Mysticism and ignorance always accompany each other; and we may reckon that in proportion as the latter disappears from amongst our ship-builders, so will the absurd vagaries of the former recede, and the subject be placed at last on the true principles of philosophical induction, instead of the caprices of imagination. We look forward, therefore, to this new body of naval architects for the expulsion of all quackery from their profession, and for the exposition not only of what we really do know, but also of what we do not know about it: this is the only way to arrive at truth, which should be the sole object of all investigation; but which we are afraid has hitherto been sadly garbled and perverted wherever it has had to do with naval architecture in this country. But we repeat that we do not see that the nation is at all likely to benefit from the science or exertions of those gentlemen so long as they are placed in situations where a superior education can have no other effect than producing disgust and chagrin in the mind of the possessor; and if the institution at Portsmouth be designed for no better purpose than that of supplying house-carpenters, joiners, and still more inferior trades, with foremen, it had better be abolished. Some would regard it, as at present used, as a gross mockery on the public [p029] at whose expense it is supported; it is certainly a cruel one of those who have been induced, by the fair and brilliant prospects held out to them of support and encouragement, to devote their lives to this branch of the public service. But to return to the Experimental Squadron: it is with regret that we must conclude, upon a careful consideration, that, although the experiments are carried on with so much vigour and interest, they are evidently founded on imaginative views, and that there cannot exist any thing like legitimate data where so many failures and anomalous results obtain. Who can read the account of the first Experimental Squadron[11], without immediately perceiving that the constructors of the contending vessels, however sanguine each might have been of the success of his particular fancy, met with nothing but the most perplexing results? We see sometimes one and sometimes the other vessel claim the palm of excellence, and finally leaving the subject as much in the dark as ever. This is the natural consequence of the non-application of inductive philosophy to the question before us, and the most important conclusion that can be gathered from the experiment is, that we have begun at the wrong end, and that it is high time to employ analysis instead of synthesis to effect the desired objects: for in the present state of the theory of naval construction in this country, there are yet no data existing to effect with precision and confidence the synthetical composition of a ship.