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On Steam.

[Book IV.

CHAPTER III.

On steam: Miserable condition of the great portion ofthe human race in past times—Brighter prospectsfor posterity—Inorganic motive forces—Wonders of steam—Its beneficial influence od man’sfuture destiny—Will supersede nearly all human drudgery—Progress of the arts—Cause why steam wasnotformerlyemployed—Pots boiling over and primitive experiments by females—Steam an agent in working prodi-gies—Priests familiär with steam—Sacrifices boiled—Seething bones—Earthquakes—Anthemius andZeno—Hotbaths at Rome—Ball supported on a jet of steam, from the Spiritalia—Heron’s whirlingeolipile—Steam engines on the saine principle—Eolipiles described by Vitruvius —Their various uses—Heraldic device—Eolipiles from Rivius—Cupelo furnace and eolipile, from Erckers—Similar applica-tions of steam revived and patented—Eolipiles of the human form—Ancient tenures—Jack of Hilton—Puster, a steam deity of the ancient Germans —Ingenuity of the priests in constructing and working it—Supposed allusions to eolipilic idols in the bible—Employed in ancient wars to project streams of liquidfire—Draft of chimneys improved, perfumes dispersed, and music produced by eolipiles—Eolipiles thegerm of modern steam engines.

If we contemplate the past history of man, we shall find that, with afew insignificant exceptiohs, the entire race has been, as it were, doomedto support an existence surcharged with misery. From the earliest pe-riods of recorded time, we behold the great mass slaves to an organizeddespotism which a few crafty spirits entailed upon the species—a despo-tism both mental and physical—to subdue the body and enthrall the mind—political and ecclesiastical despotism. To the neglect of mental cultiva-tion alone, these evils are to be attributed > for in every age men have hadthe same elements of prosperity and of happiness. The earth and itstreasures have always been at their disposal, and the natural capacities ofthe human intellect, have probably always been the same. It is the im-provement of these capacities by culture, and their degeneracy by neglect,that make all the differences in men’s condition. The horrible sufferingsof the myriads of human beings who have passed through a life of un-ceasing and unrequited toil, were owing to their ignorance, and hence thetyrants of the earth have always labored, and still labor, to keep thoseuninformed that are subject to their sway. Ignorance was the grand en-gine by which the most atrocious Systems of tyranny, Superstition andmagic were established in ancient times ; and whose influences are notyet done away.

But within the last two centuries a new era has opened with brighterprospects for the human family at large, than has ever yet dawned uponit. An era that has been ushered in by the discovery, or rather applica-tion, of a new motive agent, viz. steam. The wonderful effects whichthis fluid has been made to produce, are so creditable to the human intel-lect, and so fraught with consequences of the highest import to ourrace in all times to come, as to excite even in the most torpid mindsemotions of stirring interest. Steam is changing every thing, and everything for the better. It has opened new sources of social and indi-vidual happiness : nor is its influence confmed to the physical condi-tion nf man, for by its Connection with the manufacture of paper and withthe prmting press, it has done more to rouse and exercise the' moral and