Nothing can demonstrate the utility of such a table more clearly, than the material difference observable between some of the calibers : the Danish 36-pound shot, for instance, weighs nearly two pounds more than the Russian 42 ; yet, nominally, the latter is the heavier by one seventh. As it is for the gross, or broadside, and not for the individual caliber, that our calculations are chiefly wanted, that integral proportion, which comes nearest to the difference expressed in the table, will answer the purpose. Thus:

There is frequently between two ships a disparity of size, as denoted by the tonnage, not easily reconcilable with the number of guns mounted by each. Numerous instances might be adduced, but a few will suffice. The Rainbow measured 831 tons, and mounted 48 guns; while the Hébé measured 1063 tons, and mounted but 40 guns. Again, the old Blenheim measured 1827 tons, and mounted 98 guns; while the Triumph, built three years afterwards, measured 1825 tons, and mounted only 74 guns. In both pairs of cases, the disagreement of the force with the tonnage arises from the latter not being affected by the upper, or top-side construction of the ship. Had the Rainbow been built, as to her battery-decks, in the same manner as the Hébé she would have mounted but 28 guns; and the Blenheim, at a subsequent day, had actually one of her decks removed, and then, without suffering the slightest decrease in her tonnage, mounted the same number of guns as the Triumph. A difference in size, however, is frequently observable between ships, that agree, both in the number of their guns and in the manner of carrying them.

* According to the numbers in the table, it wants a 256th part of being so ; but this difference may surely be passed over, if not for its insignificance, as some allowance for the more important difference mentioned in note � of the last page.

� All fractional parts may be given up thus: 1268 divided by 12 = 105, and a fraction, but 105 (without the fraction)+1268=1373.