30 Observations on the State of 



course of a short time, and every endeavour at legitimate ana- 

 logy be destroyed by such variation. We strongly suspect that 

 this is one cause of perplexity ; and another prolific one is the 

 vague idea given of the strength of winds by nautical language. 

 Nothing but the determinations of the anemometer should ever 

 be allowed to appear in an account of such experiments. Every 

 circumstance attendant on the quantity and trim of sail, the 

 heeling, the rolling and pitching of the ship, position of the 

 rudder, &c. should be accurately ascertained and tabulated ; 

 for it is next to an impossibility and a wilful waste of time to 

 attempt to institute comparisons without pursuing a system of 

 tabulated results, which should be kept in the same form on 

 board each ship. 



We must also express our regret that the scientific professor 

 at Portsmouth does not appear to have ascertained the position 

 of the centre of gravity of any of his ships, with regard to 

 height, by the simple and easy experiment long known in prin- 

 ciple, and described lately with geometrical rigidity in two or 

 three publications by some of his pupils*. The knowledge of 

 the position of this point would have placed him so far above 

 his competitors, in so many important particulars, that we are 

 surprised he should have thrown away his advantage, and de- 

 scended to a level with his less scientific opponents. We are 

 afraid that, here again, imaginative views have stepped in, and 

 taken the sober mathematician from the only path by which 

 excellence can be attained. We are at a loss to conceive how 

 the stabilities of his ships can be said to be ascertained without 

 the knowledge of the position of this point. 



Some of the obscurity which pervades this difficult subject 

 may be overcome, as to broad and general principles, by atten- 

 tively and coolly observing the progress of marine architecture, 

 since the introduction of cannon into naval warfare, and more 

 particularly during the last century and a half We shall then 

 clearly perceive that the French, who, as early as the beginning 

 of the reign of Louis XIV., employed men of first-rate talent 

 in their naval arsenals, and neglected no opportunity for the 



* Vide Annals of Philosophy, for November, 1826 ; No. 1 of the 

 Papers on Naval Architecture, and No. 11 of the Essays and Glean- 

 ings on Naval Architecture. 



