Watt was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785; a member of the Batavian Society in 1787; and a corresponding member of the Institut of France in 1808. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the University of Glasgow, in 1806; and in 1814, the highest scientific honour which can be attained by a philosopher, was conferred on him by the Academy of Sciences of the Institut of France, who nominated him one of its eight foreign associates. On the pedestal of the monument in Westminster Abbey is engraved the following inscription from the pen of Lord Brougham:— [Pg320] NOT TO PERPETUATE A NAME WHICH MUST ENDURE WHILE THE PEACEFUL ARTS FLOURISH, BUT TO SHOW THAT MANKIND HAVE LEARNED TO HONOUR THOSE WHO BEST DESERVE THEIR GRATITUDE, THE KING HIS MINISTERS, AND MANY OF THE NOBLES AND COMMONERS OF THE REALM RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO JAMES WATT, WHO DIRECTING THE FORCE OF AN ORIGINAL GENIUS, EARLY EXERCISED IN PHILOSOPHIC RESEARCH TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE STEAM ENGINE, ENLARGED THE RESOURCES OF HIS COUNTRY, INCREASED THE POWER OF MAN, AND ROSE TO AN EMINENT PLACE AMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOLLOWERS OF SCIENCE AND THE REAL BENEFACTORS OF THE WORLD. BORN AT GREENOCK MDCCXXXVI. DIED AT HEATHFIELD IN STAFFORDSHIRE MDCCCXIX. [Illustration: WATT'S CHAPEL IN HANDSWORTH CHURCH.] FOOTNOTES: [25] See Buchanan on the Economy of Fuel and Management of Heat, especially as it relates to heating and drying by means of Steam. [26] See Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia, article STEAM-DRYING MACHINE. [27] The following are the words in which Watt makes this remarkable announcement to Priestley:— "Let us now consider what obviously happens in the deflagration of the inflammable (hydrogen) and dephlogisticated air (oxygen). These two kinds of air unite with violence; they become red hot, and upon cooling, totally disappear. When the vessel is cooled, a quantity of water is found in it equal to the weight of the air employed. This water is then the only remaining product of the process; and water, light, and heat are all the products. "Are we not then authorised to conclude, that water is composed of dephlogisticated air (oxygen) and phlogiston (hydrogen), deprived of part of their latent or elementary heat; that dephlogisticated or pure air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat and light; and that the latter are contained in it in a latent state, so as not to be sensible to the thermometer or to the eye; and if light be only a modification of heat, or a circumstance attending it, or a component part of the inflammable air (hydrogen), then pure or dephlogisticated air (oxygen) is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston (hydrogen), and united to elementary heat."