54 
HUNT’S PROPELLER. 
It is a safe principle to assume that the great Architect has adopted the very 
best forms in all His works. The difficulty which we have to encounter in our 
imitations arises generally either from our not understanding all the purposes 
of the arrangement, or from our inability to apply them in the same way, or 
give them the same properties. Thus the propelling effort of the fish is given 
out by an alternating action, and a form similar to his tail may not be equally 
well adapted to rotatory motion. The fish is also endowed with life, and his tail 
is elastic, so that he suits it to the motion of the fluid in such a manner that 
the form may lose its best properties if not thus regulated and changed at the 
will of the animal. 
We have only said thus much to show how difficult it is to form a judgment 
on any thing which has not been practically proved. Messrs. Rennie, however, 
have received an order to fit a vessel for the Admiralty, and this propeller will 
then be fairly tried, and, if all the rest of the details be carried out with their 
usual skill, we have little doubt of its entire efficacy. 
hunt’s propeller. 
This invention is shown at figs. 47 and 48. It consists of a number of vanes 
aaaa attached to the nave b, and will be readily understood by the diagrams. 
There is a novelty in the method of combining the rudder and propeller in 
Fig. 47.