Erasmus Darwin Quotes
Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear
The flying chariot through the field of air.
Darwin, Erasmus. The Botanic Garden, Part I: The Economy of Vegetation. London: J. Johnson, 1791, p. 29.
The steamboat was one of the first examples of American preeminence in technology. Like the airplane and the computer to come later, it’s importance was generally not recognized early.
before there were railroads in the West
Two years later he flew. That is how fast and dramatic the Wright Brothers work had gone. Once they got on the right track, everything began to fall into place. Two years earlier he had been optimistic. See {613170}.
Mother Shipton made a series of unusually accurate predictions, published throughout England, including the Great Plague of London, the Spanish Armada, & the Great Fire of London. Be wary of this particular quotation as while it may be a remarkable prediction, it also may well be a forgery.
Actually both of these predictions came true in half the time estimated. This is a good illustration of how technological innovation and utilization was accelerating throughout the 20th century.
Erasmus Darwin was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet.
