The Principles and Practice and Explanation of the Machinery Used in Steam Navigation: Weale, 1851. p. 51
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The total extent to which steam power is applied in Great Britain was estimated by Baron Dupin, 1825, to be equivalent to the power of 320,000 horses in constant action; and since that period it has prodigiously increased, independently of our rapidly extending railways. To this immense command of power our country owes much of its commercial prosperity, besides a vast addition to the comforts and conveniences of life.

— The Principles and Practice and Explanation of the Machinery Used in Steam Navigation:

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The total extent to which steam power is applied in Great Britain was estimated by Baron Dupin, 1825, to be equivalent to the power of 320,000 horses in constant action; and since that period it has prodigiously increased, independently of our rapidly extending railways. To this immense command of power our country owes much of its commercial prosperity, besides a vast addition to the comforts and conveniences of life." in the context of "The Principles and Practice and Explanation of the Machinery Used in Steam Navigation: Weale, 1851. p. 51" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Charles Dupin" (Quotes about Charles Dupin) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Charles Dupin

About Charles Dupin

Baron Pierre Charles François Dupin (6 October 1784, Varzy, Nièvre – 18 January 1873, Paris, France) was a French Catholic mathematician, engineer, economist, politician, and Professor of Mathematics and Economics at the Conservatory of Arts and Professions in Paris. The Dupin cyclide and Dupin indicatrix are named after him; and in 1826 he created the earliest known choropleth map.