Excerpt from The Philosophical Magazine and Journal, Vol. 46: Comprehending the Various Branches of Science, the Liberal and Fine Arts, Geology, Agriculture, Manufactures and Commerce; For July, August, September, October, November, and December, 1815 Sir, the most useful part of the theory of the resistance of solids, is that which treats of the comparative stiffness of beams yet in some of our best treatises on mechanics it is entirely omitted; and in others the calculations from theory are so much at variance with the results obtained by experiment, as to render them useless in practice. A piece of Meme] timber, eight inches in depth, two inches in breadth, and supported at each end, the supports being 18 feet apart, when a weight of 480 lbs. Was applied to the middle, was depressed 073 inches. The same weight was suspended from the middle of a piece two inches square, the supports were four feet asunder, and it bent nearly 2 2 inches. But calculating from' Cor. I. Prop. 79, Emerson's Mechanics, (3d edit. 4to, ) the shorter piece ought to have bent only half an inch. This difference will, perhaps, be a sufficient excuse for an attempt to investigate the theory. 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.