This review presents the important fact, that NO NEW MECHANICAL SYSTEM HAS
BEEN INTRODUCED.
The screw-propellers and paddle-wheels are multiplications from the former
era. The variations from the common propeller and paddle-wheel, in the
miscellaneous devices, are all under _reductions of merit_.
All the bow-propulsions, and all the variations from the _Viele_,
_Sternburg_ and _Ruggles_ of the former, and the _Byron_, _Baxter_ and
_Newman_ of the present era, are inferior, whether viewed practically or
scientifically.
Hence, steam has received no mechanical advancements since 1858; and the
efforts of 1872 are as positive and determinate failures as those of 1862.