The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-07 00:00:00

Institut,

thitects

The first of the series of this year's meetings of
the members of this institute was held yesterday
morning in the rooms of the Society of Arts, John-
street, Adelphi. Sir J. S. Pakington presided, and
having expressed the pleasure he felt at meeting the
members at the opening of a session which pro-
mised to be as successful as its predecessor, said
there were one or two circumstances to which he
wished particularly to refer. He begged to con-
gratulate them on the complete and successful esta-
blishment of that object which they all had at heart
—he meant the Naval School of Architecture at
South Kensington. He had no doubt it would be
in the recollection of those present that when they
assembled at their last meeting it had been his
agreeable task to mark his recognition of the honour-
able and prompt manner in which the Government
had acknowledged the claims of this institute. Par-
liament had been asked for its vote, and he gladly
admitted its sanction of the scheme in the grants
which were so willingly made. The school was now
thoroughly established and in progress. A course
of lectures had been commenced, and the manner in
which the studies were proceeding warranted them
in anticipating most beneficial results. The number
of Admiralty students was sixteen, but the number
of private students was, as they expected, small.
Reference was made on former occasions, when
this school was mentioned, to the superior position
of France upon that matter as compared with Eng-
land, and he thought that it would give satisfaction
to the meeting to know that the school was worked
upon the same principle as the Paris school, the
only difference being that the term was three years,
while the other was two years and a half. It had
been found in the French school that when the
students came they showed a perfect acquaint-
ance with mathematics, and they were conse-
quently free to study its application to naval
architecture. However, such was not the case
in the English school, and he was of opinion
that the studies would be attended with more ad-
vantageous results if the students had a previous
knowledge of mathematics. A most important
part of the course of education was the study in the
dockyards, and he sincerely trusted that no practical
impediment would be imposed, and that the Admi-
ralty would offer them every facility for the pursuit
of that portion of the study. In regard to the in-
stitution itself, he begged to say that its progress
was most satisfactory. Independent of the esta-
blishment of the school, most valuable advantage
resulted from the annual publication of their papers,
and he hoped that the papers to be read at the pre-
sent meeting would be attended with as much suc-
cess as those that had been submitted at the previous
session. He thought that during their present ses-
sion there were two very important questions to be
considered. 1. How far they could apply modern
armour to men-of-war without endangering their
sea-going qualities ; and 2. How far it was possible
to adopt their new mode of arming men-of-war by
revolving turrets invented by Capt. Cowper Coles,
in sea-going and turret ships. He hoped that some
of the papers to be read would bear upon these
questions. He considered it an unpleasant task to
enter upon anything like a criticism upon the con-
duct of the Admiralty as far as this matter was
concerned, and he hoped no suspicions would be
entertained if he saw there had not been a proper
caution observed by the Admiralty with reference to
the covering of ships with armour. In regard to
Capt. Coles' invention, he only regretted the experi-
ment had not been accepted long ago. Papers were
then read on the following subjects An investi-
gation of the stability of H.M.S. Achilles," by Mr.
N. Barnaby, M.I.N.A. ; " On the Mechanical Prin-
ciples of the Action of Propellers," by Mr. W. J.
M. Rankine, C.E., LL.D., F.R.SS.L. and E., As-
sociate Member of Council ; " On the Comparative
Value of Simpson's Two nules, and on Dr.Woolley's
Rule," by Mr. C. W. Merrifield ; " On Successive
Integration, so as to obtain a Scale of Areas," by
Mr. C. W. Merrifield ; " On the Measurement of
Curved Surfaces, by means of Ordinates," by Mr.
C. W. Merrifield ; " On the Practical Limits of the
Rolling of a Ship in a Seaway," by Mr. W. Fronde,
Associate. In the evening a meeting took place, at
which Mr. Isaac Watts, C. 8., presided. The prin-
cipal subject was " The Construction of Armour-
clad Ships of War," introduced by Rear-Admiral
Sir Edward Beecher, C.B. A long discussion took
place, in which Mr. Scott Russell, Mr. Reed (con-
structor of the navy), Captain Symcnds, Captain
Selwyn, and other gentlemen took part