Bobert Steven son , Esq. 207 



lines of many canals and railways which have since been 

 executed, more or less, in accordance with the advice con- 

 tained in his numerous printed reports. I would especially 

 mention his projected canal, and afterwards railway on 

 one level between Edinburgh and Glasgow ; his great 

 Strathmore Canal and Railway, on one level, which would 

 have connected the towns of Perth, Forfar, Arbroath, 

 Montrose, and Brechin. There is scarcely a harbour or a 

 navigation in Scotland about which at some time he has not 

 given his valuable advice, \vliich was also often called for in 

 England and Ireland. His printed reports and contributions 

 to engineering knowledge extend, when collected, to four 

 thick quarto volumes ; and during his long life of industry 

 he did much, which, like a large portion of the labours of all 

 professional men, was never known beyond the sphere im- 

 mediately affected by it. 



My father's mind was not of that order whose natural 

 walk is original invention, yet he nevertheless, occasionally, 

 assumed the character of a projector. I would notice 

 his ingenious suggestion of the new form of Suspension 

 Bridge, applicable to small spans, by which the necessity 

 for tall piers is avoided, and which has been partially adopted 

 in the bridge over the Thames at Hammersmith. In design- 

 ing a timber bridge for the Meikle Ferry, he proposed a new 

 form of arch of a beautiful and simple construction, in which 

 what might be called the ring-courses of the arch, are formed 

 of layers of thin planks bent into the circular form and 

 stiffened by king -post-pieces^ on which the level roadway 

 rests. This form of bridge has come into very general use 

 on railways. 



In addition to his professional exertions, he took an 

 active part in advancing the interests of science, in so far as 

 lay in his power ; and was one of the original promoters of 

 the Astronomical Institution, out of which has grown the 

 present establishment of the Royal Observatory. In 1815 

 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; and 

 he afterwards joined the Geological Society of London, and 

 the Wernerian and Antiquarian Societies of Scotland. He 

 also made several contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britan- 



