that had yet been made.  The next and most valuable improvement of Stephenson was the blast-pipe—­by its means the slow combustion of the fire was at once overcome, and steam obtained to any amount.  This pipe was the result of careful observation and great thought.  His next engine had horizontal connecting rods, and was the type of the present perfect machine.  This truly great man did not rest here, but time would fail, as well as your patience, if I were to proceed further.  Enough to say, that he afterwards established a manufactory at Newcastle, and time has shown the result and benefit it has proved to the whole world at large.  A short time before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened, Stephenson was laughed at because he said he thought he could go thirty miles an hour, and was urged before the House of Commons not to say so, as he might be thought to be mad.  This I have from person who knew the circumstances.  Nevertheless, at the trial, I believe the “Rocket” did go at the rate of thirty miles an hour, to the not small astonishment of the world, and especially to the unbelievers in steam as a land agent.  The stipulation made was that trains were to be conveyed at the rate of twelve miles an hour.

In our present perfect engines, the coke or fuel consumed per mile is about 18 lbs. with a train of 100 tons gross weight, carrying 250 passengers.  A first-class carriage weighs 6 tons 10 cwts.; a second-class, 5 tons 10 cwts., each with passengers; a Pullman car weighs about 30 tons.  Our steamers consume 5 lbs. of coal per horse-power in one hour.  And last, not least, one of the greatest improvements we have had in steam propulsion is the screw.  Again, I may also name the great advantage derived from steam by our farmers in thrashing out grain.  The engines principally used in farm-work are what are termed high-pressure, or of the same class as the locomotive.  The great saving in cost in the first place, the simplicity and ease of action in the second, and the small quantity of water required to keep them in action, are all reasons why they should be preferred.  The danger in the one, that is, the high-pressure, over the condenser, is very small, and all that is required is common care to guard against accidents.  Steam being a steady power, is much to be preferred to water, as by its constant and uniform action the tear and wear of machinery is much diminished, and of course proportionate saving made in keeping up the mill or any other machinery.

Having now, to the best of my power, so far as a single lecture will permit, brought the steam-engine from 120 B.C. to the present time, it only remains for me to say, that it shows how actively the mind of man has been permitted to work to bring it to perfection by the direction of an all-wise Providence, “who knows our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking.”  A traveller by rail sees but little of the vast and difficult character of the works over which he is carried with such ease and