408 THE STRENGTH 



interest; and we cannot therefore be surprized, 

 that the strength of materials has engaged the 

 attention of many of the most distinguished 

 Philosophers from the time of Galileo, who was 

 the parent of these enquiries, to the present 

 age; including the names of Bernoulli, Euler, 

 Lagrange, Coulomb, and Robison. 



These great men have shewn in its different 

 departments, how the refinements of speculative 

 science can be applied to practical purposes. 

 They have done much — but owing perhaps to 

 a disinclination to the labour and expense of 

 making sufficient experiments, much was left 

 undone for later inquirers. And in the lateral 

 strength of bodies after all the hypotheses that 

 have been employed upon it, the practical man 

 has been till lately without a general and 

 satisfactory theory. 



2. But, while it is thus necessary to insure 

 sufficient strength, it is very desirable that the 

 beams should be formed in the manner best 

 adapted to resist the strains to which they are 

 subjected: and if, by an alteration • from the 

 usual shape, the same strength could be obtained 

 with a smaller quantity of metal, the expense 

 would be reduced; and the material rendered 

 even capable of bearing more pressure, by 



