b 
Of the various books published on that important and national subject the 
Steam Engine, there is not one in our own or any foreign language, which I 
consider as a fully satisfactory illustration of its principles ; it is therefore only 
requisite for me to state this fact to render any apology unnecessary for the work 
I now offer to the notice of the Public. I have frequently and successful^ 
claimed attention as an author ; and in this case I hope to meet with equal 
success, and to show by the labour and attention I have bestowed on this im 
portant subject, how highly I value the ostensible character I have acquired, 
and the extensive encouragement I have received. 
It has been too common of late for mathematicians to complain of want of 
patronage, and to censure official authorities for not encouraging science, for 
getting that research will always be estimated by its intermediate utility ; and 
while they continue to confine their attention to abstract knowledge, while they 
do not devote a greater part of their time to its application to the wants and 
the welfare of society, they must be contented with a small share of those ad 
vantages, which result from combining with practical skill the power afforded 
by abstract reasoning. They should recollect that a Watt could have earned no 
fame, in an age or in a country where the value of mechanical power was unknown. 
In following the application of science to art, I have not, however, I hope, been 
unsuccessful in adding also to the stores of pure science ; and, so far from being 
insensible to the value of abstract research, I wish it to be pursued with redoubled 
vigour by those who have spirit to break through the prejudices of existing 
systems, and study from nature : but it should be cultivated with a desire to 
promote the great end of human research, that is, the improvement of the con 
dition of man ; otherwise the fantasies of the Greek philosophers might with 
equal force claim the student’s regard.