296 Mr Harvey on the Employment of 



quantity being assumed as a primitive element, every other 

 element may be traced to it, and the whole system of elements 

 thus be exhibited under appropriate equations of condition. 



But it may be asked, in attempting to extend the investiga- 

 tion of these elements beyond the limits attained by Chapman, 

 how are these equations of condition to be obtained ? To this 

 it may be replied, by experiment and observation ; by in- 

 quiring into the properties of the most approved models that have 

 been already produced; by grouping together facts, and draw- 

 ing from their united testimony legitimate results ; pouring into 

 the very heart of ship-building the genuine spirit of induction, 

 and throwing over the whole inquiry the mantle of a pure 

 philosophy ; viewing facts not as detached and insulated frag- 

 ments, but as parts of a system which the progress of inquiry 

 must eventually extend and make perfect. 



To those who may be disposed to question the possibility 

 of tracing in the extended manner here alluded to, the con- 

 nection of the different elements of a ship, we would observe, 

 that some of our ships of war and some vessels of our mer- 

 cantile marine, possess confessedly better qualities than others. 

 Some indeed are known to have a more than ordinary propor- 

 tion of good qualities, and as such become proper objects for 

 philosophical examination. * Suppose, for example, that two 

 or more ships of a particular class were selected, whose pro- 

 perties were generally recognized as good, might not many 

 important conclusions be deduced from an analysis of their 

 different elements ? f Each ship would have, for example, a 

 given displacement, a given length, a breadth, a main section- 

 al area, a certain stability, a particular position of the meta- 

 centre, and many other elements, each of which it would be 

 highly proper to ascertain, and the relation of which to some 

 common element, it would be of the first importance to deter- 

 mine. All these elements would of course possess at first a nu- 

 merical character ; but the generalizing eye of a philosopher 

 would soon trace the existence of laws among the apparently 



* Many of the finest models now float in our harbour. The Canopus 

 and Caledonia may be instanced as examples. The latter, though a first 

 rate, possesses all the manageable properties of a frigate. 



t See Annals of Philosophy for November 1825 and January 1820. 



