It has been said that we are indebted for the important invention in the
steam-engine, termed hand gear, by which its valves or cocks are worked
by the machine itself, to an idle boy named Humphrey Potter, who, being
employed to stop and open a valve, saw that he could save himself the
trouble of attending and watching it, by fixing a plug upon a part of
the machine which came to the place at the proper times, in consequence
of the general movement. If this anecdote be true, what does it prove?
That Humphrey Potter might be very idle, but that he was, at the same
time, very ingenious. It was a contrivance, not the result of accident,
but of acute observation and successful experiment.--_Dr. Paris._
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