216 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



d'Auxiron encouraged him strongly to persevere, and 

 wrote to him from his deathbed, " Be of good cheer, 

 my dear friend. You alone are right ! " 



Jouifroy, having no influence in Paris, went back to 

 his own province, where, full of confidence in the 

 future of his idea, left to his own resources, and 

 having no guide save his own persevering studies, and 

 no other workman than a village tinker, he succeeded, 

 in 1776, in constructing a machine which he adapted 

 to a boat. This first steamer was about forty-two feet 

 long by seven feet broad, and the floating apparatus 

 consisted in rods about eight feet in length, suspended 

 upon each side of the forepart of the vessel, and having 

 at their extremities chains fitted with movable two- 

 feet wooden flaps. The chains described a radius of 

 eight feet, and a lever fitted with a counterweight kept 

 them in their place. A single Watt engine fixed in the 

 centre of the boat set the articulated oars in motion. 

 The construction of this apparatus, in a place where it 

 was impossible to procure drilled cylinders, was a work 

 of genius, courage, and patience ; and, despite its im- 

 perfections, the apparatus was superior to anything 

 which had hitherto been proposed for navigating pur- 

 poses. The boat was in use on the river Doubs, at 

 Baume-les-Dames, between Montbeliard and Besancon, 

 during the months of June and July. 



Somewhere about 1780 Jouflroy came to Lyons, in 

 the hope of obtaining the funds required for perfecting 

 his invention, and while there he married Mdlle. Made- 



