[ILLUSTRATIONS]
| A PRIMITIVE USE OF THE ANIMAL MACHINE THAT ISSTILL IN VOGUE IN MANY EUROPEAN COUNTRIES | [Frontispiece] | |
| HORSE AND CATTLE POWER | Facing p. | [32] |
| CRANES AND DERRICKS | " | [38] |
| A BELGIAN MILK-WAGON | " | [56] |
| TWO APPARATUSES FOR THE UTILIZATION OF ANIMAL POWER | " | [60] |
| WINDMILLS OF ANCIENT AND MODERN TYPES | " | [68] |
| WATER WHEELS | " | [72] |
| HYDRAULIC PRESS AND HYDRAULIC CAPSTAN | " | [76] |
| THOMAS SAVERY'S STEAM ENGINE | " | [86] |
| DIAGRAMS OF EARLY ATTEMPTS TO UTILIZE THE POWER OF STEAM | " | [88] |
| A MODEL OF THE NEWCOMEN ENGINE | " | [92] |
| WATT'S EARLIEST TYPE OF PUMPING-ENGINE | " | [96] |
| WATT'S ROTATIVE ENGINE | " | [100] |
| JAMES WATT | " | [108] |
| OLD IDEAS AND NEW APPLIED TO BOILER CONSTRUCTION | " | [114] |
| COMPOUND ENGINES | " | [118] |
| ROTARY ENGINES | " | [122] |
| THE ORIGINAL PARSONS' TURBINE ENGINE AND THE RECORD-BREAKING SHIP FOR WHICHIT IS RESPONSIBLE | " | [128] |
| GAS AND OIL ENGINES | " | [136] |
| AN ELECTRIC TRAIN AND THE DYNAMO THAT PROPELS IT | " | [174] |
| WILDE'S SEPARATELY EXCITED DYNAMO | " | [178] |
| THE EVOLUTION OF THE DYNAMO | " | [180] |
| VIEW IN ONE OF THE POWER HOUSES AT NIAGARA | " | [186] |
| ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMERS | " | [198] |
| THOMAS A. EDISON AND THE DYNAMO THAT GENERATED THE FIRST COMMERCIALINCANDESCENT LIGHT | " | [228] |
| A FLINT-AND-STEEL OUTFIT, AND A MINER'S STEEL MILL | " | [248] |
| THE LOCOMOTIVE "PUFFING BILLY" AND A MODERN COLLIERY TROLLEY | " | [258] |
[THE CONQUEST OF NATURE]
In the earlier volumes we have been concerned with the growth of knowledge. For the most part the scientific delvers whose efforts have held our attention have been tacitly unmindful, or even explicitly contemptuous, of the influence upon practical life of the phenomena to the investigation of which they have devoted their lives. They were and are obviously seekers of truth for the mere love of truth.
But the phenomena of nature are not dissociated in fact, however much we may attempt to localize and classify them. And so it chances that even the most visionary devotee of abstract science is forever being carried into fields of investigation trenching closely upon the practicalities of every-day life. A Black investigating the laws of heat is preparing the way explicitly, however unconsciously, for a Watt with his perfected mechanism of the steam engine.
Similarly a Davy working at the Royal Institution with his newly invented batteries, and intent on the discovery of new elements and the elucidation of new principles, is the direct forerunner of Jablochkoff, Brush, and Edison with their commercial revolution in the production of artificial light.