8176. STEAM, Engines.—
It happens that
of all the machines which have been employed
to aid human labor, I have made myself the
least acquainted with (that which is certainly
the most powerful of all) the steam engine.
In its original and simple form indeed, as
first constructed by Newcommen and Savary,
it had been a subject of my early studies; but
once possessed of the principle, I ceased to follow
up the numerous modifications of the machinery
for employing it, of which I do not
know whether England or our own country has
produced the greater number.—
To George Fleming. Washington ed. vi, 504.
(M.
1815)
