( 225 ) 
ON THE 
TRANSVERSE STRAIN, 
AND 
STRENGTH or MATERIALS. 
III III II 
By Mr. EATON HODGKINSON. 
III IIIS II 
(Read March 22d, 1822.) 
t. Tue lateral strength of materials is a 
subject which has engaged the attention of the 
greatest mathematicians; but our knowledge 
of the action of the fibres or particles of 
bodies during their flexure, chiefly perhaps 
for want of sufficient experiments, seems 
still to be very imperfect. Much then will 
not be expected from an individual whose 
means of making those experiments must ne- 
cessarily be small, and whose knowledge is 
so contracted, in comparison with that of the il- 
lustrious personages who have preceded him. 
2. The intention of the writer is, first to 
unite in a general formula the commonly re- 
rf 
