an hundred feet high an incredible quantity of water, even two feet diameter, so naturally, that the work will not be heard into the next room, and with so great ease and geometrical symmetry, though it work day and night, from one end of the year to the other, it will not require 40s. reparation to the whole engine, nor hinder one day's work; and not only with little charge to drain all sorts of mines and furnish boilers with water, though never so high seated.”

It is clear that the force here described was the expansive power of steam, acting upon the surface of the water, and thus lifting it. It is probable that the Marquis was also acquainted with atmospheric pressure. But the power here employed was steam; and the novelty lies in the nature of the machine employed for effecting the object, and in its results it must have left all previous inventions in the shade. The condensation of steam, however, must have been enormous, and the consequent loss of fuel very great. I should think the consumption of fuel at least 200 times greater than in the modern pumping engine. Here, however, is the idea of raising water by steam power; and, though the apparatus was clumsy, all honour to the man whe threw out upon the surface of society an idea that has done so much to benefit mankind and bless the world. The subsequent improvement of a machine does not gene

rally involve such an amount of mind as the first invention and discovery; and, where we can, I think due honour should be paid to those who first throw out some grand idea for the benefit of the world. It is important to observe, that this is the first invention we read of where the steam was generated in one vessel and then conveyed to another, where it was used as a motive power. To the Marquis of Worcester, therefore, appears to belong the first idea of a Steam Engine, properly so-called. M. Argo contends most energetically for the honour of the invention on behalf of his countryman, "Solomon de Caus." But I think that every unprejudiced mind will be inclined to give the honour to our own countryman, "The Marquis of Worcester." It has always appeared to me a pity that more of our noblemen, who, by their education and property, have such great advantages, should not devote more of their time, influence, and property to the promotion of science, and the advancement of those peaceful arts upon which the prosperity of the country so greatly depends. How much happier and nobler would the results have been if, instead of having encouraged war and conquest, our aristocracy had copied the example of the Marquis of Worcester, and tried to assist and encourage the improvement of machinery, the advancement of commerce, and, above all, the intellectual, social, and moral improvement of those great masses of the population, through whose toil, energy, and talents, so many of our comforts, and so much of our wealth is produced.

SIR SAMUEL MORLAND (A.D. 1688).

Sir Samuel Morland was Master of the Works to Charles II., and, in the year 1683, he was on a professional visit to France, and there published a work entitled "L'Elevation des Eaux par toute sorte de Machines, redute à la Mesure au Poids et à la Balance," in which work there is the following passage:

"Water being converted into vapour by the force of fire, these vapours shortly require a greater space (about 2,000 times) than the water before occupied, and sooner than be constantly confined, would split a piece of cannon. But, being duly regulated according to the rules of statics, and by science reduced to measure, weight, and balance, when they bear their load peaceably (like good horses), and thus