Correspondence of the late James Watt on his discovery of the theory of the composition of water. With a letter from his son / Edited with introductory remarks and an appendix by James Patrick Muirhead.

  • James Watt
Date:
1846
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Correspondence of the late James Watt on his discovery of the theory of the composition of water. With a letter from his son / Edited with introductory remarks and an appendix by James Patrick Muirhead. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to Dr. Priestley before Mr. Watt stated his tlieoiy in 1783, still less of Mr. Watt having heard of it, while his whole letter shows that he never had been aware of it, either from Dr. Priestley, or from any other quarter. Fourthly, That Mr. Watt’s theory was well known among the members of the Society, some months be- fore Mr. Cavendish’s statement appears to have been reduced into writing, and eight months before it was presented to the Society. We may, indeed, go farther, and affirm, as another deduction from the facts and dates, that, as far as the evidence goes, there is proof of Mr. Watt having first drawn the conclusion, at least that no proof exists of any one having drawn it so early as he is proved to have done. Lastly, That a reluctance to give up the doctrine of phlogiston, a kind of timidity on the score of that long-established and deeply-rooted opinion, prevented both Mr. Watt and Mr. Cavendish from doing full justice to their own theory ; while Mr. Lavoisier, who had entirely shaken off these trammels, first present- ed the new doctrine in its entire perfection and con- sistency. All three may have made the important step nearly * It could scarcely be expected that Mr. Watt, writing and pub- lishing for the first time, amid the distractions of a large manufac- turing concern, and of extensive commercial affairs, could compete with the eloquent and practised pen of so great a writer as Lavoi- sier; but it seems to me, who am certainly no impartial judge, that the summing-up of his theory, (p. 333 of his paper,) here quoted, p. 252, is equally luminous and well expressed as are the conclusions of the illustrious French chemist.—[Note by Mr. James Watt.]
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