222 Mr. Harvey on Square and 



absurd to suppose that the habits of conquest, which for ages they 

 have been accustomed to cherish and confirm, are all'at once, or 

 even at any time, to be transformed into timidity and fear, because 

 the hght that has been latterly throv?n on naval architecture has 

 demonstrated that the frames of our ships can be strengthened, 

 and better means of defence be obtained, by the new form of the 

 stern. There can be no doubt but a British seaman will always 

 fight the battles of his country to the last extremity, whether he 

 be placed on tlie unprotected surface of a raft, or in a vessel of 

 any class, let her form and condition be what it may. It is enough 

 for a British sailor to know, that England expects him to do 

 HIS DUTY, and it will be done. 



In a subject of so very practical a nature as the present, facts 

 are of the utmost importance; and as, in the investigation of natu- 

 ral phenomena, the philosopher seeks for legitimate examples to 

 illustrate his subject, so do the advocates of the curvilineal stern 

 most earnestly court inquiry and discussion. In the present 

 paper I am not aware of having advanced a single remark, but 

 what has been fairly deduced from the experiments performed. 

 It was an advantage also, during the prosecution of the experi- 

 ments, that the naval officers present entertained dissimilar 

 opinions ; some of them being advocates for the new form of.the 

 stern, and others for the old ; and which diversity of opinion 

 afforded me an opportunity of hearing a multitude of valuable 

 practical remarks, which could never have been elicited had they 

 all entertained the same views. 



In concluding the present paper, I cannot refrain from expres- 

 sing my decided conviction, that the adoption of the curvilineal 

 stern not only increases in a very considerable degree the means 

 of defence in every ship to which it is applied, but also adds very 

 much to the mechanical strength of her frame ; and that it would 

 be folly to abandon a form which has so many legitimate claims 

 on our attention, from any undue and improper attachment to one 

 which has unquestionably nothing to recommend it, but custom 

 and time. In the changes that are daily taking place around us, 

 from the new and ever varying improvements in the mechanical arts, 



