Again, at page 236, on "the resistance of bodies moving through the water," he says: "In the case of very sharp vessels, the resistance appears to increase nearly as the square of the velocity, but in case of vessels of the ordinary amount of sharpness the resistance increases more rapidly than the square of the velocity."

Again, on page 231, in speaking of the folly of a company attempting to run steamers sufficiently rapidly for the mails at the price paid for them, he says: "At the same time an increased rate of speed has to be maintained, which is, of course, tantamount to a further reduction of the payment. In fact, their position upon the Red Sea line is now this, that they would be better without the mails than with them, as the mere expense of the increased quantity of fuel necessary to realize the increased speed which they have undertaken to maintain, will swallow up the whole of the Government subvention. To increase the speed of a vessel from 8 to 10 knots it is necessary that the engine power should be doubled." This work of Mr. Bourne is now the standard of authority on the subject of which he treats, the world over.

Again, Mr. James R. Napier, of London, known as one of the largest and most skilled engine-builders in Great Britain, in the discussion of the dynamic efficiency of steamships in the proceedings of the "British Association" in 1856, page 436, says: "The power in similar vessels, I here take for granted, at present varies as the cube of the velocity." The power simply represents the coal; in fact, it is the coal.

Mr. Charles Atherton, the able and distinguished Chief Engineer of Her Majesty's Royal Dock Yard, at Woolwich, has published a volume, called "Steamship Capability," a smaller volume on "Marine Engine Classification," and several elaborate papers for the British Association, the Society of Arts, London, the Association of Civil Engineers, and the Artisans' Journal, for the purpose of properly exposing the high cost of steam freight transport as based on the law above noticed, and the ruinous expense of running certain classes of vessels of an inferior dynamic efficiency. When but a few weeks since in London, I asked the Editor of the "Artisan," if any engineer in England disputed the laws relative to power, on which Mr. Atherton based his arguments. He replied that he had never heard of one who did. I asked Mr. Atherton myself, if in the case of the newest and most improved steamers, with the best possible models for speed, he had ever found any defect in the law of, the resistance as the squares, and the power as the cubes of the velocity. He replied that he had not; and that he regarded the law as founded in nature, and had everywhere seen it verified in practice in the many experiments which it was his duty to conduct with steam vessels in and out of the Royal Navy. I think, therefore, that with all of these high authorities, the doctrine will be admitted as a law of power and speed, and consequently of the consumption of coal and the high cost of running steamers at mail speeds.

It is not my purpose here to discuss this law, or treat generally or specially of the theory of steam navigation. It will suffice that I point out clearly its existence and the prominent methods of its application only, as these are necessary to the general deduction which I propose making, that rapid steamships can not support themselves on their own receipts. The general reader can pass over these formulæ to [p. 69], and look at their results.

I. TO FIND THE CONSUMPTION OF FUEL NECESSARY TO INCREASE THE SPEED OF A STEAMER.

Suppose that a steamer running eight miles per hour consumes forty tons of coal per day: how much coal will she consume per day at nine miles per hour? The calculation is as follows:

83 : 93 :: 40 : required consumption, which is, 56.95 tons. Here the speed has increased 121/2 per cent., while the quantity of fuel consumed increased 421/2 per cent.

Suppose, again, that we wish to increase the speed from 8 to 10, and from 8 to 16 miles per hour. The formula stands the same, thus:

Miles.Miles.Tons Coal.Tons Coal.
83:103::40: x, =78.1
83:163::40: x, =320.