xl INTRODUCTORY PROCEEDINGS. 



Not until December thirty-first next will my term of office as your president 

 expire, but practically the duties will terminate with this meeting. The Council 

 and certain other very partial friends have been kind enough to express the wish 

 that I might continue in this office, but I firmly believe and trust that you do — 

 that it is a very wise provision of our constitution that ' ' the President shall not be 

 eligible for election as his own successor." 



Though, as I have said, my duties continue until the end of the year, this is 

 the time and place for me to acknowledge with gratitude the great honor you con- 

 ferred upon me three years ago, an honor unsolicited and unexpected, an honor 

 which, coming from a professional society of your importance, is the highest that 

 can be conferred upon one by his associates. 



I said on accepting the office that it would be my privilege to serve. I have 

 not succeeded in accomplishing all of the things I hoped for. I fear no man with a 

 proper desire for achievement ever quite does this, but I have tried to serve you 

 well, have enjoyed the work and its attendant associations and have always received 

 the utmost support of your Council. I can ask no more. I thank you one and all. 

 I will always bear the kindest and most tender thoughts for The Society of Naval 

 Architects and Marine Engineers. 



The President: — The reading of the papers is now in order, and I ask your 

 attention to the first paper, "Experiments on the Fulton and the Froude, " by 

 Prof. C. H. Peabody, Member of Council. 



