8174. STEAM, Application of.—
You
asked me * * * whether the steam mill in London
was turned by the steam immediately, or by
the intermediate agency of water raised by the
steam. When I was in London, Boulton made a
secret of his mill. Therefore I was permitted
to see it only superficially. I saw no water
wheels, and therefore supposed none. I answered
you accordingly that there were none.
But when I was at Nismes, I went to see the
steam mill there, and they showed it to me in
all its parts. I saw that their steam raised
water, and that this water turned a wheel. I
expressed my doubts of the necessity of the
inter-agency of water, and that the London mill
was without it. But they supposed me mistaken.
Perhaps I was so. I have had no opportunity
since of clearing up the doubt.—
To Charles Thomson. Washington ed. ii, 277.
Ford ed., iv, 449.
(P.
1787)
