c-simile of this little volume to be published. After considerable
search, I found a copy of the original letter addressed by Papin to
Leibnitz in 1707, asking Leibnitz to assist him in obtaining the
consent of the Hanoverian Government to navigate the river Weser with
a sidewheel steamboat. The letter was dated July 7, 1707, and
contained among other interesting passages the following sentence:
"The new invention will enable one or two men to accomplish more
effect than several hundred oarsmen." It is evident that Leibnitz was
deeply impressed by Papin's letter, and he supported the simple and
reasonable request contained in it by the following petition addressed
to the Councillors of State. This communication from Leibnitz bears
two indorsements, one by the clerk of the council, "_pro memoria_
respectfully, in reference to the passage of a ship from the river
Fulda into the Weser;" the other is in the handwriting of Leibnitz:
"Papin's sidewheel ship." This last indorsement is of great value, as
indicating the fact that Papin proposed to apply side wheels for the
propulsion of his new invention. The following is a translation of
Leibnitz' letter, the original of which I saw in the library:

"Dionysius Papin, Councillor and Physician to his royal highness the
Elector of Cassel, also Professor of Mathematics at Marburg, is about
to dispatch a vessel of singular construction down the river Weser to
Bremen. As he learns that all ships coming from Cassel, or any point
on the Fulda, are not permitted to enter the Weser, but are required
to unload at Muenden, and as he anticipates some difficulty, although
those vessels have a different object, his own not being intended for
freight, he begs most humbly that a gracious order be granted that his
ship may be allowed to pass unmolested through the electoral domain,
which petition I most humbly support.

G.W. LEIBNITZ.
"Hanover, July 13, 1707."

This letter was returned to Leibnitz with the following indorsement:
"The Electoral Councillors have found serious obstacles in the way of
granting the above petition, and, without giving their reasons, have
directed me to inform you of their decision, and that in consequence
the request is not granted by his Electoral Highness.

H. REICHE.
"Hanover, July 25, 1707."

This failure of Papin's petition was the deathblow to his effort to
establish steam navigation. A mob of boatmen, who thought they saw in
the embryo ship the r