WILLIAM MURDOCK: HIS LIFE AND INVENTIONS.
"Justice exacts, that those by whom we are most benefited Should be
most admired."--Dr. Johnson.
"The beginning of civilization is the discovery of some useful arts, by
which men acquire property, comforts, or luxuries. The necessity or
desire of preserving them leads to laws and social institutions... In
reality, the origin as well as the progress and improvement of civil
society is founded on mechanical and chemical inventions."--Sir Humphry
Davy.
At the middle of last century, Scotland was a very poor country. It
consisted mostly of mountain and moorland; and the little arable land
it contained was badly cultivated. Agriculture was almost a lost art.
"Except in a few instances," says a writer in the 'Farmers' Magazine'
of 1803, "Scotland was little better than a barren waste." Cattle
could with difficulty be kept alive; and the people in some parts of
the country were often on the brink of starvation. The people were
hopeless, miserable, and without spirit, like the Irish in their very
worst times. After the wreck of the Darien expedition, there seemed to
be neither skill, enterprise, nor money left in the country. What
resources it contained were altogether undeveloped. There was little
communication between one place and another, and such roads as existed
were for the greater part of the year simply impassable.
There were various opinions as to the causes of this frightful state of
things. Some thought it was the Union between England and Scotland;
and Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, "The Patriot," as he was called, urged
its Repeal. In one of his publications, he endeavoured to show that
about one-sixth of the population of Scotland was in a state of
beggary--two hundred thousand vagabonds begging from door to door, or
robbing and plundering people as poor as themselves.[1] Fletcher was
accordingly as great a repealer as Daniel O'Connell in after times.
But he could not get the people to combine. There were others who held
a different opinion. They thought that something might be done by the
people themselves to extricate the country from its miserable condition.
It still possessed some important elements of prosperity. The
inhabitants of Scotland, though poor, were strong and able to work.
The land, though cold and sterile, was capable of cultivation.
Accordingly, about the middle of last century, some important steps
were taken to improve the general condition of things. A few
public-spirited landowners led the way, and formed themselves into a
society for carrying out improvements in agriculture. They granted long
leases of farms as a stimulus to the most skilled and industrious, and
found it to their interest to give the farmer a more permanent interest
in his improvements than he had before enjoyed. Thus stimulated and
encouraged, farming made rapid progress, especially in the Lothians;
and the example spread into other districts. Banks were established
for the storage of capital. Roads were improved, and communications
increased between one part of the country and another. Hence trade and
commerce arose, by reason of the facilities afforded for the
interchange of traffic. The people, being fairly educated by the
parish schools, were able to take advantage of these improvements.
Sloth and idleness gradually disappeared, before the energy, activity,
and industry which were called into life by the improved communications.
At the same time, active and powerful minds were occupied in extending
the domain of knowledge. Black and Robison, of Glasgow, were the
precursors of James Watt, whose invention of the condensing
steam-engine was yet to produce a revolution in industrial operations,
the like of which had never before been known. Watt had hit upon his
great idea while experimenting with an old Newcomen model which
belonged to the University of Glasgow. He was invited by Mr. Roebuck
of Kinneil to make a working steam-engine for the purpose of pumping
water from the coal-pits at Boroughstoness; but his progress was
stopped by want of capital, as well as by want of experience. It was
not until the brave and generous Matthew Boulton of Birmingham took up
the machine, and backed Watt with his capital and his spirit, that
Watt's enterprise had the remotest chance of success. Even after about
twelve years' effort, the condensing steam-engine was only beginning,
though half-heartedly, to be taken up and employed by colliery
proprietors and cotton manufacturers. In developing its powers, and
extending its uses, the great merits of William Murdock can never be
forgotten. Watt stands first in its history, as the inventor; Boulton
second, as its promoter and supporter; and Murdock third, as its
developer and improver.
William Murdock was born on the 21st of August, 1754, at Bellow Mill,
in the parish of Auchinleck, Ayrshire. His father, John, was a miller
and millwright, as well as a farmer. His mother's maiden name was
Bruce, and she used to boast of being descended from Robert Bruce, the
deliverer of Scotland. The Murdocks, or Murdochs--for the name was
spelt in either way--were numerous in the neighbourhood, and they were
nearly all related to each other. They are supposed to have originally
come into the district from Flanders, between which country and
Scotland a considerable intercourse existed in the middle ages. Some
of the Murdocks took a leading part in the construction of the abbeys
and cathedrals of the North;[2] others were known as mechanics; but the
greater number were farmers.
One of the best known members of the family was John Murdock, the poet
Burns' first teacher. Burns went to his school at Alloway Mill, when
he was six years old. There he learnt to read and write. When Murdock
afterwards set up a school at Ayr, Burns, who was then fifteen, went to
board with him. In a letter to a correspondent, Murdock said: "In
1773, Robert Burns came to board and lodge with me, for the purpose of
revising his English grammar, that he might be better qualified to
instruct his brothers and sisters at home. He was now with me day and
night, in school, at all meals, and in all my walks." The pupil even
shared the teacher's bed at night. Murdock lent the boy books, and
helped the cultivation of his mind in many ways. Burns soon revised
his English grammar, and learnt French, as well as a little Latin.
Some time after, Murdock removed to London, and had the honour of
teaching Talleyrand English during his residence as an emigrant in this
country. He continued to have the greatest respect for his former
pupil, whose poetry commemorated the beauties of his native district.
It may be mentioned that Bellow Mill is situated on the Bellow Water,
near where it joins the river Lugar. One of Burns' finest songs
begins:--
"Behind yon hills where Lugar flows."
That was the scene of William Murdock's boyhood. When a boy, he herded
his father's cows along the banks of the Bellow; and as there were then
no hedges, it was necessary to have some one to watch the cattle while
grazing. The spot is still pointed out where the boy, in the
intervals of his herding, hewed a square compartment out of the rock by
the water side, and there burnt the splint coal found on the top of the
Black Band ironstone. That was one of the undeveloped industries of
Scotland; for the Scotch iron trade did not arrive at any considerable
importance until about a century later.[3] The little cavern in which
Murdock burnt the splint coal was provided with a fireplace and vent,
all complete. It is possible that he may have there derived, from his
experiments, the first idea of Gas as an illuminant.
Murdock is also said to have made a wooden horse, worked by mechanical
power, which was the wonder of the district. On this mechanical horse
he rode to the village of Cumnock, about two miles distant. His
father's name is, however, associated with his own in the production of
this machine. Old John Murdock had a reputation for intelligence and
skill of no ordinary kind. When at Carron ironworks, in 1760, he had a
pinton cast after a pattern which he had prepared. This is said to
have been the first piece of iron-toothed gearing ever used in mill
work. When I last saw it, the pinton was placed on the lawn in front
of William Murdock's villa at Handsworth.
The young man helped his father in many ways. He worked in the mill,
worked on the farm, and assisted in the preparation of mill machinery.
In this way he obtained a considerable amount of general technical
knowledge. He even designed and constructed bridges. He was employed
to build a bridge over the river Nith, near Dumfries, and it stands
there to this day, a solid and handsome structure. But he had an
ambition to be something more than a country mason. He had heard a
great deal about the inventions of James Watt; and he determined to try
whether he could not get "a job" at the famous manufactory at Soho. He
accordingly left his native place in the year 1777, in the twenty-third
year of his age; and migrated southward. He left plenty of Murdocks
behind him. There was a famous staff in the family, originally owned
by William Murdock's grandfather, which bore the following inscription:
"This staff I leave in pedigree to the oldest Murdock after me, in the
parish of Auchenleck, 1745." This staff was lately held by Jean
Murdock, daughter of the late William Murdock, joiner, cousin of the
subject of this biography.
When William arrived at Soho in 1777 he called at the works to ask for
employment. Watt was then in Cornwall, looking after his pumping
engines; but he saw Boulton, who was usually accessible to callers of
every rank. In answer to Murdock's enquiry whether he could have a
job, Boulton replied that work was very slack with them, and that every
place was filled up. During the brief conversation that took place,
the blate young Scotchman, like most country lads in the presence of
strangers, had some difficulty in knowing what to do with his hands,
and unconsciously kept twirling his hat with them. Boulton's attention
was attracted to the twirling hat, which seemed to be of a peculiar
make. It was not a felt hat, nor a cloth hat, nor a glazed hat: but it
seemed to be painted, and composed of some unusual material. "That
seems to be a curious sort of hat," said Boulton, looking at it more
closely; "what is it made of?" "Timmer, sir," said Murdock, modestly.
"Timmer? Do you mean to say that it is made of wood?" "'Deed it is,
sir." "And pray how was it made?" "I made it mysel, sir, in a bit
laithey of my own contrivin'." "Indeed!"
Boulton looked at the young man again. He had risen a hundred degrees
in his estimation. William was a good-looking fellow--tall, strong,
and handsome--with an open intelligent countenance. Besides, he had
been able to turn a hat for himself with a lathe of his own
construction. This, of itself, was a sufficient proof that he was a
mechanic of no mean skill. "Well!" said Boulton, at last, "I will
enquire at the works, and see if there is anything we can set you to.
Call again, my man."
"Thank you, sir," said Murdock, giving a final twirl to his hat.
Such was the beginning of William Murdock's connection with the firm of
Boulton and Watt. When he called again he was put upon a trial job,
and then, as he was found satisfactory, he was engaged for two years at
15s. a week when at home, 17s. when in the country, and 18s. when in
London. Boulton's engagement of Murdock was amply justified by the
result. Beginning as an ordinary mechanic, he applied himself
diligently and conscientiously to his work, and gradually became
trusted. More responsible duties were confided to him, and he strove
to perform them to the best of his power. His industry, skilfulness,
and steady sobriety, soon marked him for promotion, and he rose from
grade to grade until he became Boulton and Watt's most trusted
co-worker and adviser in all their mechanical undertakings of
importance.
Watt himself had little confidence in Scotchmen as mechanics. He told
Sir Waiter Scott that though many of them sought employment at his
works, he could never get any of them to become first-rate workmen.
They might be valuable as clerks and book-keepers, but they had an
insuperable aversion to toiling long at any point of mechanism, so as
to earn the highest wages paid to the workmen.[4] The reason no doubt
was, that the working-people of Scotland were then only in course of
education as practical mechanics; and now that they have had a
century's discipline of work and technical training, the result is
altogether different, as the engine-shops and shipbuilding-yards of the
Clyde abundantly prove. Mechanical power and technical ability are the
result of training, like many other things.
When Boulton engaged Murdock, as we have said, Watt was absent in
Cornwall, looking after the pumping-engines which had been erected at
several of the mines throughout that county. The partnership had only
been in existence for three years, and Watt was still struggling with
the difficulties which he had to surmount in getting the steam engine
into practical use. His health was bad, and he was oppressed with
frightful headaches. He was not the man to fight the selfishness of the
Cornish adventurers. "A little more of this hurrying and vexation," he
said, "will knock me up altogether." Boulton went to his help
occasionally, and gave him hope and courage. And at length William
Murdock, after he had acquired sufficient knowledge of the business,
was able to undertake the principal management of the engines in
Cornwall.
We find that in 1779, when he was only twenty-five years old, he was
placed in this important position. When he went into Cornwall, he gave
himself no rest until he had conquered the defects of the engines, and
put them into thorough working order.
He devoted himself to his duties with a zeal and ability that
completely won Watt's heart. When he had an important job in hand, he
could scarcely sleep. One night at his lodgings at Redruth, the people
were disturbed by a strange noise in his room. Several heavy blows
were heard upon the floor. They started from their beds, rushed to
Murdock's room, and found him standing in his shirt, heaving at the
bedpost in his sleep, shouting "Now she goes, lads! now she goes!"
Murdock became a most popular man with the mine owners. He also became
friendly with the Cornish workmen and engineers. Indeed, he fought his
way to their affections. One day, some half-dozen of the mining
captains came into his engine-room at Chacewater, and began to bully
him. This he could not stand. He stript, selected the biggest, and
put himself into a fighting attitude. They set to, and in a few minutes
Murdock's powerful bones and muscles enabled him to achieve the
victory. The other men, who had looked on fairly, without interfering,
seeing the temper and vigour of the man they had bullied, made
overtures of reconciliation. William was quite willing to be friendly.
Accordingly they shook hands all round, and parted the best of friends.
It is also said that Murdock afterwards fought a duel with Captain
Trevethick, because of a quarrel between Watt and the mining engineer,
in which Murdock conceived his master to have been unfairly and harshly
treated.[5]
The uses of Watt's steam-engine began to be recognised as available for
manufacturing purposes. It was then found necessary to invent some
method by which continuous rotary motion should be secured, so as to
turn round the moving machinery of mills. With this object Watt had
invented his original wheel-engine. But no steps were taken to
introduce it into practical use. At length he prepared a model, in
which he made use of a crank connected with the working beam of the
engine, so as to produce the necessary rotary motion.
There was no originality in this application. The crank was one of the
most common of mechanical appliances. It was in daily use in every
spinning wheel, and in every turner's and knife-grinder's foot-lathe.
Watt did not take out a patent for the crank, not believing it to be
patentable. But another person did so, thereby anticipating Watt in
the application of the crank for producing rotary motion. He had
therefore to employ some other method, and in the new contrivance he
had the valuable help of William Murdock. Watt devised five different
methods of securing rotary motion without using the crank, but
eventually he adopted the "Sun-and-planet motion," the invention of
Murdock. This had the singular property of going twice round for every
stroke of the engine, and might be made to go round much oftener
without additional machinery. The invention was patented in February,
1782, five Years after Murdock had entered the service of Boulton and
Watt.
Murdock continued for many years busily occupied in superintending the
Cornish steam-engines. We find him described by his employers as
"flying from mine to mine," putting the engines to rights. If anything
went wrong, he was immediately sent for. He was active, quick-sighted,
shrewd, sober, and thoroughly trustworthy. Down to the year 1780, his
wages were only a pound a week; but Boulton made him a present of ten
guineas, to which the owners of the United Mines added another ten, in
acknowledgment of the admirable manner in which he bad erected their
new engine, the chairman of the company declaring that he was "the most
obliging and industrious workman he had ever known." That he secured
the admiration of the Cornish engineers may be obvious from the fact of
Mr. Boaze having invited him to join in an engineering partnership; but
Murdock remained loyal to the Birmingham firm, and in due time he had
his reward.
He continued to be the "right hand man" of the concern in Cornwall.
Boulton wrote to Watt, towards the end of 1782: "Murdock hath been
indefatigable ever since he began. He has scarcely been in bed or
taken necessary food. After slaving night and day on Thursday and
Friday, a letter came from Wheal Virgin that he must go instantly to
set their engine to work, or they would let out the fire. He went and
set the engine to work; it worked well for the five or six hours he
remained. He left it, and returned to the Consolidated Mines about
eleven at night, and was employed about the engines till four this
morning, and then went to bed. I found him at ten this morning in
Poldice Cistern, seeking for pins and castors that had jumped out, when
I insisted on his going home to bed."
On one occasion, when an engine superintended by Murdock stopped
through some accident, the water rose in the mine, and the workmen were
"drowned out." Upon this occurring, the miners went "roaring at him"
for throwing them out of work, and threatened to tear him to pieces.
Nothing daunted, he went through the midst of the men, repaired the
invalided engine, and started it afresh.
When he came out of the engine-house, the miners cheered him
vociferously and insisted upon carrying him home upon their shoulders
in triumph!
Steam was now asserting its power everywhere. It was pumping water
from the mines in Cornwall and driving the mills of the manufacturers
in Lancashire. Speculative mechanics began to consider whether it
might not be employed as a means of land locomotion. The comprehensive
mind of Sir Isaac Newton had long before, in his 'Explanation of the
Newtonian Philosophy,' thrown out the idea of employing steam for this
purpose; but no practical experiment was made. Benjamin Franklin,
while agent in London for the United Provinces of America, had a
correspondence with Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, and Dr. Darwin, of
Lichfield, on the same subject. Boulton sent a model of a fire-engine
to London for Franklin's inspection; but Franklin was too much occupied
at the time by grave political questions to pursue the subject further.
Erasmus Darwin's speculative mind was inflamed by the idea of a "fiery
chariot," and he urged his friend Boulton to prosecute the contrivance
of the necessary steam machinery.[6]
Other minds were at work. Watt, when only twenty-three years old, at
the instigation of his friend Robison, made a model locomotive,
provided with two cylinders of tin plate; but the project was laid
aside, and was never again taken up by the inventor. Yet, in his
patent of 1784, Watt included an arrangement by means of which
steam-power might be employed for the purposes of locomotion. But no
further model of the contrivance was made.
Meanwhile, Cugnot, of Paris, had already made a road engine worked by
steam power. It was first tried at the Arsenal in 1769; and, being set
in motion, it ran against a stone wall in its way and threw it down.
The engine was afterwards tried in the streets of Paris. In one of the
experiments it fell over with a crash, and was thenceforward locked up
in the Arsenal to prevent its doing further mischief. This first
locomotive is now to be seen at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers
at Paris.
Murdock had doubtless heard of Watt's original speculations, and
proceeded, while at Redruth, during his leisure hours, to construct a
model locomotive after a design of his own. This model was of small
dimensions, standing little more than a foot and a half high, though it
was sufficiently large to demonstrate the soundness of the principle on
which it was constructed. It was supported on three wheels, and
carried a small copper boiler, heated by a spirit lamp, with a flue
passing obliquely through it. The cylinder, of 3/4 inch diameter and
2-inch stroke, was fixed in the top of the boiler, the piston-rod being
connected with the vibratory beam attached to the connecting-rod which
worked the crank of the driving-wheel. This little engine worked by
the expansive force of steam only, which was discharged into the
atmosphere after it had done its work of alternately raising and
depressing the piston in the cylinder.
Mr. Murdock's son, while living at Handsworth, informed the present
writer that this model was invented and constructed in 1781; but, after
perusing the correspondence of Boulton and Watt, we infer that it was
not ready for trial until 1784. The first experiment was made in
Murdock's own house at Redruth, when the little engine successfully
hauled a model waggon round the room,--the single wheel, placed in
front of the engine and working in a swivel frame, enabling it to run
round in a circle.
Another experiment was made out of doors, on which occasion, small
though the engine was, it fairly outran the speed of its inventor. One
night, after returning from his duties at the mine at Redruth, Murdock
went with his model locomotive to the avenue leading to the church,
about a mile from the town. The walk was narrow, straight, and level.
Having lit the lamp, the water soon boiled, and off started the engine
with the inventor after it. Shortly after he heard distant shouts of
terror. It was too dark to perceive objects, but he found, on
following up the machine, that the cries had proceeded from the worthy
vicar, who, while going along the walk, had met the hissing and fiery
little monster, which he declared he took to be the Evil One in propria
persona!
When Watt was informed of Murdock's experiments, he feared that they
might interfere with his regular duties, and advised their
discontinuance. Should Murdock still resolve to continue them, Watt
urged his partner Boulton, then in Cornwall, that, rather than lose
Murdock's services, they should advance him 100L.; and, if he succeeded
within a year in making an engine capable of drawing a post-chaise
carrying two passengers and the driver, at the rate of four miles an
hour, that a locomotive engine business should be established, with
Murdock as a partner. The arrangement, however, never proceeded any
further. Perhaps a different attraction withdrew Murdock from his
locomotive experiments. He was then paying attention to a young lady,
the daughter of Captain Painter; and in 1785 he married her, and
brought her home to his house in Cross Street, Redruth.
In the following year,--September, 1786--Watt says, in a letter to
Boulton, "I have still the same opinion concerning the steam carriage,
but, to prevent more fruitless argument about it, I have one of some
size under hand. In the meantime, I wish William could be brought to
do as we do, to mind the business in hand, and let such as Symington
and Sadler throw away their time and money in hunting shadows." In a
subsequent letter Watt expressed his gratification at finding "that
William applies to his business." From that time forward, Murdock as
well as Watt, dropped all further speculation on the subject, and left
it to others to work out the problem of the locomotive engine.
Murdock's model remained but a curious toy, which he took pleasure in
exhibiting to his intimate friends; and, though he long continued to
speculate about road locomotion, and was persuaded of its
practicability, he abstained from embodying his ideas of the necessary
engine in any complete working form.
Murdock nevertheless continued inventing, for the man who is given to
invent, and who possesses the gift of insight, cannot rest. He lived
in the midst of inventors. Watt and Boulton were constantly suggesting
new things, and Murdock became possessed by the same spirit. In 1791
he took out his first patent. It was for a method of preserving ships'
bottoms from foulness by the use of a certain kind of chemical paint.
Mr. Murdock's grandson informs us that it was recently re-patented and
was the cause of a lawsuit, and that Hislop's patent for revivifying
gas-lime would have been an infringement, if it had not expired.
Murdock is still better known by his invention of gas for lighting
purposes. Several independent inquirers into the constituents of
Newcastle coal had arrived at the conclusion that nearly one-third of
the substance was driven off in vapour by the application of heat, and
that the vapour so driven off was inflammable. But no suggestion had
been made to apply this vapour for lighting purposes until Murdock took
the matter in hand. Mr. M. S. Pearse has sent us the following
interesting reminiscence: "Some time since, when in the West of
Cornwall, I was anxious to find out whether any one remembered Murdock.
I discovered one of the most respectable and intelligent men in
Camborne, Mr. William Symons, who not only distinctly remembered
Murdock, but had actually been present on one of the first occasions
when gas was used. Murdock, he says, was very fond of children, and
not unfrequently took them into his workshop to show them what he was
doing. Hence it happened that on one occasion this gentleman, then a
boy of seven or eight, was standing outside Murdock's door with some
other boys, trying to catch sight of some special mystery inside, for
Dr. Boaze, the chief doctor of the place, and Murdock had been busy all
the afternoon. Murdock came out, and asked my informant to run down to
a shop near by for a thimble. On returning with the thimble, the boy
pretended to have lost it, and, whilst searching in every pocket, he
managed to slip inside the door of the workshop, and then produced the
thimble. He found Dr. Boaze and Murdock with a kettle filled with
coal. The gas issuing from it had been burnt in a large metal case,
such as was used for blasting purposes. Now, however, they had applied
a much smaller tube, and at the end of it fastened the thimble, through
the small perforations made in which they burned a continuous jet for
some time."[7]
After numerous experiments, Murdock had his house in Cross Street
fitted up in 1792 for being lit by gas. The coal was subjected to heat
in an iron retort, and the gas was conveyed in pipes to the offices and
the different rooms of the house, where it was burned at proper
apertures or burners.[8] Portions of the gas were also confined in
portable vessels of tinned iron, from which it was burned when
required, thus forming a moveable gas-light. Murdock had a gas lantern
in regular use, for the purpose of lighting himself home at night
across the moors, from the mines where he was working, to his home at
Redruth. This lantern was formed by filling a bladder with gas and
fixing a jet to the mouthpiece at the bottom of a glass lantern, with
the bladder hanging underneath.
Having satisfied himself as to the superior economy of coal gas, as
compared with oils and tallow, for the purposes of artificial
illumination, Murdock mentioned the subject to Mr. James Watt, jun.,
during a brief visit to Soho in 1794, and urged the propriety of taking
out a patent. Watt was, however, indifferent to taking out any further
patents, being still engaged in contesting with the Cornish mine-owners
his father's rights to the user of the condensing steam-engine.
Nothing definite was done at the time. Murdock returned to Cornwall
and continued his experiments. At the end of the same year he
exhibited to Mr. Phillips and others, at the Polgooth mine, his
apparatus for extracting gases from coal and other substances, showed
it in use, lit the gas which issued from the burner, and showed its
"strong and beautiful light." He afterwards exhibited the same
apparatus to Tregelles and others at the Neath Abbey Company's
ironworks in Glamorganshire.
Murdock returned to Soho in 1798, to take up his permanent residence in
the neighbourhood. When the mine owners heard of his intention to
leave Cornwall, they combined in offering him a handsome salary
provided he would remain in the county; but his attachment to his
friends at Soho would not allow him to comply with their request. He
again urged the firm of Boulton and Watt to take out a patent for the
use of gas for lighting purposes. But being still embroiled in their
tedious and costly lawsuit, they were naturally averse to risk
connection with any other patent. Watt the younger, with whom Murdock
communicated on the subject, was aware that the current of gas obtained
from the distillation of coal in Lord Dundonald's tar-ovens had been
occasionally set fire to, and also that Bishop Watson and others had
burned gas from coal, after conducting it through tubes, or after it
had issued from the retort. Mr. Watt was, however, quite satisfied
that Murdock was the first person who had suggested its economical
application for public and private uses.
But he was not clear, after the legal difficulties which had been
raised as to his father's patent rights, that it would be safe to risk
a further patent for gas.
Mr. Murdock's suggestion, accordingly, was not acted upon. But he went
on inventing in other directions. He thenceforward devoted himself
entirely to mechanical pursuits. Mr. Buckle has said of him:--"The
rising sun often found him, after a night spent in incessant labour,
still at the anvil or turning-lathe; for with his own hands he would
make such articles as he would not intrust to unskilful ones." In 1799
he took out a patent (No. 2340), embodying some very important
inventions. First, it included the endless screw working into a
toothed-wheel, for boring steam-cylinders, which is still in use.
Second, the casting of a steam-jacket in one cylinder, instead of being
made in separate segments bolted together with caulked joints, as was
previously done. Third, the new double-D slide-valve, by which the
construction and working of the steam-engine was simplified, and the
loss of steam saved, as well as the cylindrical valve for the same
purpose. And fourth, improved rotary engines. One of the latter was
set to drive the machines in his private workshop, and continued in
nearly constant work and in perfect use for about thirty years.
In 1801, Murdock sent his two sons William and John to the Ayr Academy,
for the benefit of Scotch education. In the summer-time they spent
their vacation at Bellow Mill, which their grandfather still continued
to occupy. They fished in the river, and "caught a good many trout."
The boys corresponded regularly with their father at Birmingham. In
1804, they seem to have been in a state of great excitement about the
expected landing of the French in Scotland. The volunteers of Ayr
amounted to 300 men, the cavalry to 150, and the riflemen to 50. "The
riflemen," says John, "go to the seashore every Saturday to shoot at a
target. They stand at 70 paces distant, and out of 100 shots they
often put in 60 bullets!" William says, "Great preparations are still
making for the reception of the French. Several thousand of pikes are
carried through the town every week; and all the volunteers and
riflemen have received orders to march at a moment's warning." The
alarm, however, passed away. At the end of 1804, the two boys received
prizes; William got one in arithmetic and another in the Rector's
composition class; and John also obtained two, one in the mathematical
class, and the other in French.
To return to the application of gas for lighting purposes. In 1801, a
plan was proposed by a M. Le Blond for lighting a part of the streets
of Paris with gas. Murdock actively resumed his experiments; and on
the occasion of the Peace of Amiens in March, 1802, he made the first
public exhibition of his invention. The whole of the works at Soho
were brilliantly illuminated with gas.
The sight was received with immense enthusiasm. There could now be no
doubt as to the enormous advantages of this method of producing
artificial light, compared with that from oil or tallow. In the
following year the manufacture of gas-making apparatus was added to the
other branches of Boulton and Watts' business, with which Murdock was
now associated,--and as much as from 4000L. to 5000L. of capital were
invested in the new works. The new method of lighting speedily became
popular amongst manufacturers, from its superior safety, cheapness, and
illuminating power. The mills of Phillips and Lee of Manchester were
fitted up in 1805; and those of Burley and Kennedy, also of Manchester,
and of Messrs. Gott, of Leeds, in subsequent years.
Though Murdock had made the uses of gas-lighting perfectly clear, it
was some time before it was proposed to light the streets by the new
method. The idea was ridiculed by Sir Humphry Davy, who asked one of
the projectors if he intended to take the dome of St. Paul's for a
gasometer! Sir Waiter Scott made many clever jokes about those who
proposed to "send light through the streets in pipes;" and even
Wollaston, a well known man of science, declared that they "might as
well attempt to light London with a slice from the moon." It has been
so with all new projects--with the steamboat, the locomotive, and the
electric telegraph. As John Wilkinson said of the first vessel of iron
which he introduced, "it will be only a nine days' wonder, and
afterwards a Columbus's egg."
On the 25th of February, 1808, Murdock read a paper before the Royal
Society "On the Application of Gas from Coal to economical purposes."
He gave a history of the origin and progress of his experiments, down
to the time when he had satisfactorily lit up the premises of Phillips
and Lee at Manchester. The paper was modest and unassuming, like
everything he did.
It concluded:--"I believe I may, without presuming too much, claim both
the first idea of applying, and the first application of this gas to
economical purposes."[9] The Royal Society awarded Murdock their large
Rumford Gold Medal for his communication.
In the following year a German named Wintzer, or Winsor, appeared as
the promotor of a scheme for obtaining a royal charter with extensive
privileges, and applied for powers to form a joint-stock company to
light part of London and Westminster with gas. Winsor claimed for his
method of gas manufacture that it was more efficacious and profitable
than any then known or practised. The profits, indeed, were to be
prodigious. Winsor made an elaborate calculation in his pamphlet
entitled 'The New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Heat
Company,' from which it appeared that the net annual profits "agreeable
to the official experiments" would amount to over two hundred and
twenty-nine millions of pounds!--and that, giving over nine-tenths of
that sum towards the redemption of the National Debt, there would still
remain a total profit of 570L. to be paid to the subscribers for every
5L. of deposit! Winsor took out a patent for the invention, and the
company, of which he was a member, proceeded to Parliament for an Act.
Boulton and Watt petitioned against the Bill, and James Watt, junior,
gave evidence on the subject. Henry Brougham, who was the counsel for
the petitioners, made great fun of Winsor's absurd speculations,[10]
and the Bill was thrown out.
In the following year the London and Westminster Chartered Gas Light
and Coke Company succeeded in obtaining their Act. They were not very
successful at first. Many prejudices existed against the employment of
the new light. It was popularly supposed that the gas was carried
along the pipes on fire, and that the pipes must necessarily be
intensely hot. When it was proposed to light the House of Commons with
gas, the architect insisted on the pipes being placed several inches
from the walls, for fear of fire; and, after the pipes had been fixed,
the members might be seen applying their gloved hands to them to
ascertain their temperature, and afterwards expressing the greatest
surprise on finding that they were as cool as the adjoining walls.
The Gas Company was on the point of dissolution when Mr. Samuel Clegg
came to their aid. Clegg had been a pupil of Murdock's, at Soho. He
knew all the arrangements which Murdock had invented. He had assisted
in fitting up the gas machinery at the mills of Phillips & Lee,
Manchester, as well as at Lodge's Mill, Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax.
He was afterwards employed to fix the apparatus at the Catholic College
of Stoneyhurst, in Lancashire, at the manufactory of Mr. Harris at
Coventry, and at other places. In 1813 the London and Westminster Gas
Company secured the services of Mr. Clegg, and from that time forwards
their career was one of prosperity. In 1814 Westminster Bridge was
first lighted with gas, and shortly after the streets of St.
Margaret's, Westminster. Crowds of people followed the lamplighter on
his rounds to watch the sudden effect of his flame applied to the
invisible stream of gas which issued from the burner. The lamplighters
became so disgusted with the new light that they struck work, and Clegg
himself had for a time to act as lamplighter.
The advantages of the new light, however, soon became generally
recognised, and gas companies were established in most of the large
towns. Glasgow was lit up by gas in 1817, and Liverpool and Dublin in
the following year. Had Murdock in the first instance taken out a
patent for his invention, it could not fail to have proved exceedingly
remunerative to him; but he derived no advantage from the extended use
of the new system of lighting except the honour of having invented
it.[11] He left the benefits of his invention to the public, and
returned to his labours at Soho, which more than ever completely
engrossed him.
Murdock now became completely identified with the firm of Boulton &
Watt. He assigned to them his patent for the slide-valve, the rotary
engine, and other inventions "for a good and valuable consideration."
Indeed his able management was almost indispensable to the continued
success of the Soho foundry. Mr. Nasmyth, when visiting the works
about thirty years after Murdock had taken their complete management in
hand, recalled to mind the valuable services of that truly admirable
yet modest mechanic. He observed the admirable system, which he had
invented, of transmitting power from one central engine to other small
vacuum engines attached to the several machines which they were
employed to work. "This vacuum method," he says, "of transmitting
power dates from the time of Papin; but it remained a dead contrivance
for about a century until it received the masterly touch of Murdock."
"The sight which I obtained" (Mr. Nasmyth proceeds) "of the vast series
of workshops of that celebrated establishment, fitted with evidences of
the presence and results of such master minds in design and execution,
and the special machine tools which I believe were chiefly to be
ascribed to the admirable inventive power and common-sense genius of
William Murdock, made me feel that I was indeed on classic ground in
regard to everything connected with the construction of steam-engine
machinery. The interest was in no small degree enhanced by coming
every now and then upon some machine that had every historical claim to
be regarded as the prototype of many of our modern machine tools. All
these had William Murdock's genius stamped upon them, by reason of
their common-sense arrangements, which showed that he was one of those
original thinkers who had the courage to break away from the trammels
of traditional methods, and take short cuts to accomplish his objects
by direct and simple means."
We have another recollection of William Murdock, from one who knew him
when a boy. This is the venerable Charles Manby, F.R.S., still
honorary secretary of the Institute of Civil Engineers. He says
(writing to us in September 1883), "I see from the public prints that
you have been presiding at a meeting intended to do honour to the
memory of William Murdock--a most worthy man and an old friend of mine.
When he found me working the first slide valve ever introduced into an
engine-building establishment at Horsley, he patted me on the head, and
said to my father, 'Neighbour Manby, this is not the way to bring up a
good workman--merely turning a handle, without any shoulder work.' He
evidently did not anticipate any great results from my engineering
education. But we all know what machine tools are doing now,--and
where should we be without them?"
Watt withdrew from the firm in 1800, on the expiry of his patent for
the condensing steam-engine; but Boulton continued until the year 1809,
when he died full of years and honours. Watt lived on until 1819. The
last part of his life was the happiest. During the time that he was in
the throes of his invention, he was very miserable, weighed down with
dyspepsia and sick headaches. But after his patent had expired, he was
able to retire with a moderate fortune, and began to enjoy life.
Before, he had "cursed his inventions," now he could bless them. He
was able to survey them, and find out what was right and what was
wrong. He used his head and his hands in his private workshop, and
found many means of employing both pleasantly. Murdock continued to be
his fast friend, and they spent many agreeable hours together. They
made experiments and devised improvements in machines. Watt wished to
make things more simple. He said to Murdock, "it is a great thing to
know what to do without. We must have a book of blots--things to be
scratched out." One of the most interesting schemes of Watt towards
the end of his life was the contrivance of a sculpture-making machine;
and he proceeded so far with it as to to able to present copies of
busts to his friends as "the productions of a young artist just
entering his eighty-third year." The machine, however, remained
unfinished at his death, and the remarkable fact is that it was Watt's
only unfinished work.
The principle of the machine was to carry a guide-point at one side
over the bust or alto-relievo to be copied, and at the other side to
carry a corresponding cutting-tool or drill over the alabaster, ivory,
jet, or plaster of Paris to be executed. The machine worked, as it
were, with two hands, the one feeling the pattern, the other cutting
the material into the required form. Many new alterations were
necessary for carrying out this ingenious apparatus, and Murdock was
always at hand to give his old friend and master his best assistance.
We have seen many original letters from Watt to Murdock, asking for
counsel and help. In one of these, written in 1808, Watt says: "I have
revived an idea which, if it answers, will supersede the frame and
upright spindle of the reducing machine, but more of this when we meet.
Meanwhile it will be proper to adhere to the frame, etc., at present,
until we see how the other alterations answer." In another he says: "I
have done a Cicero without any plaits--the different segments meeting
exactly. The fitting the drills into the spindle by a taper of 1 in 6
will do. They are perfectly stiff and will not unscrew easily. Four
guide-pullies answer, but there must be a pair for the other end, and
to work with a single hand, for the returning part is always cut upon
some part or other of the frame."
These letters are written sometimes in the morning, sometimes at noon,
sometimes at night. There was a great deal of correspondence about
"pullies," which did not seem to answer at first. "I have made the
tablets," said Watt on one occasion, "slide more easily, and can
counterbalance any part of their weight which may be necessary; but the
first thing to try is the solidity of the machine, which cannot be done
till the pullies are mounted." Then again: "The bust-making must be
given up until we get a more solid frame. I have worked two days at
one and spoiled it, principally from the want of steadiness." For
Watt, it must be remembered, was now a very old man.
He then proceeded to send Murdock the drawing of a "parallel motion for
the machine," to be executed by the workmen at Soho. The truss braces
and the crosses were to be executed of steel, according to the details
he enclosed. "I have warmed up," he concludes, "an old idea, and can
make a machine in which the pentagraph and the leading screw will all
be contained in the beam, and the pattern and piece to be cut will
remain at rest fixed upon a lath of cast iron or stout steel." Watt is
very particular in all his details: "I am sorry," he says in one note,
"to trouble you with so many things; but the alterations on this
spindle and socket [he annexes a drawing] may wait your convenience."
In a further note, Watt says. "The drawing for the parallel lathe is
ready; but I have been sadly puzzled about the application of the
leading screws to the cranes in the other. I think, however, I have now
got the better of the difficulties, and made it more certain, as well
as more simple, than it was. I have done an excellent head of John
Hunter in hard white in shorter time than usual. I want to show it you
before I repair it."
At last Watt seems to have become satisfied: "The lathe," he says, "is
very much improved, and you seem to have given the finishing blow to
the roofed frame, which appears perfectly stiff. I had some hours'
intense thinking upon the machine last night, and have made up my mind
on it at last. The great difficulty was about the application of the
band, but I have settled it to be much as at present."
Watt's letters to Murdock are most particular in details, especially as
to screws, nuts, and tubes, with strengths and dimensions, always
illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings. And yet all this was done
merely for mechanical amusement, and not for any personal pecuniary
advantage. While Watt was making experiments as to the proper
substances to be carved and drilled, he also desired Murdock to make
similar experiments. "The nitre," he said in one note, "seems to do
harm; the fluor composition seems the best and hardest. Query, what
would some calcined pipe-clay do? If you will calcine some fire-clay
by a red heat and pound it,--about a pound,--and send it to me, I shall
try to make you a mould or two in Henning's manner to cast this and the
sulphur acid iron in. I have made a screwing tool for wood that seems
to answer; also one of a one-tenth diameter for marble, which does very
well." In another note, Watt says: "I find my drill readily makes 2400
turns per minute, even with the large drill you sent last; if I bear
lightly, a three-quarter ferril would run about 3000, and by an engine
that might be doubled."
The materials to be drilled into medallions also required much
consideration. "I am much obliged to you," said Watt, "for the balls,
etc., which answer as well as can be expected. They make great
progress in cutting the crust (Ridgways) or alabaster, and also cut
marble, but the harder sorts soon blunt them. At any rate, marble does
not do for the medallions, as its grain prevents its being cut smooth,
and its semi-transparence hurts the effect. I think Bristol lime, or
shell lime, pressed in your manner, would have a good effect. When you
are at leisure, I shall thank you for a few pieces, and if some of them
are made pink or flesh colour, they will look well. I used the ball
quite perpendicular, and it cut well, as most of the cutting is
sideways. I tried a fine whirling point, but it made little progress;
another with a chisel edge did almost as well as the balls, but did not
work so pleasantly. I find a triangular scraping point the best, and I
think from some trials it should be quite a sharp point. The wheel
runs easier than it did, but has still too much friction. I wished to
have had an hour's consultation with you, but have been prevented by
sundry matters among others by that plaguey stove, which is now in your
hands."
Watt was most grateful to Murdock for his unvarying assistance. In
January, 1813, when Watt was in his seventy-seventh year, he wrote to
Murdock, asking him to accept a present of a lathe "I have not heard
from you," he says, "in reply to my letter about the lathe; and,
presuming you are not otherwise provided, I have bought it, and request
your acceptance of it. At present, an alteration for the better is
making in the oval chuck, and a few additional chucks, rest, etc., are
making to the lathe. When these are finished, I shall have it at
Billinger's until you return, or as you otherwise direct. I am going
on with my drawings for a complete machine, and shall be glad to see
you here to judge of them."
The drawings were made, but the machine was never finished.
"Invention," said Watt, "goes on very slowly with me now." Four years
later, he was still at work; but death put a stop to his
"diminishing-machine." It is a remarkable testimony to the skill and
perseverance of a man who had already accomplished so much, that it is
almost his only unfinished work. Watt died in 1819, in the
eighty-third year of his age, to the great grief of Murdock, his oldest
and most attached friend and correspondent.
Meanwhile, the firm of Boulton and Watt continued. The sons of the two
partners carried it on, with Murdock as their Mentor. He was still
full of work and inventive power. In 1802, he applied the compressed
air of the Blast Engine employed to blow the cupolas of the Soho
Foundry, for the purpose of driving the lathe in the pattern shop. It
worked a small engine, with a 12-inch cylinder and 18-inch stroke,
connected with the lathe, the speed being regulated as required by
varying the admission of the blast. This engine continued in use for
about thirty-five years.
In 1803 Murdock experimented on the power of high-pressure steam in
propelling shot, and contrived a steam-engine with which he made many
trials at Soho, thereby anticipating the apparatus contrived by Mr.
Perkins many years later.
In 1810 Murdock took out a patent for boring steam-pipes for water, and
cutting columns out of solid blocks of stone, by means of a cylindrical
crown saw. The first machine was used at Soho, and afterwards at Mr.
Rennie's Works in London, and proved quite successful. Among his other
inventions were a lift worked by compressed air, which raised and
lowered the castings from the boring-mill to the level of the foundry
and the canal bank. He used the same kind of power to ring the bells
in his house at Sycamore Hill, and the contrivance was afterwards
adopted by Sir Walter Scott in his house at Abbotsford.
Murdock was also the inventor of the well-known cast-iron cement, so
extensively used in engine and machine work. The manner in which he
was led to this invention affords a striking illustration of his
quickness of observation. Finding that some iron-borings and
sal-ammoniac had got accidently mixed together in his tool-chest, and
rusted his saw-blade nearly through, he took note of the circumstance,
mixed the articles in various proportions, and at length arrived at the
famous cement, which eventually became an article of extensive
manufacture at the Soho Works.
Murdock's ingenuity was constantly at work, even upon matters which lay
entirely outside his special vocation. The late Sir William Fairbairn
informed us that he contrived a variety of curious machines for
consolidating peat moss, finely ground and pulverised, under immense
pressure, and which, when consolidated, could be moulded into beautiful
medals, armlets, and necklaces. The material took the most brilliant
polish and had the appearance of the finest jet.
Observing that fish-skins might be used as an economical substitute for
isinglass, he went up to London on one occasion in order to explain to
brewers the best method of preparing and using them. He occupied
handsome apartments, and, little regarding the splendour of the
drawing-room, he hung the fish-skins up against the walls. His
landlady caught him one day when he was about to bang up a wet cod's
skin! He was turned out at once, with all his fish. While in town on
this errand, it occurred to him that a great deal of power was wasted
in treading the streets of London! He conceived the idea of using the
streets and roadways as a grand tread-mill, under which the waste power
might be stored up by mechanical methods and turned to account. He had
also an idea of storing up the power of the tides, and of running
water, in the same way. The late Charles Babbage, F.R.S., entertained
a similar idea about using springs of Ischia or of the geysers of
Iceland as a power necessary for condensing gases, or perhaps for the
storage of electricity.[12] The latter, when perfected, will probably
be the greatest invention of the next half century.
Another of Murdock's' ingenious schemes, was his proposed method of
transmitting letters and packages through a tube exhausted by an
air-pump. This project led to the Atmospheric Railway, the success of
which, so far as it went, was due to the practical ability of Murdock's
pupil, Samuel Clegg. Although the atmospheric railway was eventually
abandoned, it is remarkable that the original idea was afterwards
revived and practised with success by the London Pneumatic Dispatch
Company.
In 1815, while Murdock was engaged in erecting an apparatus of his own
invention for heating the water for the baths at Leamington, a
ponderous cast-iron plate fell upon his leg above his ankle, and
severely injured him. He remained a long while at Leamington, and when
it was thought safe to remove him, the Birmingham Canal Company kindly
placed their excursion boat at his disposal, and he was conveyed safely
homeward. So soon as he was able, he was at work again at the Soho
factory.
Although the elder Watt had to a certain extent ignored the uses of
steam as applied to navigation, being too much occupied with developing
the powers of the pumping and rotary engine, the young partners, with
the stout aid of Murdock, took up the question. They supplied Fulton in
1807 with his first engine, by means of which the Clermont made her
first voyage along the Hudson river. They also supplied Fulton and
Livingston with the next two engines for the Car of Neptune and the
Paragon. From that time forward, Boulton and Watt devoted themselves
to the manufacture of engines for steamboats. Up to the year 1814,
marine engines had been all applied singly in the vessel; but in this
year Boulton and Watt first applied two condensing engines, connected
by cranks set at right angles on the shaft, to propel a steamer on the
Clyde. Since then, nearly all steamers are fitted with two engines.
In making this important improvement, the firm were materially aided by
the mechanical genius of William Murdock, and also of Mr. Brown, then
an assistant, but afterwards a member of the firm.
In order to carry on a set of experiments with respect to the most
improved form of marine engine, Boulton and Watt purchased the
Caledonia, a Scotch boat built on the Clyde by James Wood and Co., of
Port Glasgow. The engines and boilers were taken out. The vessel was
fitted with two side lever engines, and many successive experiments
were made with her down to August, 1817, at an expense of about
10,000L. This led to a settled plan of construction, by which marine
engines were greatly improved. James Watt, junior, accompanied the
Caledonia to Holland and up the Rhine. The vessel was eventually sold
to the Danish Government, and used for carrying the mails between Kiel
and Copenhagen. It is, however, unnecessary here to venture upon the
further history of steam navigation.
In the midst of these repeated inventions and experiments, Murdock was
becoming an old man. Yet he never ceased to take an interest in the
works at Soho. At length his faculties experienced a gradual decay,
and he died peacefully at his house at Sycamore Hill, on the 15th of
November,1839, in his eighty-fifth year. He was buried near the
remains of the great Boulton and Watt; and a bust by Chantrey served to
perpetuate the remembrance of his manly and intelligent countenance.
Footnotes for Chapter V.
[1] Fletcher's Political Works, London, 1737, p. 149,
[2] One of the Murdocks built the cathedral at Glasgow, as well as
others in Scotland. The famous school of masonry at Antwerp sent out a
number of excellent architects during the 11th, 12th, and 13th
centuries. One of these, on coming into Scotland, assumed the name of
Murdo. He was a Frenchman, born in Paris, as we learn from the
inscription left on Melrose Abbey, and he died while building that
noble work: it is as follows:--
"John Murdo sumtyme cait was I And born in Peryse certainly, An' had in
kepyng all mason wark Sanct Andrays, the Hye Kirk o' Glasgo, Melrose
and Paisley, Jedybro and Galowy. Pray to God and Mary baith, and sweet
Saint John, keep this Holy Kirk frae scaith."
[3] The discovery of the Black Band Ironstone by David Mushet in 1801,
and the invention of the Hot Blast by James Beaumont Neilson in 1828,
will be found related in Industrial Biography, pp. 141-161.
[4] Note to Lockhart's Life of Scott.
[5] This was stated to the present writer some years ago by William
Murdock's son; although there is no other record of the event.
[6] See Lives of Engineers (Boulton and Watt), iv. pp. 182-4. Small
edition, pp. 130-2.
[7] Mr. Pearse's letter is dated 23rd April, 1867, but has not before
been published. He adds that "others remembered Murdock, one who was
an apprentice with him, and lived with him for some time--a Mr. Vivian,
of the foundry at Luckingmill."
[8] Murdock's house still stands in Cross Street, Redruth; those still
live who saw the gas-pipes conveying gas from the retort in the little
yard to near the ceiling of the room, just over the table; a hole for
the pipe was made in the window frame. The old window is now replaced
by a new frame."--Life of Richard Trevithick, i. 64.
[9] Philosophical Transactions, 1808, pp. 124-132.
[10] Winsor's family evidently believed in his great powers; for I am
informed by Francis Galton, Esq., F.R.S., that there is a fantastical
monument on the right-hand side of the central avenue of the Kensal
Green Cemetery, about half way between the lodge and the church, which
bears the following inscription:--"Tomb of Frederick Albert Winsor, son
of the late Frederick Albert Winsor, originator of public Gas-lighting,
buried in the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise, Paris. At evening time it
shall be light."--Zachariah xiv. 7. "I am come a light into the world,
that whoever believeth in Me shall not abide in darkness."--John xii.
46.
[11] Mr. Parkes, in his well known Chemical Essays (ed. 1841, p. 157),
after referring to the successful lighting up by Murdock of the
manufactory of Messrs. Phillips and Lee at Manchester in 1805, "with
coal gas issuing from nearly a thousand burners," proceeds, "This grand
application of the new principle satisfied the public mind, not only of
the practicability, but also of the economy of the application; and as
a mark of the high opinion they entertained of his genius and
perseverance, and in order to put the question of priority of the
discovery beyond all doubt, the Council of the Royal Society in 1808
awarded to Mr. Murdock the Gold Medal founded by the late Count
Rumford."
[12] "Thus," says Mr. Charles Babbage, "in a future age, power may
become the staple commodity of the Icelanders, and of the inhabitants
of other volcanic districts; and possibly the very process by which
they will procure this article of exchange for the luxuries of happier
climates may, in some measure, tame the tremendous element which
occasionally devastates their provinces."--Economy of Manufactures.