Chapter VII: Part 7

Symington's pecuniary resources were insufficient to enable him unaided to pursue his experiments, and he was compelled to desist, and turn his attention to the fulfilment of engagements with the Wanlock Head company, for constructing machinery on a large scale. An interval of ten years thus elapsed, at the end of which time Mr. Symington secured the patronage of Thomas, Lord Dundas of Kerse, under whose auspices another series of experiments were commenced, in January 1801, at the cost of 7000_l._; but they placed beyond the possibility of doubt the practicability of steam navigation. Symington had availed himself of the improvements made in the steam-engine by Watt and others, and he now constructed an improved marine engine, with boat and paddle-wheel after the plan at present adopted. This boat, called the 'Charlotte Dundas,'[34] was the first practical steamboat; and for the novel combination of the parts, Symington obtained a patent on the 14th October, 1801. The vessel made her first voyage in March 1803, on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and proceeded upwards of nineteen miles, drawing after her two laden vessels, each of seventy tons burden, although it blew so strong a gale right ahead, that no other vessel in the canal attempted to move to windward during that day. There were on board on this occasion Lord Dundas, the Hon. Captain George Dundas, R.N., and Archibald Spiers of Elderslee, together with several other gentlemen of their acquaintance.

Miller's boat had proved a practical steam-boat, but in the 'Charlotte Dundas' Symington had the undoubted merit of having combined together for the first time those improvements which constitute the present system of steam navigation. Although Henry Bell and Fulton the American are both claimants for the above honour, their inventions did not appear until some years afterwards, Fulton establishing his steamboat at New York in 1807, and Bell establishing one on the Clyde in 1811;[35] undoubted proof also exists that both these gentlemen were well acquainted with the result of Miller of Dalswinton's experiments, the 'Charlotte Dundas,' and must have derived considerable advantage from such knowledge.

After the successful experiment with the 'Charlotte Dundas,' a proposal was made to the canal proprietors to substitute steam-tugs in place of horses, but it was rejected on the ground that the undulation created in the water by the paddle-wheels might wash away the banks. Lord Dundas then introduced Symington to the notice of the Duke of Bridgewater, who, although at first averse to the project, ultimately gave Symington an order to build eight boats on his principle. On this Mr. Symington returned to Scotland full of hopes for the future, but these were suddenly frustrated by the death of the Duke. His resources were now exhausted, and, unable any longer to struggle against his misfortunes, Mr. Symington was obliged, although with great reluctance, to lay up his boat in a creek of the canal near Barnsford draw-bridge, where it remained for many years exposed to the view of the public.

Shortly after Bell's steamboat, the 'Comet,' had begun plying upon the Clyde, notice was sent by Symington, not only to Bell, but to all other proprietors following his example, that by so doing they were invading his right; and legal advice having been taken,[36] an action for damages was commenced. Before, however, the cause was settled, Mr. Symington's patent expired; and although he had given directions to institute an application to have it renewed, this was most unaccountably neglected to be done, and he saw his hopes expire, being reduced to much and severe distress through want of money--a state in which he continued more or less during the remainder of his life.

When in his last illness, the ruling passion of his life was strongly exhibited. At one time the irregular form of his bedroom occasioned him so much uneasiness, that, being slightly delirious, he requested his son to reduce it to a square; while his last act was an imitation of winding-up and adjusting a newly-invented chronometer, which he had lately completed.--_Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam-Engine._ London, 1829.--_Narrative by R. Bowie, proving W. Symington the Inventor of Steam Land-Carriage Locomotion and of Steam Navigation._ London, 1833.--_Descriptive Catalogue of the Museum of the Commissioners of Patents._

THOMAS TELFORD, F.R.S., L. and E., &c.

Born August 9, 1757. Died September 2, 1834.

The life of Thomas Telford adds another striking instance to those on record of men who, from the force of natural talent, unaided save by uprightness and persevering industry, have raised themselves from the low estate in which they were born, and taken their stand among the master-spirits of their age. Telford was born in the parish of Westerkirk, in the pastoral district of Eskdale in Dumfriesshire. His father, who followed the occupation of a shepherd, died while his son was yet an infant, and the orphan boy was thus left to the care of his mother, whose maiden name was Janet Jackson, and for whom her son always cherished an affectionate regard, being in the habit, in after life, of writing letters to her in printed characters, in order that she might be able to read them without assistance.

Young Telford received the rudiments of education at the parish school of Westerkirk, and during the summer season was employed by his uncle as a shepherd boy. This occupation left him abundant leisure, of which he made diligent use in studying the books furnished by his village friends. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a stone mason in the neighbouring town of Langholm, and for several years was employed, chiefly in his native district, in the construction of plain bridges, farm buildings, simple village churches and manses, and other works of a similar nature, such as are usually performed by a country mason in a district where there is little occasion for the higher departments of his art.

These operations afforded, however, good opportunities for obtaining practical knowledge, and Telford himself has expressed his sense of the value of this humble training, observing, that "as there is not sufficient employment to produce a division of labour in building, the young practitioner is under the necessity of making himself acquainted with every detail in procuring, preparing, and employing every kind of material, whether it be the produce of the forest, the quarry, or the forge; and this necessity, although unfavourable to the dexterity of the individual workman, who earns his livelihood by expertness in one operation, is of singular advantage to the future architect and engineer, whose professional excellence must rest on the adaptation of materials, and a confirmed habit of discrimination and judicious superintendance."

When Telford had completed his apprenticeship as a stonemason, he remained for some time at Langholm working as a journeyman, his wages being _eighteenpence_ per diem.[37] The first bridge masonry on which he was engaged was the erection of a structure over the Esk at Langholm to connect the old with the new town. Mr. Smiles, in his 'Lives of the Engineers,' tells a good story in connection with this bridge. Telford's master, one Thompson, was bound by contract to maintain it for a period of seven years. Not long after the completion of the structure an unusually high flood swept along the valley, and Thompson's wife, Tibby, knowing the terms of her husband's contract, was in a state of great alarm lest the fabric should be carried away by the torrent. In her distress she thought of Telford, and calling out, "Oh, we'll be ruined--we'll be ruined! where's Tammy Telfer--where's Tammy? send in search of him." When he came running up, Tibby exclaimed, "Oh, Tammy, they're been on the brig and they say it's shaking! It'll be doon." "Never you heed them, Tibby," said Telford, clapping her on the shoulder, "there's nae fear o' the brig--I like it a' the better that it shakes; it proves it's weel put thegither." Tibby's fears were not, however, so easily allayed, and asserting that she heard the brig "rumlin," she ran up and set her back against it to keep it from falling. Whether Tibby's zealous support to the bridge in this instance was of any avail or no, Telford's opinion of the soundness of the structure has been proved by its withstanding the storms of nearly a century.

At this early period of his life, Telford was remarkable for his elastic spirits and good humour, and in his native district of Eskdale was long remembered as 'laughing Tam.' His favourite pursuits were not as yet scientific but literary, and he acquired some distinction as a poet. He wrote in the homely style of Ramsay and Ferguson, and used to contribute small pieces to Ruddiman's 'Weekly Magazine,' under the signature of 'Eskdale Tam.' One of his compositions, entitled 'Eskdale,' a short poem descriptive of the scenes of his early years, appeared in a provincial miscellany, and was subsequently reprinted at Shrewsbury, at the request of his friends, and ultimately inserted in the appendix to his life. Another pleasing fragment of his composition is given at the end of the first volume of Dr. Currie's 'Life and Works of Burns,' published at Liverpool in 1800; it is an extract from a poetical epistle sent by Telford, when at Shrewsbury, to the Ayrshire poet, recommending him to take up other subjects of a serious nature, similar to the 'Cottar's Saturday Night.'

At the age of twenty-three Telford at length quitted Eskdale, and visited Edinburgh with a view to obtain better employment. The splendid improvements then in progress in that city enlarged his field of observation, and enabled him to contemplate architecture as applied to the object of magnificence as well as utility; and he seems at this time to have devoted much attention both to the scientific study of architecture and to drawing.

After remaining in Edinburgh two years, he removed to London, where he obtained employment upon the quadrangle of Somerset House, then erecting by Sir William Chambers, an engagement in which he states that he obtained much practical information.

After this, in 1784, he was engaged to superintend the erection of a house for the resident commissioner at Portsmouth Dockyard, and for the next three years was occupied upon various buildings in this dockyard, which gave him good opportunities of becoming well acquainted with the construction of graving-docks, wharf walls, and other similar engineering works. Two or three years previous to this, Telford's good character and promising talent had secured for him the friendship of two families resident in his native district,--the Pasleys and the Johnstones,--and to their influence his early employment on important works is in some measure to be attributed.

In 1787, having completed his engagements at Portsmouth, he was invited by Sir William Pulteney (a member of the Johnstone family) to take the superintendence of some alterations to be made in Shrewsbury Castle. Telford consequently removed to Shrewsbury, where he was employed to erect a new jail, completed in 1793, and was afterwards appointed county surveyor, in which office (retained by him until death) he had to design, and oversee the construction of, bridges and similar works. The first bridge which he designed and built was that over the Severn at Mont-fort, consisting of three elliptical stone arches, one of fifty-eight, and the others of fifty-five feet span. His next was the iron bridge over the Severn at Buildwas, which was the third iron bridge ever erected in Great Britain, the first being the Colebrookdale in Shropshire, built in the years 1777-9, and the second the Wearmouth,[38] erected between the years 1793-6. Telford's bridge over the Severn was erected in 1796, and consisted of a single arch of 130 feet span, formed of five cast iron ribs, and having a rise of only 14 feet; the width of the platform is 18 feet, and the total weight of iron in the bridge about 174 tons; it was constructed by the Coalbrookdale Ironmasters at a cost of 6,034_l._ Forty smaller bridges were erected in Shropshire under Telford's direction.

The first great undertaking, upon which Mr. Telford (in conjunction with Mr. Jessop) was engaged, was the Ellesmere Canal, a series of navigations intended to unite the Severn, the Dee, and the Mersey, and extending altogether to a length of nearly one hundred and twenty miles. From the date of this engagement, about 1793, Telford directed his attention almost entirely to civil engineering. In the execution of the immense aqueducts, required on this work, which cross the valleys of the Ceroig or Chirk, and of the Dee, at an elevation of 70 and 120 feet respectively, cast iron was first introduced as a material for forming the water-troughs of the canal, in place of the usual puddled clay confined in masonry, a practice which involved great expense, and some danger in times of frost, from the expansion of the moist clay. In the locks of this canal Telford also introduced cast iron framing in place of timber; and in one instance, where the lock was formed in a quicksand, he made every part of the above material.

The Caledonian Canal, of which Mr. Jessop was consulting engineer, was another of Mr. Telford's principal works. This canal was opened throughout its course in the year 1823, and it forms a noble monument of the skill of the engineer. The locks are stated by Telford to be the largest ever constructed at that time, being 40 feet wide, and from 170 to 180 feet long. Of other canals constructed wholly or partially under his superintendance, it is sufficient to mention the Glasgow, Paisley, and Androssan; the Macclesfield; the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction; the Gloucester and Berkeley; the Birmingham, which was completely remodelled by him and adapted to the conduct of a very extensive traffic, and the Weaver navigation in Cheshire. On the Continent he likewise superintended the construction of the Gotha Canal in Sweden, a navigation of about 125 English miles, of which 55 are artificial canal. From the Lake Wener at one extremity, this navigation rises 162 feet to the summit level, and falls 370 feet to the Baltic at the other; the rise and fall are effected by fifty-six locks, and the canal is 42 feet wide at the bottom and 10 feet deep. Upon its completion Telford received a Swedish order of knighthood, and as a farther mark of the royal approbation, received the King of Sweden's portrait set in diamonds.

The works executed by Telford under the Commissioners of Highland Roads and Bridges are of great importance. The practical operations under this commission, appointed in 1803, embraced about a thousand miles of new road, with nearly 1,200 new bridges, which caused the whole of Scotland, from its southern boundary near Carlisle, to the northern extremity of Caithness, and from Aberdeenshire on the east, to the Argyleshire islands on the west, to be intersected by roads; and its largest rivers and even inferior streams to be crossed by bridges. The execution of this undertaking occupied a period of twenty-five years, and all was done under the sole direction of Telford. The great road from London to Holyhead remains, perhaps, one of the most perfect specimens of his skill as an engineer; the improvements in it were executed by him, under another Parliamentary Commission appointed in 1815, and Telford himself appears to have regarded this work with peculiar satisfaction.

The Menai suspension bridge is, however, unquestionably one of the noblest monuments of Mr. Telford's fame, and it may be said to have inaugurated the era of the extensive introduction of wrought iron into great permanent structures exposed to heavy strains.[39] This bridge was commenced in 1819, and opened for traffic in 1826. The distance between the two piers is 550 feet, and the whole roadway, which is carried over four arches on the one side, and three on the other, has a length of 1000 feet, and a breadth of 30 feet. The total cost of the work was 120,000_l._

Mr. Telford also built many other bridges of considerable size, and executed some important harbour works at Aberdeen and Dundee; but his most striking performance of this latter class is the St. Katharine Docks, London. One of his latest engagements was the survey of Dover harbour, undertaken in January, 1834, at the request of the Duke of Wellington, (as Warden of the Cinque Ports,) with a view to the adoption of measures to check the accumulation of shingle at the entrance.

During the course of his life Mr. Telford taught himself Latin, French, and German, so as to be able to read those languages with fluency, and to be able to converse freely in French. He is likewise said to have been well acquainted with algebra, but to have placed more reliance upon experiment, than on mathematical investigation. He contributed to the 'Edinburgh Encyclopædia' the articles--'Architecture,' 'Bridge Building,' and 'Canal Making.' Besides the above, he wrote an account of his own life, giving elaborate descriptions of his various professional undertakings. (Life of Thomas Telford, written by himself. Edited by John Rickman. London, 1833, 4to.)

Although Telford was not connected with the Institution of Civil Engineers at its formation, he accepted their invitation in 1820, and became their President; and from that time he was unremitting in his attention to the duties of the office, having become by his partial retirement from business, a pretty regular resident in the metropolis.

Telford was possessed of a robust frame, and till he had reached the age of seventy, had never been visited with any serious illness. While at Cambridge, in the year 1827, he was afflicted with a severe and dangerous disorder; and although he gradually recovered a certain degree of health, he never regained his former vigour. He died a few years afterwards at his house in Abingdon Street, Westminster, having completed the seventy-seventh year of his age. His remains were deposited in Westminster Abbey, where there is a statue erected to his memory.--_Encyclopædia Britannica._--_English Cyclopædia._

CHARLES TENNANT.

Born May 3, 1768. Died October 1, 1838.

Charles Tennant, the founder of the celebrated chemical works at St. Rollox, Glasgow, was born at Ochiltree, Ayrshire. His father, John Tennant, was factor or steward to the Countess of Glencairn, and also rented a farm on her estate, in the culture of which he displayed great practical and scientific ability. John Tennant married twice; after the death of his first wife, by whom he had two sons and one daughter, he married, in the year 1757, Margaret McLure, who, in the course of time, brought him a numerous family of six sons and seven daughters. John Tennant's second wife possessed very superior abilities, which she earnestly directed to the education and advancement of her family, ultimately having the satisfaction of seeing all her children turn out men of energy and success in life. Charles Tennant, the subject of our memoir, was the fifth son; he received his early education at home, afterwards attending the parish school of Ochiltree. When still very young, Charles left home and went to Kilbarhan, with the intention of learning the manufacture of silk. After remaining at this place a short time, Tennant removed to Wellmeadow bleachfield, where he studied the methods of bleaching at that time in use, and ultimately went to Darnly (the place from which the unfortunate husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, took his title), and established there an extensive bleachfield, taking into partnership with him Mr. Cochrane of Paisley. Mr. Tennant now devoted himself to the study of chemistry, feeling that the process of bleaching could only be effected by true chemical agency, whatever might be the particular method or operation, and that, therefore, the bleacher must in the first case look to the chemist for the discovery of more potent agents to effect his object. Before Mr. Tennant's time the operation of bleaching was of a very tedious and expensive nature. The cloth was steeped in alkaline lye, which was called 'bucking.' The subsequent process of bleaching was done by exposure on the grass, called 'crofting;' these operations were repeated five or six times, and extended over a period of eight or ten weeks. In the year 1787 an important change took place, in consequence of the discovery, by Mr. Scheele, of Sweden, of chlorine, which was used as a substitute for exposure to the atmosphere. The repeated experiments of Berthollet added considerably to the facts already known, while the practical effects of these discoveries were still more fully shown by Mr. Watt, and Dr. Henry of Manchester. In 1798 Mr. Tennant made his first great discovery, viz., a method of making saturated chloride of lime, an article which was found to answer perfectly all the purposes required by the bleacher. This invention, for which he took out a patent, consisted in the substitution of lime for potash. His patent right was, however, resisted by certain of the bleachers of Lancashire, and was set aside by the verdict of a jury, on the grounds that the patent included a mode of 'bucking' with quicklime and water, which was not a new invention; and because one part of the patent was not new, the whole of the claim must be set aside. By this decision the use of liquid chloride of lime in bleaching was thrown open to all; and through an unfortunate error of expression in describing his process, Mr. Tennant was deprived of the fruits of a laborious investigation extending over a period of several years. This subsequently caused a strong feeling of sympathy to be manifested for him by many of the bleachers of Lancashire, who, as an expression of their grateful acknowledgment, presented him with a service of plate, which he accepted. Mr. Tennant, however, in accordance with the character of his original design, determined to press onward with his discoveries, and to bring, if possible, his first invention to a still more practical issue. He therefore adopted a new method, and at length completed and secured by patent a process for impregnating quicklime in a dry state with chlorine, which proved perfectly successful; this, his second patent, remained uncontested, and he lived to secure a large pecuniary reward.

Mr. Tennant's discoveries, together with the introduction of soda-ash or 'British soda,' in place of potash, greatly facilitated and cheapened the process of bleaching, while the introduction of mechanical appliances and the power of the steam-engine superseded the previous laborious operations by hand. The result has been that the same amount of bleaching is now performed in as many days as was formerly performed in weeks, while the price has been reduced from 7s. 6d. (1803) to 6d. (1861) for a piece of cloth of 28 yards.

In the year 1800 Mr. Tennant removed from Darnly to St. Rollox, Glasgow, where he commenced business as a large manufacturing chemist, taking into partnership Mr. Charles Mackintosh, Mr. William Cowper, and Mr. James Knox. During the remainder of his life Mr. Tennant devoted himself with energy to the forwarding of his business, and ultimately caused his manufactory to become the largest and most extensive of its kind in Europe. He also took considerable interest in the politics of the day. His principles were those of an intelligent and liberal-minded reformer, and he was long looked up to as one of the leading men of his party, although the least tainted by mere party spirit or selfishness. Mr. Tennant was likewise conspicuous in his promotion of many public undertakings. He took a deep interest in the furtherance of the railway system; the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway may be said to owe its origin and completion almost entirely to him, while his invincible industry and perseverance contributed greatly towards the establishment of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. He was a great friend of George Stephenson's, and was present with him at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad when the unfortunate accident occurred which resulted in the melancholy death of Mr. Huskisson.

Mr. Tennant died rather suddenly, in his seventy-first year, at his house in Abercrombie Place, Glasgow. He was possessed of a constitutional nervousness, rather remarkable in one of a large and healthy frame, allied to a peculiar sensitiveness to the beautiful. In after life he would often talk with pleasure of his youthful reminiscences of the poet Burns, who was at that time on terms of considerable intimacy with his family. Mr. Tennant was an earnest and indefatigable promoter of economical and educational improvement; an uncompromising friend of civil and religious liberty; while his own inborn energy of character and clear intellect placed him among the foremost of those men who, by uniting science to manufactures, have at once extended their fields of action, and entitled their occupations to be classed among the ranks of the liberal professions.--_The Progress of Science and Art as developed in the Bleaching of Cotton, by Henry Ashworth, Paper read before the British Association at Manchester_, September 5, 1861; _and_, _Particulars communicated by the Family_.

THOMAS THOMSON, M.D., F.R.S.

Born April 12, 1773. Died July 2, 1852.

Dr. Thomas Thomson, Regius Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, who exercised a remarkable influence in the development and extension of the science of chemistry during the present age, was born at Crieff, in Perthshire. He received his early education at the parish school of that place, and after remaining for a time under the care of Dr. Doig, of Stirling, went to the University of St. Andrews, where he remained for a period of three years.

Thomson entered upon his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh, and during the session of 1795-96 attended the lectures of the celebrated Dr. Black, who first awoke in him the latent taste for that science of which he was destined to become so bright an ornament. In 1796 he became connected with the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, for an early edition of which he wrote the articles--Chemistry, Mineralogy, Vegetable Substances, Animal Substances, and Dyeing Substances, &c. These articles formed the basis of his system of chemistry, which he published at Edinburgh in the year 1804, in four volumes, and afterwards greatly enlarged and improved as the demand for the book increased. Dr. Thomson commenced delivering a series of lectures on chemistry at Edinburgh in 1800, which were continued with increasing popularity until 1810. Meanwhile he invented the system of chemical symbols now generally adopted by all men of science (with variations as the time demands), and without which chemical language would be unintelligible. He was also the first to open a laboratory in Great Britain for practical manipulation in chemistry. In 1810 he published his 'Elements of Chemistry,' and in 1812 visited Sweden, and on his return wrote a description of that country. The following year to this Dr. Thomson started in London the 'Annals of Philosophy,' a scientific journal, which he continued to edit until the year 1822, and which a few years afterwards was merged in the 'Philosophical Magazine.' He also about this time conducted for the Board of Excise a series of investigations on brewing, which formed the basis of Scottish legislation on that subject.

In the year 1817 Thomson was elected lecturer on chemistry in the University of Glasgow, and in the following year received the title of Professor. This chair he held until his death, being assisted in his latter years by his nephew and son-in-law, Dr. R. D. Thomson. When Dalton had worked out his grand discovery of the Atomic Theory, he communicated the result of his researches to Thomson, who at once perceived the value and importance of the discovery, and in the year 1807 was the first to publish it to the world. He gave a sketch of this grand theory in the third edition of his 'System of Chemistry;' and we are chiefly indebted to the labours of Professor Thomson, conjointly with Dr. Henry of Manchester, and Dr. Wollaston, for luminous views on this important subject. In 1825 Dr. Thomson wrote, in two volumes, 'An Attempt to Establish the First Principles of Chemistry by Experiment.' In 1830-31 he published his 'History of Chemistry,' a work which has been described as a masterpiece of learning and research. In 1836 appeared his 'Outlines of Mineralogy and Geology;' and in 1849 he issued his last work, 'On Brewing and Distillation.'

Thomson performed in science, and its history and literature, a very great amount of valuable labour, and acquired a distinguished reputation both as an original discoverer, and as a practical teacher of his favourite science. He died in 1852, at the age of seventy-nine, and has left behind him a son who bears his name, now (1860) superintendent of the East India Company's Botanic Gardens at Calcutta, and one of the most distinguished scientific botanists of the day.--_Encyclopædia Britannica_, Eighth Edition.--_English Cyclopædia._ London, 1858.

RICHARD TREVITHICK.

Born April 13, 1771. Died April 22, 1833.

Richard Trevithick, inventor of the first high pressure steam-engine, and the first steam-carriage used in England, was born in the parish of Illogan, in Cornwall. He was the son of a purser of the mines in the district, and although he received but little early education, his talents were great in his own special subject, mechanics. When a boy he had no taste for school exercises, and being an only son, was allowed by his parents to do much as he pleased; so that most of his time was passed either in strolling over the mines amidst which he lived, or in working out schemes which had already begun to fill his youthful imagination, seated under a hedge, with a slate in his hand. Trevithick was a pupil of William Bull, an engineer practising at that time in Cornwall, employed in erecting Watt's engines, and who afterwards accompanied Trevithick to South America. When he had attained the age of twenty-one, Trevithick was appointed engineer to several mines, a more responsible situation than the one held by his father, who, on hearing of his son's appointment, expressed great surprise, and even considered it his duty to remonstrate with the gentlemen who had proposed the appointment. About this period (in 1792) he was also employed to test one of Hornblower's engines, and even before this, had, with the assistance of William Bull, constructed several engines which did not come under Watt's patent. Trevithick's duties, as engineer, at this time, frequently required him to visit Mr. Harvey's iron foundry at Hayle, who was in the habit of inviting him to his house; this ultimately resulted in his becoming attached to Mr. Harvey's daughter, to whom he was married on the 7th of November, 1797. After his marriage Trevithick lived at Plane-an-quary in Redruth for a few months, then at Camborne for ten years. From about 1808 to 1810 he resided in London; but after his unfortunate failure in attempting to tunnel the Thames, returned to Penponds in the parish of Camborne, where he lived for five or six years, at the house of his mother, afterwards living at Penzance, from which town he sailed for Peru on the 20th October, 1816. While residing at Camborne, Trevithick influenced perhaps by the success of Murdock's model steam-carriage, determined to build one adapted to ordinary road traffic. One Andrew Vivian supplied the pecuniary means and joined him in the project, for which, on its completion, a patent was taken out in 1802, and in the same year a small one was erected at Marazion, which was worked by steam of at least thirty pounds on the square inch above atmospheric pressure.[40] Their steam-carriage presented the appearance of an ordinary stage-coach on four wheels, having one horizontal cylinder, which, together with the boiler and fire-box, were placed at the back of the hind axle. Mr. Michael Williams, late M.P. for Cornwall, in a letter to Mr. E. Watkins, dated the 5th of January, 1853, mentions having been present at the first trial of Trevithick's locomotive, and says "the experiments made on the public road close by Camborne were perfectly successful, and although many improvements in the details of such description of engines have been since effected, the leading principles of construction and arrangement are continued, I believe, with little alteration in the magnificent railroad engines of the present day." After making several satisfactory trials in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, Trevithick and Vivian exhibited their invention publicly in London, first at Lord's Cricket-ground, and afterwards on the spot of ground now occupied by Euston Square.[41] At this latter place, however, Trevithick, influenced by some curious whim, suddenly closed the exhibition on the second day, leaving hundreds waiting outside in a state of great wrath. Mrs. Humblestone, an old inhabitant of London, who at that period used to keep a shop near to the present Pantheon, Oxford Street, relates that she well remembers witnessing a public trial of Trevithick's steam-carriage. On this occasion the shops were shut, no horses or carriages were allowed in the streets, and the roofs of the houses in the neighbourhood were crowded with people, who hurraed and waived their handkerchiefs as the 'steam monster' was seen coming along Oxford Street at a rapid pace.[42]

Two years afterwards Trevithick constructed the first successful railway locomotive, which was used on the Merthyr Tydvil Railway in the year 1804. This engine had an eight-inch cylinder, of four feet six inches stroke, placed horizontally as at present, and working on a cranked axle; while, in order to secure a continuous rotatory motion, a fly-wheel was placed on the end of the axle. When we add to this, that the fly-wheel was furnished with a break, that the boiler had a safety-valve or a fusible plug beyond the reach of the engineer, and that the patent includes the production of a more equable rotatory motion--"by causing the piston rods of _two_ cylinders to work on the said axis by means of cranks at a quarter of a turn asunder"--it is scarcely too much to say that nothing material was added to the design of the locomotive until the invention of the tubular boiler in 1829.[43] On the occasion of its first trial, on the 21st of February, 1804, this engine drew carriages containing ten tons of bar iron for a distance of nine miles, at the rate of five miles an hour. The specification of the patent for Trevithick's steam-carriage mentions a plan for causing the wheels, _in certain cases_, to take a stronger hold of the ground by means of sundry rough projections, but it also adds that, _in general, the ordinary structure or figure of the external surface of these wheels will be found to answer the intended purpose_, which appears to have been the case in the above-mentioned engine.[44] After making a few experiments with his engine, Trevithick forsook the locomotive for other projects of his versatile genius, and this great invention was left to be perfected and carried into general use by George Stephenson.

In the year 1809 Trevithick commenced an attempt at tunnelling under the Thames. It was the second time that this difficult undertaking had been tried, Ralph Dodd having been the first of the unsuccessful borers. When a large sum of money had been raised by subscriptions Trevithick commenced boring at Rotherhithe, and in order to save both labour and expense, kept very near to the bottom of the river; but notwithstanding the increased difficulties which he had to encounter on this account, he actually carried the tunnel through a distance of 1011 feet, and within 100 feet of the proposed terminus. At this point an unfortunate dispute arose between him and the surveyor appointed to verify his work, the surveyor asserting that the tunnel had been run a foot or two on one side. This reflection on his skill as an engineer excited Trevithick's Cornish blood, and he is said to have adopted the absurd expedient of making a hole in the roof of the tunnel at low water, and thrusting through a series of jointed rods, which were to be received by a man in a boat, and then observed from the shore. In the execution of this scheme, delays ensued in fitting the rods together, and at length so much water made its way through the gulley formed by the opening in the roof, that retreat became necessary; Trevithick, with an inborn courage, refused to go first, but sent the men before him, and his life nearly fell a sacrifice to his devotion: as he made his escape on the other side, the water rose with him to his neck, owing to the tunnel following the curve of the bed of the river, which necessarily caused the water to congregate towards one part. The work was thus ended almost at the point of its successful completion, being at once a melancholy monument of his folly and his skill.

After this unfortunate failure, Trevithick commenced many schemes; among others, his attention was directed towards the introduction of iron tanks and buoys into the Royal Navy. On first representing the importance of this to the Admiralty, the objection was raised, that perhaps, in the case of the tanks, iron would be prejudicial to the water, and consequently to the health of the crews; Trevithick was therefore requested to consult Abernethy upon the subject, which he accordingly did, and received for his answer the following characteristic reply: "That the Admiralty ought to have known better than to have sent you to me with such a question." He likewise, about this period, contributed largely to the improvement and better working of the Cornish engines, and to him the merit is due of introducing into these engines the system of high-pressure steam, and of inventing in the year 1804 the cylindrical wrought iron boiler, (now known as the Cornish boiler,) in which he placed the fire inside instead of outside, as had been the practice before his time.

Trevithick also appears to have been among, if not the very first to employ the expansive principle of steam. In the year 1811-12 he erected a single-acting engine of 25 inches cylinder at Hull-Prosper in Gwithian, with a cylindrical boiler, in which the steam was more than 40 lbs. on the square inch above atmospheric pressure; and the engine was so loaded that it worked full seven-eighths of the stroke expansively. In this he seems to have preceded Woolf by several years. It is also stated by Mr. Gordon in his 'Treatise on Elementary Locomotion,' that Trevithick was the first to turn the eduction-pipe into the chimney of the locomotive to increase the draught.[45]

We now come to the most romantic and stirring period of Trevithick's career. In 1811 M. Uvillé, a Swiss gentleman at that time living in Lima, came to England to see if he could procure machinery for clearing the silver mines, in the Peruvian mountains, of water. Watt's condensing engines were, however, of too ponderous a nature to be transported over the Cordilleras on the backs of the feeble llamas, and Uvillé was about to give the matter up in despair, when, on the eve of his departure from this country, he chanced to see a small working model of Trevithick's engine in a shop window near Fitzroy Square. This model he carried out with him to Lima, and had the satisfaction of seeing it work successfully on the high ridge of the Sierra de Pasco. Uvillé now returned to England to procure more engines of the same kind, but he was a second time almost forced to give the matter up; for Boulton and Watt, the most distinguished engineers of their time, assured him that it was impossible to make engines of sufficient power and yet small enough to be carried over the Andes. Fortunately, however, Uvillé at this point met with Trevithick himself, and was enabled to make such arrangements with him as resulted in the embarkation, during September 1814, of three engineers and nine of Trevithick's engines. On landing at Peru, Uvillé and his charge were received with a royal salute, and in due time the engines, which had been simplified to the greatest extent, and so divided as to form adequate loads for the weakly llama, were safely carried over precipices where a stone may be thrown for a league. An engine was soon erected at Lauricocha, in the province of Tarma, which successfully drained the shaft of the Santa Rosa mine, and enabled working operations to be recommenced. During the year 1816 Trevithick, hearing of this success, gave up family and fortune and embarked for South America. On landing he was received with the highest honours; all Lima was in a state of excitement, which rose to a still greater pitch, when it was found that his engines, by clearing the mines of water, had doubled their produce and increased the coining machinery sixfold. Trevithick was created a marquis and grandee of old Spain, and the lord warden of the mines proposed to raise a silver statue in his honour. All went well until the revolution broke out, when the Cornish engineer found himself placed in a very disagreeable position between the two parties. The patriots kept him in the mountains in a kind of honourable captivity, while the royalists ruined his property and mutilated his engines. Trevithick, never very patient, soon determined to end this, and, after incurring many hardships and dangers, succeeded in making his escape from the oppressive love and veneration of the mountain patriots. On their way back Trevithick and his companions encountered many perils; they had to shoot monkeys for subsistence, their clothes were almost always wet through owing to it being the rainy season of the year; they had also to ford rivers, and in many cases make their own roads by cutting down the underwood and other obstacles which impeded their progress. On one occasion Trevithick nearly lost his life; in attempting to swim across a river he became involved in a kind of whirlpool caused by some sunken rocks, and notwithstanding all his efforts he was utterly unable to swim beyond its influence, which kept carrying him round and round; fortunately just as his strength was giving way a companion, who had cut down a tall sappling, succeeded in stretching it out to his assistance, and thus drew him to land. Ultimately, after a long interval, Trevithick arrived at Cartagena, on the gulf of Darien, almost in a state of utter destitution. Here he was met by the late Robert Stephenson, who, having just received a remittance from home, lent half to his brother engineer to help him on his way to England, where he arrived on the 9th of October, 1827, bringing back a pair of spurs and a few old coins, the sole remnants of the colossal fortune made, 'but not realized,' in the Peruvian mines. Before this occurred, however, Trevithick had visited various parts of the West coast of South America; part of this time he was in the company of Earl Dundonald (then Lord Cochrane), but the last four years of this period were spent by him at Costa Rica, in the countries now so well known as the route of the Nicaraguan transit and the scene of General Walker's filibuster warfare, where he projected mines and devised many magnificent schemes, but realized no permanent good for himself. Among other things, having discovered some valuable mineral deposits, he obtained from the government a grant of the land which contained them, and on his return to England succeeded, by his representations (which were confirmed by a Scotchman of the name of Gerard, who had been his companion), in organizing a company for sinking the necessary mines. Before, however, active operations were commenced, Trevithick one day entered the new company's offices to arrange finally about his own interest in the concern. A cheque for 7000_l._ was at once offered him as purchase-money for his land in Southern America. This however was not what he had wanted, and without giving a thought to the largeness of the sum offered, he indignantly threw back the cheque across the table and walked out of the office.[46] After this the company broke up, and Trevithick never realized a penny-piece from his really valuable possessions in that country.

After his return from America but little is known of Trevithick; late in life he commenced a petition to Parliament, in which he asks for some grant or remuneration for his services to the country, by reason of the superiority of his machinery, stating that from the use of his engines the saving to the Cornish mines alone amounted to 100,000_l._ per annum; but before presenting this petition, he met with a monied partner, who supplied him with the means of perfecting his never-ceasing inventions. This was all Trevithick wanted, and the petition was consequently laid aside. Thus assisted he obtained a patent in 1831 for an improved steam engine; and another in the same year for a method or apparatus for heating apartments; and a third on the 22nd of September, 1832, for improvements on the steam engine, and in the application of steam power to navigation and locomotion. This was the last patent he took out; he died at Dartford in Kent during the following year, at the age of sixty-two.

Trevithick, by his marriage with Miss Jane Harvey, had four sons and two daughters, all of whom are still living. His manners were blunt and unassuming, but yet possessed a certain kind of fascination which generally secured for him, in whatever society he might be, an eager and attentive auditory. In person he was tall and strongly made, being six feet two inches in height, and broad in proportion, and to this day stories of his extraordinary feats of strength are told among the miners of Cornwall. His life remains a record of constant but brilliant failures, and that from no inherent defect in his inventions, but solely from the absence in his character of that perseverance and worldly prudence necessary to bring every new undertaking to a successful commercial issue.--_Contributions to the Biography of R. Trevithick, by R. Edmunds, Jun., Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal_, October, 1859.--_The Land's End District, &c., with Brief Memoir of Ric. Trevithick, by R. Edmunds._ London and Penzance, 1862.--_All the Year Round_, August 4, 1860.--And other particulars taken from original and authentic sources.

EDWARD TROUGHTON, F.R.A.S.

Born October, 1753. Died June 12, 1835.

Edward Troughton, the first astronomical instrument maker of our day, was born in the parish of Corney, on the south-west coast of Cumberland, and was the third son of a small farmer. An uncle of the same name, and his eldest brother John were settled in London as mathematical instrument makers; and as his second brother was apprenticed to the same business, Edward was designed to be a farmer, continuing to be his father's assistant till the age of seventeen.

The death of his younger brother, however, altered Edward's destination, and caused him to be placed with his brother John, at that time a chamber master, employed chiefly in dividing and engraving for the trade, and the higher branches of the art. Under the instruction of John, who was an excellent workman, Troughton made very rapid progress, and at the end of his time was taken into partnership.

About the year 1782 the Troughtons established themselves in Fleet Street, where they commenced an independent business and soon rose into eminence. After the death of his brother John, Edward alone continued the business until the year 1826, when increasing age and dislike to routine employment, induced him to take Mr. William Simms as his partner and successor.

The instruments which facilitate navigation were peculiarly objects of interest to Mr. Troughton, and long after his infirmities were an effectual bar to the applications of his most esteemed friends, he exerted himself to supply the seamen with well adjusted and accurate sextants. "Your fancies," he would say, "may wait; their necessities cannot."

In 1778 he took out a patent for the double framed sextant, a construction which, combining firmness and lightness, yet admitted of a considerable radius in this invaluable instrument. After trying and rejecting the repeating reflecting circle of Borda, Mr. Troughton, in 1796, hit upon one of his happiest constructions, the British reflecting circle, as he delighted to call it, an instrument which in right hands is capable of wonderful accuracy. It is a characteristic trait of Mr. Troughton, that in order to bring his favourite circle into general use, he reduced its price far below the usual profits of trade; and if he had succeeded in his attempt, he might have been ruined by his success, for his sextants were by far the most gainful article of his business.

With the same earnestness to promote the interests of navigation, he invented the dip sector (afterwards re-invented by Dr. Wollaston), and expended time, money, and ingenuity to no inconsiderable amount, in attempting to perfect the marine top for producing a true horizontal reflecting surface at sea. The marine barometer, the snuff-box sextant, and the portable universal dial, owe to him all their elegance, and much of their accuracy. Where others invented or sketched he perfected.

In the ordinary physical apparatus Troughton made considerable improvement in the construction of the balance, and of the mountain barometer. In the same class may be mentioned the form given to the compensated mercurial pendulum; his pyrometer, by which some very valuable expansions have been determined; the apparatus by which Sir George Shuckburgh attempted to ascertain the standard of weight and measure; and that apparatus which, in the hands of Francis Baily, has given an invariable simple seconds pendulum. In the ordinary geodesical instruments Mr. Troughton greatly improved the surveying level and staff, and reduced them both in weight and price, with increased convenience and accuracy. It is, however, in the construction of astronomical instruments that this great mechanician particularly excelled; here he reigned without a rival. His portable astronomical quadrants are models of strength and lightness, while the repeating circle of Borda, an instrument which he disliked, first received its beauty and accuracy from his hands.

The ordinary reading micrometer, and the position micrometer, commonly employed in the measurement of double stars, were greatly improved by him in simplicity and brought to perfection; and he first applied the former to dividing, though in circles and scales it had already been used in reading off.

Mr. Troughton's larger works, such as his equatorial instruments, circles, transits, &c., are as well known in the astronomical world as those of Wren in the architectural; they are too numerous to mention here, and are distributed in various parts of the world. The gigantic zenith tube at Greenwich was about the last work on which he was engaged, and he had just time to finish it before his strength failed. The only astronomical instrument which is not greatly indebted to Mr. Troughton is the telescope, and he was deterred from making any attempt in this branch of his art by the curious physical defect of colour blindness, which existed in many members of his family. Like Dalton he could not distinguish colours, and had little idea of them, except generally as they conveyed the impression of greater or less light. The ripe cherry and its leaf were to him of one hue, only to be distinguished by their form. With this defect in his vision he never attempted any experiments in which colour was concerned; and it is difficult to see how he could have done so with success.

The most remarkable of Troughton's writings are, 'An account of a method of dividing astronomical and other instruments by ocular inspection,' &c.--Phil. Trans., 1809, which was awarded with the Copley medal; 'A comparison of the repeating circle of Borda, with the altitude and Azimuth Circle'--Memoirs R. Ast. Soc.; and several articles in Brewster's 'Edinburgh Cyclopædia,' such as 'Circle,' 'Graduations,' &c.

In the year 1825 Mr. Troughton paid a visit to Paris, and in 1830 he received an honorary gold medal from the King of Denmark. During the latter portion of his life he became almost entirely deaf, only hearing by the aid of a powerful trumpet. He died at his house in Fleet Street, June 12, 1835, in the eighty-second year of his age, and was buried at the Cemetery, Kensal Green.--_Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_, vol. 3, February, 1836.

RICHARD WATSON, BISHOP OF LLANDAFF, D.D., F.R.S., &c.

Born August, 1737. Died June 4, 1816.

Richard Watson, celebrated both as an able theologian, and as a professor of chemistry, was born at Haversham, near Kendal in Westmoreland. His ancestors had been farmers of their own estates for several generations, and his father, a younger son, was for forty years the head master of the Grammar-school at Haversham, but had resigned his duties about the period of the birth of his son Richard. Young Watson received his education at this school, and about a year after his father's death, in 1753, was sent on an exhibition of 50_l._ belonging to the school, to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was admitted as a sizar on the 3rd of November, 1754. All he had, besides his exhibition, to carry him through college, was a sum of 300_l._ which his father had left him, but he set bravely to work, to make his way to independence by hard study and hard living; his dress is said at first to have been a coarse mottled Westmoreland coat, and blue yarn stockings.