Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., Past President of the Institute of Civil Engineers
Sir John Rennie
les which cannot be foreseen, and the existence of which can only be proved by experience, when the proper remedy can be applied. The attempt to introduce locomotives on railways was not, however, for the time prosecuted further at Merthyr Tydvil. It may be asked, why did not Trevithick and Vivian pursue the matter further elsewhere? I believe the answer to this is simply that they had not the means; they had already expended so much in prosecuting the invention that their resources were exhausted, and unless fresh pecuniary aid came in they must necessarily abandon it, at least for the time. Nothing is more difficult than to introduce a new invention, however plausible it may appear at first sight. We become by habit so wedded to our old ways that we are apt to regard anything new with indifference. When it has succeeded, the more simple it is the more we are astonished that we should not have perceived its value before; hence, unfortunately, we so frequently find that many able men, who have made brilliant discoveries and inventions which have conferred so much benefit upon mankind, have exhausted their all, and have died of starvation, just at the very moment when they have succeeded. Then some lucky one steps in and derives all the advantage. Such was the fate of poor Trevithick, who
