930 REPORT—1590. 
Section G—MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 
PRESIDENT OF THE SEcTION—Captain Nostz, O.B., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., 
F.C.S., M.Inst.C.E. 
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4. 
The PresipEnt delivered the following Address :— 
In taking over the Chair of this Section from my distinguished predecessor, I 
cannot but feel myself to some extent an intruder into the domain of mechanical 
science, and I am conscious that the office which I have the honour to hold would 
have been more worthily filled by one of the great mechanicians who have won 
for the town in which we hold our meeting so widespread a reputation. 
T can truly say the claims on my time are so considerable that I should not 
have ventured to appear before you in the character of President of this Section, 
had it not been for my desire to afford what little support might be in my power 
to my friend the President of the British Association, with whom for so long a 
period I have been associated by so many ties. 
I believe I should have consulted best both my own feelings and your patience 
by merely opening the Section in a formal manner, and proceeding at once to the 
business of the meeting. One of my predecessors, however, has pointed out that 
Sir F. Bramwell, whose authority is too great to be disputed, has ruled that to 
depart from the time-honoured practice of an address is an act of disrespect to the 
Section—a ruling which has, without cavil, been accepted. 
I therefore propose to direct your attention, by a few brief remarks, to that 
branch of mechanical science with which I am best acquainted. I shall endeavour 
to show the great indebtedness of the naval and military services to mechanical 
science during the period with which I have been more or less connected with 
them, and the complete revolution which has in consequence resulted in every 
department and in every detail. 
But before commencing with my special subject, it is impossible that I should 
pass over in silence the great work which has excited so much interest in the 
engineering world, and which, since we last met, has, with formalities worthy of 
the occasion, been opened by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 
It is in no way detracting from the merit of the distinguished engineers who 
have with so much boldness in design, with such an infinity of care in execution, 
with so much foresight in every detail, given to the country this great monument 
of skill, if I venture to point out that, without the great advance of mechanical 
and metallurgical science during the present generation, and the co-operation of a 
host of workers, a creation like that of the Forth Bridge would have been an 
impossibility. 
The bridge has been so frequently and so fully described, that it is unnecessary 
in this address for me to do more than draw your attention to some of its main 
features. 
The bridge, with its approach-viaducts, has a total length of 8,296 ft., or 
nearly a mile and six-tenths; and this length comprises two spans of 1,710 ft., two — 
of 6808 ft., fifteen of 160 ft., four of 57 ft., and three of 25 ft. 
