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Aiit. Wl.-^Ohser nations on Sir Robert Sepping's Plan Jhr 
the Cireiilar Sterns of Ships of War. By Geoiige Har- 
vey, Esq. Member of the London Astronomical Society. 
JE EW naval architects, of any age or country, have; been more 
singularly fortunate in the original conception of important and 
useful designs, than Sir RoRet Seppings ; and the great suc- 
cess which has attended the practical application of his plans, 
has conyuanded a respect for his name, which, there can be but 
little doubt, will increase in proportion a« their excellence and 
utility shall be better comprehended and known. 
But there is one of the designs lately brought forward by this 
distinguished individual, which has been questioned with a keen- 
ness and severity of a very uncommon kind ; and, it may not be 
unfairly added, has been opposed by prejudices of no ordinary 
stamp. From the infancy of naval arcliitecture, up to the pre- 
sent moment, no branch of it has undergone such varied dis- 
cussion,— -been canvassed and examined with so much interest 
and zeal, — and produced so many singular, and, in many in- 
stances, unmeaning comments, and contrary opinions, as the 
change which thk eminent surveyor is desirous of introducing 
into our ships of war, by converting the square into a circular 
stern. 
It is one of the rare merits of Sir Robert Seppings, that all 
his plans are of a useful and practical kind ; that being founded 
originally on the best experience, and undergoing, in every in- 
stance of their application, a strict and rigorous inquiry, they 
have in most cases been productive of great immediate benefit 
to the public, and consequently entitle their author to the high- 
est honours which a great and powerful nation can bestow, 
It is, however, sometimes the fate of the most important and 
beneficial improvements, on their first introduction, to be ques- 
tioned with unusual harshness and severity ; and the spirit of 
this opbsition is, in general, in proportion to the degree in which 
the proposed innovation happens to depart from long establish- 
ed usage. The whole history of science is filled with lament- 
able proofs of this frailty of our nature ; and we need not even 
b9. 
