A Catechism of the Steam Engine

Excerpt

For some years past a new edition of this work has been called for, but I was unwilling to allow a new edition to go forth with all the original faults of the work upon its head, and I have been too much engaged in the practical construction of steam ships and steam engines to find time for the thorough revision which I knew the work required. At length, however, I have sufficiently disengaged myself from these onerous pursuits to accomplish this necessary revision; and I now offer the work to the public, with the confidence that it will be found better deserving of the favorable acceptation and high praise it has already received. There are very few errors, either of fact or of inference, in the early editions, which I have had to correct; but there are many omissions which I have had to supply, and faults of arrangement and classification which I have had to rectify. I have also had to bring the information, which the work professes to afford, up to the present time, so as to comprehend the latest improvements.