522 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. Stetson. — The principle on whicli this gun of Mr, Kellogg's works 

 is very good and compares veiy favorably with others of the kind, though 

 before giving an opinion we like to see what has actually been done in 

 practice. 



Mr. J. K. Fisher. — It appears to me that this mechanism can be worked 

 with less leakage in the barrel than in most of the others that I have seen. 



Mr. Alanson Nash. — If this gun will do the work of a thousand rifles, 

 it is a very important instrument. As to accurate firing in battle, there is 

 no such thing, for the confusion and excitement would not permit it. 



Mr. Waterbury. — Thci'e is no doubt but that the copper cartridge will 

 come into general use — all the neW^tyles of firearms are adapted for it. 

 The manufacturers of Colt's arms, I understand, are about to adapt their 

 weapons to use them. Besides their facility in loading, they make an air- 

 tight breech loader. 



Mr. Kidder exhibited a new electro-magnetic machine, by which he 

 claimed to produce six different currents, and it is so arranged as to have 

 a uniform interruption in the current and works without any noise. Mr. 

 Kidder set the machine in operation which was tried by some of the mem- 

 bers, who said two different sensations could be felt. 



The Chairman. — As magnetism will form the subject of a future meeting, 

 it will be best to postpone any discussion on this matter till then as the 

 miscellaneous business has occupied considerable time this evening. 



By request, permission was given to Mr. Norman Wiard to read the fol- 

 lowing paper on <^: 



Iron-clad "War Vessels. 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of tfie Pol^^technic club : After the millions 

 of dollars expended on iron clad fleets by France, England, and the United 

 States, we have yet to learn of their success in a single instance that will 

 com])are favorably with even the ordinary achievements of our old wooden 

 walls. During this war with the rebels, who have not even the shadow of 

 a navy, we have had the Galena, the Monitor, the Keokuk, the Queen of 

 the West, and other iron-clad ships destroyed, and the Merrimac and At- 

 lanta have gone the same way. We have seen the Minnesota stand the shock 

 of battle with an iron clad during which she received thirty-five heavy shells 

 through her sides, but she was repaired in two days by her own carpenters; 

 and we have had the Atlanta surrender after receiving five shots, not one 

 of wliich penetrated her armor. 



And this is about the whole story of iron-clads, unless we credit them 

 with some vioral effect, if the effect gained by boasting and lying can be 

 called moral. 



It may be said that the principal casualties to iron-clads have occurred 

 by storms at sea or before earthworks, and that, under such circumstances, 

 no ships are always successful. To this, I say, that the Burnside fleet, 

 made up of North river barges, transformed into men-of-war in a few weeks 

 and manned by landsmen, encountered the storm off Hatteras and the 

 earthworks of Roanoke, successfully. Our wooden ships gallantly passed 

 the sand batteries on the Mississippi below New Orleans, and were suc- 

 cessful against earthworks at Port Royal. 



