as a musical-instrument maker.

In 1858 he began his experiments with steam as a propelling power for
land carriages, which he temporarily abandoned, and did not patent a
road engine until 1784. In 1767 he assumed a new occupation, for in that
year he was employed to make the surveys and prepare the estimates for a
projected canal to connect the Forth and Clyde. This project fell
through for the time being, as it failed to gain the sanction of
Parliament, but Watt had now made a beginning as civil engineer, and
henceforth he obtained a good deal of employment in this capacity. He
superintended the surveys and engineering works on the Monkland
Collieries Canal to Glasgow, deepening the Clyde, improving the harbors
of Ayr, Port, Glasgow, and Greenock; building bridges and other public
works his final survey being for the Caledonia Canal.

During this period he had invented an improved micrometer, and also
continued his experiments with steam as a motive power. Perhaps it would
be interesting to some of our readers to know how Watt tested the power
of steam. The implements with which he performed his experiments were of
the cheapest kind. Apothecaries' vials, a glass tube or two, and a
tea-kettle enabled him to arrive at some very important conclusions. By
attaching a glass tube to the nose of the tea-kettle he conducted the
steam into a glass of water, and by the time the water came to the
boiling point, he found its volume had increased nearly a sixth part;
that is, one measure of water in the form of steam can raise about six
measures of water to its own heat. It would be impossible in our
allotted space to tell fully of the many experiments James Watt made. It
is needless to say that his success came by slow and discouraging
channels, so slow, indeed, that most men would have given up long
before.

His reputation was assailed by jealous rivals, his originality denied,
and his rights to various patents vehemently contested. He was many
times disappointed in the workings of his own machines, and was obliged
to throw away pieces of machinery from which he had expected much, while
with others he had perfect success. His experiments finally resulted in
his invention of the condensing engine. Now, he struggled for years,
through poverty and every imaginable difficulty, to make a practical
application of his improvements, doing work as a surveyor in order to
support himself.

In 1769 he became a partner of Mathew Boulton,