From: GALLERY : A PICTORIAL BACKGROUND TO THE LIFE & TIMES OF WILLIAM ROWBOTTOM, circa 1757 - 1830

Watt First Tests the Power of Steam

"There are many stories told of the boyhood of James Watt. He lived at Greenock on the River Clyde in Scotland., and was of a quiet, almost shy disposition, and delicate in health. He was fond of drawing and of studying mathematical problems, but rarely had much to say about his studies. The story goes that as he sat one evening at the tea-table with his aunt, Mrs. Muirhead, she said reprovingly to him, "James Watt, I never saw such an idle boy: take a book or employ yourself usefully; for the last hour you haven't spoken a word but taken off the lid of that kettle and put it on again, holding a cup or a silver spoon over the steam, watching it rise from the spout, and catching the drops it falls into. Aren't you ashamed of spending your time in this way?" And history goes on to presume that as the boy watched the bubbling kettle he was studiying the laws of steam and making it ready to put them to good use some day."

From: 'Historic Inventions' by Rupert S. Holland