Proceedings of the Polytechnic Association. 885 



time arrives, and it is not far distant, our government can afford to 

 pay out of the moneys received on trans- Atlantic postage, enough to 

 insure a semi-weekly line of steamers such as I have described. 



Let our statesmen ever bear in mind, the lesson that all history 

 teaches us, that the nations who have made themselves masters of 

 the seas have dictated the policies, and controlled the destinies of the 

 rest of the world. The stake we are bidding for is, therefore, the 

 grandest and the most imposing ever presented to national ambition. 

 We have, more by individual efforts and personal enterprise, tlian by 

 public policy, acquired a footing and an influence in the great Asia- 

 tic empires of China and Japan. It now behooves us, as a nation, 

 to secure to ourselves and our children, by a liberal and a wise policy, 

 that which the genius of our citizens has already partially accom- 

 plished. By this kind of policy we have created a grand higliway 

 between the ocean that separates us from Europe on the one hand, 

 and that which on the other divides us from Asia. Let us now by 

 the same policy bridge the two oceans with lines of fast and magnifi- 

 cent steam ships. Wlien this is done, will all eyes throughout the 

 whole world be directed to America as the sun from whence emanates 

 light and knowledge, and all that is needed to develop human intel- 

 lect and enchance human happiness. 



At the conclusion of Mr. Wilson's paper the association adjourned. 



December 10, 1868. 



Professor Samuel D. Tillman in the chair ; Mr. C. E. Emery, Secretary. 



Propulsion of Vessels. 



Mr. F. K. Pike illustrated his method of propelling vessels. He 



claimed a great advantage in applying power at a certain angle to the 



propeller or paddle-wheel. The plan excited considerable discussion, 



which was chiefly unfavorable to the metliod proposed by Mr. Pike. 



Ventilation. 



Messrs. Hawley and Phillips exhibited a model of Mr. Henry 

 Puttan's svstem of ventilation. The room in which this meeting 

 was held had just been fitted up on this plan, and served to illustrate 

 its working. The cold air was brought into the room from the 

 lower portion of one of the windows, and conducted through a series 

 of pipes heated by steam, when it was allowed to rise and move 



