Nature's Teachings: Human Invention Anticipated by Nature. J. G. Wood

fixed and projected from the wheel, as if they had been continuations of its spokes. It was found, however, that a great waste of power, together with much inconvenience, was caused by this arrangement. Not only was a considerable weight of water raised by each blade after it passed the middle of its stroke, but the steam power was given nearly as much to lifting and shaking the vessel as to propulsion.

      A new kind of paddle-wheel was then invented, in which the blades were ingeniously jointed to the wheel, so that they presented their flat surfaces to the water while propelling, and their edges when the stroke was over. This, which is known by the name of the “Self-feathering Paddle-wheel,” was thought to be a very clever invention, and so it was; but not even the inventors were likely to have known that if they had only looked into the book of Nature, they might have found plenty of self-feathering paddle-wheels, beside the few which my limited space enables me to give.

      If the reader will look at the illustration, he will see that on one side is represented the self-feathering paddle-wheel of Art, with its ingenious arrangement of rods and hinges. On the other side there comes, first, the common Prawn, shown with its tail expanded in the middle of its stroke.

      Just below it is a Cydippe of its ordinary size, showing the paddle-bands, one of which is drawn at the side much magnified, so as to show the arrangement of the little paddles. As to the tentacles which trail from the body, we shall treat of them when we come to our next division of the subject of the work.

      Lastly, there is a representation of the self-feathering feet of the Duck, the left foot expanded in striking the water, and the right closed so as to offer no resistance when drawn forward for another stroke. The swan’s foot shows this action even more beautifully than does that of the duck.

      We now come to another mode of propulsion, namely, that which is not due to direct pressure of a more or less flat body against the water, but to the indirect principle of the screw, wedge, or inclined plane.

      Space being valuable, I will only take two instances, namely, the well-known mode of propelling a boat by a single oar working in a groove or rowlock in the middle of the stern, and the ordinary screw of modern steamers.

      Most of my readers must have seen a sailor in the act of “sculling” a boat. A tolerably deep notch is sunk in the centre of the stern, and the oar is laid in it, as shown in the central illustration, on the right-hand side. The sailor then takes the handle of the oar, and works it regularly backwards and forwards, without taking the blade out of the water. The boat at once begins to move forward, and, when the oar is urged by a strong and experienced man, can be propelled with wonderful speed. The well-known “Tanka” boat-girls of China never think of using two oars, a single oar in the stern being all-sufficient for the rapid and intricate evolutions required in their business.

      The mechanical process which is here employed is nothing more than that of the inclined plane, or rather, the wedge, the oar-blade forming the wedge, and the force being directed against the stern of the boat, and so driving it through the water.

      The Rudder affords another example of a similar force, although it is used more for directing than propelling a vessel. Still, just as the scull is used not only for propelling, but for steering the boat, the rudder, when moved steadily backwards and forwards, can be used for propulsion as well as steerage. In the absence of oars, this property is most useful, as I can practically testify.

      So different in appearance are the screw and the inclined plane, that very few people would realise the fact that the screw is nothing but an inclined plane wound round a cylinder, or rather, is a circular inclined plane. The ordinary corkscrew is a good example of this principle, the cylinder being but an imaginary one.

      Now, if the screw be turned round, it is evident that force is applied just on the principle of the wedge, and this principle is well shown in the various screw-presses, of which the common linen-press is a familiar example, as was the original printing-press, which still survives as a toy for children.

      We all know the enormous force exerted by screws when working in wood, and how, when the screw-driver is turned in the reverse direction, the instrument is forced backwards, though the operator is leaning against it with all his weight. In fact, a comparatively small screw, if working in hard wood or metal, so that the threads could not break, could lift a heavy man.

      Substitute water for wood or metal, and the result would be the same in principle, though the resistance would be less. As the loss of power by friction would prevent a large vessel from being propelled by a stern oar moved like a scull, the idea was invented of applying the same kind of power by a large screw, which should project into the water from the stern of the vessel. This modification, moreover, would have the advantage of forcing the vessel forward when the screw was turned from left to right, and drawing it back when turned in the opposite direction, whereas the sculling oar would only drive it forward.

      The principle was right enough, but there was at first a great difficulty in carrying it out. Firstly, several turns of a large screw were used, and were found to need power inadequate to the effect. Then the screw was reduced to four separate blades, and now only two are used, as shown in the illustration, these saving friction, being equally powerful for propulsion, and running less risk of fouling by rigging blown overboard or other floating substances.

      So much for Art. Now for the same principle as shown in Nature, of which I can take but a very few instances.

      The first and most obvious example is that of the Fish-tail, which any one may observe by watching ordinary gold fish in a bowl. Their progression is entirely accomplished by the movement of the tail from side to side, exactly like that of the sculling oar, and moreover, like the oar, the tail acts as rudder as well as propeller.

      The force with which this instrument can be used may be estimated by any one who is an angler, and knows the lightning-like rush of a hooked trout, or who has seen the wonderful spring with which a salmon shoots clear out of the water, and leaps up a fall several feet in height. This is not done, as many writers state, by bending the body into a bow-like form, and then suddenly straightening it, but by the projectile force which is gained by moving the tail backwards and forwards as a sculler moves his oar.

      Perhaps some of my readers have seen the wonderful speed, ease, and grace with which an Otter propels itself through the water. As the otter feeds on fish, and can capture even the salmon itself, its powers of locomotion must be very great indeed. And these are obtained entirely by means of the tail, which is long, thick, and muscular, and can be swept from side to side with enormous force, considering the size of the animal. The legs have little or nothing to do with the act of swimming. The fore-legs are pressed closely against the body, and the hind-legs against each other. The latter act occasionally as assistants in steering, but that is all.

      Then there are the various Seals, whose hind-legs, flattened and pressed together, act exactly like the tail of the fish, that of the otter, the oar of the sculler, or the screw of the steamer. Also, the eel, when swimming, uses exactly the same means, its lithe body forming a succession of inclined planes; so does the snake, and so does the pretty little lampern, which is so common in several of our rivers, and so totally absent from others.

      I can only now give a short description of the woodcut which illustrates these points.

      On the right hand Art is shown by the screw-blades of the modern steamer. In the middle is the ordinary mode of sculling a boat by an oar in the stern, and below it is the rudder, which, like the sculling oar, may be used either for propulsion or direction.

      On the left hand we have three examples of the same mechanical powers as shown in Nature. The uppermost figure represents a fish as in the act of swimming, the dotted lines showing the movement of its tail, and the principle of the wedge. In the middle is an otter, just preparing to enter the water, and below is a seal, both of them showing the identity of mechanism between themselves and the art of man. I need not say that the mechanism of art is only a feeble copy of that of nature,