The world is now entering upon the Mechanical Epoch. There is nothing in the future more sure than the great triumphs which that epoch is to achieve. It has already advanced to some glorious conquests. What miracles of invention now crowd upon us! Look abroad, and contemplate the infinite achievements of the steam-power.
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 Newcomen and Calley 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.
