2 
THE CORNISH PUMPING ENGINE. 
kind of engine; an extent indeed which many, from a too limited view of the sub 
ject, have thought almost exceeding the bounds of possibility. 
An account therefore of this engine, comprising a description of its various pe 
culiarities, and a historical notice of its progressive improvement, cannot but be 
interesting to those who consider economical excellence as an object desirable to 
be attained. 
3. The county of Cornwall is peculiarly indebted to the steam engine for the 
prosperity, if not for the very existence, of the commerce derived from its mineral 
productions; indeed, the history of mining in this district and the history of the 
steam engine have in a great measure gone hand in hand. 
Before this powerful agent was brought into use, the mining operations must, from 
the want of adequate means of drainage, have been necessarily very limited, and if 
some such power had not fortunately been discovered, probably long ere this time the 
difficulties encountered would have increased to such an extent as to become insur 
mountable, and the copper and tin mines would have been only matter of by-gone 
history. The invention and progress of the steam engine have, however, most 
opportunely provided ample means of overcoming these difficulties as they have 
presented themselves, and as a consequence minerals have been and still are raised 
with a facility and in an abundance adequate to the supply of every part of the 
world. By the agency of this power, lands which had lain waste, or were occupied 
by a solitary tenantry, have been covered with towns, daily extending their limits, 
and uniting with each other, and the whole face of the country is seen glowing with 
industry, intelligence, and wealth. 1 
4. But we also find that in return for the influence of the steam engine upon 
mining, the increasing wants of the latter have acted reciprocally in stimulating 
the improvement of the former to a most important extent. 
The great mining desideratum, the raising of water, has always borne an intimate 
and interesting connection with the history of the steam engine. To it the inven 
tion owes its origin, as it was the first, and, for a long period, the only purpose to 
which the engine was applied: it was the principal object which all the inventors 
and improvers of the steam engine, down to a comparatively late date, had in view: 
Hero, De Caus, Worcester, Morland, Papin, Savery, Newcomen, Smeaton, may all 
be thus mentioned; and although in the hands of Watt the steam engine was 
destined to occupy a more extended sphere of usefulness than any of his prede- 
1 Speech of Mr. Littleton, M.P. for Cornwall, at the meeting for erecting a monument to Watt, 
18th June, 1824.