I think of only one instance to the contrary. I sold a governor to Mr. Winslow, of Troy, afterwards of the firm of Corning & Winslow, the first manufacturers of Bessemer steel rails in this country under the inspiration of Mr. Alexander L. Holley. Soon after this governor had been shipped I received a letter from Mr. Winslow telling me that the governor would not answer at all, and I should come and see about it. I found the governor had been placed on a second-hand Burden engine, which was a well-known type of horizontal engine at that time, made in Brooklyn. The engine had been built to make 50 revolutions per minute, but being a great deal too large for their use they had reduced the speed to 25 revolutions per minute, and the complaint was that every time the crank passed its centers the governor dropped to its seat. I told them what I thought the difficulty was; that any one could see that the engine very nearly stopped as the crank passed its centers, and the governor _had_ to drop. To show them this action, I disconnected the governor from the valve and throttled the engine by hand, and showed them that the governor, when not connected with the throttle-valve, rose and dropped on every stroke, in the same way as when connected. They asked me what I was going to do about it. I told them I should do nothing about it; that I presumed they might possibly get a governor somewhere that would stand that alternation of speed without winking, but they had better send mine back, because it was not made for any such service. [Illustration: CHARLES B. RICHARDS A.D. 1858] The following is an amusing illustration, doubtless an extreme one, of the degree in which the lay mind may be incapable of mechanical perception. My governors were usually set on the engine bed of horizontal engines near the shaft, and were connected with the throttle-valve over the cylinder by means of a bell-crank lever and a long rod. One day a gentleman called to make a personal examination of the governor and its manufacture, with a view to investing in the business. I showed him a governor in action on the testing platform, and a woodcut on my circular which represented the governor in its position, as above described, with a short piece of the connecting-rod attached to the lever. He looked at this cut intently for some time, and then, putting his finger on the broken-off end of the little rod, said, “Ah, I see; the steam enters there.” I made no reply, and he was so much pleased with his own penetration that he invested at once.