At first, authorities in the science of naval architecture, like Moseley and Dr Woolley, regarded the new theory with suspicion and disapproval; Rankine, on the contrary, warmly supported it, and helped to develop it and to answer various objections urged against the hypothesis on which it was based. For nearly twenty years Mr Froude steadily pursued the inquiry, adding one mathematical investigation to another, carrying out numerous experiments, and making voyages for the purpose of studying the behaviour of ships. Broadly speaking, it may be said that whereas earlier investigations gave to the naval architect the power of making estimates of the buoyancy and stability of ships floating in smooth water, they gave up as altogether hopeless the attempt to predict the behaviour of ships at sea, or to determine the causes which produce heavy rolling. On the other hand, thanks to Mr Froude, the designer of a ship now knows what precautions to take in order to promote steadiness and good behaviour at sea. Although the propositions enunciated by Mr Froude were accepted as laws in a wonderfully short time—considering their startling nature—their influence on practice, and especially the practical application of the methods of comparison by which they had been established, have not even yet been brought to anything like their full issue. The work is being continued upon the lines laid down by Mr Froude, amongst others by men whose closer intimacy with the actual affairs of the shipbuilding yard may be expected to yield results which will be more immediately reflected in actual practice. Passing allusion has already been made to the founding of the Institution of Naval Architects, but an association which has gathered into its membership so largely of all sections of men concerned with shipbuilding and shipping, and absorbs so much of the knowledge and talent in these domains, must have fuller reference made to it. Regarding its foundation, in 1860, Mr White, in his article in the _Westminster Review_, says: