Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/34

 to have made in Steam and Fuel depended on the due proportion, conſtruction, and nature of the materials in theſe Engines, that it coſt them ſix years (according to their own ſtatement) of extreme ſtudy, labour, and an expence ſo ruinous, as frequently to oblige the patentee to make a ſtand for reimburſements, before they could organize the Machine ſo as to accompliſh the deſired effect.

It muſt follow then, that the effect did abſolutely depend on nothing but the principles of proportion, and organization of the Engine; and that it might and ought to have been fully deſcribed in words, by drawings and references in the uſual way; the ſame as given by an architect who directs others to build a houſe according to his new-invented plan.

Whether they could not, or would not deſcribe this Engine, is then the queſtion. Admitting the former to be the caſe, the Engine muſt be a non-deſcript, and may be any thing; admitting the latter, which muſt be the caſe, the Specification is anſwerable to their withes; for it is ſo abſtruſe and abridged, ſo myſterious and undeciſive, that no human underſtanding can poſſibly penetrate it. In fine, it