On the other hand, in opposition to the foregoing conclusions, Professor Page, of Washington, has constructed a ma chine either for locomotion or station ary work. He has exhibited it in the Smithsonian Institute, and a Washington paper thus describes the circumstance : " He then exhibited his engine, of be tween four and five horse power, operat ed by a battery within the space of three cubic feet. It looked very unlike a mag netic machine. It was a reciprocating engine of two feet stroke, and the whole battery and engine weighed about one ton. When the power was thrown on by the motion of a lever, the engine started off magnificently, making one hundred and fourteen strokes per min ute; though when it drove a circular saw ten inches in diameter, sawing up boards an inch and a quarter thick into laths, the engine made but about eighty strokes per minute. There was great anxiety on the part of the spectators to obtain speci mens of these laths, to preserve as tro phies of this great mechanical triumph. The force operating upon his magnetic cylinder throughout the whole motion of two feet, was stated to be six hundred pounds when the engine was moving very slowly, but he had not been able to ascertain what the force was when the engine was running at a working speed, though it was considerably less. The
most important and interesting point, however, is the expense of the power. Professor Page stated that he had reduced the cost so far, that it was less than steam under many and most conditions, though not so low as the cheapest steam engines. With all the imperfections of the engine, the consumption of three pounds of zinc per day would produce one horse power. The larger his engines (contrary to what has been known before), the greater the economy. Professor Page was himself surprised at the result. There were yet practical difficulties to be overcome ; the battery had yet to be improved: and it remained to try the experiment on a grander scale, to make a power of one hundred horse, or more.