sufficient coal to raise steam enough during the voyage. But
this theory was also tested by experience in the same year, when
the Sirius, of London, left Cork for New York, and made the
passage in nineteen days. Four days after the departure of the
Sirius, the Great Western left Bristol for New York, and made the
passage in thirteen days five hours.[1] The problem was solved;
and great ocean steamers have ever since passed in continuous
streams between the shores of England and America.

In an age of progress, one invention merely paves the way for
another. The first steamers were impelled by means of paddle
wheels; but these are now almost entirely superseded by the
screw. And this, too, is an invention almost of yesterday. It
was only in 1840 that the Archimedes was fitted as a screw yacht.

A few years later, in 1845, the Great Britain, propelled by the
screw, left Liverpool for New York, and made the voyage in
fourteen days. The screw is now invariably adopted in all long
ocean voyages.

It is curious to look back, and observe the small beginnings of
maritime navigation. As regards this country, though its
institutions are old, modern England is still young. As respects
its mechanical and scientific achievements, it is the youngest of
all countries. Watt's steam engine was the beginning of our
manufacturing supremacy; and since its adoption, inventions and
discoveries in Art and Science, within the last hundred years,
have succeeded each other with extraordinary rapidity. In 1814
there was only one steam vessel in Scotland; while England
possessed none at all. Now, the British mercantile steam-ships