Mr Whytock on the application of* Oars to Steam-Boats. ST 
the improvement of this new and important branch of naviga- 
tion. 
I am aware that the power of steam has been applied to the 
oar, but never, so far as I know, with a view to produce the ef- 
fects I have described ; but, on the contrary, from the direction 
in which it has been applied to the water, it could produce none 
of these favourable effects ; that is, it was made to take hold of 
the water too near to the side of the vessel, and was thus attended 
with the same disadvantages which arise from the use of wheels. 
In the application of the oaf, however, to the steam-boat, it 
would be necessary to use it exactly in the way in which it is 
used by the rower, and to make it touch the water in the same 
direction. An attentive observation of his motions will sug- 
gest the proper application of the power. He never looks where 
he is to dip his oar ; he never calculates how deep he is to im- 
merse it. Whether the water is rough or smooth, he takes the 
same hold of its surface. If a wave rise and meet the descend- 
ing oar, it dips only so far as to take the proper hold of it. If 
the next stroke fall between two waves, the oar descends so far 
as still to reach the water, and to dip the proper depth. This 
is effected solely by his balancing the oar, so as to reduce its 
weight at the extremity to little more than the specific gravity of 
the water ; and he soon learns to adjust this by the pressure of 
his hand downwards y at the same time that he makes the pull in 
a horizontal direction. 
It will be evident from this, that the only way in which the 
oar could be used under the power of steam, and applied on 
any other than smooth water, would be in the w^ay of having its 
specific gravity adjusted, so as always to take the same hold of 
the water, whether the rising wave met it, or the receding surface 
required it to descend to a greater depth. 
An apparatus of the most simple kind would be sufficient to 
adjust the weight of the oar, so that it should always be sunk 
in the water to the depth required. Within the vessel balance- 
weights might be used, to reduce the weight of the extremity of 
the oar, as represented in Fig. S. Plate I. Springs would have the 
same effect, and might be more surely applied. But it is need- 
less to go into the detail of the necessary machinery. All that 
I propose is, to communicate the idea, and to suggest the prin- 
