164 Analysis of Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



be said, to adopt the language of the author when speaking of its former 

 condition, that the torch of geometry does not illuminate its path, or that 

 the maxims of mechanical science are not applied to its daily practice. In- 

 quiry has been awakened, and the antiquated rules which formerly guided 

 our ship-builders are now gradually giving way to methods authorized by 

 the legitimate deductions of science. It is a mighty and comprehensive 

 problem to contemplate all the essential elements connected with the con- 

 struction of so massy and stupendous a fabric as a ship destined for all the 

 terrible purposes of war, — which, in the magnificent voyages it undertakes, 

 has to cross wide and immeasurable seas, agitated at times by the un- 

 bridled fury of the wind, subjecting it to strains of the most formidable 

 kind ; — which shall possess mechanical strength to resist these, and at the 

 same time be adapted for stowage and velocity, — which is expected in all 

 cases to overtake the enemy, and yet must contain within it the materiel 

 for a six months* cruize. These, and many other complicated inquiries 

 which the naval architect has to contemplate, must all be involved in the 

 general conditions of his problem, the elements of which he must estimate 

 while he is rearing his mighty fabric in the dock, and be prepared to anti- 

 cipate their effects when he launches his vessel on the turbulent bosom of 

 the sea. And yet there are men, blind to the experience of the past, who 

 deny that science has anything to do with the construction of a ship. 

 Science, says the eloquent author of the article, is the basis of every well 

 ordered machine. Science was the ground work of all that Watt, Smeaton, 

 or Wren, ever achieved ; and can science, says he, be unnecessary in the 

 formation of a ship ? We must say in reply, that science is absolutely ne- 

 cessary in the construction of a ship ; and we cordially agree with the 

 Writer, that the college of naval architecture is likely to prove a most be- 

 neficial institution to the country. In the year 1795, we find that the 

 commissioners appointed to revise the civil affairs of the navy, remarked, 

 that the class of persons from whom the master ship- wri^hts and surveyors 

 of the navy were chosen, " had no opportunity of acquiring even the com- 

 mon education given to men in their rank of life, and that they rise to the 

 complete direction of the construction of ships, on which the safety of the 

 empire depends, without any care or provision being taken on the part of 

 the public, that they should have any instruction in mathematics, me- 

 chanics, or in the science or theory of ship-building." The death blow to 

 this lamentably imperfect system was, however^ given by the establishment 

 of the college. • 



Our author has given a forcible outline of the course of studies pursued 

 at this admirable institution.* After a severe contest before admission, 

 the successful candidates remain seven years at the college, pursuing 

 geometry, algebra, and trigonometry, in all their important applications, 

 examining the theoretical and practical details of mechanics and hydrosta- 

 tics, and closing their purely mathematical inquiries by an enlarged 

 course on the differential and integral calculus. After obtaining suflScient 

 elementary knowledge, they are employed in constructing original designs 



* We have reason to know that the author of the article is totally unconnected 

 with the college. ~Ed. 



