and levelling operations between the two rivers Forth and Clyde, as a prelude to the gigantic operations of which that part of Scotland was afterwards to become the theatre, we find Watt carrying on similar operations along a rival line, which was called the Lomond passage. At a later period we find him drawing the plan, and superintending the execution of a canal intended to convey the produce of the Monkland collieries to Glasgow. Several projects of the same kind, among others, that of the navigable canal through the isthmus of Crinan, which Mr. Rennie has since completed; recondite and laborious investigations in regard to certain improvements in the harbours of Ayr, Glasgow, and Greenock; [the deepening of the river Clyde; the rendering navigable the rivers Forth and Devon, and the water of Leven; the planning of a canal from Macrihanish Bay to Campbeltown, and of another between the Grand canal and the harbour of Borrowstoness] ;* the building of Hamilton and Rutherglen bridges; surveys and plans of the land through which the celebrated Caledonian Canal was to pass, engaged the attention of our fellow-member till the close of 1773. Withdifferently constituted, has usurped the name), are an imperishable record of his talents and labours. He formed a just estimate of the rising talents of Mr. Watt in his own profession, and gave them his commendation; and when, at a later period, the steam-engines of Boulton and Watt were introduced, he was among the first to bear testimony to their advantages, after having carefully ascertained them by experiment. It need scarcely be added, that two such men continued their esteem and friendship through life.—Tr.

* We have here supplied some works omitted by M. Arago.-TR.

out in any way wishing to detract from the merit of these labours, I may be permitted not to extend their importance beyond their mere local interest, and to affirm, that in order to their conception, direction, and execution, there was no need whatever for calling in the assistance of James Watt.*

If, forgetting my duty as the organ of the Academy, I were to try to supply you with matter for amusement, rather than with profitable truths, I should here find materials for a striking contrast. I could instance such and such an author, outrageously clamouring at our weekly meetings for permission to communicate the small remark, the trivial reflection, the little note, thought of and written down but the evening before. I might exhibit him cursing his destiny, when the established regulations, and the order of enrolment of some earlier applicant, make his reading be postponed for eight days; but during that agonising week leave him, as a hostage, his sealed packet deposited in our archives. On the other hand, we should see the creator of an engine, destined to be the beginning of a new era in the annals of the world, bearing, without a murmur, the ignorant neglect of capitalists, and for eight years bending his

* We cannot think that these were such trivial matters as they may appear to one conversant with the present state of civil engineering; for be it remembered that they were the performance of a young and self-taught engineer, at a period when such operations were only beginning to be carried on by a Brindley and a Smeaton. -TR.

lofty genius to a succession of plans and minute levellings, and the most wearisome estimates of excavations, and embankments, and courses of masonry. But let us be satisfied with remarking all that serenity of disposition, that moderation of desire, that true modesty, which Watt's philosophy displayed. So great an indifference, however noble the causes from which it proceeded, had its faults. It is not without reason that society pursues with strong reprobation those of its members who withdraw from circulation the gold amassed in their coffers; and are they less blame-worthy, who deprive their country, their fellow-citizens, and their age, of those treasures, a thousand-fold more precious, which are the offspring of thought; who keep to themselves immortal creations, the source of the noblest and purest intellectual enjoyments; who do not enrich the working classes with mechanical combinations which would multiply to an unlimited extent the products of industry; which would, to the great advantage of civilisation and humanity, gradually diminish the effects of the inequality of ranks, and one day enable us to go all over the most common workshops without ever finding there the heart-rending spectacle of fathers of families, and unfortunate children of both sexes, reduced to a state little better than that of brutes, and hastening to the grave?

In the early months of the year 1774, after having overcome the indifference of Watt, his friends brought him into connection with Mr. Boulton of

Soho, near Birmingham,* a gentleman equally distinguished by his knowledge of the arts, and his

* This was chiefly brought about by Dr. William Small, a Scotch physician, who, after having practised some time in America, settled in Birmingham. He was brother to Dr. Robert Small, the author of "An Account of the Astronomical Discoveries of Kepler," &c., and is described by Mr. Keir in his life of Day, as joining "to the most extensive, various, and accurate knowledge in the sciences, in literature, and in life, engaging manners, a most exact conduct, liberality of sentiment, and an enlightened humanity." Mr. Watt had become acquainted with him upon a journey to England, about the year 1768; and from that time an interesting correspondence was kept up between these two friends, both respecting Mr. Watt's invention, of which he wished Dr. Small to take a share with Mr. Boulton, and also as to improvements in various arts, which suggested themselves to their inquisitive minds. Dr. Small's health induced him to decline entering into any other business, and he died in 1775, about the time that the partnership of his two friends was brought to bear. Epitaphs were written upon him by Mr. Day, and by Dr. Darwin, the latter of which was inscribed on a tablet, surmounted by an urn, in Mr. Boulton's grounds. We give it here, that the memory of a man who was venerated by both Mr. Watt and Mr. Boulton, may be preserved along with that of his attached friends;—

Ye gay and young, who, thoughtless of your doom,
Shun the disgustful mansions of the dead,
Where melancholy broods o'er many a tomb
Mould'ring beneath the yew's unwholesome shade;

If chance ye enter these sequester'd groves,
And day's bright sunshine for a while forego,
O leave to Folly's cheek the laughs and loves,
And give one hour to philosophic woe !

Here, while no titl'd dust, no sainted bone,
No lover bending over beauty's bier,
No warrior frowning in historic stone,

Extorts your praises, or requests your tear;

Cold Contemplation leans her aching head,
On human woe her steady eye she turns,
Waves her meek hand, and sighs for Science dead,
For Science, Virtue, and for SMALL she mourns.

See Keir's Life of Day, 1791, pp. 29, 93, and 111; and Miss Seward's
Memoirs of Darwin, 1804, p. 24.—TR.

enterprising spirit.* The two friends petitioned Parliament for an extension of the patent; for

* In the notes which he added to the last edition of Professor Robison's Essay on the steam-engine, Watt, speaking of Mr. Boulton, expressed himself in these terms; "In 1774-5, I commenced a partnership with Mr. Boulton, which terminated with the exclusive privilege in the year 1800, when I retired from business; but our friendship continued undiminished to the close of his life. As a memorial due to that friendship, I avail myself of this, probably a last public opportunity, of stating, that to his friendly encouragement, to his partiality for scientific improvements, and his ready application of them to the processes of art; to his intimate knowledge of business and manufactures, and to his extended views and liberal spirit of enterprise, must in a great measure be ascribed whatever success may have attended my exertions."

When the connection spoken of in the text was formed, Mr. Boulton's manufactory had already been for some years established at Soho. It was the first which had been formed on such a large scale in England, and is still remarked for the elegance of its architecture. There, Boulton manufactured all sorts of admirable works in steel, plated goods, silver, and or-moulu; nay, even astronomical clocks, and paintings on glass. During the last twenty years of his life, Boulton devoted his attention to improvements in the coining of money. By uniting some processes, originating in France, with new kinds of presses and an ingenious application of the steamengine, he was enabled to attain at once an excessive rapidity of execution, and great perfection in the articles produced. It was Boulton who re-coined, for the English government, the whole copper specie of the United Kingdom. The economy and excellence with which this great work was accomplished, rendered counterfeits nearly impossible. The executions which in London and Birmingham were every year till then unhappily of frequent occurrence, altogether ceased. It was on occasion of this that Dr. Darwin ex-claimed, in the notes to his "Botanic Garden," "If a civic crown was given in Rome for preserving the life of one citizen, Mr. Boulton should be covered with garlands of oak!" Mr. Boulton died in 1809, aged 81.-M. ARAGO.

To the above notice of Mr. Boulton, we may add, that he planned and directed the arrangement of the machinery for the British mint on Tower-hill, and executed that for the coining department. He did the same for the great national mints of Petersburg and Copen