In the arrangement of the mechanism of this boat, the cylinder was placed horizontally, for the purpose of making connection between the paddle-wheel and the piston, without the working beam. The piston was supported in its position by friction wheels, and communicated motion to the paddles by a crank. The paddles were placed in the middle of the boat, near the stern; and there was a double rudder, connected together by rods which were moved by a winch at the head of the vessel. It is not very clear why Mr. Miller did not follow up this success. Objection, indeed, was made by the proprietors of the canal on account of the agitation of the water, which it was feared would injure the banks. It would appear also that a misunderstanding took place between Miller and Symington, which gave the former a distaste to the undertaking; and having shown that such a plan was practicable, he left others to carry it into practical effect. Several methods of propelling boats, otherwise than by paddles, had some years previously been suggested; among which were two that have been again and again tried by succeeding inventors, down to the present day. One of these is an imitation of the duck's foot, which expands when it strikes the water, and collapses when it is withdrawn. The other is the ejection of a stream of water at the stern, or on both sides of the boat, so as to produce a forward movement by reaction. Both these plans of propulsion seem feasible in design; but they have hitherto failed in practice. A pastor at Berne, named J. A. Genevois, has the credit of having invented the duck-feet propeller in 1755; and in 1795, six years after Mr. Miller's successful experiments, Earl Stanhope had a steam-boat built on that principle. It was so far a failure, that it was not propelled faster than three miles an hour. The other method of propulsion, though of older date, was patented in 1800 by Mr. Linnaker, who proposed to draw the water in at the head of the vessel, and eject it at the stern, and thus to obtain a double action on the water for propelling; but the plan was not found to answer. In 1801, Lord Dundas revived Mr. Miller's project, and availed himself of Mr. Symington's increased experience and the further improvements in the steam engine, to construct a much more perfect steam-boat than any that had been made. He spent £3,000 in the experiments, and in March, 1802, his vessel, called the "Charlotte Dundas," was tried on the same scene of action, the Forth and Clyde Canal. This boat, according to Symington's report, towed two vessels, each of seventy tons burthen, a distance of nineteen miles and a half in six hours, against a strong wind. The threatened injury to the banks of the canal by the great agitation of the water prevented the use of this boat, which was consequently laid aside; for the views of the inventors of steam-boats in the first instance were limited to their employment to drag boats along canals.