APPLICABLE TO MATHEMATICS, &C. 343 



parts of nature's dominion. I would fain hope 

 that when the desirableness of imparting to the 

 youth of this country sound information, by ex- 

 tending and developing the privileges of educa- 

 tion, is seen, we shall then have opportunities 

 offered by the government to enable us to contem- 

 plate the secret and profound recesses of nature. 



The forces which oppose the progress of a rigid 

 body in a fluid are ; 1st. The friction of the fluid 

 on the surface of the body. 2nd. The friction of 

 the particles of water rubbing against each other. 

 3rd. The number of fluid particles disturbed by 

 the motion of the rigid body. The resultant of 

 these three forces will be the resistance which the 

 rigid body will meet with in its progress through 

 the fluid. 



Hence the data required, in the first place, to 

 find the amount of friction of a fluid rubbing 

 against a solid body. I know of no experiments 

 which have been devised or made, having this 

 object in view, and it is an element of great im- 

 portance, not only in molecular action, but in the 

 immense oscillations which large vessels in our 

 navy so often experience, when they are subjected 



