Mr. Niles, of the Register, heard Mr. Evans say, many years ago, that "the child was then born who would travel from Philadelphia to Boston in one day!" Already they go from Boston to New York in seventeen hours, and soon they will go by the railroad to Philadelphia in six hours more, which will of course fulfil the prophecy. Oliver Evans had at one time a great steam engine standing for six months at the corner of Ninth and High streets, where it had broken, and would go no further! It had been made to go under water, as it was said, and was to dig out river beds, and docks and shoals. It had started from his premises at Vine street, and had that far on the streets. To what will not steam eventually contribute! By the Briarean might thy hands supply, We cook, we ride, we sail, and soon shall fly! Mind marches;-soon the glorious day will break When we may sit, our hands within our breeches; When steam will plough, sow, reap, grind, knead and bake, And our sole task be to digest earth's riches! Soon iron muscle will leave nought to do, And slave and master both may cease from labour When giant steam, with never-tiring hand Shall toil, the only slave throughout the land! Steam power has just been doing wonders, both by land and water, for travelling facilities; but who knows how soon even these energetic auxiliaries may be superseded, and by abler and simpler inventions! Already we hear of the electro-magnetic combinations of Davenport and Cook, at Saratoga. This reminds us of the prophetic ken of science, as happily exhibited by Dr. Lardner: "Philosophy (said he) already directs her finger at sources of inexhaustible power. in the phenomena of electricity and magnetism, and we may expect that the steam-engine itself may ere long dwindle into insignificance, in comparison with the hidden powers of nature still to be revealed. We may expect that the day will come when the steam-engine will cease to have existence, save in the page of history.”—[Vide Dr. Lardner's Treatise on the Steam-engine, 1838.] WATERWORKS. THE Philadelphia Waterworks were begun in the spring of 1799, by constructing a large house, for water power, near the banks of the Schuylkill, southward of High street, (of which see a picture,) and also, another edifice of marble, at the Centre square, as a receiving fountain, (of which also see a picture.) It was an ornamental structure; but with some it nevertheless bore the disparaging name of "the pepper box," in allusion to its circular form and appearance. These works had at first but little encouragement; and to induce moneyed men to adventure their capital, they were offered water free of rent for a term of years. As late as 1803, only 960 dollars was the rental of the water, although nearly 300,000 dollars had then been expended on the enterprise. At same time, one hundred and twenty-six houses were receiving the water free of cost. In 1814, there were two thousand eight hundred and fifty dwellings receiving the water, and paying a rent of 18,000 dollars. In that year, the cost of raising the water was 24,000 dollars. In 1818, the steam engine at Fairmount was set in operation, and raised the water at a saving of 8000 dollars, still leaving an expense of 16,000 per annum ; but in 1827, such were the improvements introduced, that the expense of raising the water was but 1478 dollars, while the water rents from the city and districts had risen to 33,560 dollars, and this is still rapidly increasing. In the eventual success of these measures we owe much the skill and perseverance of J. S. Lewis and Frederic Graff, names which will be always identified with the origin and the renown of a lasting public benefit. Our great benefactor, Franklin, early foresaw the need of a fresh supply of water for Philadelphia, and recommended the Wissahiccon creek for that object; but that, now that the city has so much increased in population, would be drained dry in a week. There was little or no desire expressed by the citizens of Philadelphia, for any other than their good pump-water, till after the yellow fever of 1793. Then, when the mind was alive to every suggested danger of ill health, the idea of pump-water being no longer good found its increasing supporters. But after river water was introduced, many were still very slow and reluctant to give up their icy-cold well water, for the tepid waters of Schuylkill. Numerous pits, however, for other purposes, in time destroyed the former purc taste of the pump-water, and led finally to their total abandonment, and the consequent increased patronage to the present necessary waterworks. ANTHRACITE COAL. "I sat beside the glowing grate, fresh heap'd WHEN the anthracite coal up the Schuylkill, at Mount Carbon, &c., was first effectively discovered-since the year 1800, it was deemed of little value, because they could devise no way to ignite it -a character which its name sufficiently denotes. About the year 1810-11, however, a practical chemist, I believe an Englishman, his name unknown to fame or me, combining science with practice, made such an analysis of the coal as convinced him there was inherent in the mass all the properties suited for combustion. He therefore erected a furnace in a small vacant house on the causeway road (Beech street) leading over to Kensington. To this he applied three strong bellows; these succeeded to give out such an immense white heat from the coal as to melt platina itself! From this experiment, at which two of my friends were present as invited witnesses, were derived such proofs as led to its future general use in our city. It was in the year 1808, that Judge Fell, at Wyoming, made the first experiment to use that coal in a grate of his own construction; a measure in which he succeeded far beyond is expectations. Before that time they had used it only for smith-work. It was first so used in 1768-9, by Obadiah Gore, (an early settler of Wyoming,) and afterwards by all, the smiths there. The Mount Carbon coal was known to exist in the neighbourhood more than fifty years ago; and some search was made, but the coal found being so very different from any which was previously known, it was not thought to be of any value, and the search was abandoned. It is supposed to be fifty years since a blacksmith, by the name of Whetstone, found coal and used it in his smithshop. At a very early period, Judge Cooper declared his belief of the existence of coal in the district, and the Messrs. Potts explored various places along the old Sunbury road, but success did not attend their operations. A Mr. William Morris afterwards became the proprietor of most of the coal lands at the head of our canal; he found coal, and took some quantity to Philadelphia, about the year 1800; but all his efforts to bring it into use failed, and he abandoned the project, and sold his lands to their late proprietor, Mr. Potts. It does not appear that much notice was taken of the coal from the time of Whetstone, and the search made by the Messrs. Potts, until about thirty years ago, when a person by the name of Peter |