16 



to convey to him the deep interest with which the Royal Society 

 regards the progress of the very important researches, in which he 

 is engaged in conjunction with Professor Kirchhoff. 



A Royal Medal has been awarded to Mr. William Fairbairn, 

 F.R.S., for his various Experimental Inquiries on the Properties of 

 the Materials employed in Mechanical Construction, contained in the 

 * Philosophical Transactions ' and in the publications of other Scien- 

 tific Societies. 



Mr. Fairbairn's first scientific publication was, I believe, a small 

 volume published in 1831 on * Canal Navigation,' illustrative of the 

 advantage of the use of Steam as a moving power on canals. In this 

 work he detailed the results of experiments made on the Forth and 

 Clyde canal and on other canals in Scotland, and recorded experiments 

 made about the same time by other parties as to the traction of light 

 boats by horse-power at high velocities. 



In 1837 he contributed his first paper to the Manchester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, being " An Experimental Inquiry into the 

 Strength and other Properties of Cast Iron." This was the first of 

 many valuable papers on the same and similar subjects which have 

 been from time to time published in the ' Memoirs of the Manchester 

 Society,' in those of the British Association and of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers, and in the * Philosophical Transactions.' It is well 

 known also, and has been warmly acknowledged by Mr. Eaton Hodg- 

 kinson, that Mr. Fairbairn rendered most valuable assistance to Mr. 

 Hodgkinson in his experimental inquiries into the strength of iron (for 

 which the Royal Medal was awarded in 1841), by placing at Mr. 

 Hodgkinson's disposal his works at Manchester, in which the experi- 

 ments were conducted free of cost. 



In the Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society in 1841, 

 there is a paper by Mr. Fairbairn on the economy of raising water 

 from Coal Mines ; and in Weale's Quarterly Papers on Engineering, 

 an account of his " Ventilated Water-wheel," a very material improve- 

 ment in the construction of water-wheels. 



Since that time his experimental researches and his contributions 

 to various scientific bodies have been very numerous and important. 

 Amongst these I may specify Papers on Fire-proof Constructions 

 On the Strength of Iron and the best Form of Beams and Pillars 



