"The Encroachments of the Sea from Spurn Point to Flamboro' Head, and the Works executed to prevent the Loss of Land." By R. PICK- Thomas William de Butts Armstrong, 261; Arrott Browning, 265; Charles Benjamin le Mesurier, 266; William Beardmore, 268; William James Cadett, 270; Ardaseer Cursetjee, 271; Samuel Hocking, 274. On the Limes and Cements of Casale, Piedmont, and Liguria. G. SIGNORILE 284 Graphic Diagrams for the Strength of Teak Beams. G. L. MOLESWORTH Proportions of Eye-bar Heads and Pins, as determined by Experiment. Pneumatic Caisson Foundations of the Prague-Smichow Bridge. J. REITER 288 Bridge over the Danube to connect the Buda and Pesth Railways. J. Mallet's Locomotives with Compound Cylinders. M. LESTANG On Lubricating the Flanges of the Leading Wheels of Locomotives. Tramways in Paris. M. ROUSSELLE Inclined Tramways at the Fortress of Glatz, Silesia. H. WICKFELD On a Rope Tramway at Strasburg. A. BLEICHERT. On Traction by Chain and Rope in the Von der Heydt Colliery. C. VON The Danks Furnace at the Millvale Works, Pittsburg, Pa. J. I. WILLIAMS. 327 On a New Furnace for Mercury Ores. A. PICHLER Protecting the Linings of Blast Furnaces. J. D. WEEKS. The Production of Zinc in Blast Furnaces. A. LENCAUCHEZ The Treatment of Oxidised Ores of Nickel. J. GARNIER . Hydraulic Mining in California. A. J. BOWIE, Jun. Boring by Rope in the United States. H. ALTHANS On an Iron Steam Dredger at Hussum. E. W. MATTHIESSEN The Horta Harbour of Fayal, Azores. A. K. DE B. AYALLA Works for the Protection of the Sea-Coast at Cranz. H. HERZBRUCH New Quays and Docks at the Port of Amsterdam Repairing Slip at the Hernösand Works. V. M. STRÖM On the Discharge of Permanent Gases. J. ILLECK. On Körting's Steam Jet Scrubber. B. KÖRTING On the Manufacture of Gas from Paraffin Oils. L. GROTOWSKY. On the Magnetic Constants of Nickel. M. WILD New Mode of Duplex Transmission. O. MOREL On a Common Law in Reference to Electric Induction. R. CLAUSIUS p. 355, line 2, for "Grostowsky" read "Grotowsky." Vol. 1., p. 63, line 5, for "28 and 30 lbs." read "28 and 30 tons." p. 149, line 2 from bottom, for "concrete bearings" read "concrete heartings." p. 153, line 4 from bottom, for "the year ending" read "the half-year ending." line 6, for the sign of equality in the equation substitute the sign of line 10, for "24 to 523 fathoms" read "167.6 to 36677 feet." p. 280, line 18, for "xxii." read “xxiii.” Ir was announced that the Council, acting under the provisions of Sect. III., Cl. 8, of the Bye-Laws, had transferred JAMES BISSET, GEORGE BOHN, EDMUND SMALL CATHELS, WILLIAM LANGTON COKE, GEORGE COOPER, HENRY ALGERNON SHRAPNEL FENNER, WILLIAM GREY FERRAR, RICHARD GARRETT, HENRY JOHNSON, GEORGE KNOWLES, CHARLES LEAN, ALFRED PENNY, WILLIAM GEORGE SCOTT, GEORGE KELSON STOTHERT, WILLIAM CAWTHORNE UNWIN, B.Sc., IRWINE JOHN WHITTY, and CORBET WOODALL from the class of Associate to that Also that, under the provisions of Sect. IV. of the Bye-Laws, the following Candidates, having been duly recommended, had been admitted as Students of the Institution :-ALFRED DYKE ACLAND, JAMES GEORGE WILLCOX ALDRIDGE, ROBERT ALEXANDER BRIGGS, ERNEST AUGUSTUS BRINE, FRANCIS CRAWFORD CAFFIN, JOHN FORBES CLOSE, GEORGE WILLIAM DISNEY, WYNNE HOWARD EDWARDS, LEWIS FREDERICK EVELEGH, EDWARD BROCKLEHURST FIELDEN, GERALD FITZGIBBON, ROBERT FITZGIBBON, GEORGE WILLIAM HERSEY, PERCY WILLIAM MONCKTON HOLT, JOHN WYKEHAM JACOMB HOOD, HENRY EDMUND KITSON, ARTHUR HUNTINGTON LEAF, ALEXANDER MACLACHLAN, FRANK NELSON, WILLIAM VYE PADDON, HENRY PARKES, HUGH FREDERICK PERKINS, SAMUEL SYDNEY PLATT, WILLIAM JAMES ROBSON, THOMAS PARR SEVERN, WALTER EDWARD SLADE, HENRY SNELL, ALFRED SUMMERSCALE, JOHN HENRY TUDSBURY TURNER, MONTAGU G No. 1,511.—"Review of the Progress of Steam Shipping during the last Quarter of a Century." BY ALFRED HOLT, M. Inst. C.E.1 THE last five-and-twenty years have witnessed a revolution in the carrying trade of the world, and more particularly in that of this country, which only those who have been engaged in affairs connected with it can completely appreciate. It has been said that up to the moment of railways, an Englishman of the nineteenth century had no better mode of traversing the earth than a Roman of the time of Julius Cæsar, and up to the steamboat epoch, the same might with reasonable accuracy have been said for travel at sea; on neither element had the mode of travel changed, though it might have improved. There was, however, this marked difference between the application of steam to land carriage, and its application to water carriage, that whereas, in the former, its suitability to the conveyance of goods was at once recognised, and was indeed its original purpose, in the latter that use succeeded a long period during which it was applied only to the carriage of passengers and correspondence. The steam. navigation of the Atlantic began about 1838, and that of the Mediterranean at an earlier date; but till the period at which this review commences, twenty-five years ago, or 1852, in neither case was the old mode of conveyance for cargo by sailing vessel seriously invaded by the new. From that date a revolution has been witnessed, which has never, it is believed, received the attention it deserves. Broadly stated, and with some considerable exceptions, British carriage by sea has passed from the hands of sailing vessels to steamers. This extension was, in its early days, greatly encouraged by the lavish rates of freight paid by the English and French Governments for the charter of steamers during the Crimean war. At that time the capital embarked in a steamer was in many instances entirely repaid in twelve months, and this return naturally induced increased investments. Three great changes of construction, from that which was accepted twenty-five years ago, have rendered possible the extension thus referred to. They are: (1) The screw propeller. (2) The iron vessel. (3) The compound engine. All were known, and the first and second were in moderate use, at the beginning of the time; but none had received that firm, unhesitating acceptance 1 The discussion upon this Paper occupied portions of four evenings, but an abstract of the whole is given consecutively. |