And  yet  we  have  only  begun — we  are  but  on  the  threshold  of  this
epoch.  .  .  .  What  is  it  but  the  setting  of  the  great  distinctive  seal  upon  the
nineteenth  century  ? — an  advertisement  of  the  fact  that  society  has  risen  to
occupy  a  higher  platform  than  ever  before  ? — a  proclamation  from  the  high
places,  announcing  honor,  honor  immortal,  to  the  workmen  who  fill  this
world  with  beauty,  comfort,  and  power — honor  to  be  forever  embalmed  in
history,  to  be  perpetuated  in  monuments,  to  be  written  in  the  hearts  of  this
and  succeeding  generations ! — KENNEDY.
SECTION  I. — JAMES  WATT  AND  HIS  INVENTIONS.
THE  success  of  the  Newcomen  engine  naturally  attracted
the  attention  of  mechanics,  and  of  scientific  men  as  well,  to
the  possibility  of  making  other  applications  of  steam-power.
The  best  men  of  the  time  gave  much  attention  to  the
subject,  but,  until  James  Watt  began  the  work  that  has
made  him  famous,  nothing  more  was  done  than  to  improve
the  proportions  and  slightly  alter  the  details  of  the  Newco-
men and  Galley  engine,  even  by  such  skillful  engineers  as
Brindley  and  Smeaton.  Of  the  personal  history  of  the
earlier  inventors  and  improvers  of  the  steam-engine,  very
little  is  ascertained ;  but  that  of  Watt  has  become  well
known.
80    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MODERN  STEAM-ENGINE.
