ON ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 105 



was obtained, by which vessels of any magnitude might be drawn by a uni- 

 form mechanical force along any given distance- The forms of the models 

 employed were not confined to mathematical and arbitrary solids, but were 

 those of such classes of ships as are either actually employed in navigation, 

 or have been proposed for that purpose. Among these were some of the 

 highest reputation. It was found that there were other circumstances be- 

 sides the form of the vessel which affected the result ; and that the form and 

 dimensions of the channel were as important as those of the vessel in deter- 

 mining it. Experiments had been instituted on the largest as well as the 

 smallest scale, to show the law of relation between different scales. These 

 various modes of experiment were illustrated by reference to drawings and 

 tables which were prepared for publication. As an illustration of the value 

 of giving a proper form to ships, altogether independently of proportion or 

 dimension, the following remarkable experiments were adduced : — Four ves- 

 sels, of about twenty-five feet length, having all the same dimensions of breadth 

 and depth, of the same capacity and weight, and of the same draft of water, 

 were towed together at the same time, under the same circumstances and at 

 the same velocity. Some writers on naval architecture have asserted that, 

 in such circumstances, vessels would have precisely the same resistance. 

 The forms of these four vessels were not, to an inexperieuced eye, very dis- 

 similar : they were all good sea boats, and each of them found its admirers 

 to give its shape a preference over the others. These vessels, alike in all 

 their principal dimensions, and weight, and area of midship section, and draft 

 of water, differed so much in resistance, that the one had nearly double re- 

 sistance to another : thus, at 7§- miles an hour, the resistances were as fol- 

 lows : — 



No. I. form 56*6 lbs. resistance. 



No. II 138-5 



No. Ill 102-7 



No. IV 90-2 



All of these were good sea boats, and it was one of the most valuable of 

 these results, that No. I., the form of least- resistance, was found also the best 

 sea boat, the easiest, and the driest. The whole of the observations, com- 

 prising more than 20,000, were in the course of preparation for publication, so 

 that the whole body of the observations would be at the disposal of the Mem- 

 bers of the Association. It had been the aim of the Committee to reduce the 

 whole into the form most immediately conducive to the purposes of the naval 

 constructor and mercantile ship-builder, and the drawings had been made on 

 the scale and with the accuracy of the drafts of ships of the largest class. 



Mr. Russell also explained a model showing the waves in a channel arising 

 from the natural channel wave and the wave resulting from the form of the 

 boat. 



Report of a Committee appointed " to consider of the rides by which 

 the Nomenclature of Zoology may be established on a uniform and 

 permanent basis" 



[Minute of Council, Feb. 11, 1842. 



" Resolved, — That (with a view of securing early attention to the following 

 important subject) a Committee consisting of Mr. C. Darwin, Prof. Hen- 

 slow, Rev. L. Jenyns, Mr. W. Ogilby, Mr. J. Phillips, Dr. Richardson, Mr. 

 H. E. Strickland (reporter), Mr. J. O. Westwood, be appointed, to con- 

 sider of the rules by which the Nomenclature of Zoology may be established 



