l in October, 1829. The following is Mr. Booth's account in a
letter to the author:

"I was in almost daily communication with Mr. Stephenson at the time,
and I was not aware that he had any intention of competing for the prize
till I communicated to him my scheme of a multitubular boiler. This new
plan of boiler comprised the introduction of numerous small tubes, two
or three inches in diameter, and less than one-eighth of an inch thick,
through which to carry the fire instead of a single tube or flue
eighteen inches in diameter, and about half an inch thick, by which
plan we not only obtain a very much larger heating surface, but the
heating surface is much more effective, as there intervenes between the
fire and the water only a thin sheet of copper or brass, not an eighth
of an inch thick, instead of a plate of iron of four times the
substance, as well as an inferior conductor of heat.

"When the conditions of trial were published, I communicated my
multitubular plan to Mr. Stephenson, and proposed to him that we should
jointly construct an engine and compete for the prize. Mr. Stephenson
approved the plan, and agreed to my proposal. He settled the mode in
which the fire-box and tubes were to be mutually arranged and connected,
and the engine was constructed at the works of Messrs. Robert Stephenson
& Co., Newcastle-on-Tyne.

"I am ignorant of M. Seguin's proceedings in France, but I claim to be
the inventor in England, and feel warranted in stating, without
reservation, that until I named my plan to Mr. Stephenson, with a view
to compete for the prize at Rainhill, it had not been tried, and was not
known in this country."

From the well-known high character of Mr. Booth, we believe his
statement to be made in perfect good faith, and that he was as much in
ignorance of the plan patented by Neville as he was of that of Seguin.
As we have seen, from the many plans of tubular boilers invented during
the preceding thirty years, the idea was not by any means new; and we
believe Mr. Booth to be entitled to the merit of inventing the method by
which the multitubular principle was so effectually applied in the
construction of the famous "Rocket" engine.

The principal circumstances connected with the construction of the
"Rocket," as described by Robert Stephenson to the author, may be
briefly stated. The tubular principle was adopted in a more complete
manner than had yet been attempted. Twenty-five copper tubes, each