8177. STEAM, Fire engine.—
You speak
of a new method of raising water by steam,
which, you suppose, will come into general use.
I know of no new method of that kind, and
suppose (as you say the account you have
received of it is very imperfect) that some person
has represented to you, as new, a fire engine
erected at Paris, and which supplies the
greater part of the town with water. But this
is nothing more than the fire engine you have
seen described in the books of hydraulics, and
particularly in the Dictionary of Arts and
Sciences, published by Owen, the idea of which
was first taken from Papin's Digester. It
would have been better called the steam engine.
The force of the steam of water, you
know, is immense. In this engine, it is made
to exert itself towards the working of pumps.
That of Paris is, I believe, the largest known,
raising four hundred thousand cubic feet
(French) of water in twenty-four hours; or,
rather, I should have said, those of Paris, for
there are two under one roof, each raising that
quantity.—
To Professor James Madison. Washington ed. i, 446.
[467]
(P.
1785)
