Note 14 — Chapter IV · PROGRESS IN THE SCIENCE OF SHIPBUILDING.

Various other methods of simplifying the calculations based on Atwood’s theorem were subsequently proposed, and one or two different methods also brought forward—notably one in 1876 by the late Mr Charles W. Merrifield, afterwards improved by the late Professor Rankine, and one by Mr J. Macfarlane Gray, of the Board of Trade, described by that gentleman in 1875, but since considerably improved. Most of them were laid before the Institution of Naval Architects in papers which will be found enumerated in the list at end of chapter. While such propositions did not contribute directly to bring the problem of stability to its presently accepted form, they deserve to be remembered as tokens of the great labour and skill which have been expended in founding and developing this branch of scientific naval architecture.