SHIP BUILDING. 



BY JOHN W. GRIFFITHS, OF NEW-YORK. 



To the Trustees of the American Institute: 



Gentlemen — It was with pleasurable surprise that I received 

 the intelligence of the determination of the Board to embody in 

 this volume of Transactions for 1854, a paper on the subject of 

 ship building, and not less surprising was that clause which in- 

 formed me that I had been selected as the honored instrument for 

 so distinguished a service. 



It is also gratifying to know that you have given me the largest 

 liberty for this important service. I should not therefore intrude 

 upon your kindness, and occupy too much of your space, and, as 

 a consequence of this conviction, shall only give a synopsis of the 

 present condition of the art, in connection with such of its future 

 wants as may be deemed necessary to render its progress commen- 

 surate with that of other branches of constructive science. 



If there is one department of scientific knowledge more than 

 another which demands an investment of all the energies of the 

 mind in the mechanical world, it is that of ship building. In 

 every other art the majesty of science holds out the sceptre of 

 progress, and new achievements are the result ; while in ship 

 building, traditional knowledge broods over the productions of 

 philosophy, and the regal mandates of hereditary wisdom with- 

 holds the sceptre of improvement, and sets bounds to the widen- 

 ing orbit of genius, beyond which it cannot pass. The pulsations 

 of mind upon this great subject bear the impress of nationality in 

 every maritime country j and in every age of the world there 



