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In Dr. Darwin's Botanic Garden, first published in 1789, but written, it is well known, at least twenty years before the date of its publication, occurs the following prediction respecting Steam:—

"Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd Steam, afar

Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;

Or, on wide-waving wings expanded bear

The flying chariot through the fields of air,^[1]

Fair crews triumphant leaning from above,

Shall wave their fluttering 'kerchiefs as they move;

Or warrior bands alarm the gaping crowd,

And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud:

So mighty Hercules o'er many a clime

Waved his huge mace in virtue's cause sublime;

Unmeasured strength with early art combined,

Awed, served, protected, and amazed mankind."

A distinguished photographer imagines that he has traced the foreshadowing of his delightful science in the following passage from our great epic poet:

"With one touch virtuous

Th' arch-chemic sun, so far from us remote,

Produces."

Paradise Lost, b. iii. v. 608.

[1]	Darwin projected an "aërial steam-carriage," in which he proposed to use wings similar to those of a bird, to which motion was to be given by a gigantic power worked by high-pressure steam, though the details of his plan were not bodied forth.