volve upon its axis, nor move about the sun. In 1878,
when Edison's phonograph was being exhibited to the eminent scientists of
the Institute, one rushed wrathfully down the aisle and seizing by the
collar the man who manipulated the instrument, cried out, "Wretch, we are
not to be made dupes of by a ventriloquist!" So it is readily
understandable that after being referred to the Institute, Fulton and his
project disappeared for a long time.

The learned men of the Institute of France were not alone in their
incredulity. In 1803 the Philosophical Society of Rotterdam wrote to the
American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, for information concerning
the development of the steam-engine in the United States. The question was
referred to Benjamin H. Latrobe, the most eminent engineer in America, and
his report was published approvingly in the _Transactions_. "A sort of
mania," wrote Mr. Latrobe, "had indeed prevailed and not yet entirely
subsided, for impelling boats by steam-engines." But his scientific
hearers would at once see that there were general objections to it which
could not be overcome. "These are, first, the weight of the engine and of
the fuel; second, the large space it occupies; third, the tendency of its
action to rack the vessel and render it leaky; fourth, the expense of
maintenance; fifth, the irregularity of its motion and the motion of the
water in the boiler and cistern, and of the fuel vessel in rough weather;
sixth, the difficulty arising from the liability of the paddles, or oars,
to break, if light, and from the weight if made strong."

But the steamboat survived this scientific indictment in six counts.
Visions proved more real than scientific reasoning.

While in the shadow of the Institute's disfavor, Fulton fell in with the
new minister to France, Robert R. Livingston, and the result of this
acquaintance was that America gained primacy in steam navigation, and
Napoleon lost the chance to get control of an invention which, by
revolutionizing navigation, might have broken that British control of the
sea, that in the end destroyed the Napoleonic empire. Livingston had long
taken an intelligent interest in the possibilities of steam power, and had
built and tested, on the Hudson, an experimental steamboat of his own.
Perhaps it was this, as much as anything, which aroused the interest of
Thomas Jefferson--to whom he owed his appointment as minister to
France--for Jefferson was actively inter