them; the wheels also were hung without any support for the outward end of the shaft, which is now supplied by what are called the wheel-guards: it was obvious that the wheels were likely to give way for want of this simple addition. No one could have seen the operation of the boat without perceiving that this was a defect, and the remedy must immediately have suggested itself to any mechanic; yet many have claimed the invention of this improvement, and have really seemed to think it more meritorious than all Fulton had done.

His boat and works, and her performance, were open to the inspection of every one. It would have been extraordinary, if the machinery had been so complete as to admit of no improvement; if, like the men of Cadmus, it had been perfect at its birth; and it would have been as extraordinary, if the effects of the machine might not have been produced by an arrangement or combination of its parts, not precisely according to that which was adopted by Fulton in his first essay. Yet, without giving him time or opportunity to make improvements or alterations, men who were greedy of his profits, or envious of his fame, seized upon some trivial or obvious defect, for which they proposed a remedy, or suggested some slight variation in the arrangement of the machinery; and upon these grounds they contested his right as an inventor, took out patent after patent, and made the highest pretensions for the offsprings of their genius, although any common working mechanic might have been their patentee.

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But it was not only to accidents arising from defects in the machinery that the boat was exposed; it was soon perceived that she would interfere with the interest of those who were engaged in the ordinary navigation of the river. many of these Fulton was spoken of and treated as if he had introduced some project baneful to society. The boat became an object of their enmity. She was several times greatly damaged by vessels running foul of her, intentionally, if we may credit the testimony which was published in the newspapers of the time.

It is not unimportant to notice these facts; they illustrate the character of Fulton. They show what embarrassments are to be expected by those who introduce improvements in

the arts which interfere with established interests or preju dices, and they evince the perseverance and resolution which were necessary to surmount the physical and moral difficulties which Fulton encountered.

The Legislature of New York, however, could not be blind to the great advantages of this mode of navigation, nor insensible to the claims those who had introduced it had on the public patronage and protection. At the session of 1808, a law was passed to prolong, for five years, the exclusive privilege of Livingston and Fulton for each additional boat that they should establish; provided that the whole time should not exceed thirty years from the passing of the law. The spirit of hostility to the boat had so far manifested itself, that the Legislature thought it necessary by this act to declare combinations to destroy her, or wilful attempts to injure her, public offences punishable by fine and imprisonment.

Notwithstanding her misfortunes, the boat continued to run as a packet, always loaded with passengers, for the remainder of the summer. In the course of the ensuing winter she was enlarged; and in the spring of 1808, she again commenced her run as a packet-boat, and continued it through the summer.-C. D. COLDEN.

GEORGE STEPHENSON was the inventor of the locomotive which first applied steam successfully to transportation. His career was a steady series of successes from the humblest beginnings until his fame was established as the benefactor of England and of the world by his practical genius.

George Stephenson was born at the village of Wylam, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, in Durham, England, on June 9, 1781. He was the second of a family of six children. His father, Robert Stephenson, was a fireman of the old pumping engine at Wylam colliery. The family being very poor, George was first employed to tend the cows of a neighboring farmer to prevent their straying or trespassing, and for this he received two-pence a day. He next joined his elder brother James in working as a corf-bitter, or picker, in the colliery, where his daily earnings were six-pence, and he was shortly set to drive the gin-horse, for which he received eight-pence. When he was fifteen years of age he worked at Water-row pit as brakeman on the wagon-way between Wylam and Newburn. He, therefore, became early experienced in the working of wagons on railways. He often referred to this experience in later years, and recalled actual experiments made at that time. By dint of industry, sobriety and thrift, George Stephenson managed to save a small sum of money, and while working at Willington Quay as brakeman, he married Fanny Henderson on the 28th of November, 1802.

About 1805, Stephenson removed to Killingworth, the centre of the collieries worked by Lord Ravensworth and his partners. When he went to Killingworth it was still as a brakeman; but soon afterwards he got the charge of the steam-engine, an advancement which arose from his showing mechanical ingenuity in successfully repairing defects in the valve-gear of the engine, after several ineffectual attempts had been made to do so by Geordy Dod, who had a local fame as a mechanician. Stephenson had, before this, acquired some reputation among his fellow-workmen as a repairer of clocks and watches. Between 1807 and 1815, Stephenson's attention was drawn to the subject of locomotive engines, many attempts having been made during that period to introduce them on the tramways and edge-railways of the Northumberland and Durham coal districts, with but very partial success. After various trials and modifications of his designs, George Stephenson started a locomotive on the Killingworth railway on the 6th of March, 1815, which embodied every essential part of a locomotive of the present day, with the exception of the tubular boiler and expansion gear.

It was, however, as an inventor of the miners' safety lamp that Stephenson's pre-eminent merit was first recognized. It is used to this day, and is called the "Geordy Lamp" as contradistinguished from the "Davy." As an independent inventor of the "Geordy," depending on the same principles as that of Sir Humphry Davy's lamp, Stephenson was presented by a number of the leading coal owners with £1,000 and a silver tankard. The presentation took place at a public dinner given in the assembly-rooms at Newcastle, in the month of January, 1818. On that occasion, the chairman, Charles John Brandling, said: "A great deal of controversy, and he was sorry to say of animosity, had prevailed upon the subject of the safety lamp; but this he trusted, after the example of moderation that had been set by Mr. Stephenson's friends, would subside, and all personalities cease to be remembered. As to the claim of that individual to testify their gratitude to whom they were that day assembled, he thought every doubt must have been removed in the minds of unprejudiced persons by a perusal of the evidence recently laid

before the public." Stephenson, in acknowledging the gift, gave the following pledge, which was nobly redeemed during the subsequent part of his valuable life: "I shall ever reflect with pride and gratitude that my labors have been honored with the approbation of such a distinguished meeting; and you may rest assured that my time and any talent I possess shall hereafter be employed in such manner as not to give you, gentlemen, any cause to regret the countenance and support you have so generously afforded me."

The first locomotive railway, for the purposes of traveling according to the present principle of traction, was constructed between Stockton and Darlington. George Stephenson was the engineer. The safety lamp testimonial had enabled him, in partnership with certain capitalists and his only son, Robert, to establish what afterwards became his renowned engine factory in Newcastle. On the opening of the Darlington railway, in 1825, Stephenson's engines traveled at the rate of ten miles an hour; but his ideas and anticipations of the capabilities of this mode of transit, both as to speed and the effect it would produce when generally adopted, were such as he did not then even dare to express for fear of being pronounced insane. The directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway offered a prize of £500 for the best locomotive engine which, on a certain day, should be produced on the railway, and perform certain conditions in the most satisfactory manner. Five firms entered for the great competition. The trial was ultimately appointed to take place on the 6th of October, 1829. George Stephenson's engine, "The Rocket," won the prize; it started on its journey drawing about thirteen tons' weight in cars or wagons, and covered the run of thirty-five miles, including stoppages, in an hour and forty-eight minutes. The highest velocity attained by the "Rocket" during the trial trip was twenty-nine miles an hour, or about three times the speed that one of the judges of the competition had declared to be the limit of possibility.

With the engineering of the Liverpool and Manchester railway, Stephenson entered upon the field of his great fame; and from 1825 to 1847 he occupied the foremost position of all railway engineers. He amassed great wealth, partly from his