This essay, written by W. O'Brien, was awarded a premium of 100 by the Canal Association for its contribution to the study of canals and canal conveyance. This text offers a unique and informative perspective on the topic, and remains relevant to this day. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from The Prize Essay on Canals and Canal Conveyance: For Which a Premium of 100 Was Awarded by the Canal Association "In compliance with the instructions of the last Annual Meeting, the Committee have carefully examined the Essays which were sent in, in competition for the Prize, and are prepared to report the result. Before, however, they state the conclusion at which they have arrived, it may be useful to explain the circumstances which led to the offering a Prize, and the steps which were taken to carry out the plan. "At the 'Canal Companies' Meetings' in 1844-5 which resulted in carrying the Canal Companies' Tolls Act, 8 and 9 Victoria, c. 28, and the Canal Carriers' Act, 8 and 9 Victoria, c. 42, - a scheme was proposed for offering a series of Annual Premiums for Improvements in Canal Works and Management; and it was suggested that the first Prize should be for an Essay on the best method of carrying out the proposed plan, as well as on the general subject of Canal and their management. "Considerable sums were promised by some of the leading Canals, but unhappily from the want of union, sufficient encouragement was not secured to enable the Committee to carry the scheme into effect. Soon after the formation of the present Association the idea was revived, and the funds at the disposal of the Committee appearing adequate, it was resolved to carry out that part of the original scheme which related to an Essay. "Accordingly in the month of July last, the following Advertisement was inserted in The Times: - "'Canal Association. - Prize Essay on Canals. - A Premium of 100 will be given by the Committee of the Canal Association to the Author of the Best Essay on the Present Condition and Future Prospects of Canals and Canal Conveyance, with suggestions as to the Points to which attention, with a view to Improvement, should be principally directed. "'The Essay must be sent in on or before the Thirty-first December, 1856, to the Honorary Secretary, from whom further particulars may be had on application. "'Thomas Wilson, Hon. Sec. "'Aire and Calder Navigation Office, Leeds, 1st July, 1856.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

Two autograph letters, signed, from Robert Fulton to Edmund Cartwright. Each letter is four pages and written from Paris, addressed to Cartwright at Marylebone Fields, London.

Excerpt from Canal Navigation: On the Resistance of Water to the Passage of Boats Upon Canals, and Other Bodies of Water, Being the Results of Experiments Tiie laws which regulate the resistance and impulse of fluids, are involved in such obscurity, that candid investigators of this branch of science, are compelled to confess, that the dissertations of the physico-mathematician have failed in utility, and that even the deductions of the logician have been almost altogether ineffectual. The assumptions of the former, from which propositions have been deduced, and theories given out, are, at best, founded only on an hypothesis; the reasonings of the latter, rest upon limited experience, and in some cases ill observed phenomena. And there is, probably, no branch of science which has so much engrossed the attention of the philosopher, and from which so little practical good has resulted. That such is the fact, and that the farther the subject has been investigated, the more difficulties have been met with, if not always acknowledged, few can venture to deny. If, in his zeal for information, the inquirer of the present day searches the shelves of philosophy, his labour will terminate in the settled conviction, that this branch of Science is but yet in its infancy: even, although illustrated by the novel algebraical calculus, and the beautiful results derived from it by French ingenuity. A long course of patient experiment will alone warrant the adoption of formulae; for, as yet, as far as regards the mere resistance of the fluid, the practical application of the laws founded by the mathematician, has failed in producing any form which will rival the skiff of the Indian, the canoe of the Esquimaux, or the junk of the Chinese. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.