of its criteriain choosing the themes and in allotting the funds, and the simplicity 

 of the contractual procedure are well-known and appreciated here in Italy. 



In the certainty of portraying the sentiments of Professor Caglioti, I should 

 like to voice the wish that the relations which are established today between ONR 

 and the National Research Council will become closer and closer, and more and 

 more fruitful, as a result of the exchange of their reciprocal experience in the 

 organization of research. 



Our country's principle means of communication is the sea, while on the sea- 

 coast are found its principle sources of activity and life. Therefore our interest 

 in all problems which concern the sea and progress in the art of navigation cannot 

 be thought other than logical and natural. This is borne witness to by the fact 

 that the first naval basin on the mainland of Europe, and at that time the largest 

 in the world, was erected at La Spezia in 1888 under the initiative of Guiseppe 

 Rota, and it is proved by the fact that a new large hydrodynamic center is now 

 being constructed in Rome. Italy's sensitiveness in this field is also shown by 

 its being perhaps the only nation where experiments with models are compulsory 

 by law for every new passenger ship and for every new cargo ship with a dis- 

 placement of over 2000 tons. 



Thus stems our interest in these meetings and our satisfaction that Rome has 

 chosen as the site for the seventh one, the themes of which look so decidedly to 

 the future. 



The ancient Romans sought an omen for the good or bad outcome of an enter- 

 prise or event by consulting the flight of birds. Now, without doubt, the flight of 

 the large, winged vehicles which have brought here so many eminent experts and 

 have brought together in one effort of collaboration theorists and designers, 

 mathematicians and physicists, and engineers and constructors, cannot be other 

 tiian an excellent omen for the Seventh Symposium and, even more than for the 

 symposium, for the future. 



XVI 



