d again and again with water--sometimes overwhelmed
by tons of it; and a boat full of water, however safe it may be, is
necessarily useless. Six large holes in the bottom of the boat effect
the discharge of water. There is an air-tight floor to the lifeboat,
which is so placed that when the boat is fully manned and loaded with
passengers it is _a very little above the level of the sea_. On this
fact the acting of the principle depends. Between this floor and the
bottom of the boat, a space of upwards of a foot in depth, there is some
light ballast of cork or wood, and some parts of the space are left
empty. The six holes above mentioned are tubes of six inches diameter,
which extend from the floor through the bottom of the boat. Now, it is
one of nature's laws that water _must_ find its level. For instance,
take any boat and bore large holes in its bottom, and suppose it to be
held up in its _ordinary_ floating position, so that it cannot sink,
then fill it suddenly quite full of water, it will be found that the
water _inside_ will run out until it is on a level with the water
_outside_. Water poured into a lifeboat will of course act in the same
way, but when that which has been poured into it reaches the level of
the water outside, _it has also reached the floor_: in other words,
there is no more water left to run out.

Such are the principal qualities of the splendid lifeboat now used on
our coasts, and of which it may be said that it has almost reached the
state of absolute perfection.

The Lifeboat Institution, which has been the means in God's hands of
saving so many thousands of human lives, is now in a high state of
efficiency and of well-deserved prosperity; both of which conditions are
due very largely to the untiring exertions and zeal of its present
secretary, Richard Lewis, Esquire, of the Inner Temple. Success is not
dependent on merit alone. Good though the lifeboat cause unquestionably
is, we doubt whether the Institution would have attained its present
high position so soon, had it not been guided thereto by the judicious
management of its committee--the members of which bestow laborious and
gratuitous service on its great and national work--aided by the able and
learned secretary and an experienced inspector of lifeboats (Captain
J.R. Ward, R.N.) both whose judgement and discretion have often been the
themes of deserved praise by the public.

That the claims of the Institution are very stro