the keeper, shrugging his shoulders, something trifling enough: you would never guess it; it is the use of the steam of boiling water.' I began to laugh. This man,' continued the keeper, is named Solomon de Caus; he came from Normandy four years ago, to present to the King a statement of the wonderful effects that might be produced from his invention. To listen to him, you would imagine that with steam you could navigate ships, move carriages; in fact, there is no end to the miracles which, he insists upon it, could be performed. The Cardinal sent the madman away without listening to him. Solomon de Caus, far from being discouraged, followed the Cardinal wherever he went with the most determined perseverance, who, tired of finding him for ever in his path, and annoyed at his folly, shut him up in the Bicêtre. He has even written a book about it, which I have here.' It appears that the Marquis of Worcester was greatly struck by the appearance of De Caus, and afterwards studied his book, portions of which he embodied in his "Century of Inventions." The Marquis is also said to have entertained the idea of moving carriages by steam power, but never embodied it in any practical form.

Savery, the Cornish miner and engineer, who did so much to develop the powers of the high-pressure engine, also proposed it as a method of propelling carriages along ordinary roads. But he took no practical measures with the view of carrying out his suggestion. The subject was shortly after, in 1759, introduced to the powerful mind of James Watt, by Dr. Robinson, then a young man studying at Glasgow College. "He threw out," says Watt, "the idea of applying the power of the steam-engine to the moving of wheel-carriages, and to other purposes; but the scheme was not ma

The book is entitled "Les Raisons des Forces Mouvantes avec diverses machines tant utiles que puissantes." Paris, 1615.

tured, and was soon abandoned, on his going abroad."* Watt, however, afterwards, in the specification of his patent of 1769, gave a description of an engine of the kind suggested by his friend Robinson, in which the expansive force of steam was proposed as the motive power. It also appears that other inventors were in the field about the same time; for, in a letter written by Dr. Small to Mr. Watt on the 18th of April, 1769, it is stated that "one Moore, a linendraper of London, had taken out a patent for moving wheel-carriages by steam;"† but no steps were taken to reduce the invention to practice. Watt again, in his patent of 1784, described a similar engine to that indicated in his first patent, specifying the mode of applying steam to the moving of wheel-carriages. The plan proposed by Watt, although a curiosity at the present day, bears the impress of his original mind. The boiler was to be of wooden staves hooped together with iron; the iron furnace inside the boiler, and almost entirely surrounded with water; the whole being placed on a carriage, the wheels of which were to be worked by a piston, the reciprocatory action being converted into a rotatory one by toothed wheels and a sun and planet motion. The cylinder was to be seven inches in diameter, the number of strokes sixty per minute, and their length one foot. The carriage was to carry two persons. But no such carriage was ever built, Watt being too busily occupied with the perfecting of his condensing-engines to proceed further with his proposed locomotive.

The first actual model of a steam-carriage, of which we have any written account, was constructed by a Frenchman named Cugnot, who exhibited it before the Marshal de Saxe in 1763.‡

Narrative of James Watt's Invention, in Robinson's Mechanical Philosophy, vol. ii., art. Steam Engine.

Life and Correspondence of James Watt, by Dr. Muirhead.

Stuart's Historical and Descriptive Anecdotes of Steam-Engines, and of their Inventors and Improvers, pp. 208, 209.

He afterwards built an engine on the same model, at the cost of the French monarch. But when set in motion, it projected itself onward with such force, that it knocked down a wall which stood in its way; and its power being considered too great for ordinary use, it was put aside as being a dangerous machine, and was stowed away in the Arsenal Museum at Paris.*

An American inventor, named Oliver Evans, was also occupied with the same idea; for in 1772, he invented a steamcarriage to travel on common roads; and in 1787, he obtained from the State of Maryland the exclusive right to make and use steam-carriages. The invention, however, never came

into practical use.

It also appears that in 1784, William Symington, the inventor of the steam-boat, conceived the idea of employing steam power in the propulsion of carriages; and in 1786 he had a working model of a steam-carriage constructed, which he submitted to the professors and other scientific gentlemen of Edinburgh. But the state of the Scotch roads was at that time so horrible, that he considered it impracticable to proceed further with his scheme, and he shortly gave it up in favour of his project of steam navigation. †

The first English model of a steam-carriage was made in 1784, by William Murdoch, the friend and assistant of Watt. It was on the high-pressure principle, and ran on three wheels. The boiler was heated by a spirit lamp; and the whole machine was of very diminutive dimensions, standing little more than a foot high. Yet, on one occasion, the little engine

* It is now preserved in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers.

† See a pamphlet entitled "A brief Narrative, proving the right of the late William Symington, Civil Engineer, to be considered the Inventor of Steam Land Carriage Locomotion; and also the Inventor and Introducer of Steam Navigation." By Robert Bowie. London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper

1833.

went so fast, that it outran the speed of its inventor. Mr. Buckle says, that one night, after returning from his duties in the mine at Redruth, in Cornwall, Murdoch determined to try the working of his model locomotive. For this purpose, he had recourse to the walk leading to the church, about a mile from the town. The walk was rather narrow, and was bounded on either side by high hedges. It was a dark night, and Murdoch set out alone to try his experiment. Having lit his lamp, the water shortly began to boil, and off started the engine, with the inventor after it. He soon heard distant shouts of despair. It was too dark to perceive objects; but he shortly found, on following up the machine, that the cries for assistance proceeded from the worthy pastor of the parish, who, going towards the town on business, was met on this lonely road by the hissing and fiery little monster, which he subsequently declared he had taken to be the Evil One in propriâ personâ. No further steps, however, were taken by Murdoch to embody his idea of a locomotive carriage in a more practical form.

Towards the end of the last century, the adoption of rail and tram-roads, worked by horses, had become general in the colliery and mining districts. There could be no doubt as to the great economy secured by this mode of moving heavy loads, as compared with the ordinary method of haulage on common roads. As trade and manufactures were extending with great rapidity, Watt's invention of the steam-engine having given an immense impetus to industry in all its branches, it was proposed to extend the application of railroads to the transit of merchandise and goods from town to town, especially in those districts where canals were not considered practicable. The first suggestion to this effect was

Biographical paper on William Murdoch, read by Mr. William Buckle, of Soho, before the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, October, 1850.

published by a Northumbrian gentleman, who was daily familiar with the working of the extensive coal traffic over the railways in the neighbourhood of Newcastle-on-Tyne. On the 11th of February, 1800, Mr. Thomas, of Denton, read a paper on the subject before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, entitled, "Observations on the propriety of introducing Roads on the principle of the Coal Waggon Ways, for the general carriage of Goods, Merchandize, &c."*

In the course of the following year, the same idea was taken up by Dr. James Anderson of Edinburgh, who proposed, in his "Recreations of Agriculture," the general adoption of railways, worked by horse power, to be carried along the existing turnpike roads. Dr. Anderson dilated upon his idea with glowing enthusiasm. "Diminish carriage expense but one farthing," said he, "and you widen the circle of intercourse; you form, as it were, a new creation, not only of stones and earth, and trees and plants, but of men also, and, what is more, of industry, happiness, and joy." The cost of all articles of human consumption would, he alleged, be thus reduced, agriculture promoted, distances diminished, the country brought nearer to the town, and the town to the country. The number of horses required to carry on the traffic of the kingdom would be greatly diminished, and a general prosperity would, he insisted, be the result of the adoption of his system. Indeed, said he, "it is scarcely. possible to contemplate an institution from which would result a greater quantity of harmony, peace, and comfort, to persons living in the country, than would naturally result from the introduction of railroads."

That the same idea was taking hold of the more advanced

* Minute books of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, 1800.