TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 201 
Brief Review of the Operations in the Bank of England in 1857. 
By R. Vary. 
On the Results of Free Trade. By H. WALKER. 
MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 
On the Progress of Mechanical Science. Address by the President. 
In opening the business of the Section, I have to congratulate you upon the en- 
couraging prospects which our meeting in this great mart of industry is calculated to 
afford. This large and important district is only just recovering from a state of 
intense excitement and a burst of loyalty that has reverberated from one extremity of 
the Riding to the other. In these rejoicings I have naturally taken a deep interest, 
and, now that the royal visit is over, a meeting for the extension of science and use- 
ful art is probably the most appropriate conclusion of the festivities which have 
occupied the attention of this town for the last two weeks. 
On a former occasion, when I had the honour of occupying this chair, I endeavoured 
to combine in a condensed form a review of such improvements in mechanical science 
as had been effected during the successive intervals between the Annual Meetings of 
this Association, and, conceiving that a short account of what has taken place during 
the last few years may not be unacceptable, I have on this, as on previous occasions, 
ventured to direct your attention to a succinct retrospect of what I consider new and 
valuable in mechanical art. 
In Mechanical Science and General Engineering this country continues to main- 
tain its high position in new developments and continued progress, and the almost 
innumerable patents weekly taken out under the new law are remarkable indications 
of the activity and inventive powers of this country. It is not yet thirty years since 
the introduction of malleable iron as a material for ship-building took place, and 
a much shorter time has elapsed since it was first applied to the construction of 
bridges. We have all of us heard of the Tubular system so successfully applied to 
the bridges across the Conway and Menai Straits ; now it is extensively employed in 
every quarter of the globe, and there is no span within the limit of one thousand feet 
but what might be compassed by the hollow girder bridge with security and effect. 
These discoveries are of immense importance to mankind, and where they are carried 
out with skill and a strict adherence to sound principles of economy and science, they 
give to the engineer of the present day a power which in former times it was impos- 
sible to realize. 
Steam Navigation.—In this department of practical science, although much has 
been done, yet much remains to be accomplished in giving to the iron ship uniformity 
of strength and security of construction. With respect to vessels of such complex form, 
bounded by such a variety of curved surfaces, we are yet much uninformed as to the 
precise points of application of the material, in order to attain the maximum of 
strength combined with lightness and economy in the distribution of the material. 
These are data yet to be ascertained, and it will require long and laborious experimental 
researches before the facts are clearly known and established ; much has, however, 
been accomplished in the absence of these data, and I may safely refer to that noble 
structure the Leviathan, which, with all her misfortunes, is nevertheless a most mag- 
nificent specimen of naval architecture. The Cellular system, so judiciously introduced 
ty Mr. Brunel, is her great source of strength, and [ am persuaded that she will stand 
e test (which I have recommended in other cases) of being suspended upon the two 
_ extreme points of stern and stern with all her machinery on board; or, these conditions 
being reversed, I believe she may be poised upon a point in the middle like a scale- 
beam, without fracture or injury to the material of which she is composed; her cellular 
construction and double sheathing round the hull, and the same formation on the 
upper deck, give to the vessel enormous power of resistance, and her division and 
subdivision by bulkheads ensures a large margin of security in whateyer circumstances 
