Pierre Simon Laplace, afterward Marquis de Laplace, was even more illustrious, being a mathematician and astronomer of the highest distinction. His “Mécanique Céleste” whose exposition of the nebular hypothesis gives it permanent rank among the masterpieces of scientific reasoning, secured for its author the proud position of President of the French Academy. Like Monge he was a republican, and allied himself to Bonaparte immediately on the latter becoming First Consul, although in 1814, he voted for Napoleon’s dethronement. At the time Fulton could have found no better supporters than these two men of science, especially as both enjoyed the personal friendship of Bonaparte. From the above mentioned letter it appears that while at Havre he carried the same crew as at Rouen, he now had a lighted candle. On his early experiment he plunged in darkness fearful that a light might seriously vitiate the air. He now remained submerged in one test six hours without inconvenience, during which time he obtained some air through a tube with the open end supported by a surface float that could not be seen at a distance of 200 fathoms. While trying relative speeds produced by two men rowing as against two men working the screw, the former made the boat cover 60 fathoms in 7 minutes, while the latter propelled it the same distance in 4 minutes. He reported that the Archimedes screw and the horizontal rudder for depth control did not satisfy him in point of efficiency. The Bushnell screw was literally a full screw with several turns as proposed by Archimedes twenty centuries earlier to raise water. When Fulton found that a full screw was not efficient, he proposed to replace it with separate blades set at an angle similar to the sails of a windmill. To this arrangement he gave the name of “Flier.” The error of trying to use a full screw in propeller design persisted for more than forty years after Fulton had appreciated the lack of efficiency. Other engineers for nearly two generations ignored Fulton’s experience and decision. He then returned to Paris and elated by the success of his experiments, which certainly justified elation, he again drew up new proposals in which he offered to accept whatever remuneration the government would give, so great was his confidence. These proposals his friend Monge laid before the First Consul with whom Monge was on terms of intimacy and whose interest Fulton had so long desired to obtain. The First Consul forwarded Fulton’s letter to the Minister of Marine on 27 November, 1800, with the following marginal note: Je prie le Ministre de la Marine de me faire connaître ce qu’il sait sur les projets du capitaine Fulton. BONAPARTE. A few days later Monge and Laplace presented Fulton to Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul, urging the latter to make an allowance of 60,000 francs for further experiments.