nial acquaintance to Fulton. He was engaged at the time on a scheme
of steam navigation by a propeller, modeled after the foot of a water
fowl. His plan did not commend itself to Fulton's judgment, and he
addressed him a letter, setting forth its defects, and advancing some of
the views upon which he acted himself in after life. Here he also met
with Watt, who had just produced the steam-engine, which Fulton studied
enthusiastically. His own inventive genius was not idle, and while
living in Devonshire, he produced an improved mill for sawing marble,
which won him the thanks and medal of the British Society for the
Promotion of the Arts and Commerce; a machine for spinning flax and
making ropes; and an excavator for scooping out the channels of canals
and aqueducts, all of which were patented. He published a number of
communications on the subject of canals in one of the leading London
journals, and a treatise upon the same subject. Having obtained a patent
in England for canal improvements, he went to France in 1797, with the
design of introducing them in that country.

Upon reaching Paris, he took up his residence with Mr. Joel Barlow, and
thus was laid the foundation of a friendship between these two gentlemen
which lasted during their lives. He remained in Paris seven years,
residing during that time with Mr. Barlow, and devoting himself to the
study of modern languages, and engineering and its kindred sciences.

His work was continuous and severe in Paris. He invented and painted the
first panorama ever exhibited in that city, which he sold for the
purpose of raising money for his experiments in steam navigation; he
also designed a series of splendid colored illustrations for _The
Columbiad_, the famous poem of his friend Mr. Barlow. Besides these, he
invented a number of improvements in canals, aqueducts, inclined planes,
boats, and guns, which yielded him considerable credit, but very little
profit.

In 1801, he invented a submarine boat which he called the "Nautilus,"
which is thus described by M. de St. Aubin, a member of the Tribunate:

"The diving-boat, in the construction of which he is now employed, will
be capacious enough to contain eight men and provision for twenty days,
and will be of sufficient strength and power to enable him to plunge one
hundred feet under water, if necessary. He has contrived a reservoir of
air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight hours. When
the boat is abo