August 31, 1882] 



NATURE 



445 



ment, because no one can dispute the vital importance of 

 the work to this country. Periodically the question of tbe 

 Euphrates Valley Railway is revived, and indeed quite re- 

 cently I have bad to reconsider the question professionally, 

 but this route can never rival the existing one by the Isthmus 

 of Suez. 



The inauguration of steam navigation to India was much 

 delayed by the vacillation of the authorities respecting the Suez 

 and the Euphrates Valley routes. Happily, however, the Arabs 

 stole the first bag of mails that went by the Euphrates, and so in 

 1834 a Committee of the House of 'Commons finally resolved 

 that "steam 1 avigation between Bombay and Suez having in five 

 successive seasons been brought to the test of experiment, and 

 the practicability of that line being established, it be recom- 

 mended to His Majesty's Government to extend the line of Malta 

 packets to Egypt to complete the communication between Eng- 

 land and India." Nothing appears to have been done during the 

 next two years, but in 1837 a new paddle-wheel steamer, the 

 Atlanta, of 650 tons, steamed out to Calcutta, round the Cape 

 in ninety-one days, and was put on the Red .-ea station. She 

 left Bombay with the mails on October 2nd, 1837, and arrived 

 at Suez on October 16th. The mails were carried across the 

 desert by camels, and down the Nile to Alexandria in four days, 

 where they remained until H.M.S. Volcano to k them on board 

 on November 7th. At Malta, on November 16th, they were 

 transferred to H.M.S. Firejly, and finally were landed in this 

 country on December 4th, having been in all sixty-three days in 

 coming from Bombay to England. At the present time about 

 eighteen days are occupied in carrying the mails from Bombay 

 vi& Brindisi to London. 



The town of Southampton, where we are now assembled, has 

 always held a distinguished position in connection with the 

 development of improved communication with our Eastern 

 empire. The opening of the first section of tbe railway from 

 London to Southampton was coincident with the establishment 

 of steam navigation via Egypt to India, and in the same year the 

 French engineers at Cairo completed their studies for the 

 proposed railway across the desert to the Suez. 



A feu months later the London public were startled by an 

 advertisement headed " Steam to New York," and 94 pa-sengers 

 were plucky enough to embark at London, on April 4th, 1838, 

 in the Sirius, of 700 tons and 320 horse-power, for New York, 

 where they arrived on the 23rd, having performed the voyage in 

 seventeen days from London, and fifteen days from Queenstown. 

 The Gnat Western ^ai]ed from Bristol on April 7th, and arrived 

 at New York a few hours after the Sirius, and thus was the great 

 problem of steam navigation to America successfully solved by 

 vessels of small size, and capable of maintaining a speed of but 

 eight to nine miles an hour. I need hardly remind you that 

 since the year 1838 the ships conducting the enormous traffic 

 between Europe and America have been of ever-increasing 

 size and speed. Thus the Britannic, built in 1S74, has an ex- 

 treme length of 46S feet, a beam of 45 feet 3 inches, a displace- 

 ment of 8,500 tons, and a speed of 16 knots per hour ; whilst the 

 Scrziti, built in 1SS1, has an extreme length of 530 feet, a beam 

 of 52 feet, a displacement of 13,000 tons, all( i a speed of 18 

 knots, and the City of Rome, built in the same year, has a length 

 of 6co feet, a beam of 52 feet 3 inches, and a displacement of 

 13,500 tons. Another Atlantic liner, the Alaska, having a length 

 of 500 feet, a beam of 50 feet, and a displacement of 12,000 

 tons, attained a speed of 185 knots on the measured mile, and 

 has done the distance between Queenstown and New York in 

 seven days four hours and thirty-two minutes, and the return 

 voyage in six days and twenty-two hours, a mean ocean speed of, 

 say, 17 knots per hour, or more than double that of the first 

 steam vessels trading in America. 



The present generation has grown so accustomed to the em- 

 bodied results of the progress of mechanical science, that it has 

 long ceased to wonder at big ships, or at any other novelty. To 

 realise what has been attained it is necessary to place ourselves 

 as far as possible in the position of our immediate ancestors, and 

 to look at things through their spectacles. With this view, and 

 to give you some scale of comparison to measure the size of the 

 present Atlantic liners by, I quote a short passage from a news- 

 paper of September 19, 1829, where reference is made to a 

 ve>sel then under construction, of about the size of one of the 

 much abused "cockle-shells" performing tbe Channel service 

 between Dover and Calais : " The Dutch have been engaged for 

 the last five years in constructing and equipping a steamboat of 

 extraordinary magnitude, in order to facilitate the communica- 



tion between Holland and Batavia. It has four masts, is about 

 250 feet long, and has been appropriately christened the Monster. 

 In consequence of her great length, she hung when going off the 

 slips, and it was some days before she was fairly launched ; a 

 circumstance which gave the wits of Paris occasion to remark 

 that their Dutch neighbours were so determined to excel all 

 other nations in the magnitude of their steamboats, that they had 

 built one so long that it was several days running off the stocks. 

 One of the most remarkable features of this enormous vessel is 

 her extreme narrowness as compared with her length ; ber greatest 

 breadth of beam being only about 32 feet. The great size of this 

 ve-sel will bring to the recollection of our readers the Columbus, 

 which was built in the river St. Lawrence in 1824, and made the 

 passage to England in safety, but was afterwards broken up on 

 account of her unmanageable bulk. We shall not be surprised 

 to find that a similar fate awaits the Monster, and for a similar 

 reason." 



The Channel boat, Albert Victor, now on the Folkestone 

 station, is of the same length as the Monster, namely 250 feet, 

 whilst the beam of the former is but 29 feet, instead of what 

 the critic of 1829 termed the "extreme narrowness" of 32 

 feet. 



The successive attempts at mitigating the discomforts of the 

 Channel passage by the sw inging saloon and twin-steamers of 

 Sir Henry Bessemer and Captain Dicey have gradually prepared 

 the way for what I believe will be the next important step of 

 establishing Channel communication by means of large floating 

 stations, or ferry steamers, capable of traversing the narrow sea 

 between England and France in little more than an hour. Ten 

 years ago I applied to Parliament for powers to carry out this 

 project, and obtained the unanimous sanction of a Com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons. The Bill was, however, 

 thrown out in the House of Lords by the casting vote of the 

 chairman. 



What was practicable at that time has now become compara- 

 tively ea-y, owing to the introduction of steel into shipbuilding, 

 and the improvements which have been effected in marine engines 

 and mechanical appliances generally. 



Whether the over-sea or undersea mode of crossing the 

 Channel — the ferry or the tunnel — is to be the adopted scheme 

 will soon be determined. It may be that both will l>e carried 

 out, and then at least all tastes will be met, and all anticipations 

 respecting the resulting increase in traffic, both in goods and 

 passengers, between the two countries will be brought to the test 

 of experience. How ever this may be, I am very pleased to be 

 able to announce that my friends Mr. Abernethy and Mr. Clarke 

 Hawkshaw will read papers on the subject, the former on the 

 over sea, and tbe latter on the under-sea plan, and I shall be 

 disappointed if the papers do not lead to an interesting and 

 valuable discussion. 



In few* departments of the engineer's work has such progress 

 been made as in that of steam navigation. When in 1S20 

 steamships were first used for conveying merchandise as well as 

 passengers, the tonnage of the whole of the steam traders of 

 this country, it is stated, amounted to but 505 tons. At the 

 present time the corresponding figure is 2J million tons. Did 

 time permit I would say more on the subject, bur I fear that in 

 speaking at all upon steamships I have departed somewhat from 

 my avowed intention of keeping within the sphere of engineering, 

 in which I have chiefly worked. My ap logy must I e that a 

 discussion of railways led me to a con-ideration of tunnels and 

 bridges, and this naturally suggested a reference to the rivers 

 necessitating the construction of the said tunnels and bridges. 

 From river traffic to ocean traffic i- but a step, and so I have 

 been insensibly led to touch upon the wonderful results 

 achieved in recent times by naval architects and mechanical 

 engineers. 



I will not similarly err in troubling you with any remarks of 

 mine upon the no less wonderful results achieved by electricians. 

 A description of the work done by my friend Dr. Siemens 

 during the past quarter of a centurv would in it-elf constitute a 

 concise history of electrical science. Remembering, however, 

 the warning of King Solomon, that " He who praiseth his friend 

 with a loud voice, it shall be counted a curse to him," I will re- 

 frain from referring to Dr. Siemens, r to my immediate prede- 

 cessor in this chair, Sir W. G. Arm trong, and conclude my 

 address at once with a sincere wish that the present session of 

 the British Association may prove not less interesting and pro- 

 ductive of benefit to science than any of those which have 

 preceded it. 



