"Mémoires de la Société Nationale des Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg," Tome XIX. Presented by the Société Nationale.

"Nozioni Preliminari per un Trattato sulla Costruzione dei Porti nel Mediterraneo." By Signor ALESSANDRO CIALDI, Capitano di Vascello. Presented by the Author.

"De quelques Propriétés Mécaniques de differentes Vapeurs. Mémoire presenté le 4 Octobre, 1875, à "l'Académie des Sciences." By Monsieur CHARLES ANTOINE. Presented by the Author.

"Note sur un Appareil destiné à Enregistrer à bord d'un Navire la Loi d'un Mouvement quelconque." By Monsieur A. MADAMET, Ingénieur des Constructions Navales. Presented by Admiral Paris.

The following Gentlemen (being duly recommended by the Council) were unanimously elected Members of the Institution :

Lieutenant Constantine Artsayooloff, Naval Constructor, St. Petersburg Imperial Dockyard; Mr. Harry John Cornish, Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of Shipping; Mr. Edwin William De Rusett, Inspector of Vessels and Machinery to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company; Mr. Thomas James Dodd, Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of Shipping; Mr. James Fortescue Flannery, Engineer to Mr. E. J. Reed, C.B., F.R.S., M.P.; Lieutenant Ernst E. Goulaeff, F.R.S.N.A., Lieutenant of the Corps of Naval Architects, Russia; Mr. Charles H. Haswell, Engineer and Naval Constructor, New York; Mr. Percy Louis Isaac, Naval Architect, London; Mr. James Kirkwood, Chief Engineer in His Imperial Chinese Majesty's Navy; Mr. W. L. Mintonye, Naval Constructor in the United States Navy; Mr. Robert Assheton Napier, Engineer, Glasgow; Mr. William Parker, Chief Engineer Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of Shipping; Mr. William John Pratten, Chief Engineer at Earle's Shipbuilding Company, Hull; Mr. George James Rickard, Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of Shipping; Mr. Peter Morrison Swan, Naval Architect to Messrs. R. Napier and Sons, Glasgow; Mr. James Turpin, Manager to Messrs. Bowdler, Chaffer & Co., Seacombe, near Birkenhead; Mr. Luther Watts, Engineer and Naval Constructor, H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth; Mr. Henry H. West, Chief Surveyor, Underwriters' Registry of Iron Vessels, Liverpool.

The Secretary next read the list of Officers of the Institution, and the following Gentlemen having been proposed by the Council were unanimously elected to be added thereto :-Peter Denny, Esq., Marine Engineer and Shipbuilder, Dumbarton; Edward James Harland, Esq., Marine Engineer and Shipbuilder, Belfast; and Henry Hyndman Laird, Esq., Marine Engineer and Shipbuilder, Birkenhead.

It was then proposed by Mr. E. J. Reed, C.B., F.R.S., M.P., and seconded by the Right Hon. Lord Hampton, G.C.B., D.C.L., and carried unanimously, "That H.I.H. the Grand Duke Constantine "of Russia should be invited to become an Honorary Associate of the Institution."

AN ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE FUNDS OF THE INSTITUTION ON 8TH MARCH, 1876,
AND OF THE ESTIMATED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR 1876.

The PRESIDENT (Lord Hampton) then proceeded to deliver the following Opening Address :—

GENTLEMEN: I am very happy to have the pleasure of meeting you again assembled here for the important objects which we have in view, and I am glad to see so numerous and influential an attendance. It is not my intention on this occasion to deviate from the practice which has obtained from the commencement of this Institution, that your President should open the Annual Session by some few observations; but it is my intention to reduce those observations within the narrowest compass consistent with the objects which we have in view. The Papers that are coming before you I think I may say, without exaggeration, are not only of great but of unusually great interest and importance. They are Papers bearing directly upon those national questions which are now interesting the public mind to an unusual extent; and I think, with such Papers awaiting our attention, and with somewhat limited time to give to them, it would be presumption on my part, if-merely from the fact that I am one of many who take deep interest in these subjects-I were to detain you by entering into unnecessary details, knowing as I do the able Papers and the interesting Discussions which are immediately to follow. But, Gentlemen, as it is consistent with custom, and therefore I think my duty, to make some few observations, which may be appropriate to the commencement of a new Session, I cannot refrain from congratulating you on the gradual and constantly growing success and improved status of this Institution.

You have heard in the Report which has just been read to you that the main point which influences so greatly the prosperity of all Institutions, namely your financial condition, is of the most satisfactory character. We find another important fact in the growing desire on the part of gentlemen of various professions and in different parts of the country to become Members of this Institution, and to have the power of contributing to those useful subjects with which we have to deal. Another gratifying proof of the growing prosperity of this Institution to which I wish to call your particular attention, is found in the large number of very able Papers which have been sent in to be read to us during our Meetings. There was a time some very few years ago, when I was not without apprehension that from the somewhat diminished number of Papers which were presented to us, interest in the great subjects which we consider here was somewhat declining; but I am happy to say any such apprehension has been removed for the last year or two, and upon this occasion the number of Papers which have been sent in to be read at our various Meetings during the next three days is so large that I fear there may be some difficulty in having all of them read and discussed during the time at our disposal. All of you who are in the habit of attending these Meetings are aware that whenever there has been too great a number of Papers to be conveniently read, or when the length of the Discussions upon them has prevented their being read, it has been our practice from time to time to arrange that particular Papers should be taken as read and published in our Transactions. Well, Gentlemen, this is a resource to which under the pressure of want of time we have sometimes turned; but I think you will agree with me that it is not a satisfactory course, especially to those gentlemen whose Papers are not read; because it is very possible indeed quite certain that out of a number of Papers some will be on more interesting subjects than others, and some may be more ably written than others; but still I think there is no doubt whatever the writer of every Paper is sure to consider that his own Paper is written with the greatest ability and on the most interesting subject. Therefore it cannot be satisfactory to the writer to have his Paper practically laid aside, only to be read by those who subsequently study our Transactions.

I fear, Gentlemen, it is only too probable that we must resort to some measure of that kind at our present Session, and this leads me to ask you—I will not now make any definite proposal, but I think that this is a fit moment under the circumstances to bring it before the Members of this Institution-to consider whether it may not be desirable to make some change in our usual mode of proceeding, with the view of accommodating a larger number of Papers. Many of you will doubtless recollect that on one occasion we extended our Session to four days instead of three. We met then, in the first instance, at Kensington, but we have never since repeated the plan of having a four days' sitting. I think if the number of Papers becomes so great as to make it inconvenient or impossible to consider them during three days, that it may not be an objectionable plan, and indeed may become desirable that we should extend our Meetings to four days. But there is another suggestion that I would venture to submit to you, and to ask you to consider-not as I say for any immediate decision, but as worth our consideration before another Session-and that is, whether it may not be desirable that our Meetings should not be strictly limited, as they have been heretofore, to one occasion in the year? It has been suggested, and I myself think it is worth our consideration, whether we might not have a second Meeting in the course of the year; and again whether it might not be desirable that any second Meeting we might determine upon should rather be held at one of our great shipbuilding outports than to be always held in London. It has been suggested, whether—having regard to the nature of the duties we have to perform and the subjects we have to considera Meeting at one of the large and important outports, where a great deal of shipbuilding is carried on, might not give facilities for the consideration of many of the subjects which come within the scope of this Institution? I only throw this suggestion out as I have said for future consideration.

Gentlemen, the Council have with a view to facilitating our proceedings on this occasion as far as they have been able, arranged the Papers which have been sent to us in classes, and precedence has naturally, and I hope you will think properly, been given to those Papers which relate to the great questions now being so fully discussed with regard to our ships of war. I will ask you to look at the programme of this morning, and I think you will see that it is difficult to overrate the importance of the Papers that you will now hear read. The first is by such a high authority as Mr. Barnaby, "On Ships of War;" the second is by Mr. Brassey, "On Unarmoured Ships ;" the third is by Lieutenant Goulaeff, of the Imperial Russian Navy, on those singular vessels of which we have lately heard so much—the circular iron-clads; and the fourth is, "On Cellular Ships of War." There is another, which I have no doubt will be a very important and interesting Paper, by Mr. Reed, "On certain Austrian "Iron-clads." Gentlemen, these Papers relate to questions which are now being so largely discussed, and which are exciting very much interest both in and out of Parliament. I have already said that it would be presumption on my part and a waste of your valuable time, if I were to enter into anything like detail, or into any extensive statement of such views as I may have been led to form upon these questions. You will all be desirous to proceed to a consideration of these Papers, and I will only say that I do most earnestly hope that our Discussions may tend to throw much light upon the great questions involved in them, namely, the best construction of our ships of war, and the comparative strength of armour and of guns. The Paper of my honourable friend, Mr. Brassey, is one which I am sure we shall hear with interest. It is on a subject upon which I confess I have myself for some time felt strongly, namely, the extent to which the policy of this country requires that we should have a large fleet of unarmoured but heavily-armed vessels for the protection of our own commerce and attack upon that of our opponents.