of steam from two little
pipes bent in the same direction. Of this contrivance the French
Professor Arago once wrote:--

"This was, beyond doubt, a machine in which steam engendered motion, and
could produce mechanical effects. It was _a veritable steam-engine_! Let
us hasten, however, to add that it bears no resemblance, either by its
form or in mode of action, to steam-engines now in use."

Other steam devices are described by Hero. By one a horn was blown, and
by another figures were made to dance upon an altar. But there is no
trace in the ancient world of the application of steam to an important
useful purpose. Professor Thurston of Hoboken, in his excellent work
upon the "History of the Steam-Engine," has gleaned from the literature
of the last seven hundred years several interesting allusions to the
nature and power of steam. In 1125 there was, it appears, at Rheims in
France, some sort of contrivance for blowing a church organ by the aid
of steam. There is an allusion, also, in a French sermon of 1571, to the
awful power in volcanic eruptions of a small quantity of confined steam.
There are traces of steam being made to turn a spit upon which meat was
roasted. An early French writer mentions the experiment of exploding a
bomb-shell nearly filled with water by putting it into a fire. In 1630
King Charles the First of England granted to David Ramseye a patent for
nine different contrivances, among which were the following:--

"To raise water from low pits by fire. To make any sort of mills to go
on standing waters by continual motion without help of wind, water, or
horse. To make boats, ships, and barges to go against strong wind and
tide. To raise water from mines and coal pits by a way never yet in
use."

This was in 1630, which was about the date of the Marquis of Worcester's
engine. It is possible, however, that these devices existed only in the
imagination of the inventor. The marquis was then twenty-nine years of
age, and as he was curious in matters of science, it is highly probable
that he was acquainted with this patent, and may have conversed with the
inventor.

It is strange how little we know of a man so important as the Marquis of
Worcester in our modern industrial development. I believe that not one
of the histories of England mentions him, and scarcely anything is known
of the circumstances that led to his experimenting with steam. Living in
a county of coal and iron mines, and his own propert