The hull and hull fittings of an unarmored cruiser built of wood will weigh from 49 per cent. to 52 per cent. of the total displacement. With high-powered engines it is doubtful if sufficient strength can be obtained with even 52 per cent. of the displacement for the hull, and this must suppose the absence of all protection to buoyancy, as water-tight compartments. The hull and fittings of a steel cruiser, exclusive of protective decks, will weigh from 39 per cent. to 44 per cent. of the total displacement. Suppose a 4500-ton ship built of wood weighing 50 per cent. of the total displacement, and the same ship built of steel weighing 40 per cent. of the total displacement, the respective weights of the hulls will be 2250 tons and 1800 tons, a difference of 450 tons, the steel hull being one-fifth, or 20 per cent., lighter than the wooden one. This will allow for increased weight of ordnance, protective deck, or increased coal endurance, as may be decided when considering the service on which the ship is to be employed. But notwithstanding the saving thus obtained, the question of weights is still full of difficulties and embarrassments, and it is found impossible in the same structure to accommodate all demands from the different departments concerned in the equipment of a vessel-of-war. The sail-power has been reduced, so as to save weight of spars and sails, which have become of secondary importance, but this will not satisfy all the requirements of the problem. As articles appertaining to the old method of equipment are removed, those belonging to what are considered necessary under the new order of things are brought forward. Space is still to be found for movable torpedoes, for torpedo-boats, and for engines and appurtenances for electrical apparatus for lighting the ship, for search-light, and other ordnance purposes. It is evident that much study is needed to reduce weights in all the essential parts, so as to be able to accommodate all the devices which the progress of ideas continues to present. Much is yet to be done by the substitution of steel for iron in many parts of our engines, and experiments abroad lead to the hope that the weights of boilers may be much reduced, but as the question stands to-day it is impossible to provide any single ship with all the appliances that are considered necessary for a perfectly equipped vessel-of-war. Every ship, therefore, must present a compromise.