38 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



concern the engineer, did not receive such encouragement, excepting 

 perhaps in Italy. In India, under the Moguls, irrigation works, for 

 which they had a natural aptitude, were carried on during these cen- 

 turies with vigor, and more than one emperor is noted for the numer- 

 ous great works of this nature which he carried out. 



It is frequently easier to lead water where it is wanted than to check 

 its irruption into places where its presence is an evil, often a disaster. 

 For centuries the existence of a large part of Holland has been depend- 

 ent on the skill of man. How soon he began in that country to con- 

 test with the sea the possession of the land we do not know, but early 

 in the twelfth century dikes were constructed to keep back the ocean. 

 To the practical knowledge acquired by the Dutch, whose method of 

 carrying out hydraulic works is original and of native growth, much 

 of the knowledge of the present day in embanking, and draining, and 

 canal-making, is due. While the Dutch were acquiring practical 

 knowledge in dealing with water, and we in Britain, among others, 

 were benefiting by their experience, the disastrous results which en- 

 sued from the inundations caused by the Italian rivers of the Alps 

 gave a new importance to the science of hydraulics. Some of the 

 greatest philosophers of the seventeenth century among them Torri- 

 celli, a pupil of Galileo were called upon to advise and to superintend 

 engineering works ; nor did they confine themselves to the construc- 

 tion of preventive works, but thoroughly investigated the condition 

 pertaining to fluids at rest or in motion, and gave to the world a valu- 

 able series of works on hydraulics and hydraulic engineering, which 

 form the basis of our knowledge of these subjects at the present day. 



The impulse given to road-making in the early part of the last cen- 

 tury soon extended to canals, and means for facilitating locomotion 

 and transport generally. Tramways were used in connection with 

 mines at least as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, but 

 the rails were, in those days, of wood. The first iron rails are said to 

 have been laid in this country as early as 1738, after which time their 

 use was gradually extended, until it became general in mining districts. 

 By the beginning of this century the great ports of England were con- 

 nected by a system of canals ; and new harbor-works became neces- 

 sary, and were provided to accommodate the increase of commerce 

 and trade, which improved means of internal transport had rendered 

 possible. But it was not until the steam-engine, improved and almost 

 created by the illustrious Watt, became such a potent instrument, that 

 engineering works to the extent they have since been carried out be- 

 came possible or necessary. But, while W^att had gained a world-wide, 

 well-earned fame, the names of those men who have provided the 

 machines to utilize the energies of the steam-engine are too often for- 

 gotten. Of their inventions the majority of mankind know little. 

 They worked silently at home, in the mill, or in the factory, observed 

 by few. Indeed, in most cases these silent workers had no wish to 



