as a coach-panel or a mirror. Unlike wood, _it has no
grain to be cracked or split, it never shrinks_, and, paper
being one of the best of non-conductors, no ordinary degree of
heat or cold affects its shape or hardness, and hence these
boats are admirably adapted for use in all climates. As the skin
absorbs no moisture, _these boats gain no weight by use_, and,
having no moisture to give off when out of the water, they do
not, like wooden boats, show the effect of exposure to the air
by leaking. They are, therefore, in this respect always prepared
for service.

"The strength and stiffness of the paper shells are most
remarkable. To demonstrate it, a single shell of twelve inch
beam and twenty-eight feet long, fitted complete with its
outriggers, the hull weighing twenty-two pounds, was placed on
two trestles eight feet apart, in such a manner that the
trestles were each the same distance from the centre of the
cockpit, which was thus entirely unsupported. A man weighing one
hundred and forty pounds then seated himself in it, and remained
in this position three minutes. The deflection caused by this
strain, being accurately measured, was found to be one-sixteenth
of an inch at a point midway between the supports. If this load,
applied under such abnormal conditions, produced so little
effect, we can safely assume that, when thus loaded and resting
on the water, supported throughout her whole length, and the
load far more equally distributed over the whole frame, there
would be no deflection whatever.

"Lightness, when combined with a proper, stiffness and
strength, being a very desirable quality, it is here that the
paper boats far excel their wooden rivals. If two shells are
selected, the one of wood and the other with a paper skin and
deck, as has been described, _of the same dimensions and equally
stiff_, careful experiment proves that the wooden one will be
_thirty per cent. the heaviest_. If those of the _same
dimensions and equal weight_ are compared, the paper one will be
found to exceed the wooden one in stiffness and in capacity to
resist torsional strains in the same proportion. Frequent boasts
are made that wooden shells can be and are built much lighter
than paper ones; and if the quality of lightness _alone_ is
considered, this is true; yet when the prac