Blasco de Garay (A.D. 1543), who proposed to propel a ship by the power
of steam. So much cold water seems to have been thrown on his engine,
that it must have condensed all his steam, as little notice is taken of
it except that he got no encouragement. We find that it has also been
used by some of the ancients in connection with their deities.
Rusterich, one of the Teutonic gods, which was found in an excavation,
proves how the priests deceived the people. The head of this one was
made of metal and contained a pot of water. The mouth and another hole
in the forehead being stopped by wooden plugs, a fire of charcoal was
lighted under this pot of water, and at length the steam drove out the
plugs with a great noise, and the god was shrouded in a mist of steam
which concealed him from his astonished worshippers.

In 1629, Giovanni Branca of Loretto in Italy, an engineer and architect,
proposed to work mills and other machinery by steam blowing against
vanes, much in the same way as water does in turning a wheel. The waste
of steam in such a plan is so obvious, that it is not to be wondered at
that it did not produce any great results, as we all know that the
moment we let steam out of his case, the case is all up with him, and he
dies a natural death. He is a most delicate yet powerful agent, and
requires to be kept warm in all weathers--this fact does not seem to
have struck Mons. Branca when he let him out of his boiler.

The next person we come to, and perhaps the first of any note, is the
Marquis of Worcester in 1663 (died 1667). He was a man who seems, as far
as history tells us, to have taken a great interest in furthering the
advancement of steam. He was not contented with one invention, but
published a book entitled "A Century of Inventions," and in this work he
describes a means of raising water by the pressure of steam. The Marquis
appears to have been a politician as well as an inventor, as we find he