

ANNALS 



OF 



PHILOSOPHY. 



FEBRUARY, 1824. 



Article I. 



Experiments on the Stability of Floating Bodies. 

 By Col. Beaufoy, FRS. (With a Plate.) 



(To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy .) 



DEAR SIR, Bushey Heath, Jan. 1, 1824. 



In the year 1798 a disquisition on the stability of ships by 

 that celebrated and eminent mathematician the late Mr. Atwood, 

 was read before the Royal Society, and published in the Trans- 

 actions. As this work is allowed to be superior to any other on 

 the same subject in the English language, it may not be unac- 

 ceptable to those concerned in the planning or building of ves- 

 sels, to have this gentleman's theoretical deductions submitted 

 to the test of experiment ; for however satisfactory mathematical 

 reasoning may be to the scientific, the generality of readers are 

 more fully convinced by experimental proof. 



I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly, 



Mark Beaufoy 



The apparatus with which these experiments were made is 

 similar to the one described and illustrated by a plate in the 

 Annals of Philosophy for March, 1816, and to which I request 

 your readers will refer. Improvements, however, were made on 

 the present occasion, by fixing two pieces of wood in a diagonal 

 direction, one on each side of the mast, to prevent its bending 

 by the inclining weight : and for greater security, their lower 

 extremities were firmly tied to the transverse piece that con- 

 ceit; Series, vol. vii. g 



