The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1873-01-10
ROBERT FULTON.

York, just published, Mr.. w. L. Stone
disposes pretty effectually Of Fulton's
claims to the invention Of the steamboat.
He says:
Probably no person has received SO
much praise, and deserved it so little, as
Robert Fulton. A man of no practical
ingenuity-of no power of conceiving,
much less Of executin, an original me
chanical idea--his friend Golden has
succeeded in persuading the public that
to him alone is due the successful navi-
cation Of our rivers by steam. The
facts, however, as gathered them from
the late Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania,
who in turn received them from Chan
cellor Livingston himself, are as follows:
Thirteen years before Fitch expert
mented with his steamboat upon the
Collect in New York, he had, as is well
known, run a little steamer on the Della
ware, between Philadelphia and Borden
town, with great success. During that
period he had experimental with various
kinds of propelling power-the screw,
the side-wheel, and the sweeps, or long
oars. The most primitive thing about
his vessel was the boiler, which con-
sisted simply of two potash kettles riv-
eted together. Mr.. Livingston, who WIS
greatly interested in the success of
Fitch's experiments, seized the oppor-
tunity, when Minister to France, to visit
the workshops of Watt and Bolton, in
England, where, for the first time, he
saw properly constructed steam boiler.
Bnt how was he to introduce it into the
United States, unles (Which was then i'm
possible) he went there himself?
At this crisis he thought of Robert
Fulton, who, originally an artist in Phil
adelphia, was then exhibiting a piano.
rama in Paris. His panorama, however,
failing to pay, was attached, and himself
arrested for debt and thrown into prison.
Livingston also, at this time, had in his
possession the plans, models, and draw
ings of what was afterward the success
full steamboat, which obtained from the
American Consul, then residing at Havre,
who, in turn, had purchased them of
Fitch, when the latter, completely dis
couraged, and stranger in France, ut
terly destitute, had given mp in despair.
Livingston falling into the error SO COM
mon to many, Of believing that because
an artist can draw cleverly he must neces-
sarily succeed equally well in mechanical
conception and execution, paid off Full
tons debts, and sent him over to New
York with one of James Watts boilers.
Fulton, however, thoroughly incompe
tent and Enthusiastically, failed to rise
to the occasion; and when Livings
ton returned, year after, he found his
pet project precisely where he had lief,
it several years before. He, therefore,
at once took hold of it himself, and by
his energy and perseverance, finally
brought his ideas to successful issue
Fulton, whom he could not entirely
shake off, acting as kind of genera
superintendent.
These facts, moreover, are confirmed
not only by the late President William
A. Duer, in his New Yorker Letter
7th), but by Mr.. Ransom Cook, nov
1S71) living at Saratoga Springs, n. Y.
Mr.. Cook inforsm us that in the sum.
mer of 1897 he was in the city of New
York, engaged upon his electromagnetic
machinery. Among his workmen were
two who had been employed by Livings.
ton and Fulton while those gentlemen
were perfecting their steamboat. They
surprised him greatly by stating that
Fulton was capital draughtsman, and
that was all. They added that he was
SO deficient in a knowledge of the laws
Of mechanics as to furnish daily mirtl
for the workmen, and that it was a long
time before Livingston could convincs
him that the starting bar" of an engine
should be made larger mt the fulcrun
end than Mt the handle.
EFFECTS or TOBA eco SMOKE ON TIL
SYSTEM.
NJ. Gustave Lebon, Of Paris, has jus,
issued treatise upon the chemical
and physiological effects of tobacco
smoke upon the human system, the an
thor having first constructed variety ol