Excerpt from Canal Navigation: On the Resistance of Water to the Passage of Boats Upon Canals, and Other Bodies of Water, Being the Results of Experiments Tiie laws which regulate the resistance and impulse of fluids, are involved in such obscurity, that candid investigators of this branch of science, are compelled to confess, that the dissertations of the physico-mathematician have failed in utility, and that even the deductions of the logician have been almost altogether ineffectual. The assumptions of the former, from which propositions have been deduced, and theories given out, are, at best, founded only on an hypothesis; the reasonings of the latter, rest upon limited experience, and in some cases ill observed phenomena. And there is, probably, no branch of science which has so much engrossed the attention of the philosopher, and from which so little practical good has resulted. That such is the fact, and that the farther the subject has been investigated, the more difficulties have been met with, if not always acknowledged, few can venture to deny. If, in his zeal for information, the inquirer of the present day searches the shelves of philosophy, his labour will terminate in the settled conviction, that this branch of Science is but yet in its infancy: even, although illustrated by the novel algebraical calculus, and the beautiful results derived from it by French ingenuity. A long course of patient experiment will alone warrant the adoption of formulae; for, as yet, as far as regards the mere resistance of the fluid, the practical application of the laws founded by the mathematician, has failed in producing any form which will rival the skiff of the Indian, the canoe of the Esquimaux, or the junk of the Chinese. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.