day for England, Scotland, and the world at large, for that day brought
into the world a man who, by his talents and by his observations of what
others had done before him, was the means of bringing to a workable
state that all-powerful and most useful machine, the steam-engine. The
people of Greenock may well indeed feel proud of being citizens of a
town that produced such a man; for though many places have given birth
to great and valuable men, and persons who rendered the world vast and
lasting service, yet, I may safely say, no one has surpassed James Watt
in the benefits he has bestowed on the world, on its trade, its
commerce, and its means of communication for both body and mind, as the
producer of the steam-engine. There were not even coaches in his time,
and his first journey to London was performed on horseback, a ten days'
ride, very different to our ten or twelve hours now-a-days. His life and
determination show what a man can do, both for himself and his
fellow-men, and are a bright example to be followed by all those
especially who belong to such associations as the one I now have the
honour to address. He not only thought, but carried out his thoughts to
a practical issue, and, though laughed at, he still stuck to his great
work, and by his perseverance gave to the world one of its greatest
boons, and certainly its greatest motive power--the steam-engine. The
first use of the engine, as you well know, was the pumping of water.
Rude were the machines made by Savory, Newcombe, and others, to achieve
the desired end, but Watt, in his small room in the cottage at Glasgow,
at last brought about a triumph that the world at large now feels and
acknowledges. I will not go further into the history of a man so well
known and appreciated, as his memory must be here, but will go on to say
something briefly on the results of the operations of the mind over the
material placed before it, to bring into form and make it practically
useful for the advantage of man.