Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/56

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fectly underſtand what I have advanced; and be convinced of the neceſſity, and practicability of giving a full, and explicit deſcription of this point alſo. I ſhall now proceed, as propoſed, with ſome detail on the nature, proportion, ſituation, and office of Mr. Wood’s very ingenious and valuable application of a pump or pumps for the extraction of the water and uncondenſed vapour; which would otherwiſe much impede the working of the Engine, as Mr. Watt, for a wonder, has had the candour to declare in his Specification.

I will here intreat your Lordſhip’s patience while I make a ſolemn proteſtation. I declare, and I challenge every ſcientific man to diſprove it, that all the improvements which have yet fallen within my obſervation on Steam Engines, do wholly depend on the application of Mr. Wood’s invention, viz. a pump; or I will at leaſt ſay in a proportion of fifty to one compared with the other additions made by Mr. Watt, with all his retinue of Doctors, Profeſſors, Philoſophers, Mathematicians and Mechanics.

Now for this Pump, the ingenious invention of Mr. Wood. I repeat this name, as your Lordſhip, having heard leſs about this pump on the preſent than on former occaſions, might be

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