Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1898-01-27
THE STEAM ENGINE.
Solomon de Cuus Was Shut Up in .
MadhOusc.

Solomon de Cuus Was Shut Up in .
Madhousc.
Various countries claim the cerdit OF
having made the earliest practical APP
plication of steam power, but, judging
from facts gathered from the most au-
thentic sources, it was in Spain that
the movement of machinery by steam
was first brought under public notice,
says Llyods Weekly Newspaper. At
Barcelona, in the year 1913, meohan-
ic named Blasco de Garay, after many
persistent efforts, succeeded in i'm
pressing the Emperor Charles V. OF
Austria and king of Spain with the
value Of mis- new invention for driv-
ing ships by steam. The trial which
took place was considered a success by
the public, but the chief OF the royal
commission = Ravago, the treasure
keeper, of the kingdom-for c2rtaln
sinister reasons persuaded the emperor
that the discovery was of no practical
value and SO ruined the hopes OF Bias
co de Garay. Later on, about the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century,
Giovanni Branca, an Italian, invented
steam engine, and his machine is
first of which we have any descr ptlve
or pictorial record. About this same
period, 1640, France produced claim
ant for the glory of having invented
the steam engine, and Marion Del 1rme,
in letter to M. de c. Mars, dated
Paris, 1641, gives an account of him
in visit to the Bicetre with the mar
quis Of Worcester: 1--WE were crossing
the court of the madhouse and l, more
dead than alive with fright, kept close
to my companions side, when fright
full face appeared behind some immense
bars and hoarse voice exclaimed: I
am not mad! l am not mad! I have
! made a discovery which would enrich
the country that adopted it, What
| has he discovered?' | asked our guide.
| Oh he answered, Struggling his shoul-
| ders, something trining enough; you
| would never guess it. 1t is the use
| of the steam of boiling water He
| began to laugh. This man. continued
the keeper, is Salomon de Caus; he
came here from Normandy four years
ago to present the king a statement
of the wonderful effects that might be
produced from his invention. The
cardinal sent the madman away with
cut listening to him. Salomcn de
Caus. far from being ds>oura ged. fol-
lowed the cardinal wherever he went
with the most determined persever-
ance, who. tired to death with his fol-
y, ordered him to be shut up in the
3icetre, where he has now been for
three years and half Lord Worces-
ter was conducted to his Ode Caus)
cell and came back sad and though full.
He is indeed mad now said he. Ms
fortune and captivity have alienated
his reason, but it is you who have to
answer for his madness. When you
cast him into The cell you confined the
greatest genius Of the age" Twenty
| two years after the above incident, in
1868, in a work of his called Century
of Inventions" the marquis of Woroas-
ter described a steam apparatus OF his
own. Papin followed with his inven-
ton of 1890. Capt. Savery's engine for
water raising was made in 1898. and in
1872 Thomas Newcomb constructed the
first self-acting steam engine (Which
worked successfully for over a CEN
tury), of steam may be said to have
been inaugurated.