The adoption of this plan being now determined upon, we must proceed to determine the details, and the first step unquestionably is the determination of the size and form of the ship. Now, in preparing the general design, I think the following conditions should be strictly complied with. If any of them appear to involve any great sacrifice in cost, or to involve any other peculiar difficulties, these difficulties can be considered afterwards; but the wisest and safest plan in striking out a new path is to go straight in the direction which we believe to be right, disregarding the small impediments which may appear to be in our way--to design everything in the first instance for the best possible results strictly according to the principles which theory, so far as it is supported by practice, teaches us, and without yielding in the least to any prejudices now existing unsupported by theory and practice, or any fear of the consequences; we can then afterwards weigh and balance deliberately the advantages of adhering to or giving up this or that particular part, or modifying dimensions, either from motives of economy, or as yielding to public opinion from motives of policy. In determining the lines of the ship, for instance, I should adopt that which we have reason to believe the best possible without any concession, or any compromise or regard to any assumed difficulties of construction, or regard to assumed opinions; these difficulties will very likely vanish afterwards if disregarded in the first instance, as in the case of the continuous curve, in which my fresh ideas had the advantage even of your much greater knowledge, hampered by a little preconceived idea. With respect to the size, to arrive at it by constructive calculations from the fixed conditions that we can lay down is perhaps possible, but rather difficult, and I think we know sufficiently nearly now what the minimum size must be to work upon; that, and a trifling alteration afterwards in the scale, will suffice to bring it to the exact required capacity. The positive conditions, then, are a maximum draught of water of 24 feet, when leaving the Hooghly with the coals for the voyage home; and the capacity must be at least 21,000 tons of displacement at this draught of 24 feet. I think you will find that to effect this comfortably you must give a length of 650 feet at least, and an extreme breadth of 80 feet, but this beam of 80 feet requiring no fuller entrance than you would make with a beam of 70 feet, the 80 feet being obtained entirely by continuing a gentle curvature throughout the whole length, instead of having any parallel lines.