For some years after Mr. Hulls' plan had been published, and had proved abortive, no further attempt seems to have been made, until the improvements in the steam engine, by Watt, rendered it more applicable for the purpose of navigation. The French claim for the Marquis de Jouffroy the honour of having been the first who successfully applied steam power to propel boats, in 1782; though another French nobleman, the Comte d'Auxiron, and M. Perier, had eight years previously made some experiments with steam-boats on the Seine. The Marquis de Jouffroy's steam-boat, which was 145 feet long, was tried on the Soane, near Lyons, with good promise of success. The marquis was, however, obliged to leave France by the fury of the Revolution, and when he returned in 1796, he found that a patent had been granted to M. le Blanc, for building steam-boats in France. He protested against the monopoly, but the patent remained in force, and the plan received no further development, either from the Marquis de Jouffroy, or the patentee. About five years later, Mr. Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, in Scotland, directed his attention to the propulsion of boats by mechanical means, and contrived different kinds of paddles, and other propellers to be worked by hand, which were tried on boats on Dalswinton Lake. The great labour required to work these machines induced Mr. James Taylor, a tutor in Mr. Miller's family, to suggest the use of steam power to turn them, and he recommended Mr. Miller to obtain the assistance of William Symington, an engineer, who was at that time endeavouring to make a steam locomotive carriage. Among the first difficulties that suggested themselves, was the danger of setting fire to the boat by the engine furnace. This difficulty was overcome by Mr. Taylor, and the arrangements were completed, and the experiment was tried in 1788. The steam engine and mechanism were applied to a double pleasure-boat; the engine being placed on one side, the boiler on the other, and the paddle-wheel in the centre. The cylinders of the steam engine were only four inches in diameter; but with this engine the boat was propelled across Dalswinton Lake at a speed of five miles an hour. The success of this experiment induced Mr. Miller to have a larger boat built, expressly adapted for the introduction of a steam engine. It was constructed under the superintendence of Symington, and was tried successfully on the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1789, when it was propelled at the rate of seven miles an hour.