840 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



at that was realized in every part of the labors. The resources of sci- 

 ence were drawn upon with an unerring vision of their scope ; the ap- 

 pliances of engineering art were employed with precise adaptation to 

 their purpose, and an exact measurement of the effect they were in- 

 tended to produce ; so that in all that has been achieved there has been 

 no failure and no waste. The demonstration which General Newton 

 has made in this work of the power of science, whose least effort can 

 be made useful to such immense results, commands its recognition of 

 him as its vigorous man of action. The knowledge and skill which he 

 has thus been able to apply to such exact measurement and direction 

 are the outcome of a life of special training and exercise; and it would 

 be hard to produce a higher testimonial to the value of the faithful 

 pursuit of the studies that relate to the work one is destined to do in 

 the world than these achievements at Hell- Gate. 



There is yet one enterprise connected with the improvement of the 

 harbor of New York the opening of the Harlem River to Spuyten 

 Duyvel, on which General Newton reported in 1875 and 1876 which 

 has been postponed by conflicting interests of property-owners and 

 the difficulty of securing rights. 



Since his station at New York, General Newton has often been 

 called into consultation on many civil- engineering works. In connec- 

 tion with the various duties of his office his experience has been large 

 and varied, and it would be impossible to name an engineer who has 

 been so uniformly successful. 



Recently, when the city of New York having a more important 

 work in view than it had yet undertaken in a municipal capacity 

 found it necessary to secure a man of superior skill and scientific train- 

 ing to superintend its Department of Public Works, General Newton's 

 name was the first, and, we might well say, the only one that suggest- 

 ed itself. The only doubt expressed on the subject was whether he 

 would be willing to leave the body with which he had been connected 

 all his life, with such distinguished honor, for one the record of which 

 has not always been free from the taint of political manipulations. 

 This question was happily solved by General Newton's declaration of 

 his willingness to accept the position on the retired list of the army, 

 to which he was entitled, in order to go to the place where he was 

 more needed. The fitness of his appointment has been universally 

 recognized, and is most felicitously expressed in the words of one of 

 the newspapers, that he is the " ideal man " for the position. 



