REPORTS 



THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



Report from the Committee appointed by the British Association fot 

 the Advancement of Science, at the Meeting in Liverpool, in Sep- 

 tember 1854, to investigate and report upon the effects produced 

 upon the Channels of the Mersey by the alterations which within the 

 last fifty years have been made in its Banks. 



Your Committee have to report, that for the purpose of securing a satis- 

 factory solution of the questions submitted to their investigation, they deemed 

 it expedient to refer different portions of the inquiry to individual members 

 of their body, in the following manner :— . 



1. Mr. George Rennie, to trace historically the important' projections into 

 the river, and reclamation of large areas of land which would exclude the 

 entry of water. 



2. Mr. Joseph Boult, to show important changes in the bottom, including 

 the channels and outlets of the river, so dividing the work that it may illus- 

 trate the effects of the above-named encroachments. 



3. Mr. Henderson, to compare the tides of the present period with the 

 tides registered by Mr. Rendell. 



It has been thought desirable to present the reports of these gentlemen to 

 the Association unabridged, as affording the best solution of the subject 

 which has yet been prepared, and your Committee will therefore only refer 

 to the more salient points of the inquiry, and to the conclusions to be drawn 

 from the information laid before them. 



Mr. Rennie's report is accompanied by copies of the following valuable 

 documents : — 



1. Report of Messrs. Wilkin relative to the navigation and conservancy o^ 

 the River Mersey, 28th April 1840. 



2. Area and content of water in the River Mersey, from Blackrock to 

 Woolston Weir, above W^arrington, at certain tides, below and above Liver- 

 pool Old Dock sill, by George Rennie, 18th May 1838. 



3. Index of the engineers' and surveyors' reports who have reported on the 

 estuary and River Mersey. 



4. First and second Memorial of the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of 

 the Borough of Liverpool, April and September 1839. 



5. Letter from H. M. Denham, R.N., to the Corporation of Liverpool, 

 27th September 1836. 



6. Statement of the Town-clerk as to the rights of the Mayor, Aldermen, 

 and Burgesses of Liverpool to the lordship of Liverpool, comprising the 

 River Mersey up to the bridges and strand at Liverpool, Toxteth Park, Bir- 

 kenhead, and Wallasey. 



1856. B 



