riUORITY IN THE DISCOVERY DISPUTED. 87 



he used in conversation (for it was a favourite subject with 

 him) to describe the difference of the hollow water lines 

 from the old system of ship-building, by holding his two 

 hands back to back. " This," said he, " illustrates the 

 hollow water-lines, whereas this," placing them palm to 

 palm, and slightly bending the fingers, '' exhibits the usual 

 mode ; " and he added that his first conception of the prin- 

 ciple had been the result of observation made by him when 

 a boy at Eton. 



The question of priority in this discovery has been some- 

 what warmly discussed. There is no doubt but that 

 Mr. Scott Russell obtained a prize from the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh, in 1838, for a paper written by him, and 

 published in the Transactions of the society for the preced- 

 ing year. It is no less certain that he had built an experi- 

 mental iron vessel in 1835, seventy-five feet long, called the 

 Wave, to test the value of " wave " lines as applicable to ship- 

 building. But the Wave was never intended for practical 

 purposes ; nor do we find, until the success of the Fire-king, 

 in 1840 (she was laid down in 1838), was fully demon- 

 strated on trial, that even so extensive and eminent a 

 ship-builder, and one who could not have to wait long for 

 opportunities to test the practical value of his theory, ever 

 ventured to build a vessel upon the new principle. The 

 fact appears to be, that the discovery of the theory dates 

 antecedently to Mr. Scott Russell. Mr. Assheton Smith 

 always maintained that he was cognisant of it long before 

 he made the experiment with the Fire-kmg. He had, at 

 all events, previously to this altered the bows of one of his 

 sailing yachts, viz., the Menai ; and it was his confidence 

 of success after this trial which induced him to risk so large 

 an expenditure on the Fire-hing, which, had the vessel 

 been condemned, would have been almost entirely thrown 

 away. 



We find, however, that as far back as 1830, the theory 

 of hollow water lines was tested on the Scotch canals in 



