36 Mr Whytock on the ap'plication of Oars to Steam-BoaU, 
sioned by the stroke of the oar. By this stroke a current is 
formed in a direction contrary to the motion of the boat in the 
first instance ; but a necessary consequence of this is, that ano- 
ther current is formed, running in favour of the boat, and in 
which the boat is placed. Plate I. Fig. 2., will show the di- 
rection of the currents occasioned by the stroke of an oar on 
each side of a boat. In the first place. The action of the oar 
in the water produces a sort of vacuum a-head of the boat, 
which the head of the boat, as it were, advances to supply. The 
same stroke occasions a current in the water, which turns a- stern 
of the boat, pushes it forward, and carries it along with it, as 
long as the effect of the stroke continues to occasion any mo- 
tion in the water. Unless this way of accounting for the power- 
ful effects of the oar be satisfactory, I humbly conceive, that 
any intelligent correspondent, who can give a better explana- 
tion of the difficulty, will confer a favour on the public 
by so doing. It must appear very strange, that a boat row- 
ed by a single person should so powerfully breast the waves,, 
and rush along the watery element, when all the power which 
he can employ, at the further extremity of the oar, cannot be 
equal to one- tenth part of the strength exerted. 
If the effect of the ciuTent in propelling the boat be so im- 
portant, it is certain that this is a power hitherto neglected in 
navigation by steam ; on the contrary, the power of the current 
has been made one of the greatest obstacles in retarding the 
progress of the vessel, inasmuch as, from the situation in which 
the wheels are placed, the current is brought right against the 
prow, and has the effect of counteracting, in a great measure,, 
the efforts of the labouring engine within, and occasions a need- 
less waste of mechanical force. 
I only intend farther to observe, that it appears to me, that 
the most effectual way to obtain the advantages of the currents 
described, is to have recourse to the rejected oar. And lest any 
one should condemn this paper as too speculative, I shall only 
allude generally to the way in which I believe this could be apt- 
ly and effectually done ; and reserve the full description of the 
apparatus to a future occasion, or to be offered in some other 
shape, to those who are directing their attention and capital ta 
