German composition

Section 144. JAMES WATT AND THE STEAM-ENGINE. III.

Reading edition

It has armed the feeble hand of (S. 3, N. 2) man, in short⁠[1], with a power to which no limits can be assigned⁠[2]; completed⁠[3] the dominion of mind over the most refractory qualities of matter⁠[4], and laid a sure foundation for⁠[5] all those future miracles of mechanic power which⁠[6] are to aid and reward the labours of after generations. It⁠[7] is to the genius of one man, too, that all this is mainly owing! And certainly no man ever bestowed such a gift on his kind⁠[8]. The blessing is not only universal, but⁠[9] unbounded; and the fabled⁠[10] inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by their rude⁠[11] contemporaries, conferred less important benefits (App. § 5) on mankind than the inventor of our present steam-engine.

This will be the fame of Watt with⁠[12] future generations, and it⁠[13] is sufficient for his race and his country.—Lord Jeffrey.

Notes in this chapter

Note 2 · Use the gen. of the def. art. The definite article is always required before nouns representing the whole of a given class, and before abstr Note 1 · Commence the period with ‘In short’.Note 2 · to assign limits to a thing, einer Sache Grenzen stecken.Note 3 · Say ‘it has completed’, etc.Note 4 · Materie, f.Note 5 · [1] Commence the period with ‘In short’. [2] to assign limits to a thing, einer Sache Grenzen stecken. [3] Say ‘it has completed’, etc. [4] Note 6 · Say ‘which are destined (zu etwas bestimmt sein, Comp. S. 87, N. 6) to assist and to reward the labours of (= of the) future generations’.Note 7 · It — owing = All this we owe mainly to the genius of a single man.Note 8 · Geschlecht, n.; use the verb in the Perfect; ever, je vorher.Note 9 · sondern auch.Note 10 · sagenhaft.Note 11 · rude = inexperienced.Note 12 · bei, with the def. art.Note 13 · dieser.