JAMES WATT

By
Andrew Carnegie

Author of "The Empire of Business,"
"Gospel of Wealth," "Triumphant Democracy,"
"American Four-in-Hand in Britain,"
"Round the World," Etc.

New York
Doubleday, Page & Company
1905

Copyright, 1905, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
Published, May, 1905

All rights reserved, including that of
translation—also right of translation
into the Scandinavian languages.

PREFACE

When the publishers asked me to write the Life of Watt, I declined, stating that my thoughts were upon other matters. This settled the question, as I supposed, but in this I was mistaken. Why shouldn't I write the Life of the maker of the steam-engine, out of which I had made fortune? Besides, I knew little of the history of the Steam Engine and of Watt himself, and the surest way to obtain knowledge was to comply with the publisher's highly complimentary request. In short, the subject would not down, and finally, I was compelled to write again, telling them that the idea haunted me, and if they still desired me to undertake it, I should do so with my heart in the task.

I now know about the steam-engine, and have also had revealed to me one of the finest characters that ever graced the earth. For all this I am deeply grateful to the publishers.

I am indebted to friends, Messrs. Angus Sinclair and Edward R. Cooper, for editing my notes upon Scientific and Mechanical points.

The result is this volume. If the public, in reading, have one tithe of the pleasure I have had in writing it, I shall be amply rewarded.

The Author.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Childhood and Youth

James Watt, born in Greenock, January 19, 1736, had the advantage, so highly prized in Scotland, of being of good kith and kin. He had indeed come from a good nest. His great-grandfather, a stern Covenanter, was killed at Bridge of Dee, September 12, 1644, in one of the battles which Graham of Claverhouse fought against the Scotch. He was a farmer in Aberdeenshire, and upon his death the family was driven out of its homestead and forced to leave the district.

Watt's grandfather, Thomas Watt, was born in 1642, and found his way to Crawford's Dyke, then adjoining, and now part of, Greenock, where he founded a school of mathematics, and taught this branch, and also that of navigation, to the fishermen and seamen of the locality. That he succeeded in this field in so little and poor a community is no small tribute to his powers. He was a man of decided ability and great natural shrewdness, and very soon began to climb, as such men do. The landlord of the district appointed him his Baron Bailie, an office which then had important judicial functions. He rose to high position in the town, being Bailie and Elder, and was highly respected and honored. He subsequently purchased a home in Greenock and settled there, becoming one of its first citizens. Before his death he had established a considerable business in odds and ends, such as repairing and provisioning ships; repairing instruments of navigation, compasses, quadrants, etc., always receiving special attention at his hands.

The sturdy son of a sturdy Covenanter, he refused to take the test in favor of prelacy (1683), and was therefore proclaimed to be "a disorderly school-master officiating contrary to law." He continued to teach, however, and a few years later the Kirk Session of Greenock, notwithstanding his contumacy, found him "blameless in life and conversation," and appointed him an Elder, which required him to overlook not only religious observances, but the manners and morals of the people. One of the most important of these duties was to provide for the education of the young, in pursuance of that invaluable injunction of John Knox, "that no father, of what estate or condition that ever he may be, use his children at his own fantasie, especially in their youthhood, but all must be compelled to bring up their children in learning and virtue." Here we have, at its very birth, the doctrine of compulsory education for all the people, the secret of Scotland's progress. Great as was the service Knox rendered in the field ecclesiastical, probably what he did for the cause of public education excels it. The man who proclaimed that he would never rest until there was a public school in every parish in Scotland must stand for all time as one of the foremost of her benefactors; probably, in the extent and quality of the influence he exerted upon the national character through universal compulsory education, the foremost of all.

The very year after Parliament passed the Act of 1696, which at last fulfilled Knox's aspirations, and during the Eldership of Watt's grandfather, Greenock made prompt provision for her parish school, in which we may be sure the old "teacher of mathematics" did not fail to take a prominent part.

Thomas Watt's son, the father of the great inventor, followed in his father's footsteps, after his father's death, as shipwright, contractor, provider, etc., becoming famous for his skill in the making of the most delicate instruments. He built shops at the back of his house, and such were the demands upon him that he was able to keep a number of men, sometimes as many as fourteen, constantly at work. Like his father, he became a man of position and influence in the community, and was universally esteemed. Prosperity attended him until after the birth of his famous son. The loss of a valuable ship, succeeded by other misfortunes, swept away most of the considerable sum which he had made, and it was resolved that James would have to be taught a trade, instead of succeeding to the business, as had been the intention.

Fortunate it was for our subject, and especially so for the world, that he was thus favored by falling heir to the best heritage of all, as Mr. Morley calls it in his address to the Midland Institute—"the necessity at an early age to go forth into the world and work for the means needed for his own support." President Garfield's verdict was to the same effect, "The best heritage to which a man can be born is poverty." The writer's knowledge of the usual effect of the heritage of milliondom upon the sons of millionaires leads him fully to concur with these high authorities, and to believe that it is neither to the rich nor to the noble that human society has to look for its preservation and improvement, but to those who, like Watt, have to labor that they may live, and thus make a proper return for what they receive, as working bees, not drones, in the social hive. Not from palace or castle, but from the cottage have come, or can come, the needed leaders of our race, under whose guidance it is to ascend.

We have a fine record in the three generations of the Watts, great-grandfather, grandfather and father, all able and successful men, whose careers were marked by steady progress, growing in usefulness to their fellows; men of unblemished character, kind and considerate, winning the confidence and affection of their neighbors, and leaving behind them records unstained.

So much for the male branch of the family tree, but this is only half. What of that of the grandmothers and mothers of the line—equally important? For what a Scotch boy born to labor is to become, and how, cannot be forecast until we know what his mother is, who is to him nurse, servant, governess, teacher and saint, all in one. We must look to the Watt women as carefully as to the men; and these fortunately we find all that can be desired. His mother was Agnes Muirhead, a descendant of the Muirheads of Lachop, who date away back before the reign of King David, 1122. Scott, in his "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," gives us the old ballad of "The Laird of Muirhead," who played a great part in these unsettled days.

The good judgment which characterised the Watts for three generations is nowhere more clearly shown than in the lady James Watt's father courted and finally succeeded in securing for his wife. She is described as a gentlewoman of reserved and quiet deportment, "esteemed by her neighbours for graces of person as well as of mind and heart, and not less distinguished for her sound sense and good manners than for her cheerful temper and excellent housewifery." Her likeness is thus drawn, and all that we have read elsewhere concerning her confirms the truth of the portrait. Williamson says that

the lady to whom he (Thomas Watt) was early united in marriage was Miss Agnes Muirhead, a gentlewoman of good understanding and superior endowments, whose excellent management in household affairs would seem to have contributed much to the order of her establishment, as well as to the every-day happiness of a cheerful home. She is described as having been a person above common in many respects, of a fine womanly presence, ladylike in appearance, affecting in domestic arrangements—according to our traditions—what, it would seem was considered for the time, rather a superior style of living. What such a style consisted in, the reader shall have the means of judging for himself. One of the author's informants on such points more than twenty years ago, a venerable lady, then in her eighty-fifth year, was wont to speak of the worthy Bailie's wife with much characteristic interest and animation. As illustrative of what has just been remarked of the internal economy of the family, the old lady related an occasion on which she had spent an evening, when a girl, at Mrs. Watt's house, and remembered expressing with much naïveté to her mother, on returning home, her childish surprise that "Mrs. Watt had two candles lighted on the table!" Among these and other reminiscences of her youth, one venerable informant described James Watt's mother, in her eloquent and expressive Doric, as, "a braw, braw, woman—none now to be seen like her."

There is another account from a neighbor, who also refers to Mrs. Watt as being somewhat of the grand lady, but always so kind, so sweet, so helpful to all her neighbors.

The Watt family for generations steadily improved and developed. A great step upward was made the day Agnes Muirhead was captured. We are liable to forget how little of the original strain of an old family remains in after days. We glance over the record of the Cecils, for instance, to find that the present Marquis has less than one four-thousandth part of the Cecil blood; a dozen marriages have each reduced it one-half, and the recent restoration of the family to its pristine greatness in the person of the late Prime Minister, and in his son, the brilliant young Parliamentarian, of whom great things are predicted already, is to be credited equally to the recent infusion into the Cecil family of the entirely new blood of two successive brides, daughters of commoners who made their own way in the world. One was the mother of the late statesman, the other his wife and the mother of his sons. So with the Watt family, of which we have records of three marriages. Our Watt, therefore, had but one-eighth of the original Watt strain; seven-eighths being that of the three ladies who married into the family. Upon the entrance of a gentlewoman of Agnes Muirhead's qualities hung important results, for she was a remarkable character with the indefinable air of distinction, was well educated, had a very wise head, a very kind heart and all the sensibility and enthusiasm of the Celt, easily touched to fine issues. She was a Scot of the Scots and a storehouse of border lore, as became a daughter of her house, Muirhead of Lachop.

Here, then, we have existing in the quiet village of Greenock in 1736, unknown of men, all the favorable conditions, the ideal soil, from which might be expected to appear such "variation of species" as contained that rarest of elements, the divine spark we call genius. In due time the "variation" made its appearance, now known as Watt, the creator of the most potent instrument of mechanical force known to man.

The fond mother having lost several of her children born previously was intensely solicitous in her care of James, who was so delicate that regular attendance at school was impossible. The greater part of his school years he was confined most of the time to his room. This threw him during most of his early years into his mother's company and tender care. Happy chance! What teacher, what companionship, to compare with that of such a mother! She taught him to read most of what he then knew, and, we may be sure, fed him on the poetry and romance upon which she herself had fed, and for which he became noted in after life. He was rated as a backward scholar at school, and his education was considered very much neglected.

Let it not be thought, however, that the lad was not being educated in some very important departments. The young mind was absorbing, though its acquisitions did not count in the school records. Much is revealed of his musings and inward development in the account of a visit which he paid to his grandmother Muirhead in Glasgow, when it was thought that a change would benefit the delicate boy. We read with pleasant surprise that he had to be sent for, at the request of the family, and taken home. He kept the household so stirred up with his stories, recitations and continual ebullitions, which so fairly entranced his Grannie and Grandpa and the cousins, that the whole household economy was disordered. They lost their sleep, for "Jamie" held them spellbound night after night with his wonderful performances. The shy and contemplative youngster who had tramped among the hills, reciting the stirring ballads of the border, had found an admiring tho astonished audience at last, and had let loose upon them.

To the circle at home he was naturally shy and reserved, but to his Grannie, Grandpa, and Cousins, free from parental restraint, he could freely deliver his soul. His mind was stored with the legends of his country, its romance and poetry, and, strong Covenanters as were the Watts for generations, tales of the Martyrs were not wanting. The heather was on fire within Jamie's breast. But where got you all that perferidum Scotorum, my wee mannie—that store of precious nutriment that is to become part of yourself and remain in the core of your being to the end, hallowing and elevating your life with ever-increasing power? Not at the grammar school we trow. No school but one can instil that, where rules the one best teacher you will ever know, genius though you be—the school kept at your mother's knee. Such mothers as Watt had are the appointed trainers of genius, and make men good and great, if the needed spark be there to enkindle: "Kings they make gods, and meaner subjects kings."

We have another story of Watt's childhood that proclaims the coming man. Precocious children are said rarely to develop far in later years, but Watt was pre-eminently a precocious child, and of this several proofs are related. A friend looking at the child of six said to his father, "You ought to send your boy to a public school, and not allow him to trifle away his time at home." "Look how he is occupied before you condemn him," said the father. He was trying to solve a problem in geometry. His mother had taught him drawing, and with this he was captivated. A few toys were given him, which were constantly in use. Often he took them to pieces, and out of the parts sometimes constructed new ones, a source of great delight. In this way he employed and amused himself in the many long days during which he was confined to the house by ill health.

It is at this stage the steam and kettle story takes its rise. Mrs. Campbell, Watt's cousin and constant companion, recounts, in her memoranda, written in 1798:

Sitting one evening with his aunt, Mrs. Muirhead, at the tea-table, she said: "James Watt, I never saw such an idle boy; take a book or employ yourself usefully; for the last hour you have not spoken one word, but taken off the lid of that kettle and put it on again, holding now a cup and now a silver spoon over the steam, watching how it rises from the spout, and catching and connecting the drops of hot water it falls into. Are you not ashamed of spending your time in this way?"

To what extent the precocious boy ruminated upon the phenomenon must be left to conjecture. Enough that the story has a solid foundation upon which we can build. This more than justifies us in classing it with "Newton and the Apple," "Bruce and the Spider," "Tell and the Apple," "Galvani and the Frog," "Volta and the Damp Cloth," "Washington and His Little Hatchet," a string of gems, amongst the most precious of our legendary possessions. Let no rude iconoclast attempt to undermine one of them. Even if they never occurred, it matters little. They should have occurred, for they are too good to lose. We could part with many of the actual characters of the flesh in history without much loss; banish the imaginary host of the spirit and we were poor indeed. So with these inspiring legends; let us accept them and add others gladly as they arise, inquiring not too curiously into their origin.

While Watt was still in boyhood, his wise father not only taught him writing and arithmetic, but also provided a set of small tools for him in the shop among the workmen—a wise and epoch-making gift, for young Watt soon revealed such wonderful manual dexterity, and could do such astonishing things, that the verdict of one of the workmen, "Jamie has a fortune at his finger-ends," became a common saying among them. The most complicated work seemed to come naturally to him. One model after another was produced to the wonder and delight of his older fellow-workmen. Jamie was the pride of the shop, and no doubt of his fond father, who saw with pardonable pride that his promising son inherited his own traits, and gave bright promise of excelling as a skilled handicraftsman.

The mechanical dexterity of the Watts, grandfather, father and son, is not to be belittled, for most of the mechanical inventions have come from those who have been cunning of hand and have worked as manual laborers, generally in charge of the machinery or devices which they have improved. When new processes have been invented, these also have usually suggested themselves to the able workmen as they experienced the crudeness of existing methods. Indeed, few important inventions have come from those who have not been thus employed. It is with inventors as with poets; few have been born to the purple or with silver spoons in their mouths, and we shall plainly see later on that had it not been for Watt's inherited and acquired manual dexterity, it is probable that the steam engine could never have been perfected, so often did failure of experiments arise solely because it was in that day impossible to find men capable of executing the plans of the inventor. His problem was to teach them by example how to obtain the exact work required when the tools of precision of our day were unknown and the men themselves were only workmen of the crudest kind. Many of the most delicate parts, even of working engines, passed through Watt's own hands, and for most of his experimental devices he had himself to make the models. Never was there an inventor who had such reason to thank fortune that in his youth he had learned to work with his hands. It proved literally true, as his fellow-workmen in the shop predicted, that "Jamie's fortune was at his finger-ends."

As before stated, he proved a backward scholar for a time, at the grammar school. No one seems to have divined the latent powers smoldering within. Latin and Greek classics moved him not, for his mind was stored with more entrancing classics learned at his mother's knee: his heroes were of nobler mould than the Greek demigods, and the story of his own romantic land more fruitful than that of any other of the past. Busy working man has not time to draw his inspiration from more than one national literature. Nor has any man yet drawn fully from any but that of his native tongue. We can no more draw our mental sustenance from two languages than we can think in two. Man can have but one deep source from whence come healing waters, as he can have but one mother tongue. So it was with Watt. He had Scotland and that sufficed. When the boy absorbs, or rather is absorbed by, Wallace, The Bruce, and Sir John Grahame, is fired by the story of the Martyrs, has at heart page after page of the country's ballads, and also, in more recent times, is at home with Burns' and Scott's prose and poetry, he has little room and less desire, and still less need, for inferior heroes. So the dead languages and their semi-supernatural, quarrelsome, self-seeking heroes passed in review without gaining admittance to the soul of Watt. But the spare that fired him came at last—Mathematics. "Happy is the man who has found his work," says Carlyle. Watt found his when yet a boy at school. Thereafter never a doubt existed as to the field of his labors. The choice of an occupation is a serious matter with most young men. There was never room for any question of choice with young Watt. The occupation had chosen him, as is the case with genius. "Talent does what it can, genius what it must." When the goddess lays her hand upon a mortal dedicated to her shrine, concentration is the inevitable result; there is no room for anything which does not contribute to her service, or rather all things are made contributory to it, and nothing that the devotee sees or reads, hears or feels, but some way or other is made to yield sustenance for the one great, overmastering task. "The gods send thread for a web begun," because the web absorbs everything that comes within reach. So it proved with Watt.

At fifteen, he had twice carefully read "The Elements of Philosophy" (Gravesend), and had made numerous chemical experiments, repeating them again and again, until satisfied of their accuracy. A small electrical machine was one of his productions with which he startled his companions. Visits to his uncle Muirhead at Glasgow were frequent, and here he formed acquaintance with several educated young men, who appreciated his abilities and kindly nature; but the visits to the same kind uncle "on the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond," where the summer months were spent, gave the youth his happiest days. Indefatigable in habits of observation and research, and devoted to the lonely hills, he extended his knowledge by long excursions, adding to his botanical and mineral treasures. Freely entering the cottages of the people, he spent hours learning their traditions, superstitions, ballads, and all the Celtic lore. He loved nature in her wildest moods, and was a true child of the mist, brimful of poetry and romance, which he was ever ready to shower upon his friends. An omniverous reader, in after life he vindicated his practice of reading every book he found, alleging that he had "never yet read a book or conversed with a companion without gaining information, instruction or amusement." Scott has left on record that he never had met and conversed with a man who could not tell him something he did not know. Watt seems to have resembled Sir Walter, "who spoke to every man he met as if he were a brother"—as indeed he was—one of the many fine traits of that noble, wholesome character. These two foremost Scots, each supreme in his sphere, seem to have had many social traits in common, and both that fine faculty of attracting others.

The only "sport" of the youth was angling, "the most fitting practice for quiet men and lovers of peace," the "Brothers of the Angle," according to Izaak Walton, "being mostly men of mild and gentle disposition." From the ruder athletic games of the school he was debarred, not being robust, and this was a constant source of morbid misery to him, entailing as it did separation from the other boys. The prosecution of his favorite geometry now occupied his thoughts and time, and astronomy also became a fascinating study. Long hours were often spent, lying on his back in a grove near his home, studying the stars by night and the clouds by day.

Watt met his first irreparable loss in 1753, when his mother suddenly died. The relations between them had been such as are only possible between mother and son. Often had the mother said to her intimates that she had been enabled to bear the loss of her daughter only by the love and care of her dutiful son. Home was home no longer for Jamie, and we are not surprised to find him leaving it soon after she who had been to him the light and leading of his life had passed out of it.

Watt now reached his seventeenth year. His father's affairs were greatly embarrassed. It was clearly seen that the two brothers, John and James, had to rely for their support upon their own unaided efforts. John, the elder, some time before this had taken to the sea and been shipwrecked, leaving only James at home. Of course, there was no question as to the career he would adopt. His fortune "lay at his fingers' ends," and accordingly he resolved at once to qualify himself for the trade of a mathematical instrument maker, the career which led him directly in the pathway of mathematics and mechanical science, and enabled him to gratify his unquenchable thirst for knowledge thereof.

Naturally Glasgow was decided upon as the proper place in which to begin, and Watt took up his abode there with his maternal relatives, the Muirheads, carrying his tools with him.

No mathematical instrument maker was to be found in Glasgow, but Watt entered the service of a kind of jack-of-all-trades, who called himself an "optician" and sold and mended spectacles, repaired fiddles, tuned spinets, made fishing-rods and tackle, etc. Watt, as a devoted brother of the angle, was an adept at dressing trout and salmon flies, and handy at so many things that he proved most useful to his employer, but there was nothing to be learned by the ambitious youth.

His most intimate schoolfellow was Andrew Anderson, whose elder brother, John Anderson, was the well-known Professor of natural philosophy, the first to open classes for the instruction of working-men in its principles. He bequeathed his property to found an institution for this purpose, which is now a college of the university. The Professor came to know young Watt through his brother, and Watt became a frequent visitor at his house. He was given unrestricted access to the Professor's valuable library, in which he spent many of his evenings.

One of the chief advantages of the public school is the enduring friendships boys form there, first in importance through their beneficial influence upon character, and, second, as aids to success in after life. The writer has been impressed by this feature, for great is the number of instances he has known where the prized working-boy or man in position has been able, as additional force was required, to say the needed word of recommendation, which gave a start or a lift upward to a dearly-cherished schoolfellow. It seems a grave mistake for parents not to educate their sons in the region of home, or in later years in colleges and universities of their own land, so that early friendships may not be broken, but grow closer with the years. Watt at all events was fortunate in this respect. His schoolmate, Andrew Anderson, brought into his life the noted Professor, with all his knowledge, kindness and influence, and opened to him the kind of library he most needed.

CHAPTER II

Glasgow to London—Return to Glasgow

Through Professor Muirhead, a kinsman of Watt's mother, he was introduced to many others of the faculty of the university, and, as usual, attracted their attention, especially that of Dr. Dick, Professor of natural philosophy, who strongly advised him to proceed to London, where he could receive better instruction than it was possible to obtain in Scotland at that time. The kind Professor, diviner of latent genius, went so far as to give him a personal introduction, which proved efficient. How true it is that the worthy, aspiring youth rarely goes unrecognised or unaided. Men with kind hearts, wise heads, and influence strong to aid, stand ready at every turn to take modest merit by the hand and give it the only aid needed, opportunity to speak, through results, for itself. So London was determined upon. Fortunately, a distant relative of the Watt family, a sea-captain, was about to set forth upon that then long and toilsome journey. They started from Glasgow June 7, 1755, on horseback, the journey taking twelve days.

The writer's parents often referred to the fact that when the leading linen manufacturer of Dunfermline was about to take the journey to London—the only man in the town then who ever did—special prayers were always said in church for his safety.

The member of Parliament in Watt's day from the extreme north of Scotland would have consumed nearly twice twelve days to reach Westminster. To-day if the capital of the English-speaking race were in America, which Lord Roseberry says he is willing it should be, if thereby the union of our English-speaking race were secured, the members of the Great Council from Britain could reach Washington in seven days, the members from British Columbia and California, upon the Pacific, in five days, both land and sea routes soon to be much quickened.

Those sanguine prophets who predict the reunion of our race on both sides of the Atlantic can at least aver that in view of the union of Scotland and England, the element of time required to traverse distances to and from the capital is no obstacle, since the most distant points of the new empire, Britain in the east and British Columbia and California in the west, would be reached in less than one-third the time required to travel from the north of Scotland to London at the time of the union. Besides, the telegraph to-day binds the parts together, keeping all citizens informed, and stirring their hearts simultaneously thousands of miles apart—Glasgow to London, 1755, twelve days; 1905, eight hours. Thus under the genius Steam, tamed and harnessed by Watt, the world shrinks into a neighborhood, giving some countenance to the dreamers who may perchance be proclaiming a coming reality. We may continue, therefore, to indulge the hope of the coming "parliament of man, the federation of the world," or even the older and wider prophecy of Burns, that, "It's coming yet for a' that, when man to man the world o'er, shall brithers be for a' that."

There comes to mind that jewel we owe to Plato, which surely ranks as one of the most precious of all our treasures: "We should lure ourselves as with enchantments, for the hope is great and the reward is noble." So with this enchanting dream, better than most realities, even if it be all a dream. Let the dreamers therefore dream on. The world, minus enchanting dreams, would be commonplace indeed, and let us remember this dream is only dreamable because Watt's steam engine is a reality.

After his twelve days on horseback, Watt arrived in London, a stranger in a strange land, unknowing and unknown. But the fates had been kind for, burdened with neither wealth nor rank, this poor would-be skilled mechanic was to have a fair chance by beginning at the bottom among his fellows, the sternest yet finest of all schools to call forth and strengthen inherent qualities, and impel a poor young man to put forth his utmost effort when launched upon the sea of life, where he must either sink or swim, no bladders being in reserve for him.

Our young hero rose to the occasion and soon proved that, Cæsar-like, he could "stem the waves with heart of controversy." Thus the rude school of experience calls forth and strengthens the latent qualities of youth, implants others, and forms the indomitable man, fit to endure and overcome. Here, for the first time, alone in swarming London, not one relative, not one friend, not even an acquaintance, except the kind sea-captain, challenged by the cold world around to do or die, fate called to Watt as it calls to every man who has his own way to make:

"This is Collingtogle ford,
And thou must keep thee with thy sword."

When the revelation first rushes upon a youth, hitherto directed by his parents, that, boy no more, he must act for himself, presto! change! he is a man, he has at last found himself. The supreme test, which proves the man, can come in all its winnowing force only to those born to earn their own support by training themselves to be able to render to society services which command return. This training compels the development of powers which otherwise would probably lie dormant. Scotch boy as Watt was to the core, with the lowland broad, soft accent, and ignorant of foreign literature, it is very certain that he then found support in the lessons instilled at his mother's knee. He had been fed on Wallace and Bruce, and when things looked darkest, even in very early years, his national hero, Wallace, came to mind, and his struggles against fearful odds, not for selfish ends, but for his country's independence. Did Wallace give up the fight, or ever think of giving up? Never! It was death or victory. Bruce and the spider! Did Bruce falter? Never! Neither would he. "Scots wa hae," "Let us do or die," implanted before his teens, has pulled many a Scottish boy through the crises of life when all was dark, as it will pull others yet to come. Altho Burns and Scott had yet to appear, to crystallise Scotland's characteristics and plant the talismanic words into the hearts of young Scots, Watt had a copious supply of the national sentiment, to give him the "stout heart for the stye brae," when manhood arrived. His mother had planted deep in him, and nurtured, precious seed from her Celtic garden, which was sure to grow and bear good fruit.

We are often met with the question, "What is the best possible safeguard for a young man, who goes forth from a pure home, to meet the temptations that beset his path?" Various answers are given, but, speaking that as a Scot, reared as Watt was, the writer believes all the suggested safeguards combined scarcely weigh as much as preventives against disgracing himself as the thought that it would not be only himself he would disgrace, but that he would also bring disgrace upon his family, and would cause father, mother, sister and brother to hang their heads among their neighbors in secluded village, on far-away moor or in lonely glen. The Scotch have strong traces of the Chinese and Japanese religious devotion to "the family," and the filial instinct is intensely strong. The fall of one member is the disgrace of all. Even although Watt's mother had passed, there remained the venerated father in Greenock, and the letters regularly written to him, some of which have fortunately been preserved, abundantly prove that, tho far from home, yet in home and family ties and family duties the young man had his strong tower of defence, keeping him from "all sense of sin or shame." Watt never gave his father reason for one anxious thought that he would in any respect discredit the good name of his forbears.

Many London shops were visited, but the rules of the trade, requiring apprentices to serve for seven years, or, being journeymen, to have served that time, proved an insuperable obstacle to Watt's being employed. His plan was to fit himself by a year's steady work for return to Glasgow, there to begin on his own account. He had not seven years to spend learning what he could learn in one. He would be his own master. Wise young man in this he was. There is not much outcome in the youth who does not already see himself captain in his dreams, and steers his barque accordingly, true to the course already laid down, not to be departed from, under any stress of weather. We see the kind of stuff this young Scotch lad was made of in the tenacity with which he held to his plan. At last some specimens of his work having seemed very remarkable to Mr. John Morgan, mathematical instrument maker, Finch Lane, Cornhill, he agreed to give the conquering young man the desired year's instructions for his services and a premium of twenty pounds, whereupon the plucky fellow who had kept to his course and made port, wrote to his father of his success, praising his master "as being of as good character, both for accuracy in his business, and good morals, as any of his way in London." The order in which this aspiring young man of the world records the virtues will not be overlooked. He then adds, "If it had not been for Mr. Short, I could not have got a man in London that would have undertaken to teach me, as I now find there are not above five or six who could have taught me all I wanted."

Mr. Short was the gentleman to whom Professor Dick's letter of introduction was addressed, who, no more than the Professor himself, nor Mr. Morgan, could withstand the extraordinary youth, whom he could not refuse taking into his service—glad to get him no doubt, and delighted that he was privileged to instruct one so likely to redound to his credit in after years. Thus Watt made his start in London, the twenty pounds premium being duly remitted from home.

Up to this time, Watt had been a charge on his father, but it was very small, for he lived in the most frugal style at a cost of only two dollars per week. In one of his letters to his father he regrets being unable to reduce it below that, knowing that his father's affairs were not prosperous. He, however, was able to obtain some remunerative work on his own account, which he did after his day's task was over, and soon made his position secure as a workman. Specialisation he met with for the first time, and he expresses surprise that "very few here know any more than how to make a rule, others a pair of dividers, and suchlike." Here we see that even at that early day division of labor had won its way in London, though yet unknown in the country. The jack-of-all-trades, the handyman, who can do everything, gives place to the specialist who confines himself to one thing in which practice makes him perfect. Watt's mission saved him from this, for to succeed he had to be master, not of one process, but of all. Hence we find him first making brass scales, parallel-rulers and quadrants. By the end of one month in this department he was able to finish a Hadley quadrant. From this he proceeded to azimuth compasses, brass sectors, theodolites, and other delicate instruments. Before his year was finished he wrote his father that he had made "a brass sector with a French joint, which is reckoned as nice a piece of framing-work as is in the trade," and expressed the hope that he would soon now be able to support himself and be no longer a charge upon him.

It is highly probable that this first tool finished by his own hands brought to Watt more unalloyed pleasure than any of his greater triumphs of later years, just as the first week's wages of youth, money earned by service rendered, proclaiming coming manhood, brings with it a thrill and glow of proud satisfaction, compared with which all the millions of later years are as dross.

Writers upon labor, who have never labored, generally make the profound mistake of considering labor as one solid mass, when the truth is that it contains orders and degrees as distinct as those in aristocracy. The workman skilled beyond his fellows, who is called upon by his superintendent to undertake the difficult job in emergencies, ranks high, and probably enjoys an honorable title, a pet name conferred by his shopmates. Men measure each other as correctly in the workshop as in the professions, and each has his deserved rank. When the right man is promoted, they rally round and enable him to perform wonders. Where favoritism or poor judgment is shown, the reverse occurs, and there is apathy and dissatisfaction, leading to poor results and serious trouble. The manual worker is as proud of his work, and rightly so, as men are in other vocations. His life and thought centre in the shop as those of members of Congress or Parliament centre in the House; and triumph for him in the shop, his world, means exactly the same to him, and appears not less important to his family and friends than what leadership is to the public man, or in any of the professions. He has all their pride of profession, and less vanity than most.

How far this "pride of profession" extends is well illustrated by the Pittsburgh story of the street scrapers at their noon repast. MacCarthy, recently deceased, was the subject of eulogy, one going so far as to assert that he was "the best man that ever scraped a hoe on Liberty Street." To this, one who had aspirations "allowed Mac was a good enough man on plain work, but around the gas-posts he wasn't worth a cent."

A public character, stopping over night with a friend in the country, the maid-of-all-work tells her mistress, after the guest departs, "I have read so much about him, never expecting to see him; little did I think I should have the honor of brushing his boots this morning." Happy girl in her work, knowing that all service is honorable. Even shoe-blacking, we see, has its rewards.

A Highland laird and lady, visiting some of their crofters on the moors, are met and escorted by a delighted wife to her cot. The children and the husband are duly presented. At an opportune moment the proud wife cannot refrain from informing her visitors that "it was Donald himsel' the laird had to send for to thatch the pretty golf-house at the Castle. Donald did all that himsel'," with an admiring glance cast at the embarrassed great man. Donald "sent for by the laird at the Castle" ranks in Donald's circle and in Donald's own heart with the honor of being sent for by His Majesty to govern the empire in Mr. Balfour's circle and in Mr. Balfour's own heart. Ten to one the proud Highland crofter and his circle reap more genuine, unalloyed satisfaction from the message than the lowland statesman and his circle could reap from his. But it made Balfour famous, you say. So was Donald made famous, his circle not quite so wide as that of his colleague—that is all. Donald is as much "uplifted" as the Prime Minister; probably more so. Thus is human nature ever the same down to the roots. Many distinctions, few differences in life. We are all kin, members of the one family, playing with different toys.

So deep down into the ranks of labor goes the salt of pride of profession, preventing rot and keeping all fresh in the main, because on the humblest of the workers there shines the bright ray of hope of recognition and advancement, progress and success. As long as this vista is seen stretching before all is well with labor. There will be friction, of course, between capital and labor, but it will be healthy friction, needed by, and good for, both. There is the higgling of the market in all business. As long as this valuable quality of honest pride in one's work exists, and finds deserved recognition, society has nothing to fear from the ranks of labor. Those who have had most experience with it, and know its qualities and its failings best, have no fear; on the contrary, they know that at heart labor is sound, and only needs considerate treatment. The kindly personal attention of the employer will be found far more appreciated than even a rise in wages.

Enforced confinement and unremitting labor soon told upon Watt's delicate constitution, yet he persevered with the self-imposed extra work, which brought in a little honest money and reduced the remittances from home. He caught a severe cold during the winter and was afflicted by a racking cough and severe rheumatic pains. With his father's sanction, he decided to return home to recuperate, taking good care however, forehanded as he always proved himself, to secure some new and valuable tools and a stock of materials to make many others, which "he knew he must make himself." A few valuable books were not forgotten, among them Bion's work on the "Construction and Use of Mathematical Instruments"—nothing pertaining to his craft but he would know. King he would be in that, so everything was made to revolve around it. That was the foundation upon which he had to build.

To the old home in Scotland our hero's face was now turned in the autumn of 1756, his twentieth year. His native air, best medicine of all for the invalid exile, soon restored his health, and to Glasgow he then went, in pursuance of his plan of life early laid down, to begin business on his own account. He thus became master before he was man. There was not in all Scotland a mathematical instrument maker, and here was one of the very best begging permission to establish himself in Glasgow. As in London so in Glasgow, however, the rules of the Guild of Hammermen, to which it was decided a mathematical instrument maker would belong, if one of such high calling made his appearance, prevented Watt from entrance if he had not consumed seven years in learning the trade. He had mastered it in one, and was ready to demonstrate his ability to excel by any kind of test proposed. Watt had entered in properly by the door of knowledge and experience of the craft, the only door through which entrance was possible, but he had travelled too quickly; besides he was "neither the son of a burgess, nor had he served an apprenticeship in the borough," and this was conclusive. How the world has travelled onward since those days! and yet our day is likely to be in as great contrast a hundred and fifty years hence. Protective tariffs between nations, and probably wars, may then seem as strangely absurd as the hammermen's rules. Even in 1905 we have still a far road to travel.

Failing in his efforts to establish himself in business, he asked the guild to permit him to rent and use a small workshop to make experiments, but even this was refused. We are disposed to wonder at this, but it was in strict accordance with the spirit of the times.

When the sky was darkest, the clouds broke and revealed the university as his guardian angel. Dr. Dick, Professor of natural philosophy, knowing of Watt's skill from his first start in Glasgow, had already employed him to repair some mathematical instruments bequeathed to the university by a Scotch gentleman in the West Indies, and the work had been well done, at a cost of five pounds—the first contract money ever earned by Watt in Glasgow. Good work always tells. Ability cannot be kept down forever; if crushed to earth, it rises again. So Watt's "good work" brought the Professors to his aid, several of whom he had met and impressed most favorably during its progress. The university charter, gift of the Pope in 1451, gave absolute authority within the area of its buildings, and the Professors resolved to give our hero shelter there—the best day's work they ever did. May they ever be remembered for this with feelings of deepest gratitude. What men these were! The venerable Anderson has already been spoken of; Adam Smith, who did for the science of economics what Watt did for steam, was one of Watt's dearest friends; Black, discoverer of latent heat; Robinson, Dick of whom we have spoken, and others. Such were the world's benefactors, who resolved to take Watt under their protection, and thus enabled him to do his appointed work. Glorious university, this of Glasgow, protector and nurse of Watt, probably of all its decisions this has been of the greatest service to man!

There are universities and universities. Glasgow's peculiar claim to regard lies in the perfect equality of the various schools, the humanities not neglected, the sciences appreciated, neither accorded precedence. Its scientific Professor, Thompson, now Lord Kelvin, was recently elevated to the Lord Chancellorship, the highest honor in its power to bestow.

Every important university develops special qualities of its own, for which it is noted. That of Glasgow is renowned for devotion to the scientific field. What a record is hers! Protector of Watt, going to extreme measures necessary, not alone to shelter him, but to enable him to labor within its walls and support himself; first university to establish an engineering school and professorship of engineering; first to establish a chemical teaching laboratory for students; first to have a physical laboratory for the exercise and instruction of students in experimental work; nursery from which came the steam engine of Watt, the discovery of latent heat by its Professor Black, and the successful operation of telegraph cables by its Professor and present Lord Chancellor (Lord Kelvin). May the future of Glasgow University copy fair her glorious past! Her "atmosphere" favors and stimulates steady, fruitful work. At all Scottish, as at all American universities, we may rejoice that there is always found a large number of the most distinguished students, who, figuratively speaking, cultivate knowledge upon a little oatmeal, earning money between terms to pay their way. It is highly probable that a greater proportion of these will be heard from in later years than of any other class.

American universities have, fortunately, followed the Glasgow model, and are giving more attention to the hitherto much neglected needs of science, and the practical departments of education, making themselves real universities, "where any man can study everything worth studying."

A room was assigned to Watt, only about twenty feet square, but it served him as it has done others since for great work. When the well-known author, Dr. Smiles, visited the room, he found in it the galvanic apparatus employed by Professor Thompson (Lord Kelvin) for perfecting his delicate invention which rendered ocean cables effective.

The kind and wise Professors did not stop here. They went pretty far, one cannot but think, when they took the next step in Watt's behalf, giving him a small room, which could be made accessible to the public, and this he was at liberty to open as a shop for the sale of his instruments, for Watt had to make a living by his handiwork. Strange work this for a university, especially in those days; but our readers, we are sure, will heartily approve the last, as they have no doubt approved the first action of the faculty in favor of struggling genius. Business was not prosperous at first with Watt, his instruments proving slow of sale. Of quadrants he could make three per week with the help of a lad, at a profit of forty shillings, but as sea-going ships could not then reach Glasgow, few could be sold. A supply was sent to Greenock, then the port of Glasgow, and sold by his father. He was reduced, as the greatest artists have often been, to the necessity of making what are known as "pot-boilers." Following the example of his first master in Glasgow he made spectacles, fiddles, flutes, guitars, and, of course, flies and fishing-tackle, and, as the record tells, "many dislocated violins, fractured guitars, fiddles also, if intreated, did he mend with good approbation." Such were his "pot-boilers" that met the situation.

His friend, Professor Black, who, like Professor Dick, had known of Watt's talent, one day asked him if he couldn't make an organ for him. By this time, Watt's reputation had begun to spread, and it finally carried him to the height of passing among his associates as "one who knew most things and could make anything." Watt knew nothing about organs, but he immediately undertook the work (1762), and the result was an indisputable success that led to his constructing, for a mason's lodge in Glasgow, a larger "finger organ," "which elicited the surprise and admiration of musicians." This extraordinary man improved everything he touched. For his second organ he devised a number of novelties, a sustained monochord, indicators and regulators of the blast, means for tuning to any system, contrivances for improving the stops, etc.

Lest we are led into a sad mistake here, let us stop a moment to consider how Watt so easily accomplished wonders, as if by inspiration. In all history it may be doubted whether success can be traced more clearly to long and careful preparation than in Watt's case. When we investigate, for instance, this seeming sleight-of-hand triumph with the organs, we find that upon agreeing to make the first, Watt immediately devoted himself to a study of the laws of harmony, making science supplement his lack of the musical ear. As usual, the study was exhaustive. Of course he found and took for guide the highest authority, a profound, but obscure book by Professor Smith of Cambridge University, and, mark this, he first made a model of the forthcoming organ. It is safe to say that there was not then a man in Britain who knew more of the science of music and was more thoroughly prepared to excel in the art of making organs than the new organ-builder.

When he attacked the problem of steam, as we shall soon see, the same course was followed, although it involved the mastering of three languages, that he should miss nothing.

We note that the taking of infinite pains, this fore-arming of himself, this knowing of everything that was to be known, the note of thorough preparation in Watt's career, is ever conspicuous. The best proof that he was a man of true genius is that he first made himself master of all knowledge bearing upon his tasks.

Watt could not have been more happily situated. His surroundings were ideal, the resources of the university were at his disposal, and, being conveniently situated, his workshop soon became the rendezvous of the faculty. He thus enjoyed the constant intimate companionship of one of the most distinguished bodies of educated men of science in the world. Glasgow was favored in her faculty those days as now. Two at least of Watt's closest friends, the discoverer of latent heat, and the author of the "Wealth of Nations," won enduring fame. Others were eminent. He did not fail to realise his advantages, and has left several acknowledgments of his debt to "those who were all much my superiors, I never having attended a college and being then but a mechanic." His so-called superiors did not quite see it in this light, as they have abundantly testified, but the modesty of Watt was ever conspicuous all through his life.

Watt led a busy life, the time not spent upon the indispensable "pot-boilers" being fully occupied in severe studies; chemistry, mathematics and mechanics all received attention. What he was finally to become no one could so far predict, but his associates expected something great from one who had so deeply impressed them.

Robison (afterwards Professor of natural history in Edinburgh University), being nearer Watt's age than the others, became his most intimate friend. His introduction to Watt, in 1758, has been described by himself. After feasting his eyes on the beautifully finished instruments in his shop, Robison entered into conversation with him. Expecting to find only a workman, he was surprised to find a philosopher. Says Robison:

I had the vanity to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favorite study (mathematical and mechanical philosophy), 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 endeavors 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.

CHAPTER III

Captured by Steam

The supreme hour of Watt's life was now about to strike. He had become deeply interested in the subject of steam, to which Professor Robison had called his attention, Robison being then in his twentieth year, Watt three years older.

Robison's idea was that steam might be applied to wheel carriages. Watt admitted his ignorance of steam then. Nevertheless, he made a model of a wheel carriage with two cylinders of tin plate, but being slightly and inaccurately made, it failed to work satisfactorily. Nothing more was heard of it. Robison soon thereafter left Glasgow. The demon Steam continued to haunt Watt. He, who up to this time had never seen even a model of a steam engine, strangely discovered in his researches that the university actually owned a model of the latest type, the Newcomen engine, which had been purchased for the use of the natural philosophy class. One wonders how many of the universities in Britain had been so progressive. That of Glasgow seems to have recognised at an early day the importance of science, in which department she continues famous. The coveted and now historical model had been sent to London for repairs. Watt urged its prompt return and a sum of money was voted for this purpose. Watt was at last completely absorbed in the subject of steam. He read all that had been written on the subject. Most of the valuable matter those days was in French and Italian, of which there were no translations. Watt promptly began to acquire these languages, that he might know all that was to be known. He could not await the coming of the model, which did not arrive until 1763, and began his own experiments in 1761. How did he obtain the necessary appliances and apparatus, one asks. The answer is easy. He made them. Apothecaries' vials were his steam boilers, and hollowed-out canes his steam-pipes. Numerous experiments followed and much was learnt. Watt's account of these is appended to the article on "Steam and the Steam Engine" in the "Encyclopædia Britannica," ninth edition.

Detailed accounts of Watt's numerous experiments, failures, difficulties, disappointments, and successes, as one after the other obstacles were surmounted, is not within the scope of this volume, these being all easily accessible to the student, but the general reader may be interested in the most important of all the triumphs of the indefatigable worker—the keystone of the arch. The Newcomen model arrived at last and was promptly repaired, but was not successful when put in operation. Steam enough could not be obtained, although the boiler seemed of ample capacity. The fire was urged by blowing and more steam generated, and still it would not work; a few strokes of the piston and the engine stopped. Smiles says that exactly at the point when ordinary experimentalists would have abandoned the task, Watt became thoroughly aroused. "Every obstacle," says Professor Robison, "was to him the beginning of a new and serious study, and I knew he would not quit it until he had either discovered its worthlessness or had made something of it." The difficulty here was serious. Books were searched in vain. No one had touched it. A course of independent experiments was essential, and upon this he entered as usual, determined to find truth at the bottom of the well and to get there in his own way. Here he came upon the fact which led him to the stupendous result. That fact was the existence of latent heat, the original discoverer of which was Watt's intimate friend, Professor Black. Watt found that water converted into steam heated five times its own weight of water to steam heat. He says:

Being struck with this remarkable fact (effect of latent heat), and not understanding the reason of it, I mentioned it to my friend, Dr. Black, who then explained to me his doctrine of latent heat, which he had taught some time before this period (1764); but having myself been occupied with the pursuits of business, if I had heard of it I had not attended to it, when I thus stumbled upon one of the material facts by which that beautiful theory is supported.

Here we have an instance of two men in the same university, discovering latent heat, one wholly ignorant of the other's doings; fortunately, the later discoverer only too glad to acknowledge and applaud the original, and, strange to say, going to him to announce the discovery he had made. Watt of course had no access to the Professor's classes, and some years before the former stumbled upon the fact, the theory had been announced by Black, but had apparently attracted little attention. This episode reminds us of the advantages Watt had in his surroundings. He breathed the very "atmosphere" of scientific and mechanical investigation and invention, and had at hand not only the standard books, but the living men who could best assist him.

What does latent heat mean? we hear the reader inquire. Let us try to explain it in simple language. Arago pronounced Black's experiment revealing it as one of the most remarkable in modern physics. Water passed as an element until Watt found it was a compound. Change its temperature and it exists in three different states, liquid, solid, and gaseous—water, ice and steam. Convert water into steam, and pass, say, two pounds of steam into ten pounds of water at freezing point and the steam would be wholly liquified, i.e., become water again, at 212°, but the whole ten pounds of freezing water would also be raised to 212° in the process. That is to say two pounds of steam will convert ten pounds of freezing water into boiling water, so great is the latent heat set free in the passage of steam to lower temperatures at the moment when the contact of cold surfaces converts the vapor from the gaseous into the liquid state. This heat is so thoroughly merged in the compound that the most delicate thermometer cannot detect a variation. It is undiscoverable by our senses and yet it proves its existence beyond question by its work. Heat which is obtained by the combustion of coal or wood, lies also in water, to be drawn forth and utilised in steam. It is apparently a mere question of temperature. The heat lies latent and dead until we raise the temperature of the water to 212°, and it is turned to vapor. Then the powerful force is instantly imbued with life and we harness it for our purposes.

The description of latent heat which gave the writer the clearest idea of it, and at the same time a much-needed reminder of the fact that Watt was the discoverer of the practically constant and unvarying amount of heat in steam, whatever the pressure, is the following by Mr. Lauder, a graduate of Glasgow University and pupil of Lord Kelvin, taken from "Watt's Discoveries of the Properties of Steam."

It is well to distinguish between the two things, Discovery and Invention. The title of Watt the Inventor is world-wide, and is so just and striking that there is none to gainsay. But it is only to the few that dive deeper that Watt the Discoverer is known. When his mind became directed to the possibilities of the power of steam, he, following his natural bent, began to investigate its properties. The mere inventor would have been content with what was already known, and utilised such knowledge, as Newcomen had done in his engine. Watt might have invented the separate condenser and ranked as a great inventor, but the spirit of enquiry was in possession of him, and he had to find out all he could about the nature of steam.

His first discovery was that of latent heat. When communicating this to Professor Black he found that his friend had anticipated him, and had been teaching it in lectures to his students for some years past. His next step was the discovery of the total heat of steam, and that this remains practically constant at all pressures. Black's fame rests upon his theory of latent heat; Watt's fame as the discoverer of the total heat of steam should be equally great, and would be no doubt had his rôle of inventor not overshadowed all his work.

This part of Watt's work has been so little known that it is almost imperative to-day to give some idea of it to the general reader. Suppose you take a flask, such as olive oil is often sold in, and fill with cold water. Set it over a lighted lamp, put a thermometer in the water, and the temperature will be observed to rise steadily till it reaches 212°, where it remains, the water boils, and steam is produced freely. Now draw the thermometer out of the water, but leaving it still in the steam. It remains steady at the same point—212°. Now it requires quite a long time and a large amount of heat to convert all the water into steam. As the steam goes off at the same temperature as the water, it is evident a quantity of heat has escaped in the steam, of which the thermometer gives us no account. This is latent heat.

Now, if you blow the steam into cold water instead of allowing it to pass into the air, you will find that it heats the water six times more than what is due to its indicated temperature. To fix your ideas: suppose you take 100 lbs. of water at 60°, and blow one pound of steam into it, making 101 lbs., its temperature will now be about 72°, a rise of 12°. Return to your 100 lbs. of water at 60° and add one pound of water at 212° the same temperature as the steam you added, and the temperature will only be raised about 2°. The one pound of steam heats six times more than the one pound of water, both being at the same temperature. This is the quantity of latent heat, which means simply hidden heat, in steam.

Proceeding further with the experiment, if, instead of allowing the steam to blow into the water, you confine it until it gets to some pressure, then blow it into the water, it takes the same weight to raise the temperature to the same degree. This means that the total heat remains practically the same, no matter at what pressure.

This is James Watt's discovery, and it led him to the use of high-pressure steam, used expansively.

Even coal may yet be superseded before it is exhausted, for as eminent an authority as Professor Pritchett of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has said in a recent address:

Watt's invention and all it has led to is only a step on the way to harnessing the forces of nature to the service of man. Do you doubt that other inventions will work changes even more sweeping than those which the steam engine has brought?

Consider a moment. The problem of which Watt solved a part is not the problem of inventing a machine, but the problem of using and storing the forces of nature which now go to waste. Now to us who live on the earth there is only one source of power—the sun. Darken the sun and every engine on the earth's surface would soon stop, every wheel cease to turn, and all movement cease. How prodigal this supply of power is we seldom stop to consider. Deducting the atmospheric absorption, it is still true that the sun delivers on each square yard of the earth's surface, when he is shining, the equivalent of one horse-power working continuously. Enough mechanical power goes to waste on the college campus to warm and light and supply all the manufactories, street railroads and other consumers of mechanical power in the city. How to harness this power and to store it—that is the problem of the inventor and the engineer of the twentieth century, a problem which in good time is sure to be solved.

Who shall doubt, after finding this secret source of force in water, that some future Watt is to discover other sources of power, or perchance succeed in utilising the superabundant power known to exist in the heat of the sun, or discover the secret of the latent force employed by nature in animals, which converts chemical energy directly into the dynamic form, giving much higher efficiencies than any thermo-dynamic machine has to-day or probably ever can have. Little knew Shakespeare of man's perfect power of motion which utilises all energy! How came he then to exclaim "What a piece of work is man; how infinite in faculty; in form and moving how express and admirable"? This query, and a thousand others, have arisen; for we forget Arnold's lines to the Master:

"Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask—thou smilest and art still."

Man's "moving" is found more "express and admirable" than that of the most perfect machine or adaptation of natural forces yet devised. Lord Kelvin says the animal motor more closely resembles an electro-magnetic engine than a heat engine, but very probably the chemical forces in animals produce the external mechanical effects through electricity and do not act as a thermo-dynamic engine.

The wastage of heat energy under present methods is appalling. About 65 per cent. of the heat energy of coal can be put into the steam boiler, and from this only 15 per cent. of mechanical power is obtained. Thus about nine-tenths of the original heat in coal is wasted. Proceeding further and putting mechanical power into electricity, only from 2 to 5 per cent. is turned into light; or, in other words, from coal to light we get on an average only about one-half of 1 per cent. of the original energy, a wastage of ninety-nine and one-half of every hundred pounds of coal used. The very best possible with largest and best machinery is a little more than one pound from every hundred consumed.

When Watt gave to the steam-engine five times its efficiency by utilising the latent heat, he only touched the fringe of the mysterious realm which envelops man.

Burbank, of the spineless cactus and new fruits, who has been delving deep into the mysteries, tells us:

The facts of plant life demand a kinetic theory of evolution, a slight change from Huxley's statement that, "Matter is a magazine of force," to that of matter being force alone. The time will come when the theory of "ions" will be thrown aside, and no line left between force and matter.

Professor Matthews, he who, with Professor Loeb at Wood's Hole, is imparting life to sea-urchins through electrical reactions, declares "that certain chemical substances coming together under certain conditions are bound to produce life. All life comes through the operation of universal laws." We are but young in all this mysterious business. What lies behind and probably near at hand may not merely revolutionise material agencies but human preconceptions as well. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are ever dreamt of in your Philosophy."

Latent Heat was a find indeed, but there remained another discovery yet to make. Watt found that no less than four-fifths of all the steam used was lost in heating the cold cylinder, and only one-fifth performed service by acting on the piston. Prevent this, and the power of the giant is increased fourfold. Here was the prize to contend for. Win this and the campaign is won. First then, what caused the loss? This was soon determined. The cylinder was necessarily cooled at the top because it was open to the air, and also cooled below in condensing the charge of steam that had driven the piston up in order to create a vacuum, without which the piston would not descend from top to bottom, to begin another upward stroke. A jet of cold water was introduced to effect this. How to surmount this seemingly insuperable obstacle was the problem that kept Watt long in profound study.

Many plans were entertained, only to be finally rejected. At last the flash came into that teeming brain like a stroke of lightning. Eureka! he had found it. Not one scintilla of doubt ever intruded thereafter. The solution lay right there and he would invent the needed appliances. His mode of procedure, when on the trail of big game, is beautifully illustrated here. When he found the root of the defect which rendered the Newcomen engine impracticable for general purposes, he promptly formulated the one indispensable condition which alone met the problem, and which the successful steam-engine must possess. He abandoned all else for the time as superfluous, since this was the key of the position. This is the law he then laid down as an axiom—which is repeated in his specification for his first patent in 1769: "To make a perfect steam engine it was necessary that the cylinder should be always as hot as the steam which entered it, and that the steam should be cooled below 100° to exert its full powers."

Watt describes how at last the idea of the "separate condenser," the complete cure, flashed suddenly upon his mind:

I had gone to take a walk on a fine Sabbath afternoon, early in 1765. I had entered the green by the gate at the foot of Charlotte Street and had passed the old washing-house. I was thinking upon the engine at the time, and had gone as far as the herd's house, when the idea came into my mind that as steam was an elastic body it would rush into a vacuum, and if a communication were made between the cylinder and an exhausted vessel it would rush into it, and might be there condensed without cooling the cylinder. I then saw that I must get rid of the condensed steam and injection-water if I used a jet as in Newcomen's engine. Two ways of doing this occurred to me. First, the water might be run off by a descending pipe, if an offlet could be got at the depth of thirty-five or thirty-six feet, and any air might be extracted by a small pump. The second was to make the pump large enough to extract both water and air ... I had not walked farther than the golf-house when the whole thing was arranged in my mind.

Professor Black says, "This capital improvement flashed upon his mind at once and filled him with rapture." We may imagine

"Then felt he like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet sweeps into his ken."

A new world had sprung forth in Watt's brain, for nothing less has the steam engine given to man. One reads with a smile the dear modest man's deprecatory remarks about the condenser in after years, when he was overcome by the glowing tributes paid him upon one occasion and hailed as having conquered hitherto uncontrollable steam. He stammered out words to the effect that it came in his way and he happened to find it; others had missed it; that was all; somebody had to stumble upon it. That is all very well, and we love thee, Jamie Watt (he was always Jamie to his friends), for such self-abnegation, but the truth of history must be vindicated for all that. It proclaims, Thou art the man; go up higher and take your seat there among the immortals, the inventor of the greatest of all inventions, a great discoverer and one of the noblest of men!

In this one change lay all the difference between the Newcomen engine, limited to atmospheric pressure, and the steam engine, capable of development into the modern engine through the increasing use of the tremendous force of steam under higher pressures, and improved conditions from time to time.

Watt leads the steam out of the cylinder and condenses it in a separate vessel, leaving the cylinder hot. He closes the cylinder top and sends a circular piston (hitherto all had been square) through it, and closely stuffs it around to prevent escape of steam. The rapidity of the "strokes" gained keeps the temperature of the cylinder high; besides, he encases it and leaves a space between cylinder and covering filled with steam. Thus he fulfils his law: "The cylinder is kept as hot as the steam that enters." "How simple!" you exclaim. "Is that all? How obviously this is the way to do it!" Very true, surprised reader, but true, also, that no condenser and closed cylinder, no modern steam engine.

On Monday morning following the Sabbath flash, we find Watt was up betimes at work upon the new idea. How many hours' sleep he had enjoyed is not recorded, but it may be imagined that he had several visions of the condenser during the night. One was to be made at once; he borrowed from a college friend a brass syringe, the body of which served as a cylinder. The first condenser vessel was an improvised syringe and a tin can. From such an acorn the mighty oak was to grow. The experiment was successful and the invention complete, but Watt saw clearly that years of unceasing labor might yet pass before the details could all be worked out and the steam engine appear ready to revolutionise the labor of the world. During these years, Professor Black was his chief adviser and encouraged him in hours of disappointment. The true and able friend not only did this, but furnished him with money needed to enable him to concentrate all his time and strength upon the task.

Most opportunely, at this juncture, came Watt's marriage, to his cousin Miss Miller, a lady to whom he had long been deeply attached. Watt's friends are agreed in stating that the marriage was of vast importance, for he had not passed untouched through the days of toil and trial. Always of a meditative turn, somewhat prone to melancholy when without companionship, and withal a sufferer from nervous headaches, there was probably no gift of the gods equal to that of such a wife as he had been so fortunate as to secure. Gentle yet strong in her gentleness, it was her courage, her faith, and her smile that kept Watt steadfast. No doubt he, like many other men blessed with an angel in the household, could truly aver that his worrying cares vanished at the doorstep.

Watt had at last, what he never had before, a home. More than one intimate friend has given expression to the doubt whether he could have triumphed without Mrs. Watt's bright and cheerful temperament to keep him from despondency during the trying years which he had now to encounter. Says Miss Campbell:

I have not entered into any of the interesting details my mother gave me of Mr. Watt's early and constant attachment to his cousin Miss Miller; but she ever considered it as having added to his enjoyment of life, and as having had the most beneficial influence on his character. Even his powerful mind sank occasionally into misanthropic gloom, from the pressure of long-continued nervous headaches, and repeated disappointments in his hopes of success in life. Mrs. Watt, from her sweetness of temper, and lively, cheerful disposition, had power to win him from every wayward fancy; to rouse and animate him to active exertion. She drew out all his gentle virtues, his native benevolence and warm affections.

From all that has been recorded of her, we are justified in classing Watt with Bassanio.

"It is very meet
He live an upright life,
For having such a blessing in his lady,
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;
And if on earth he do not merit it,
In reason he should never come to heaven."

Watt knew and felt this and let us hope that, as was his duty, he let Mrs. Watt know it, not only by act, but by frequent acknowledgment.

Watt did not marry imprudently, for his instrument-making business had increased, as was to have been expected, for his work soon made a reputation as being most perfectly executed. At first he was able to carry out all his orders himself; now he had as many as sixteen workmen. He took a Mr. Craig as a partner, to obtain needed capital. His profits one year were $3,000. The business had been removed in 1760 to new quarters in the city, and Watt himself had rented a house outside the university grounds. Having furnished it, Watt brought his young wife and installed her there, July, 1764. We leave him there, happy in the knowledge that he is to be carefully looked after, and, last but not least, steadily encouraged and counselled not to give up the engine. As we shall presently see, such encouragement was much needed at intervals.

The first step was to construct a model embodying all the inventions in a working form. An old cellar was rented, and there the work began. To prepare the plan was easy, but its execution was quite another story. Watt's sad experience with indifferent work had not been lost upon him, and he was determined that, come what may, this working model should not fail from imperfect construction. His own handiwork had been of the finest and most delicate kind, but, as he said, he had "very little experience of mechanics in great." This model was a monster in those days, and great was the difficulty of finding mechanics capable of carrying out his designs. The only available men were blacksmiths and tinsmiths, and these were most clumsy workmen, even in their own crafts. Were Watt to revisit the earth to-day, he would not easily find a more decided change or advance over 1764, in all that has been changed or improved since then, than in this very department of applied mechanics. To-day such a model as Watt constructed in the cellar would be simple work indeed. Even the gasoline or the electric motor of to-day, though complicated far beyond the steam model, is now produced by automatic machinery. Skilled workmen do not have to fashion the parts. They only stand looking on at machinery—itself made by automatic tools—performing work of unerring accuracy. Had Watt had at his call only a small part of the inventory resources of our day, his model steam engine might have been named the Minerva, for Minerva-like, it would have sprung forth complete, the creature of automatic machinery, the workmen meanwhile smilingly looking on at these slaves of the mechanic which had been brought forth and harnessed to do his bidding by the exercise of godlike reason.

The model was ready after six months of unceasing labor, but notwithstanding the scrupulous fastidiousness displayed by Watt in the workmanship of all the parts, the machine, alas, "snifted at many openings." Little can our mechanics of to-day estimate what "perfect joints" meant in those days. The entire correctness of the great idea was, however, demonstrated by the trials made. The right principle had been discovered; no doubt of that. Watt's decision was that "it must be followed to an issue." There was no peace for him otherwise. He wrote (April, 1765) to a friend, "My whole thoughts are bent on this machine. I can think of nothing else." Of course not; he was hot in the chase of the biggest game hunter ever had laid eyes on. He had seen it, and he knew he had the weapons to bring it down. A larger model, free as possible from defects which he felt he could avoid in the next, was promptly determined upon. A larger and better shop was obtained, and here Watt shut himself up with an assistant and erected the second model. Two months sufficed, instead of six required for the first. This one also at first trial leaked in many directions, and the condenser needed alterations. Nevertheless, the engine accomplished much, for it worked readily with ten and one-half pounds pressure per square inch, a decided increase over previous results. It was still the cylinder and its piston that gave Watt the chief trouble. No wonder the cylinder leaked. It had to be hammered into something like true lines, for at that day so backward was the art that not even the whole collective mechanical skill of cylinder-making could furnish a bored cylinder of the simplest kind. This is not to be construed as unduly hard upon Glasgow, for it is said that all the skill of the world could not do so in 1765, only one hundred and forty years ago. We travel so fast that it is not surprising that there are wiseacres among us quite convinced that we are standing still.

We may be pardoned for again emphasising the fact that it is not only for his discoveries and inventions that Watt is to be credited, but also for the manual ability displayed in giving to these "airy nothings of the brain, a local habitation and a name," for his greatest idea might have remained an "airy nothing," had he not been also the mechanician able to produce it in the concrete. It is not, therefore, only Watt the inventor, Watt the discoverer, but also Watt, the manual worker, that stands forth. As we shall see later on, he created a new type of workmen capable of executing his plans, working with, and educating them often with his own hands. Only thus did he triumph, laboring mentally and physically. Watt therefore must always stand among the benefactors of men, in the triple capacity of discoverer, inventor, and constructor.

The defects of the cylinder, though serious, were clearly mechanical. Their certain cure lay in devising mechanical tools and appliances and educating workmen to meet the new demands. An exact cylinder would leave no room for leakage between its smooth and true surface and the piston; but the solution of another difficulty was not so easily indicated. Watt having closed the top of the cylinder to save steam, was debarred from using water on the upper surface of the piston as Newcomen did, to fill the interstices between piston and cylinder and prevent leakage of steam, as his piston was round and passed through the top of the cylinder. The model leaked badly from this cause, and while engaged trying numerous expedients to meet this, and many different things for stuffing, he wrote to a friend, "My old White Iron man is dead." This being the one he had trained to be his best mechanic, was a grievous loss in those days. Misfortunes never come singly; he had just started the engine after overhauling it, when the beam broke. Discouraged, but not defeated, he battled on, steadily gaining ground, meeting and solving one difficulty after another, certain that he had discovered how to utilise steam.

CHAPTER IV

Partnership with Roebuck

Capital was essential to perfect and place the engine upon the market; it would require several thousand pounds. Had Watt been a rich man, the path would have been clear and easy, but he was poor, having no means but those derived from his instrument-making business, which for some time had necessarily been neglected. Where was the daring optimist who could be induced to risk so much in an enterprise of this character, where result was problematical. Here, Watt's best friend, Professor Black, who had himself from his own resources from time to time relieved Watt's pressing necessities, proved once more the friend in time of need. Black thought of Dr. Roebuck, founder of the celebrated Carron Iron Works near by, which Burns apostrophised in these lines, when denied admittance:

"We cam na here to view your works
In hopes to be mair wise,
But only lest we gang to hell
It may be nae surprise."

He was approached upon the subject by Dr. Black, and finally, in September, 1765, he invited Watt to visit him with the Professor at his country home, and urged him to press forward his invention "whether he pursued it as a philosopher or as a man of business." In the month of November Watt sent Roebuck drawings of a covered cylinder and piston to be cast at his works, but it was so poorly done as to be useless. "My principal difficulty in making engines," he wrote Roebuck, "is always the smith-work."

By this time, Watt was seriously embarrassed for money. Experiments cost much and brought in nothing. His duty to his family required that he should abandon these for a time and labor for means to support it. He determined to begin as a surveyor, as he had mastered the art when making surveying instruments, as was his custom to study and master wherever he touched. He could never rest until he knew all there was to know about anything. Of course he succeeded. Everybody knew he would, and therefore business came to him. Even a public body, the magistrates of Glasgow, had not the slightest hesitation in obtaining his services to survey a canal which was to open a new coal field. He was also commissioned to survey the proposed Forth and Clyde canal. Had he been content to earn money and become leading surveyor or engineer of Britain, the world might have waited long for the forthcoming giant destined to do the world's work; but there was little danger of this. The world had not a temptation that could draw Watt from his appointed work. His thoughts were ever with his engine, every spare moment being devoted to it. Roebuck's speculative and enterprising nature led him also into the entrancing field of steam. It haunted him until finally, in 1767, he decided to pay off Watt's debts to the amount of a thousand pounds, provide means for further experiments, and secure a patent for the engine. In return, he became owner of two thirds of the invention.

Next year Watt made trial of a new and larger model, with unsatisfactory results upon the first trial. He wrote Roebuck that "by an unforeseen misfortune, the mercury found its way into the cylinder and played the devil with the solder." Only after a month's hard labor was the second trial made, with very different and indeed astonishing results—"success to my heart's content," exclaimed Watt. Now he would pay his long-promised debt to his partner Roebuck, to whom he wrote, "I sincerely wish you joy of this successful result, and hope it will make some return for the obligations I owe you." The visit of congratulation paid to his partner Roebuck, was delightful. Now were all their griefs "in the deep bosom of the ocean buried" by this recent success. Already they saw fortunes in their hands, so brightly shone the sun these few but happy days. But the old song has its lesson:

"I've seen the morning the gay hills adorning,
I've seen it storming before the close of day."

Instead of instant success, trying days and years were still before them. A patent was decided upon, a matter of course and almost of formality in our day, but far from this at that time, when it was considered monopolistic and was highly unpopular on that account. Watt went to Berwick-on-Tweed to make the required declaration before a Master in Chancery. In August, 1768, we find him in London about the patent, where he became so utterly wearied with the delays, and so provoked with the enormous fees required to protect the invention, that he wrote his wife in a most despairing mood. She administered the right medicine in reply, "I beg you will not make yourself uneasy though things do not succeed as you wish. If the engine will not do, something else will; never despair." Happy man whose wife is his best doctor. From the very summit of elation, to which he had been raised by the success of the model, Watt was suddenly cast down into the valley of despair to find that only half of his heavy task was done, and the hill of difficulty still loomed before. Reaction took place, and the fine brain, so long strained to utmost tension, refused at intervals to work at high pressure. He became subject to recurring fits of despondency, aggravated, if not primarily caused by anxiety for his family, who could not be maintained unless he engaged in work yielding prompt returns.

We may here mention one of his lifelong traits, which revealed itself at times. Watt was no man of affairs. Business was distasteful to him. As he once wrote his partner, Boulton, he "would rather face a loaded cannon than settle a disputed account or make a bargain." Monetary matters were his special aversion. For any other form of annoyance, danger or responsibility, he had the lion heart. Pecuniary responsibility was his bogey of the dark closet. He writes that, "Solomon said that in the increase of knowledge there is increase of sorrow: if he had substituted business for knowledge it would have been perfectly true."

Roebuck shines out brilliantly in this emergency. He was always sanguine, and encouraged Watt to go forward. October, 1768, he writes:

You are now letting the most active part of your life insensibly glide away. A day, a moment, ought not to be lost. And you should not suffer your thoughts to be diverted by any other object, or even improvement of this [model], but only the speediest and most effectual manner of executing an engine of a proper size, according to your present ideas.

Watt wrote Dr. Small in January, 1769, "I have much contrived and little executed. How much would good health and spirits be worth to me!" and a month later, "I am still plagued with headaches and sometimes heartaches." Sleepless nights now came upon him. All this time, however, he was absorbed in his one engrossing task. Leupold's "Theatrim Machinarum," which fell into his hands, gave an account of the machinery, furnaces and methods of mine-working in the upper Hartz. Alas! the book was in German, and he could not understand it. He promptly resolved to master the language, sought out a Swiss-German dyer then settled in Glasgow whom he engaged to give him lessons. So German and the German book were both mastered. Not bad work this from one in the depths of despair. It has been before noted that for the same end he had successfully mastered French and Italian. So in sickness as in health his demon steam pursued him, giving him no rest.

Watt had a hard piece of work in preparing his first patent-specification, which was all-important in those early days of patent "monopolies" as these were considered. Their validity often turned upon a word or two too much or too little. It was as dangerous to omit as to admit. Professionals agree in opinion that Watt here displayed extraordinary ability.

In nothing has public opinion more completely changed than in its attitude toward patents. In Watt's day, the inventor who applied for a patent was a would-be monopolist. The courts shared the popular belief. Lord Brougham vehemently remonstrated against this, declaring that the inventor was entitled to remuneration. Every point was construed against the unfortunate benefactor, as if he were a public enemy attempting to rob his fellows. To-day the inventor is hailed as the foremost of benefactors.

Notable indeed is it that on the very day Watt obtained his first patent, January 5th, 1769, Arkwright got his spinning-frame patent. Only the year before Hargreaves obtained his patent for the spinning-jenny. These are the two inventors, with Whitney, the American inventor of the cotton-gin, from whose brains came the development of the textile industry in which Britain still stands foremost. Fifty-six millions of spindles turn to-day in the little island—more than all the rest of the civilised world can boast. Much later came Stephenson with his locomotive. Here is a record for a quartette of manual laborers in the truest sense, actual wage-earners as mechanics—Watt, Stephenson, Arkwright, and Hargreaves! Where is that quartette to be equalled?

Workingmen of our day should ponder over this, and take to heart the truth that manual mechanical labor is the likeliest career to develop mechanical inventors and lead them to such distinction as these benefactors of man achieved. If disposed to mourn the lack of opportunity, they should think of these working-men, whose advantages were small compared to those of our day.

The greatest invention of all, the condenser, is fully covered by the first patent of 1769. The best engine up to this time was the Newcomen, exclusively used for pumping water. As we have seen, it was an atmospheric engine, in no sense a steam engine. Steam was only used to force the heavy piston upward, no other work being done by it. All the pumping was done on the downward stroke. The condensation of the spent steam below the piston created a vacuum, which only facilitated the fall of the piston. This caused the cylinder to be cooled between each stroke and led to the wastage of about four-fifths of all the steam used. It was to save this that the condenser was invented, in obedience to Watt's law, as stated in his patent, that "the cylinder should be kept always as hot as the steam that entered it"; but it must be kept clearly in mind that Watt's "modified machines," under his first patent, only used steam to do work upon the upward stroke, where Newcomen used it only to force up the piston. The double-acting engine—doing work up and down—came later, and was protected in the second patent of 1780.

Watt knew better than any that although his model had been successful and was far beyond the Newcomen engine, it was obvious that it could be improved in many respects—not the least of his reasons for confidence in its final and more complete triumph.

To these possible improvements, he devoted himself for years. The records once again remind us that it was not one invention, but many, that his task involved. Smiles gives the following epitome of some of those pressing at this stage:

Various trials of pipe-condensers, plate-condensers and drum-condensers, steam-jackets to prevent waste of heat, many trials of new methods to tighten the piston band, condenser pumps, oil pumps, gauge pumps, exhausting cylinders, loading-valves, double cylinders, beams and cranks—all these contrivances and others had to be thought out and tested elaborately amidst many failures and disappointments.

There were many others.

All unaided, this supreme toiler thus slowly and painfully evolved the steam engine after long years of constant labor and anxiety, bringing to the task a union of qualities and of powers of head and hand which no other man of his time—may we not venture to say of all time—was ever known to possess or ever exhibited.

When a noble lord confessed to him admiration for his noble achievements, Watt replied, "The public only look at my success and not at the intermediate failures and uncouth constructions which have served me as so many steps to climb to the top of the ladder."

Quite true, but also quite right. The public have no time to linger over a man's mistakes. What concerns is his triumphs. We "rise upon our dead selves (failures) to higher things," and mistakes, recognised as such in after days, make for victory. The man who never makes mistakes never makes anything. The only point the wise man guards is not to make the same mistake twice; the first time never counts with the successful man. He both forgives and forgets that. One difference between the wise man and the foolish one!

It has been truly said that Watt seemed to have divined all the possibilities of steam. We have a notable instance of this in a letter of this period (March, 1769) to his friend, Professor Small, in which he anticipated Trevithick's use of high-pressure steam in the locomotive. Watt said:

I intend in many cases to employ the expansive force of steam to press on the piston, or whatever is used instead of one, in the same manner as the weight of the atmosphere is now employed in common fire engines. In some cases I intend to use both the condenser and this force of steam, so that the powers of these engines will as much exceed those pressed only by the air, as the expansive power of the steam is greater than the weight of the atmosphere. In other cases, when plenty of cold water cannot be had, I intend to work the engines by the force of steam only, and to discharge it into the air by proper outlets after it has done its office.

In these days patents could be very easily blocked, as Watt experienced with his improved crank motion. He proceeded therefore in great secrecy to erect the first large engine under his patent, after he had successfully made a very small one for trial. An outhouse near one of Dr. Roebuck's pits was selected as away from prying eyes. The parts for the new engine were partly supplied from Watt's own works in Glasgow and partly from the Carron works. Here the old trouble, lack of competent mechanics, was again met with. On his return from necessary absences, the men were usually found in face of the unexpected and wondering what to do next. As the engine neared completion, Watt's anxiety "for his approaching doom," he writes, kept him from sleep, his fears being equal to his hopes. He was especially sensitive and discouraged by unforeseen expenditure, while his sanguine partner, Roebuck, on the contrary, continued hopeful and energetic, and often rallied his pessimistic partner on his propensity to look upon the dark side. He was one of those who adhered to the axiom, "Never bid the devil good-morning till you meet him." Smiles believes that it is probable that without Roebuck's support Watt could never have gone on, but that may well be doubted. His anxieties probably found a needed vent in their expression, and left the indomitable do-or-die spirit in all its power. Watt's brain, working at high pressure, needed a safety valve. Mrs. Roebuck, wife-like, very properly entertained the usual opinion of devoted wives, that her husband was really the essential man upon whom the work devolved, and, that without him nothing could have been accomplished. Smiles probably founded his remark upon her words to Robison: "Jamie (Watt) is a queer lad, and, without the Doctor (her husband), his invention would have been lost. He won't let it perish." The writer knows of a business organisation in which fond wives of the partners were all full of dear Mrs. Roebuck's opinion. At one time, according to them, the sole responsibility rested upon three of four of these marvellous husbands, and never did any of the confiding consorts ever have reason to feel that their friend did not share to the fullest extent the highly praiseworthy opinion formed of his partners by their loving wives. The rising smile was charitably suppressed. In extreme cases a suggested excursion to Europe at the company's expense, to relieve Chester from the cruel strain, and enable him to receive the benefit of a wife's care and ever needful advice, was remarkably effective, the wife's fears that Chester's absence would prove ruinous to the business being overcome at last, though with difficulty.

Due allowance must be made for Mrs. Roebuck's view of the situation. There can be no doubt whatever, that Mr. Roebuck's influence, hopefulness and courage were of inestimable value at this period to the over-wrought and anxious inventor. Watt was not made of malleable stuff, and, besides, he was tied to his mission. He was bound to obey his genius.

The monster new engine, upon which so much depended, was ready for trial at last in September, 1769. About six months had been spent in its construction. Its success was indifferent. Watt had declared it to be a "clumsy job." The new pipe-condenser did not work well, the cylinder was almost useless, having been badly cast, and the old difficulty in keeping the piston-packing tight remained. Many things were tried for packing—cork, oiled rags, old hats (felt probably), paper, horse dung, etc., etc. Still the steam escaped, even after a thorough overhauling. The second experiment also failed. So great is the gap between the small toy model and the practical work-performing giant, a rock upon which many sanguine theoretical inventors have been wrecked! Had Watt been one of that class, he could never have succeeded. Here we have another proof of the soundness of the contention that Watt, the mechanic, was almost as important as Watt the inventor.

Watt remained as certain as ever of the soundness of his inventions. Nothing could shake his belief that he had discovered the true scientific mode of utilising steam. His failures lay in the impossibility of finding mechanics capable of accurate workmanship. There were none such at Carron, nor did he then know of any elsewhere.

Watt's letter to his friend, Dr. Small, at this juncture, is interesting. He writes:

You cannot conceive how mortified I am with this disappointment. It is a damned thing for a man to have his all hanging by a single string. If I had wherewithal to pay the loss, I don't think I should so much fear a failure; but I cannot bear the thought of other people becoming losers by my schemes; and I have the happy disposition of always painting the worst.

Watt's timidity and fear of money matters generally have been already noted. He had the Scotch peasant's horror of debt—anything but that. This probably arises from the fact that the trifling sums owing by the poor to their poor neighbors who have kindly helped them in distress are actually needed by these generous friends for comfortable existence. The loss is serious, and this cuts deeply into grateful hearts. The millionaire's downfall, with large sums owing to banks, rich money-lenders, and wealthy manufacturers, really amounts to little. No one actually suffers, since imprisonment for debt no longer exists; hence "debt" means little to the great operator, who neither suffers want himself by failure nor entails it upon others.

To Watt, pressing pecuniary cares were never absent, and debt added to these made him the most afflicted of men. Besides this, he says, he had been cheated and was "unlucky enough to know." Wise man! ignorance in such cases is indeed bliss. We should almost be content to be cheated as long as we do not find it out.

It was at such a crisis as this that another cloud, and a dark one, came. The sanguine, enterprising, kindly Roebuck was in financial straits. His pits had been much troubled by water, which no existing machinery could pump out. He had hoped that the new engine would prove successful and sufficiently powerful in time to avert the drowning of the pits, but this hope had failed. His embarrassments were so pressing that he was unable to pay the cost of the engine patent, according to agreement, and Watt had to borrow the money for this from that never-failing friend, Professor Black. Long may his memory be gratefully remembered. Watt had the delightful qualities which attracted friends, and those of the highest and best character, but among them all, though more than one might have been willing, none were both able and willing to sustain him in days of trouble except the famous discoverer of latent heat. When we think of Watt, we picture him holding Black by the one hand and Small by the other, repeating to them

"I think myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul remembering my dear friends."

The patent was secured—so much to the good—but Watt had already spent too much time upon profitless work, at least more time than he could afford. His duty to provide for the frugal wants of his family became imperative. "I had," he said, "a wife and children, and I saw myself growing gray without having any settled way of providing for them." He turned again to surveying and prospered, for few such men as Watt were to be found in those days, or in any day. With a record of Watt's work as surveyor, engineer, councillor, etc., our readers need not be troubled in detail. It should, however, be recorded that the chief canal schemes in Scotland in this, the day of canals for internal commerce, preceding the day of railroads that was to come, were entrusted to Watt, who continued to act as engineer for the Monkland Canal. While Watt was acting as engineer for this (1770-72), Dr. Small wrote him that he and Boulton had been talking of moving canal boats by the steam engine on the high-pressure principle. In his reply, September 30, 1770, Watt asks, "Have you ever considered a spiral oar for that purpose, or are you for two wheels?" To make his meaning quite plain, he gives a rough sketch of the screw propeller, with four turns as used to-day.

Thus the idea of the screw propeller to be worked by his own improved engine was propounded by Watt one hundred and thirty-five years ago.

This is a remarkable letter, and a still more remarkable sketch, and adds another to the many true forecasts of future development made by this teeming brain.

Watt also made a survey of the Clyde, and reported upon its proposed deepening. His suggestions remained unacted upon for several years, when the work was begun, and is not ended even in our day, of making a trout and salmon stream into one of the busiest, navigable highways of the world. This year further improvements have been decided upon, so that the monsters of our day, with 16,000-horse-power turbine engines, may be built near Glasgow. Watt also made surveys for a canal between Perth and Coupar Angus, for the well-known Crinan Canal and other projects in the Western Highlands, as also for the great Caledonian and the Forth and Clyde Canals.

The Perth Canal was forty miles long through a rough country, and took forty-three days, for which Watt's fee, including expenses, was $400. Labor, even of the highest kind, was cheap in those times. We note his getting thirty-seven dollars for plans of a bridge over the Clyde. Watt prepared plans for docks and piers at Port Glasgow and for a new harbor at Ayr. His last and most important engineering work in Scotland was the survey of the Caledonian Canal, made in the autumn of 1773, through a district then without roads. "An incessant rain kept me," he writes, "for three days as wet as water could make me. I could scarcely preserve my journal book."

Suffice it to note that he saved enough money to be able to write, "Supposing the engine to stand good for itself, I am able to pay all my debts and some little thing more, so that I hope in time to be on a par with the world."

We are now to make one of the saddest announcements saving dishonor that it falls to man to make. Watt's wife died in childbed in his absence. He was called home from surveying the Caledonian Canal. Upon arrival, he stands paralysed for a time at the door, unable to summon strength to enter the ruined home. At last the door opens and closes and we close our eyes upon the scene—no words here that would not be an offence. The rest is silence.

Watt tried to play the man, but he would have been less than man if the ruin of his home had not made him a changed man. The recovery of mental equipoise proved for a time quite beyond his power. He could do all that man could do, "who could do more is none." The light of his life had gone out.

CHAPTER V

Boulton Partnership

After Watt was restored to himself the first subject which we find attracting him was the misfortunes of Roebuck, whose affairs were now in the hands of his creditors. "My heart bleeds for him," says Watt, "but I can do nothing to help him. I have stuck by him, indeed, until I have hurt myself." Roebuck's affairs were far too vast to be affected by all that Watt had or could have borrowed. For the thousand pounds Watt had paid on Roebuck's account to secure the patent, he was still in debt to Black. This was subsequently paid, however, with interest, when Watt became prosperous.

We now bid farewell to Roebuck with genuine regret. He had proved himself a fine character throughout, just the kind of partner Watt needed. It was a great pity that he had to relinquish his interest in the patent, when, as we shall see, it would soon have saved him from bankruptcy and secured him a handsome competence. He must ever rank as one of the men almost indispensable to Watt in the development of his engine, and a dear, true friend.

The darkest hour comes before the dawn, and so it proved here. As Roebuck retired, there appeared a star of hope of the first magnitude, in no less a person than the celebrated Matthew Boulton of Birmingham, of whom we must say a few words by way of introduction to our readers, for in all the world there was not his equal as a partner for Watt, who was ever fortunate in his friends. Of course Watt was sure to have friends, for he was through and through the devoted friend himself, and won the hearts of those worth winning. "If you wish to make a friend, be one," is the sure recipe.

Boulton was not only obviously the right man but he came from the right place, for Birmingham was the headquarters of mechanical industry. At this time, 1776, there was at last a good road to London. As late as 1747 the coach was advertised to run there in two days only "if the roads permit."

If skilled mechanics, Watt's greatest need, were to be found anywhere, it was here in the centre of mechanical skill, and especially was it in the celebrated works of Boulton, which had been bequeathed from worthy sire to worthy son, to be largely extended and more than ever preëminent.

Boulton left school early to engage in his father's business. When only seventeen years old, he had made several improvements in the manufacture of buttons, watch chains, and various trinkets, and had invented the inlaid steel buckles, which became so fashionable. It is stated that in that early day it was found necessary to export them in large quantities to France to be returned and sold in Britain as the latest productions of French skill and taste. It is well to get a glimpse of human nature as seen here. Fashion decides for a time with supreme indifference to quality. It is a question of the name.

At his father's death, the son inherited the business. Great credit belongs to him for unceasingly laboring to improve the quality of his products and especially to raise the artistic standard, then so low as to have already caused "Brummagem" to become a term of reproach. He not only selected the cleverest artisans, but he employed the best artists, Flaxman being one, to design the artistic articles produced. The natural result followed. Boulton's work soon gained high reputation. New and larger factories became necessary, and the celebrated Soho works arose in 1762. The spirit in which Boulton pursued business is revealed in a letter to his partner at Soho from London. "The prejudice that Birmingham hath so justly established against itself makes every fault conspicuous in all articles that have the least pretensions to taste." It may interest American readers familiar with One Dollar watches, rendered possible by production upon a large scale, that it was one of Boulton's leading ideas in that early day that articles in common use could be produced much better and cheaper "if manufactured by the help of the best machinery upon a large scale, and this could be successfully done in the making of clocks and timepieces." He promptly erected the machinery and started this new branch of business. Both King and Queen received him cordially and became his patrons. Soho works soon became famous and one of the show places of the country; princes, philosophers, poets, authors and merchants from foreign lands visited them and were hospitably received by Boulton.

He was besieged with requests to take gentlemen apprentices into the works, hundreds of pounds sometimes being offered as premium, but he resolutely declined, preferring to employ boys whom he could train up as workmen. He replies to a gentleman applicant, "I have built and furnished a house for the reception of one class of apprentices—fatherless children, parish apprentices, and hospital boys; and gentlemen's sons would probably find themselves out of place in such companionship."

It is not to be inferred that Boulton grew up an uncultured man because he left school very early. On the contrary, he steadily educated himself, devoting much time to study, so that with his good looks, handsome presence, the manners of the gentleman born, and knowledge much beyond the average of that class, he had little difficulty in winning for his wife a lady of such position in the county as led to some opposition on the part of members of her family to the suitor, but only "on account of his being in trade." There exists no survival of this objection in these days of American alliances with heirs of the highest British titles. We seem now to have as its substitute the condition that the father of the bride must be in trade and that heavily and to some purpose.

Boulton, like most busy men, had time, and an open mind, for new ideas. None at this time interested him so deeply as that of the steam engine. Want of water-power proved a serious difficulty at Soho. He wrote to a friend, "The enormous expense of the horse-power" (it was also irregular and sometimes failed) "put me upon thinking of turning the mill by fire. I made many fruitless experiments on the subject."

Boulton wrote Franklin, February 22, 1766, in London, about this, and sent a model he had made. Franklin replies a month later, apologising for the delay on account of "the hurry and anxiety I have been engaged in with our American affairs."[1]

Tamer of lightning and tamer of steam, Franklin and Watt—one of the new, the other of the old branch of our English-speaking race—co-operating in enlarging the powers of man and pushing forward the chariot of progress—fit subject, this, for the sculptor and painter!

How much further the steam engine is to be the hand-maid of electricity cannot be told, for it seems impossible to set limits to the future conquests of the latter, which is probably destined to perform miracles un-dreamt of to-day, perhaps coupled in some unthought-of way, with radium, the youngest sprite of the weird, uncanny tribe of mysterious agents. Uranium, the supposed basis of the latest discovery, Radium, has only one-millionth part of the heat of the latter. The slow-moving earth takes twenty-four hours to turn upon its axis. Radium covers an equal distance while we pronounce its name. One and one-quarter seconds, and twenty-five thousand miles are traversed. Puck promises to put his "girdle round the earth in forty minutes." Radium would pass the fairy girdlist in the spin round sixteen hundred times. Thus truth, as it is being evolved in our day, becomes stranger than the wildest imaginings of fiction. Our century seems on the threshold of discoveries and advances, not less revolutionary, perhaps more so, than those that have sprung from steam and electricity. "Canst thou send lightnings to say 'Lo, here I am'?" silenced man. It was so obviously beyond his power until last century. Now he smiles as he reads the question. Is Tyndal's prophecy to be verified that "the potency of all things is yet to be found in matter"?

We may be sure the searching, restless brains of Franklin and Watt would have been meditating upon strange things these days if they were now alive.

Boulton is entitled to rank, so far as the writer knows, as the first man in the world worthy to wear Carlyle's now somewhat familiar title, "Captain of Industry" for he was in his day foremost in the industrial field, and before that, industrial organisations had not developed far enough to create or require captains, in Carlyle's sense.

Roebuck, while Watt's partner, was one of Boulton's correspondents, and told him of Watt's progress with the model engine which proved so successful. Boulton was deeply interested, and expressed a desire that Watt should visit him at Soho. This he did, on his return from a visit to London concerning the patent. Boulton was not at home, but his intimate friend, Dr. Small, then residing at Birmingham, a scientist and philosopher, whom Franklin had recommended to Boulton, took Watt in charge. Watt was amazed at what he saw, for this was his first meeting with trained and skilled mechanics, the lack of whom had made his life miserable. The precision of both tools and workmen sank deep. Upon a subsequent visit, he met the captain himself, his future partner, and of course, as like draws to like, they drew to each other, a case of mutual liking at first sight. We meet one stranger, and stranger he remains to the end of the chapter. We meet another, and ere we part he is a kindred soul. Magnetic attraction is sudden. So with these two, who, by a kind of free-masonry, knew that each had met his affinity. The Watt engine was exhaustively canvassed and its inventor was delighted that the great, sagacious, prudent and practical manufacturer should predict its success as he did. Shortly after this, Professor Robison visited Soho, which was a magnet that attracted the scientists in those days. Boulton told him that he had stopped work upon his proposed pumping engine. "I would necessarily avail myself of what I learned from Mr. Watt's conversation, and this would not be right without his consent."

It is such a delicate sense of honor as is here displayed that marks the man, and finally makes his influence over others commanding in business. It is not sharp practice and smart bargaining that tell. On the contrary, there is no occupation in which not only fair but liberal dealing brings greater reward. The best bargain is that good for both parties. Boulton and Watt were friends. That much was settled. They had business transactions later, for we find Watt sending a package containing "one dozen German flutes" (made of course by him in Glasgow), "at 5s. each, and a copper digester, £1:10." Boulton's people probably wished samples.

Much correspondence followed between Dr. Small and Watt, the latter constantly expressing the wish that Mr. Boulton could be induced to become partner with himself and Roebuck in his patents. Naturally the sagacious manufacturer was disinclined to associate himself with Mr. Roebuck, then in financial straits, but the position changed when he had become bankrupt and affairs were in the hands of creditors. Watt therefore renewed the subject and agreed to go and settle in Birmingham, as he had been urged to do. Roebuck's pitiable condition he keenly felt, and had done everything possible to ameliorate.

What little I can do for him is purchased by denying myself the conveniences of life my station requires, or by remaining in debt, which it galls me to the bone to owe. I shall be content to hold a very small share in the partnership, or none at all, provided I am to be freed from my pecuniary obligations to Roebuck and have any kind of recompense for even a part of the anxiety and ruin it has involved me in.

Thus wrote Watt to his friend Small, August 30, 1772. Small's reply pointed out one difficulty which deserves notice and commendation. "It is impossible for Mr. Boulton and me, or any other honest man, to purchase, especially from two particular friends, what has no market price, and at a time when they might be inclined to part with the commodity at an under value." This is an objection which to stock-exchange standards may seem "not well taken," and far too fantastical for the speculative domain, and yet it is neither surprising nor unusual in the realms of genuine business, in which men are concerned with or creating only intrinsic values.

The result so ardently desired by Watt was reached in this unexpected fashion. It was found that in the ordinary course of business Roebuck owed Boulton a balance of $6,000. Boulton agreed to take the Roebuck interest in the Watt patent for the debt. As the creditors considered the patent interest worthless, they gladly accepted. As Watt said, "it was only paying one bad debt with another."

Boulton asked Watt to act as his attorney in the matter, which he did, writing Boulton that "the thing is now a shadow; 'tis merely ideal, and will cost time and money to realise it." This as late as March 29, 1773, after eight years of constant experimentation, with many failures and disappointments, since the discovery of the separate condenser in 1765, which was then hailed, and rightly so, as the one thing needed. It remained the right and only foundation upon which to develop the steam engine, but many minor obstacles intervened, requiring Watt's inventive and mechanical genius to overcome.

The transfer of Roebuck's two-third interest to Boulton afterward carried with it the formation of the celebrated firm of Boulton and Watt. The latter arranged his affairs as quickly as possible. He had only made $1,000 for a whole year spent in surveying, and part of that he gave to Roebuck in his necessity, "so that I can barely support myself and keep untouched the small sum I have allotted for my visit to you." (Watt to Small, July 25, 1773). This is pitiable indeed—Watt pressed for money to pay his way to Birmingham upon important business.

The trial engine was shipped from Kinneil to Soho and Watt arrived in May, 1774, in Birmingham. Here a new life opened before him, still enveloped in clouds, but we may please ourselves by believing that through these the wearied and harassed inventor did not fail to catch alluring visions of the sun. Let us hope he remembered the words of the beautiful hymn he had no doubt often sung in his youth:

"Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
With blessings on your head."

Partnership requires not duplicates, but opposites—a union of different qualities. He who proves indispensable as a partner to one man might be wholly useless, or even injurious, to another. Generals Grant and Sherman needed very different chiefs of staff. One secret of Napoleon's success arose from his being free to make his own appointments, choosing the men who had the qualities which supplemented his and cured his own shortcomings, for every man has shortcomings. The universal genius who can manage all himself has yet to appear. Only one with the genius to recognise others of different genius and harness them to his own car can approach the "universal." It is a case of different but coöperating abilities, each part of the complicated machine fitting into its right place, and there performing its duty without jarring.

Never were two men more "supplementary" to each other than Boulton and Watt, and hence their success. One possessed in perfection the qualities the other lacked. Smiles sums this up so finely that we must quote him:

Different though their characters were in most respects, Boulton at once conceived a hearty liking for him. The one displayed in perfection precisely those qualities which the other wanted. Boulton was a man of ardent and generous temperament, bold and enterprising, undaunted by difficulty, and possessing an almost boundless capacity for work. He was a man of great tact, clear perception, and sound judgment. Moreover, he possessed that indispensable quality of perseverance, without which the best talents are of comparatively little avail in the conduct of important affairs. While Watt hated business, Boulton loved it. He had, indeed, a genius for business—a gift almost as rare as that for poetry, for art, or for war. He possessed a marvellous power of organisation. With a keen eye for details, he combined a comprehensive grasp of intellect. While his senses were so acute, that when sitting in his office at Soho he could detect the slightest stoppage or derangement in the machinery of that vast establishment, and send his message direct to the spot where it had occurred, his power of imagination was such as enabled him to look clearly along extensive lines of possible action in Europe, America, and the East. For there is a poetic as well as a commonplace side to business; and the man of business genius lights up the humdrum routine of daily life by exploring the boundless region of possibility wherever it may lie open before him.

This tells the whole story, and once again reminds us that without imagination and something of the romantic element, little great or valuable is to be done in any field. He "runs his business as if it were a romance," was said upon one occasion. The man who finds no element of romance in his occupation is to be pitied. We know how radically different Watt was in his nature to Boulton, whose judgment of men was said to be almost unerring. He recognised in Watt at their first interview, not only the original inventive genius, but the indefatigable, earnest, plodding and thorough mechanic of tenacious grip, and withal a fine, modest, true man, who hated bargaining and all business affairs, who cared nothing for wealth beyond a very modest provision for old age, and who was only happy if so situated that without anxiety for money to supply frugal wants, he could devote his life to the development of the steam engine. Thus auspiciously started the new firm.

But Boulton was more than a man of business, continues Smiles; he was a man of culture, and the friend of educated men. His hospitable mansion at Soho was the resort of persons eminent in art, in literature, and in science; and the love and admiration with which he inspired such men affords one of the best proofs of his own elevation of character. Among the most intimate of his friends and associates were Richard Lovell Edgeworth, a gentleman of fortune, enthusiastically devoted to his long-conceived design of moving land-carriages by steam; Captain Keir, an excellent practical chemist, a wit and a man of learning; Dr. Small, the accomplished physician, chemist and mechanist; Josiah Wedgwood, the practical philosopher and manufacturer, founder of a new and important branch of skilled industry; Thomas Day, the ingenious author of "Sandford and Merton"; Dr. Darwin, the poet-physician; Dr. Withering, the botanist; besides others who afterward joined the Soho circle, not the least distinguished of whom were Joseph Priestley and James Watt.

The first business in hand was the reconstruction of the engine brought from Kinneil, which upon trial performed much better than before, wholly on account of the better workmanship attainable at Soho; but there still recurs the unceasing complaint that runs throughout the long eight years of trial—lack of accurate tools and skilled workmen, the difference in accuracy between the blacksmith standard and that of the mathematical-instrument maker. Watt and Boulton alike agreed that the inventions were scientifically correct and needed only proper construction. In our day it is not easy to see the apparently insuperable difficulty of making anything to scale and perfectly accurate, but we forget what the world of Watt was and how far we have advanced since.

Watt wrote to his father at Greenock, November, 1774: "The business I am here about has turned out rather successful; that is to say, the fire-engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than any other that has yet been made." This is as is usual with the Scotch in speech, in a low key and extremely modest, on a par with the verdict rendered by the Dunfermline critic who had ventured to attend "the playhouse" in Edinburgh to see Garrick in Hamlet—"no bad." The truth was that, so pronounced were the results of proper workmanship, coupled with some of those improvements which Watt was constantly devising, the engine was so satisfactory as to set both Boulton and Watt to thinking about the patent which protected the invention. Six of the fourteen years for which it was granted had already passed. Some years would still be needed to ensure its general use, and it was feared that before the patent expired little return might be received. Much interest was aroused by the successful trial. Enquiries began to pour in for pumping engines for mines. The Newcomen had proved inadequate to work the mines as they became deeper, and many were being abandoned in consequence. The necessity for a new power had set many ingenious men to work besides Watt, and some of these were trying to adopt Watt's principles while avoiding his patent. Hatley, one of Watt's workmen upon the trial engine at the Carron works, had stolen and sold the drawings.

All this put Boulton and Watt on their guard, and the former hesitated to build the new works intended for the manufacture of steam engines upon a large scale with improved machinery. An extension of the patent seemed essential, and to secure this Watt proceeded to London and spent some time there, busy in his spare moments visiting the mathematical instrument shops of his youth, and attending to numerous commissions from Boulton. A second visit was paid to London, during which the sad intelligence of the death of his dear friend, Dr. Small, reached him. In the bitterness of his grief, Boulton writes him: "If there were not a few other objects yet remaining for me to settle my affections upon, I should wish also to take up my abode in the mansions of the dead." Watt's sympathetic reply reminds Boulton of the sentiments held by their departed friend—that, instead of indulging in unavailing sorrow, the best refuge is the more sedulous performance of duties. "Come, my dear sir," he writes, "and immerse yourself in this sea of business as soon as possible. Pay a proper respect to your friend by obeying his precepts. No endeavour of mine shall be wanting to make life agreeable to you."

Beautiful partnership this, not only of business, but also entering into the soul close and deep, comprehending all of life and all we know of death.

Professor Small, born 1734, was a Scot, who went to Williamsburg University, Virginia, as Professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. Thomas Jefferson was among his pupils. His health suffered, and he returned to the old home. Franklin introduced him to Boulton, writing (May 22, 1765):

I beg leave to introduce my friend Doctor Small to your acquaintance, and to recommend him to your civilities. I would not take this freedom if I were not sure it would be agreeable to you; and that you will thank me for adding to the number of those who from their knowledge of you must respect you, one who is both an ingenious philosopher and a most worthy, honest man. If anything new in magnetism or electricity, or any other branch of natural knowledge, has occurred to your fruitful genius since I last had the pleasure of seeing you, you will by communicating it greatly oblige me.

This man must have been one of the finest characters revealed in Watt's life. Altho he left little behind him to ensure permanent remembrance, the extraordinary tributes paid his memory by friends establish his right to high rank among the coterie of eminent men who surrounded Watt and Boulton. Boulton records that "there being nothing which I wish to fix in my mind so permanently as the remembrance of my dear departed friend, I did not delay to erect a memorial in the prettiest but most obscure part of my garden, from which you see the church in which he was interred." Dr. Darwin contributed the verses inscribed. Upon hearing of Small's illness Day hastened from Brussels to be present at the last hour.

Keir writes, announcing Small's death to his brother, the Rev. Robert Small, in Dundee, "It is needless to say how universally he is lamented; for no man ever enjoyed or deserved more the esteem of mankind. We loved him with the tenderest affection and shall ever revere his memory."

Watt's voluminous correspondence with Professor Small, previous to his partnership with Boulton, proves Small at that time to have been his intimate friend and counsellor. We scarcely know in all literature of a closer union between two men. Many verses of Tennyson's Memorial to Hallam could be appropriately applied to their friendship. Watt did not apparently give way to lamentations as Boulton and others did who were present at Small's death, probably because the receipt of Boulton's heart-breaking letter impressed Watt with the need of assuming the part of comforter to his partner, who was face to face with death, and had to bear the direct blow. Watt's tribute to his dear friend came later.

Future operations necessarily depended upon the extension of the patent. Boulton, of course, could not proceed with the works. There was as yet no agreement between Watt and Boulton beyond joint ownership in the patent. At this time, Watt's most intimate friend of youthful years in Glasgow University, Professor Robison, was Professor of mathematics in the Government Naval School, Kronstadt. He secured for Watt an appointment at $5,000 per annum, a fortune to the poor inventor; but although this would have relieved him from dependence upon Boulton, and meant future affluence, he declined, alleging that "Boulton's favours were so gracefully conferred that dependence on him was not felt." He made Watt feel "that the obligation was entirely upon the side of the giver." Truly we must canonise Boulton. He was not only the first "Captain of Industry," but also a model for all others to follow.

The bill extending the patent was introduced in Parliament February, 1775. Opposition soon developed. The mining interest was in serious trouble owing to the deepening of the mines and the unbearable expense of pumping the water. They had looked forward to the Watt engine soon to be free of patent rights to relieve them. "No monopoly," was their cry, nor were they without strong support, for Edmund Burke pleaded the cause of his mining constituents near Bristol.[2]

We need not follow the discussion that ensued upon the propriety of granting the patent extension. Suffice to say it was finally granted for a term of twenty-four years, and the path was clear at last. Britain was to have probably for the first time great works and new tools specially designed for a specialty to be produced upon a large scale. Boulton had arranged to pay Roebuck $5,000 out of the first profits from the patent in addition to the $6,000 of debt cancelled. He now anticipated payment of the thousand, at the urgent request of Roebuck's assignees, giving in so doing pretty good evidence of his faith in prompt returns from the engines, for which orders came pouring in. New mechanical facilities followed, as well as a supply of skilled mechanics.

The celebrated Wilkinson now appears upon the scene, first builder of iron boats, and a leading iron-founder of his day, an original Captain of Industry of the embryonic type, who began working in a forge for three dollars a week. He cast a cylinder eighteen inches in diameter, and invented a boring machine which bored it accurately, thus remedying one of Watt's principal difficulties. This cylinder was substituted for the tin-lined cylinder of the triumphant Kinneil engine. Satisfactory as were the results of the engine before, the new cylinder improved upon these greatly. Thus Wilkinson was pioneer in iron ships, and also in ordering the first engine built at Soho—truly an enterprising man. Great pains were taken by Watt that this should be perfect, as so much depended upon a successful start. Many concerns suspended work upon Newcomen engines, countermanded orders, or refrained from placing them, awaiting anxiously the performance of this heralded wonder, the Watt engine. As it approached completion, Watt became impatient to test its powers, but the prudent, calm Boulton insisted that not one stroke be made until every possible hindrance to successful working had been removed. He adds, "then, in the name of God, fall to and do your best." Admirable order of battle! It was "Be sure you're right, then go ahead," in the vernacular. Watt acted upon this, and when the trial came the engines worked "to the admiration of all." The news of this spread rapidly. Enquiries and orders for engines began to flow in. No wonder when we read that of thirty engines of former makers in one coal-mining district only eighteen were at work. The others had failed. Boulton wrote Watt to

tell Wilkinson to get a dozen cylinders cast and bored ... I have fixed my mind upon making from twelve to fifteen reciprocating engines and fifty rotative engines per annum. Of all the toys and trinkets we manufacture at Soho, none shall take the place of fire-engines in respect of my attention.

The captain was on deck, evidently. Sixty-five engines per year—prodigious for these days—nothing like this was ever heard of before. Two thousand per year is the record of one firm in Philadelphia to-day, but let us boast not. Perhaps one hundred and twenty-nine years hence will have as great a contrast to show. The day of small factories, as of small nations, is past. Increasing magnitude, to which it is hard to set a limit, is the order of the day.

So far all was well, the heavy clouds that had so long hovered menacingly over Boulton and Watt had been displaced once more by clear skies. But no new machinery or new manufacturing business starts without accidents, delays and unexpected difficulties. There was necessarily a long period of trial and disappointment for which the sanguine partners were not prepared. As before, the chief trouble lay in the lack of skilled workmen, for although the few original men in Soho were remarkably efficient, the increased demand for engines had compelled the employment of many new hands, and the work they could perform was sadly defective. Till this time, it is to be remembered there had been neither slide lathes, planing machines, boring tools, nor any of the many other devices which now ensure accuracy. All depended upon the mechanics' eye and hand, if mechanics they could be called. Most of the new hands were inexpert and much given to drink. Specialisation had to be resorted to—one thing for each workman, in the fashioning of which practice made perfect. This system was introduced with success, but the training of the men took time. Meanwhile work already turned out and that in progress was not up to standard, and this caused infinite trouble. One very important engine was "The Bow" for London, which was shipped in September. The best of the experts, Joseph Harrison, was sent to superintend its erection. Verbal instructions Watt would not depend upon; Harrison was supplied in writing with detailed particulars covering every possible contingency. Constant communication between them was kept up by letter, for the engine did not work satisfactorily, and finally Watt himself proceeded to London in November and succeeded in overcoming the defects. Harrison's anxieties disabled him, and Boulton wrote to Dr. Fordyce, a celebrated doctor of that day, telling him to take good care of Harrison, "let the expense be what it will." Watt writes Boulton that Harrison must not leave London, as "a relapse of the engine would ruin our reputation here and elsewhere." The Bow engine had a relapse, however, which happened in this way. Smeaton, then the greatest of the engineers, requested Boulton's London agent to take him to see the new engine. He carefully examined it, called it a "very pretty engine," but thought it too complicated a piece of machinery for practical use. There was apparently much to be said for this opinion, for we clearly see that Watt was far in advance of his day in mechanical requirements. Hence his serious difficulties in the construction of the complex engine, and in finding men capable of doing the delicately accurate work which was absolutely indispensable for successful working.

Before leaving, Smeaton made the engineer a gift of money, which he spent in drink. The drunken engineman let the engine run wild, and it was thrown completely out of order. The valves—the part of the complicated machine that required the most careful treatment—were broken. He was dismissed, and, repairs being made, the engine worked satisfactorily at last. In Watt's life, we meet drunkenness often as a curse of the time. We have the satisfaction of knowing that our day is much freer from it. We have certainly advanced in the cure of this evil, for our working-men may now be regarded as on the whole a steady sober class, especially in America, where intemperance has not to be reckoned with.

We see the difference between the reconstructed Kinneil engine where Boulton's "mathematical instrument maker's" standard of workmanship was possible "because his few trained men capable of such work were employed." The Kinneil engine, complicated as it was in its parts, being thus accurately reconstructed, did the work expected and more. The Bow engines and some others of the later period, constructed by ordinary workmen capable only of the "blacksmith's" standard of finish, proved sources of infinite trouble.

Watt had several cases of this kind to engross his attention, all traceable to the one root, lack of the skilled, sober workmen, and the tools of precision which his complex (for his day, very complex) steam engine required. The truth is that Watt's engine in one sense was born before its time. Our class of instrument-making mechanics and several new tools should have preceded it; then, the science of the invention being sound, its construction would have been easy. The partners continued working in the right direction and in the right way to create these needful additions and were finally successful, but they found that success brought another source of annoyance. Escaping Scylla they struck Charybdis. So high did the reputation of their chief workmen rise, that they were early sought after and tempted to leave their positions. Even the two trained fitters sent to London to cure the Bow engine we have just spoken of were offered strong inducements to take positions in Russia. Watt writes Boulton, May 3, 1777, that he had just heard a great secret to the effect that Carless and Webb were probably going beyond sea, $5,000 per year having been offered for six years. They were promptly ordered home to Soho and warrants obtained for those who had attempted to induce them to abscond (strange laws these days!), "even though Carless be a drunken and comparatively useless fellow." Consider Watt's task, compelled to attempt the production of his new engines, complicated beyond the highest existing standard, without proper tools and with such workmen as Carless, whom he was glad to get and determined to keep, drunken and useless as he was.

French agents appeared and tried to bribe some of the men to go to Paris and communicate Watt's plans to the contractor who had undertaken to pump water from the Seine for the supply of Paris. The German states sent emissaries for a similar purpose, and Baron Stein was specially ordered by his government to master the secret of the Watt engine, to obtain working plans, and bring away workmen capable of constructing it, the first step taken being to obtain access to the engine-rooms by bribing the workmen. All this is so positively stated by Smiles that we must assume that he quotes from authentic records. It is clear at all events that the attention of other nations was keenly drawn to the advent of an agency that promised to revolutionise existing conditions. Watt himself, at a critical part of his career (1773), as we have seen, had been tempted to accept an offer to enter the imperial service of Russia, carrying the then munificent salary of $5,000 per annum. Boulton wrote him: "Your going to Russia staggers me.... I wish to advise you for the best without regard to self, but I find I love myself so well that I should be very sorry to have you go, and I begin to repent sounding your trumpet at the Ambassador's."

The imperial family of Russia were then much interested in the Soho works. The empress stayed for some time at Boulton's house, "and a charming woman she is," writes her host. Here is a glimpse of imperial activity and wise attention to what was going on in other lands which it was most desirous to transplant to their own. The emperor, and no less his wife, evidently kept their eyes open during their travels abroad. Imperial progresses we fear are seldom devoted to such practical ends, although the present king of Britain and his nephew the German emperor would not be blind to such things. It is a strange coincidence that the successor of this emperor, Tsar Nicholas, when grand duke, should have been denied admission to Soho works. Not that he was personally objected to, but that certain people of his suite might not be disinclined to take advantage of any new processes discovered. So jealously were improvements guarded in these days.

Another source of care to the troubled Watt lay here. Naturally, only a few such men had been developed as could be entrusted to go to distant parts in charge of fellow-workmen and erect the finished engines. A union of many qualities was necessary here. Managers of erection had to be managers of men, by far the most complicated and delicate of all machinery, exceeding even the Watt engine in complexity. When the rare man was revealed, and the engine under his direction had proved itself the giant it was reputed, ensuring profitable return upon capital invested in works hitherto unproductive, as it often did, the sagacious owner would not readily consent to let the engineer leave. He could well afford to offer salary beyond the dreams of the worker, to a rider who knew his horse and to whom the horse took so kindly. The engineer loved his engine, the engine which he had seen grow in the shop under his direction and which he had wholly erected.

McAndrew's Song of Steam tells the story of the engineer's devotion to his engine, a song which only Kipling in our day could sing. The Scotch blood of the MacDonalds was needed for that gem; Kipling fortunately has it pure from his mother. McAndrew is homeward bound patting his mighty engine as she whirls, and crooning over his tale:

That minds me of our Viscount loon—Sir Kenneth's kin—the chap
Wi' Russia leather tennis-shoon an' spar-decked yachtin'-cap.
I showed him round last week, o'er all—an' at the last says he:
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit! I'd been doon that morn to see what ailed the throws,
Manholin', on my back—the cranks three inches off my nose.
Romance! Those first-class passengers they like it very well,
Printed an' bound in little books; but why don't poets tell?
I'm sick of all their quirks an' turns—the loves and doves they dream—
Lord, send a man like Robbie Burns to sing the Song o' Steam!
To match wi' Scotia's noblest speech yon orchestra sublime,
Whaurto—uplifted like the Just—the tail-rods mark the time.
The crank-throws give the double-bass, the feed-pump sobs an' heaves,
An' now the main eccentrics start their quarrel on the sheaves:
Her time, her own appointed time, the rocking link-head bides,
Till—hear that note?—the rod's return whings glimmerin' through the guides.
They're all awa'! True beat, full power, the clangin' chorus goes
Clear to the tunnel where they sit, my purrin' dynamos.
Interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed,
To work, ye'll note, at any tilt an' every rate o' speed.
Fra' skylight lift to furnace-bars, backed, bolted, braced an' stayed,
An' singin' like the Mornin' Stars for joy that they are made;
While, out o' touch o' vanity, the sweatin' thrust-block says:
"Not unto us the praise, oh man, not unto us the praise!"
Now, a' together, hear them lift their lesson—theirs an' mine:
"Law, Order, Duty an' Restraint, Obedience, Discipline!"
Mill, forge an' try-pit taught them that when roarin' they arose,
An' whiles I wonder if a soul was gied them wi' the blows.
Oh for a man to weld it then, in one trip-hammer strain,
Till even first-class passengers could tell the meanin' plain!
But no one cares except mysel' that serve an' understand
My seven-thousand horse-power here. Eh, Lord!
They're grand—they're grand!
Uplift am I? When first in store the new-made beasties stood,
Were ye cast down that breathed the Word declarin' all things good?
Not so! O' that world-liftin' joy no after-fall could vex,
Ye've left a glimmer still to cheer the Man—the Artifex!
That holds, in spite o' knock and scale, o' friction, waste an' slip,
An' by that light—now, mark my word—we'll build the Perfect Ship.
I'll never last to judge her lines or take her curve—not I.
But I ha' lived and I ha' worked. Be thanks to Thee, Most High!

So the McAndrews of Watt's day were loth to part from their engines, this feeling being in the blood of true engineers. On the other hand, just such men, in numbers far beyond the supply, were needed by the builders, who in one sense were almost if not quite as deeply concerned as the owners, in having proved, capable, engine managers remain in charge of their engines, thus enhancing their reputation. Endless trouble ensued from the lack of managing enginemen, a class which had yet to be developed, but which was sure to arise in time through the educative policy adopted, which was already indeed slowly producing fruit.

Meanwhile, to meet the present situation, Watt resolved to simplify the engine, taking a step backward, which gives foundation for Smeaton's acute criticism upon its complexity. We have seen that the working of steam expansively was one of Watt's early inventions. Some of the new engines were made upon this plan, which involved the adoption of some of the most troublesome of the machinery. It was ultimately decided that to operate this was beyond the ability of the obtainable enginemen of the day.

It must not be understood that expansion was abandoned. On the contrary, it was again introduced by Watt at a later stage and in better form. Since his time it has extended far beyond what he could have ventured upon under the conditions of that day. "Yet," as Kelvin says, "the triple and quadruple expansion engine of our day all lies in the principle Watt had so fully developed in his day."

[1] If those in London had only listened to Franklin and taken his advice when he pleaded for British liberties for British subjects in America! It is refreshing to read in our day how completely the view regarding colonies has changed in Britain. These are now pronounced "Independent nations, free to go or stay in the empire, as they choose," the very surest way to prolong the connection. This is true statesmanship. Being free, the chains become decorations and cease to chafe the wearer, unless great growth comes, when the colony must at its maturity perforce either merge with the motherland under one joint government or become a free and independent nation, giving her sons a country of their own for which to live, and, if necessary, to die.

[2] The mention of Burke and Bristol so soon after the note of Boulton upon Dr. Small's passing, recalls one of Burke's many famous sentences, one perhaps unequalled under the circumstances. The candidate opposing him for Parliament died during the canvass. When Burke next addressed the people after the sad event, his first words were:

"What shadows we are; what shadows we pursue."

CHAPTER VI

Removal to Birmingham

Watt's permanent settlement in Birmingham had for some time been seen to be inevitable, all his time being needed there. Domestic matters, including the care of his two children, with which he had hitherto been burdened, pressed hard upon him, and he had been greatly depressed by finding his old father quite in his dotage, although he was not more than seventy-five. Watt was alone and very unhappy during a visit he made to Greenock.

Before returning to Birmingham, he married Miss MacGregor, daughter of a Glasgow man of affairs, who was the first in Britain to use chlorine for bleaching, the secret of which Berthollet, its inventor, had communicated to Watt.

Pending the marriage, it was advisable that the partnership with Boulton as hitherto agreed upon should be executed. Watt writes so to Boulton, and the arrangement between the partners is indicated by the following passage of Watt's letter to him:

As you may have possibly mislaid my missive to you concerning the contract, I beg just to mention what I remember of the terms.

1. I to assign to you two-thirds of the property of the invention.

2. You to pay all expenses of the Act or others incurred before June, 1775 (the date of the Act), and also the expense of future experiments, which money is to be sunk without interest by you, being the consideration you pay for your share.

3. You to advance stock-in-trade bearing interest, but having no claim on me for any part of that, further than my intromissions; the stock itself to be your security and property.

4. I to draw one-third of the profits so soon as any arise from the business, after paying the workmen's wages and goods furnished, but abstract from the stock-in-trade, excepting the interest thereof, which is to be deducted before a balance is struck.

5. I to make drawings, give directions, and make surveys, the company paying for the travelling expenses to either of us when upon engine business.

6. You to keep the books and balance them once a year.

7. A book to be kept wherein to be marked such transactions as are worthy of record, which, when signed by both, to have the force of the contract.

8. Neither of us to alienate our share of the other, and if either of us by death or otherwise shall be incapacitated from acting for ourselves, the other of us to be the sole manager without contradiction or interference of heirs, executors, assignees or others; but the books to be subject to their inspection, and the acting partner of us to be allowed a reasonable commission for extra trouble.

9. The contract to continue in force for twenty-five years, from the 1st of June, 1775, when the partnership commenced, notwithstanding the contract being of later date.

10. Our heirs, executors and assignees bound to observance.

11. In case of demise of both parties, our heirs, etc., to succeed in same manner, and if they all please, they may burn the contract.

If anything be very disagreeable in these terms, you will find me disposed to do everything reasonable for your satisfaction.

Boulton's reply was entirely satisfactory, and upon this basis the arrangement was closed.

Watt, with his usual want of confidence in himself in business affairs, was anxious that Boulton should come to him at Glasgow and arrange all pecuniary matters connected with the marriage. Watt had faced the daughter and conquered, but trembled at the thought of facing the father-in-law. He appeals to his partner as follows:

I am afraid that I shall otherwise make a very bad bargain in money matters, which wise men like you esteem the most essential part, and I myself, although I be an enamoured swain, do not altogether despise. You may perhaps think it odd that in the midst of my friends here I should call for your help; but the fact is that from several reasons I do not choose to place that confidence in any of my friends here that would be necessary in such a case, and I do not know any of them that have more to say with the gentleman in question than I have myself. Besides, you are the only person who can give him satisfactory information concerning my situation.

This being impracticable, as explained by Boulton, who thoroughly approved of the union, the partnership and Boulton's letter were accepted by the judicious father-in-law as satisfactory evidence that his daughter's future was secure. Boulton states in his letter, July, 1776:

It may be difficult to say what is the value of your property in partnership with me. However, I will give it a name, and I do say that I would willingly give you two, or perhaps three thousand pounds for your assignment of your third part of the Act of Parliament. But I should be sorry to make you so bad a bargain, or to make any bargain at all that tended to deprive me of your friendship, acquaintance, and assistance, hoping that we shall harmoniously live to wear out the twenty-five years, which I had rather do than gain a Nabob's fortune by being the sole proprietor.

This is the kind of expression from the heart to make a partner happy and resolve to do his utmost for one who in the recipient's heart had transposed positions, and is now friend first, and partner afterward.

The marriage took place in July, 1776. Two children were born, both of whom died in youth. Mrs. Watt lived until a ripe old age and enjoyed the fruits of her husband's success and fame. She died in 1832. Arago praises her, and says "Various talents, sound judgment, and strength of mind rendered her a worthy companion."

It is difficult to realise that many yet with us were contemporaries of Mrs. Watt, and not a few yet living were contemporaries of Watt himself, for he did not pass away until 1819, eighty-six years ago, so much a thing of yesterday is the material development and progress of the world, which had its basis, start and accomplishment in the steam engine.

The reasons given by Boulton for being unable to proceed to the side of his friend and partner in Glasgow, shed clear light upon the condition of affairs at Soho. Their London agent, like Watt, was also to be married and would be absent. Fothergill had to proceed to London. Scale, one of the managers, was absent. Important visitors were constantly arriving. Said Boulton:

Our copper bottom hath plagued us very much by steam leaks, and therefore I have had one cast (with its conducting pipe) all in one piece; since which the engine doth not take more than 10 feet of steam, and I hope to reduce that quantity, as we have just received the new piston, which shall be put in and at work tomorrow. Our Soho engine never was in such good order as at present. Bloomfield and Willey (engines) are both well, and I doubt not but Bow engine will be better than any of 'em.

He concludes, "I did not sleep last night, my mind being absorbed by steam." Means for increasing the heating surface swept through his mind, by applying "in copper spheres within the water," the present flue system, also for working steam expansively, "being clear the principle is sound."

To add to Boulton's anxieties, he had received a summons to attend the Solicitor-General next week in opposition to Gainsborough, a clergyman who claimed to be the original inventor. "This is a disagreeable circumstance, particularly at this season, when you are absent. Harrison is in London and idleness is in our engine shop."

Watt wrote Boulton on July 28, 1776, apologising for his long absence and stating he was now ready to return, and would start "Tuesday first" for Liverpool, where he expected to meet Boulton. Meanwhile, the latter had been called to London by the Gainsborough business. A note from him, however, reached Watt at Liverpool, in which he says, "As to your absence, say nothing about it. I will forgive it this time, provided you promise me never to marry again."

In due time, Mr. and Mrs. Watt arrived and settled early in August, 1776, in Birmingham, which was hereafter to be their permanent home, although, as we shall see, Watt never ceased to keep in close touch with his native town of Greenock and his Glasgow friends. His heart still warmed to the tartan, the soft, broad Scotch accent never forsook him; nor, we may be sure, did the refrain ever leave his heart——

And may dishonour blot our name
And quench our household fires,
If me or mine forget thy name,
Thou dear land of my Sires,

Many a famous Scot has the fair South in recent times called to her—Stephenson, Ruskin, Carlyle, Mill, Gladstone and others—but never before or since, one whose work was the transformation of the world.

At last we have Watt permanently settled alongside the great works to which he was hereafter to devote his rare abilities until his retirement at the expiration of the partnership in 1800. His labors at Soho soon began to tell. The works increased their celebrity beyond all others then known, for materials, workmanship and invention.

The mines of Cornwall promised to become unworkable; indeed, many already had became so. The Newcomen engines could no longer drain the deepened mines. Several orders for Watt engines had been received, and as much depended upon the success of the first, Watt resolved to superintend its erection himself. Mrs. Watt and he started over the terrible road into Cornwall, and had to take up their abode with the superintendent of the mine, there being no other house for miles around. Naturally the builders and attendants of the Newcomen engine viewed Watt's invasion of their district with no kindly feelings. Great jealousy arose and Watt's sensitive nature was sorely tried. Many attempts to thwart him were met with, and, taken altogether, his life in Cornwall was far from agreeable.

The engine was erected, the day of trial came, mining men, engineers, mining proprietors and others assembled from all quarters to see the start. Many of the spectators interested in other engines would not have shed tears had it failed, but it started splendidly making eleven eight-foot strokes per minute, which broke the record. Three cheers for the Scotch engineer! It soon worked with greater power and more steadily, and "forked" more water than the ordinary engines with only about one-third the consumption of coal. Watt wrote:

I understand all the west country captains are to be here tomorrow to see the prodigy. The velocity, violence, magnitude, and horrible noise of the engine give universal satisfaction to all beholders, believers or not. I have once or twice trimmed the engine to end the stroke gracefully and to make less noise, but Mr. Wilson cannot sleep without it seems quite furious, so I have left it to the enginemen; and, by the by, the noise seems to convey great ideas of its power to the ignorant, who seem to be no more taken with modest merit in an engine than in a man.

Well said, modest, reserved philosopher with vast horse-power in that big head of yours, working in the closet noiselessly, driving deep but silently into the bosom of nature's secrets, pumping her deepest mines, discovering and bringing to the surface the genius which lay in steam to do your bidding and revolutionise life on earth! In this, the first triumph, there was recompense for all the trials Watt and his wife had endured in Cornwall.

Readers will note that no workman had yet been developed who could be trusted to erect the engine. The master inventor had to go himself as the mechanical genius certain to cure all defects and ensure success. This shows how indispensable Watt was.

Orders now flowed in, and Watt was needed to prepare the plans and drawings, no one being capable of relieving him of this. To-day we have draftsmen by the thousand to whom it would be easy routine work, as we have thousands to whom the erection of the Watt engine would be play. Watt was everywhere. At length he had to confess that "a very little more of this hurrying and vexation would knock me up altogether." At this moment he had just been called to return to Cornwall to erect the second engine. He says "I fancy I must be cut in pieces and a portion sent to every tribe in Israel." We may picture him reciting in Falstaffian mood, "Would my name were not so terrible to the enemy (deep-mine water) as it is. There can't a drowned-out mine peep its head out but I'm thrust upon it. Well, well, it always was the trick of my countrymen to make a good thing too common. Better rust to death than be scoured to nothing by this perpetual motion."

Watt had a hard time of it in Cornwall during his next stay there, for he had to go again. He arrives at Redruth to find many troubles.

Forbes' eduction-pipe is a vile job, he writes, and full of holes. The cylinder they have cast for Chacewater is still worse, for it will hardly do at all. The Soho people have sent here Chacewater pipe instead of Wheal Union, and the gudgeon pipe has not arrived with the nozzles. These repeated disappointments will ruin our credit in the country, and I cannot stay here to bear the shame of such failures of promise.

It is easy for present-day captains of industry to plume themselves upon their ability to select men sure to succeed well with any undertaking, and assume that Watt lacked the indispensable talent for selection, but he had been driven by sad experience to trust none but himself, the skilled workmen needed to co-operate with him not yet having been developed.

We have not touched upon another source of great anxiety to him at this time. The enterprising Boulton would not have been the organiser he was unless blessed with a sanguine disposition and the capacity for shedding troubles. The business was rapidly extending in many branches, all needing capital; the engine business, promising though it was, was no exception. Little money was yet due from sales and much had been spent developing the invention. Boulton's letter to Watt constantly urged cash collections, while mine-owners were not disposed to pay until further tests were made. Boulton suggested loans from Truro bankers on security of the engines, but Watt found this impracticable. The engines were doing astonishingly well to-day, but who could ensure their lasting qualities? Watt shows good judgment in suggesting that Wilkinson, the famous foundryman, should be taken into partnership. He urges his enterprising partner to apply the pruning knife and cut down expenses naively assuring him that "he was practising all the frugality in his power." As Watt's personal expenses then were only ten dollars per week, a smile rises at the prudent Scot's possible contribution to reduction in expenditure. But he was on the right lines, and at least gave Boulton the benefit of example. Watt was never disposed to look on the bright side of things, and to add to Boulton's load, the third partner, Fothergill, was even more desponding than Watt. When Boulton went away to raise means, he was pursued by letters from Fothergill telling him day by day of imperative needs. In one he was of opinion that "the creditors must be called together; better to face the worst than to go on in the neck-and-neck race with ruin." Boulton would hurry back to quiet Fothergill and keep the ship afloat. Here he shines out resplendently. He proved equal to the emergency. His courage and determination rose in proportion to the difficulties to be overcome, borne up by his invariable hope and unshakable belief in the value of Watt's condensing engine, he triumphed at last, pledging, as security for a loan of $70,000, the royalties derivable from the engine patents, and an annuity for a loan of $35,000 more. So small a sum as $105,000 sufficed to keep afloat the big ship laden with all their treasures.

There was a period of great depression in Britain when Boulton and Watt were thus in deep water, and at such times credit is sensitive in the extreme. A small balance on the right side performs wonders. This recalls to the writer how, once in the history of his own firm, credit was kept high during a panic by using the identical sum Boulton raised, $70,000, from a reserve fund that had been laid away and came in very opportunely at the critical time. Every single dollar weighs a hundredfold when credit trembles in the balance. A leading nerve specialist in New York once said that the worst malady he had to treat was the man of affairs whose credit was suspected. His unfailing remedy was: "Call your creditors together, explain all and ask their support. I can then do you some good, but not till then." His patients who did this found themselves restored to vigor. They were supported by creditors and all was bright once more. The wise doctor was sound in his advice. If the firm has neither speculated nor gambled (synonymous terms), nor lived extravagantly, nor endorsed for others, and the business is on a solid foundation, no people have so much at stake in sustaining it as the creditors; they will rally round it and think more of the firm than ever, because they will see behind their money the best of all securities—men at the helm who are not afraid and know how to meet a storm.

Boulton's timid partners no doubt were amazed that he was so blind to the dangers which they with clearer vision saw so clearly. How deluded they were. We may be sure neither of them saw the danger half as vividly as he, but it is not the part of a leader to reveal to his fellows all that he sees or fears. His part is to look dangers steadily in the face and challenge them. It is the great leader who inspires in his followers contempt for the danger which he sees in much truer proportion than they. This Boulton did, for behind all else in his character there lay the indomitable will, the do or die resolve. He had staked his life upon the hazard of a die and he would stand the cost. "But if we fail," often said the timid pair to him, as Macbeth did to his resolute partner, and the same answer came, "We fail." That's all. "One knockdown will not finish this fight. We'll get up again, never fear. We know no such word as fail."[1]

One source of serious trouble arose from Watt and Boulton having been so anxious at first to introduce their engines that they paid small regard to terms. When their success was proved, they offered to settle, taking one-third the value of the fuel saved. This was a liberal offer, for, in addition to the mine-owners saving two-thirds of the former cost of fuel consumed by the previous engines, mines became workable, which without the Watt engine must have been abandoned. These terms however were not accepted, and a long series of disputes arose, ending in some cases only with the patent-right itself. It was resolved that all future engines should be furnished only upon the terms before stated, Watt declaring that otherwise he would not put pen to paper to make new drawings. "Let our terms be moderate," he writes, "and, if possible, consolidated into money a priori, and it is certain we shall get some money, enough to keep us out of jail, in continual apprehension of which I live at present." Imprisonment for debt, let it be remembered, had not been abolished. One of the most beneficent forward steps that our time can boast of is the Bankruptcy Court. However hard we may yet be upon offenders against us, society, through humane laws, forgives our debtors in money matters, and gives a clear bill of health after honorable acquittal in bankruptcy, and a fresh start.

The result proved Watt's wisdom. His engines were needed to save the mines. No other could. Applications came in freely upon his terms, and as Watt was a poor hand at bargaining, he insisted that Boulton should come to Cornwall and attend to that part.

Meanwhile great attention was being paid to the works and all pertaining to the men and methods. The firm established perhaps the first benefit society of workmen. Every one was a member and contributed according to his earnings. Out of this fund payments were made to the sick or disabled in varying amounts. No member of the Soho Friendly Society, except a few irreclaimable drunkards, ever came upon the parish.

When Boulton's son came of age, seven hundred were dined. No well-behaved workman was ever turned adrift. Fathers employed introduced their sons into the works and brought them up under their own eye, watching over their conduct and mechanical training. Thus generation after generation followed each other at Soho works.

On another occasion Boulton writes Watt in Cornwall, "I have thought it but respectful to give our folks a dinner to-day. There were present Murdoch, Lawson, Pearson, Perkins, Malcom, Robert Muir, all Scotchmen, John Bull and Wilson and self, for the engines are now all finished and the men have behaved well and are attached to us."

Six Scotch and three English in the English works of Soho thought worthy of dining with their employer! It was, we may be sure, a very rare occurrence in that day, but worthy of the true captain of industry. Here is an early "invasion" from the north. We are reminded of Sir Charles Dilke's statement in his "Greater Britain," that, in his tour round the world, he found ten Scotchmen for every Englishman in high position. Owing, of course, to the absence of scope at home the Scot has had to seek his career abroad.

A master-stroke this, probably the first dinner of its kind in Britain, and no doubt more highly appreciated by the honored guests than an advance in wages. Splendid workmen do not live upon wages alone. Appreciation felt and shown by their employer, as in this case, is the coveted reward.

We have read how Watt was much troubled in Scotland with poor mechanics. Not one good craftsman could he then find. After seeing Soho, where the standard was much higher, he declared that the Scotch mechanic was very much inferior; he was prejudiced against them. Murdoch, however, the first Scot at Soho, soon eclipsed all, and no doubt under his wing other Scots gained a trial with the result indicated. It is very significant that even in the earliest days of the steam engine, Scotchmen should exhibit such talent for its construction, forecasting their present pre-eminence in marine engineering.

Small wonder that the Soho works became the model for all others. The last words in Boulton's letter, "and are attached to us," tell the story. No danger of strikes, of lockouts, or quarrels of any kind in such establishments as that of Boulton and Watt, who proved that they in turn were attached to their men. Mutual attachment between employers and employed is the panacea for all troubles—yes, better than a panacea, the preventer of troubles.

After repeated calls from Watt, Boulton took the journey to Cornwall in October, 1778, although Fothergill was again uttering lamentable prophecies of impending ruin, and the London agent was imploring his presence there upon financial matters pressing in the extreme. Boulton succeeded in borrowing $10,000 from Truro bankers on the security of engines erected, and settled several disputes, getting $3,500 per year royalty for one engine and $2,000 per year for another. At last, after nine years of arduous labor since the invention was hailed as successful, the golden harvest so long expected began to replenish the empty treasury. The heavy liabilities, however, remained a source of constant anxiety. No remedy could be found against "this consumption of the purse."

Watt had again to encounter the lack of competent, sober workmen to run engines. The Highland blood led him at last into severe measures, and he insisted upon discharging two or three of the most drunken. Here Boulton had great difficulty in restraining him. Much had to be endured, and occasional bouts of drunkenness overlooked, although serious accidents resulted. At last two men appeared whose services proved invaluable—Murdoch, already mentioned, and Law—one of whom became famous. Watt was absent when the former called and asked Boulton for employment. The young Scot was the son of a well-known millwright near Ayr who had made several improvements. His famous son worked with him, but being ambitious and hearing of the fame of Boulton and Watt, he determined to seek entrance to Soho works and learn the highest order of handicraft. Boulton had told him that there was at present no place open, but noticing the strange cap the awkward young man had been dangling in his hands, he asked what it was made of. "Timmer," said the lad. "What, out of wood?" "Yes." "How was it made?" "I turned it mysel' in a bit lathey o' my own making." This was enough for that rare judge of men. Here was a natural-born mechanic, certain. The young man was promptly engaged for two years at fifteen shillings per week when in shop, seventeen shillings when abroad, and eighteen shillings when in London. His history is the usual march upward until he became his employers' most trusted manager in all their mechanical operations. While engaged upon one critical job, where the engine had defied previous attempts to put it to rights, the people in the house where Murdoch lodged were awakened one night by heavy tramping in his room over-head. Upon entering, Murdoch was seen in his bed clothes heaving away at the bed post in his sleep, calling out "Now she goes, lads, now she goes." His heart was in his work. He had a mission, and only one—to make that engine go.

Of course he rose. There's no holding down such a "dreamer" anywhere in this world. It was not only that he had zeal, for he had sense with it, and was not less successful in conquering the rude Cornishmen who had baffled, annoyed and intimidated Watt. He won their hearts. His ability did not end with curing the defects of machinery; he knew how to manage men. At first he had to depend upon his physical powers. He was an athlete not indisposed to lead the strenuous life. He had not been very long in Cornwall before half a dozen of the mining captains, a class that had tormented poor, retiring and modest Watt, entered the engine-room and began their bullying tricks on him. The Scotch blood was up, Murdoch quietly locked the door and said to the captains, "Now then gentlemen, you shall not leave until we have settled matters once for all." He selected the biggest Cornishman and squared off. The contest was soon over. Murdoch vanquished the bully and was ready for the next. The captains, seeing the kind of man he was, offered terms of peace, hands were shaken all round and they parted good friends, and remained so. We are past that rude age. The skilled, educated manager of to-day can use no weapon so effectively with skilled men as the supreme force of gentleness, the manner, language and action of the educated man, even to the calm, low voice never raised to passionate pitch. He conquers and commands others because he has command of himself.

We must not lose sight of Murdoch. In addition to his rare qualities, he possessed mechanical genius. He was the inventor of lighting by gas, and it was he who made the first model of a locomotive. There was no emergency with engines, no accident, no blunder, but Murdoch was called in. We read with surprise that his wages even in 1780 were only five dollars per week. He then modestly asked for an advance, but this was not given. A present of one hundred dollars, however, was made to him in recognition of his unusual services. Probably the explanation of the failure to increase his wages at the time was that, owing to the condition of the business, no rise in wages could be made to one which would involve an advance to others. Murdoch remained loyal to the firm, however, although invited into partnership by another. Afterward he received due reward. He had always a strong aversion to partnership, no doubt well founded in this case, for during many years failure seemed almost as likely as success. Watt has much to say in his letters about "William" (Murdoch), who, more than anyone, relieved him from trouble.[2]

The bargainings with mine-owners brought on intense heartaches and broke Watt down completely. Boulton had to go to him again in Cornwall in the autumn of 1779, and as usual succeeded in adjusting many disputes by wise compromises with the grasping owners which Watt's strict sense of justice had denied. Many of these had paid no royalties for years, others disputed Watt's unerring register of fuel consumption (another of his most ingenious inventions now in general use for many purposes), a more heinous offense in his eyes than that of non-payment. "The rascality of man," he writes, "is almost beyond belief." He never was more despondent or more irritable than now. No one was better aware of his weakness than himself. In short, his heartaches and nervousness unfitted him for business. As usual, he attributed his discouragement chiefly to his financial obligations. The firm was as hard pressed as ever. Indeed a new source of danger had developed. Fothergill's affairs became involved, and had it not been for Boulton's capital and credit, the firm of Boulton and Fothergill could not have maintained payment. This had caused a drain upon their resources. Boulton sold the estate which had come to him by his wife, and the greater part of his father's property, and mortgaged the remainder. It is evident that the great captain had taken in hand far too many enterprises. Probably he had not heard the new doctrine: "Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket." He had even ventured considerable sums in blockade running during the American Revolutionary War. It was not without good reason, therefore, that the more cautious Scot addressed to him so many pathetic letters: "I beg of you to attend to these money matters. I cannot rest in my bed until they have some determinate form." Watt's inexperience in money matters caused apprehensions of ruin to arise whenever financial measures were discussed. He was at this time utterly wretched, and Mrs. Watt at last became anxious, long and bravely as she had hitherto borne up and striven to dispel her husband's fears. Never before had she ventured to speak to Boulton upon the subject. She now broke the silence and wrote him in Cornwall a touching letter, stating that her husband's health and spirits had become much worse since Boulton had left Soho. "I know there are several things that so prey upon his mind as to render him perfectly miserable. They never cross his mind, but he is rendered unfit to do anything for a long time." She describes these financial demons that torment him and begs that her writing should not be told to Watt, as it might only add to his troubles. The appeal brings Mrs. Watt before us in a most engaging light.

A study of the problem was made upon Boulton's return and he agreed to close two departments of the business which were so far unprofitable, thus entering upon the right path. The engine having proved itself indispensable, the demand for it was becoming great and pressing from various countries. To concentrate upon its manufacture was obviously the true policy. The great captain's enterprise was not often expended upon failures, and it is with pleasure we find that among the profitable branches which Boulton had encouraged Watt in introducing at Soho, was the copying-press, which Watt invented in 1778, and which we use to this day. In July of that year he writes Dr. Black that he has "lately discovered a method of copying writing instantaneously, provided it has been written within twenty-four hours. I send you a specimen and will impart the secret if it will be of any use to you. It enables me to copy all my business letters." He kept this secret for two years, and in May, 1780, secured a patent after he had completed details of the press and experimented with the ink. One hundred and fifty were made and sold. Thirty of these went abroad. It steadily made its way. Watt, writing some thirty years later, said it had proved so useful to him that it was well worth all the trouble of perfecting it, even if it brought no profit.

We think of Watt and the steam engine appears. Let us however note the unobtrusive little copying-press on the table at his side. Extremes meet here. It would be difficult to name an invention more universally used, in all offices where man labors in any field of activity. In the list of modest inventions of greatest usefulness, the modern copying-press must take high rank, and this we owe entirely to Watt.

Of the same period as the copying-machine is his invention of a drying-machine for cloth, consisting of three cylinders of copper over which the cloth must turn over and under while cylinders are filled with steam, the cloth to be alternately wound off and on the two wooden rollers, by which means it will pass over three cylinders in succession. This machine was erected for Watt's father-in-law, Mr. MacGregor in Glasgow, by an ingenious mechanic, John Gardiner, often employed by Watt in earlier years. "This I apprehend," he writes to David Brewster in 1814, "to be the original from which such machines were made." When we consider the extent to which such steam drying-machines are used in our day, our estimate of the credit due to Watt cannot be small. The drying-machine is no unfit companion to the copying-machine.

Watt revisited Cornwall in 1781 to make an inspection of all the engines. Much he found needing attention and improvement. His evenings were spent designing "road steam-carriages." This was before the day of railroads, and the carriages were to be driven by steam over the ordinary coach roads. He filled a quarto drawing-book with different plans for these, and covered the idea in one of his patent specifications. Boulton suggested in 1781 that the idea of rotary motion should be developed, which Watt had from the first regarded as of prime importance. It was for this he had invented his original wheel engine, and in his first patent of 1769 he describes one method of securing it. It occurred to him that the ordinary engine might be adapted to give the rotary motion. He wrote from Cornwall to Boulton: "As to the circular motion, I will apply it as soon as I can." He prepared a model upon his return to Soho, using a crank connected with the working-beam of the engine for that purpose, which worked satisfactorily. There was nothing new in the crank motion; it was used on every spinning-wheel, grind-stone and foot-lathe turned by hand, but its application to the steam-engine was new. As early as 1771, he writes:

I have at times had my thoughts a good deal upon the subject. In general, it appears to me that a crank of a sufficient sweep will be by much the sweetest motion, and perhaps not the dearest, if its durability be considered ... I then resolved to adopt the crank ... Of this I caused a model to be made, which performed to satisfaction. But being then very much engaged with other business, I neglected to take a patent immediately, and having employed a blackguard of the name of Cartwright (who was afterward hanged), about this model, he, when in company with some of the same sort who worked at Wasborough's mill, and were complaining of its irregularities and frequent disasters, told them he could put them in a way to make a rotative motion which would not go out of order nor stun them with its noise, and accordingly explained to them what he had seen me do. Soon after which, John Steed, who was engineer at Wasborough's mill, took a patent for a rotative motion with a crank, and applied it to their engine. Suspicions arising of Cartwright's treachery, he was strictly questioned, and confessed his part in the transaction when too late to be of service to us.

Overtures were made by Wasborough to exchange patents and work together, which Watt scornfully rejected. He writes:

Though I am not so saucy as many of my countrymen, I have enough innate pride to prevent me from doing a mean action because a servile prudence may dictate it ... I will never meanly sue a thief to give me my own again unless I have nothing left behind.

His blood was up. No dealings with rascals!