The chimney-piece in the principal room is of
wood, curiously carved, the upper part being divided into
compartments by caryatydes. The central compartment contains the
family arms, viz., Or, on a fesse, gu., between three pellets, a
lion passant gardant of the field. On the back of the grate is a
cast of Neptune, standing erect in his car, with Triton blowing
conches, &c., and the date 1650."
[34] Symonds, Memoirs of Life and Services, 94.
CHAPTER II.
FRANCIS PETTIT SMITH: PRACTICAL INTRODUCER OF THE SCREW
PROPELLER.
"The spirit of Paley's maxim that 'he alone discovers who
proves,' is applicable to the history of inventions and
discoveries; for certainly he alone invents to any good purpose,
who satisfies the world that the means he may have devised have
been found competent to the end proposed."--Dr. Samuel Brown.
"Too often the real worker and discoverer remains unknown, and an
invention, beautiful but useless in one age or country, can be
applied only in a remote generation, or in a distant land.
Mankind hangs together from generation to generation; easy labour
is but inherited skill; great discoveries and inventions are
worked up to by the efforts of myriads ere the goal is
reached."--H. M. Hyndman.
Though a long period elapsed between the times of Phineas Pett
and "Screw" Smith, comparatively little improvement had been
effected in the art of shipbuilding.
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