British Association. 319 



there was a pipe with a stop cock, and the engineer filled the boiler 

 a little too full, he then opened the stop cock and got off the salt. 

 The boiler was worked for nine months, and a man was then sent 

 into it for the purpose of clearing it out, and he found he had nothing 

 to do for there was no encrustation. With regard to the engine, he 

 was not one of those who expected any very great radical improve- 

 ment in the construction of the steam engine ; Watt, in his opinion, 

 had left them but very little to do. In Scotland they had adopted 

 the plan of the Cornish engine. An engine was worked on the 

 high pressure system, and it worked expansively, and with this 

 engine at the top of high water, with a cargo of 150 passengers, in 

 its ordinary rate he had gone 14| miles an hour ; the great thing to 

 be attended to was the precise place of fixing the engine ; he believed 

 that with the ordinary boilers well made, and every thing being of 

 the best kind, every effect they could reasonably expect would be 

 obtained. With regard to paddle wheels, he considered those pro- 

 duced by Mr. Price of great value, where the engine v/as not 

 properly proportioned, or where the vessel was not a good one ; but 

 he was convinced, from a long train of circumstances, that in a well- 

 built vessel, with properly proportioned engines, the common paddle 

 wheel was not only the simplest, the cheapest, the most secure, but 

 was the best in theory as well as in practice. 



Mr. Price maintained that the patent paddle wheel was very 

 far superior. He had laid out ^1000 in putting them to his vessel, 

 and he had found that he could beat all the other vessels of the same 

 size. 



Thursday, 26th August. — 1. Mr. Chatjield read a very long 

 essay on Naval Architecture. 



2. Mr. Enys gave a long account of the working duty on the 

 Cornish Steam Engines. 



3. Steam Communication with Distant Parts. — Dr. Lardner 

 in making his remarks on this subject said, he would beg of 

 every one, and more especially of those who had a direct interest in 

 the inquiry, to dismiss from their minds all previously-formed judg- 

 ments about it, and more especially upon this question to be guarded 

 against the conclusion of mere theory ; for if there was one point in 

 practice of a commercial nature which more than another required 

 to be founded on experience, it was this one of extending steam 

 navigation to voyages of extraordinary length. He was aware, since 

 the question had arisen in this city, it had been stated that his own 

 opinion was adverse to it ; that impression was totally wrong ; but 

 he did feel that as steps had been taken to try this experiment, 

 great caution should be used in the adoption of the means of carrying 

 it into effect ; almost all depended on a first attempt, for a failure 

 would much retard the ultimate consummation of their wishes. 

 With regard to the power of steam engines, practical men considered 

 that for short trips the best proportion was to give the vessel the 

 power of one horse for every two tons ; that as the length of the 

 trips increased they must have a smaller })roportion of power, this 

 should be three tons for every horse power, and for the longest trips 

 to which steam could be applied, about one horse to four tons. 



