During the period of about three years, immediately after the close of the war, and after Captain Symmes had left the army, he was engaged in the difficult and laborious task of furnishing supplies to the troops stationed on the upper Mississippi. How he succeeded in this business I am not informed; but, I conclude from his present circumstances, that he could not have realized any very considerable pecuniary advantage from the enterprise. Since that time he has resided at Newport, Kentucky; devoting, almost exclusively, the whole of his time and attention to the investigation and perfection of his favourite Theory of Concentric Spheres. In a short circular, dated at St. Louis, in 1818, Captain Symmes first promulgated the fundamental principles of his theory to the world. He addressed a copy to every learned institution, and to every considerable town and village, as well as distinguished individuals, of which he could gain any intelligence, throughout the United States, and to several learned societies in Europe. The reception this circular met with, was that of ridicule; it being looked upon as the production of a distempered imagination, or the ravings of partial insanity. Indeed, it became a fruitful source of jest and levity, to publishers of the public prints of the day generally, all over the Union. The Academy of Sciences in Paris, before which it was laid by Count Volney, decided that it was unworthy of their consideration; and the editor of the London Morning Chronicle, could not be induced to credit the statements of respectable men, who declared that Symmes was not a madman. But in this, his fate is not peculiar. The experience of the world has taught us, that the authors of new doctrines, have mostly shared a similar lot. An excellent contemporary writer has remarked, that, "the fate of many projectors have been so melancholy, that it requires, at this day, the daring spirit, and the enthusiasm which are naturally allied to genius, in any man to announce himself as the inventor of any thing new and extraordinary. The patience and perseverance of a Galileo, and the adventurous spirit of a Fulton, are necessary to him who would benefit his species by the results of original plans and forms, or that of new combinations of old and tried ones. Hence we cannot but respect and admire the man, who, regardless of the hard fate of so many who have trod before him, in the thorny path of improvement, still has the fortitude and philosophy of mind to spend years in toil and study――to labour by day with persevering industry――and trim the midnight lamp with the vigilance ascribed to the ancient vestals, in bringing to perfection an idea, from which he hopes to reap fame and benefit to himself, and to reflect credit, at the same time, on the genius of his country."