though there may be those in our own country, us well as in Eng. land and France, who are unwilling to give Mr. Fulton his full share of praise, on account of themselves or their relations having been interested in this invention, yet there are others in all these countries who are willing to do him justice. The following is an extract from a memoir published in Paris some years ago; it is from the pen of Mr. Frederick Royou. "I willingly applaud the patriotic sentiment by which M. de Jouffroy desired that the honor of so great an invention should be attributed to a Frenchman. Unhap pily, however, it is here a question, much less of an invention, than of the application of a power already known. Besides, Fulton has never claimed the merit of being the inventor in this sense. The application which he made, may be considered as ordinary and common in its nature, because it was pointed out by so many scientific men; but the means of application were necessary, and Fulton has procured them." We extract the following from the English Penny Magazine, which, it is said, has a million of read. ers. "Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat in North America, which, in a few years, has produced such an astonishing change in that vast country, by connecting together its most distant states, sustained the mortification of not being comprehended by his countrymen. He was, therefore, treated as an idle projector, whose schemes would be useless to the world and ruinous to himself." And again, we find in the same work the following: "We cannot enter into a controversy whether Fulton, or Mr. William Symington, was the inventor of the steamboat. What has been said of Arkwright may apply to Fulton :- The several inventions which his patent embraced, whether they were his or not, would, probably, but for him, have perished with their authors; none of whom, except himself, had the determination and courage to face the multiplied fatigues and dangers that lay in the way of achieving a practical exemplification of what they had conceived in their minds."" Fulton may be compared with Watt. Both were persevering, nd had great inventive powers; and both were fortunate alike in obtaining the confidence and support of patrons, who were gener ous, and who possessed ample fortunes. In this relation stood Mr Bolton, and Chancellor Livingston. JACOB PERKINS. Birth.-Is apprenticed to a goldsmith.-Death of his employer.-Invents a supe rior method of plating shoe-buckles.-Prosecutes the manufacture of gold beads and shoe-buckles.-Early reputation.-Makes dies for the Massachu setts mint.-Invents the nail-machine.-Through the mismanagement of others, is reduced to poverty.-Harsh treatment by his creditors.-Inventions for the prevention of counterfeiting.-Opinion of public prosecutors concerning them. Removes to Philadelphia.-Goes out to England.-Proves the com pressibility of fluids.-Pleometer.-Bathometer.-Improvements in hardening and softening steel.-Its application to the printing of calicoes and transferring of engravings. Indenting cylinders.-Watt's steam artillery.-Jonathan Hornblower's steam rocket.-M. Gerard's plan for the defence of Paris.-Perkins' experiments with his steam-gun.-Conclusion. THIS individual,* who has acquired, probably, more transatlantic fame than any American mechanician now living, is a lineal descendant of the Puritans, and was born in Newburyport, Mass., July, 1766. Early showing a fondness for mechanics, his parents placed him, when thirteen years of age, as an apprentice to a goldsmith. Three years after, ne lost his master: this, however, did not prevent him from continuing in the business. Gold beads and shoe-buckles were then in fashion; and having invented a new and superior method of plating the latter, he prosecuted the manufacture of these articles with considerable profit. Perkins early acquired a reputation for ingenuity; for, before the adoption of the federal constitution, Massachusetts had a mint for copper coin, and, when he was only about twenty-one, the agent of this establishment hearing of his skill, sent for him to make dies. His success, happily, proved that the confidence was not misplaced. Not long after was invented his famous nailmachine, which cut and headed nails at one operation. This invention was considered very useful, and promised great profits: unfortunately, he was associated with those who had no property, and, by their mismanagement, he not only lost the fruits of several years' hard labor, but all he was worth; and, in addition to these troubles, he was treated by his creditors with unwarrantable harshness. * American Magazine, Lardner's Cyclopædia, &c. &c. His next invention appears to have been the preparation of a device for preventing the counterfeiting of bank bills, which had, at that time, become a very serious and extensive evil,-one, too, which the guardians of the public weal almost despaired of remedy. ing. He first made a stamp on the bills, which was of some bene. fit, for it was seldom imitated. In 1809, the check plate was pre. pared, which proved the best security then known; and a law was passed in Massachusetts, requiring all the banks to use it. Some years after it was repealed, or was disregarded by the banks, much to the regret of many. Public prosecutors have declared that they never knew a good counterfeit of it. Perkins resided several years at Philadelphia, when at that time (some thirty years ago) this city was much in advance in the arts of any other place in our country. Some ten or twelve years after, he removed to England. This was, probably, from the hope of finding more able patrons, or a greater opportunity for im provement in his favorite pursuits. It was said at his departure, that he expected to be employed by the English government in preparing plates to prevent the counterfeiting of bills of the Bank of England. It had ever been maintained by philosophers generally, that water was incapable of compression. Perkins was among the first to doubt the truth of this opinion, and, by his ingenious exDeriment, has proved beyond a question the falsity of popular opinion. On this principle is his invention of the bachometer, to measure the depth of water: and his pleometer, to mark with precision the rate at which a vessel moves through the water, was invented about the same time. At the announcement of his invention to heat water under an enormous pressure, the public were led, from statements neither sanctioned nor promulgated by the inventor, to indulge in the most extravagant speculations on the power and economy to be derived from this discovery. The dis appointment of these absurd expectations was magnified into a reproach against the experimenter, although, in fact, Perkins performed all he promised: and his scheme was only incomplete, from a practical difficulty in getting a suitable material for his generator, sufficiently powerful to withstand the enormous heat and pressure, an obstacle neither insuperable nor unforeseen. Among his early inventions, were the improvements in hardening and softening steel at pleasure. This has been highly useful in its results, and has become very well known in connection with roller-press printing from hardened steel plates, now universally used in the printing of calicoes. A material peculiarity in Mr. Perkins' invention, and one which |