1826.] Mr. Harvey on Naval Architecture. 21 



We have much to learn respecting ship-building. We ought 

 certainly to know every thing capable of being known respecting 

 it ; and much might be gained by experiments founded on a 

 philosophical basis. It would be of great importance, for 

 example, to have precise and definite notions respecting the 

 plane of floatation ; how that plane is connected with the mid- 

 ship section ; and how the two are related to the sailing qualities 

 of the vessel of which they form a part. In like manner, it 

 would be advantageous to have correct and accurate ideas 

 respecting the positions of the centres of gravity of the entire 

 vessel and of its displacement ; and to know how these pointg 

 are related to each other, in a given number of approved experi- 

 ments. Is there indeed a single element connected with naval 

 architecture which in the present state of our knowledge it is 

 not desirable to improve ? 



Let us inquire for a moment how we obtain information in 

 other cases ; how the philosopher works in his difficult investi- 

 gations ; and what are the instruments and means employed by 

 him when tracing the hidden mysteries of nature. Are they not 

 experiment, — observation, — a careful watching after resemblances 

 and relations of every kind ? Does he not analyze every principle, 

 separate every part, and in the end collect into general and 

 connected laws the individual results which his sagacity has 

 discovered? Just so ought it to be in the pursuit of naval archi- 

 tecture; for there are about that subject, elements of a very 

 peculiar kind whose individual properties and collective laws it 

 is of the highest importance to determine. Much may indeed 

 be said about theory ; but pure theory has yet done little for 

 ship-building. What we want is a theory founded on the basis 

 of experiment and observation; and as I have remarked on 

 another occasion, without it " all is darkness and uncertainty."* 

 The first mathematician in Europe may speculate for ever on 

 the forms of floating bodies ; he may dazzle his imagination 

 with his ideal creations ; he may multiply his analytical combi- 

 nations, and pile his highest orders of integrals on each other ; 

 and yet, when called upon to make his practical appUcations, 

 his formulae almost lose their identity, and all his golden specu- 

 lations vanish. But place in the hands of such a man a well- 

 digested body of experimental results; show him how, in 

 numerous instances, one property of a vessel has been invariably 

 connected with another : give to him those constants which are 

 to link together the disjointed elements of his problem ; furnish 

 him with experimental data on which he can depend, and from 

 which he can with confidence draw such results as his growing 

 investigations require ; and we sliall find in the end a striking 

 contrast to his former results. The data supplied to him will 



• Annals of Philosophy, vol. viii, p. 445, New Series. 



