1875.] The Channel Tunnel. 497 
Trade on the subject of working a submarine tunnel on a 
pneumatic system, which he has termed his ‘ Eolian sys- 
tem,’ for which he claims cheapness, expedition, superior 
ventilation, and greater utility. 
“‘ Mr. Alexander Vacherot has submitted to the Board of 
Trade a scheme on which he has several years been engaged, 
and which he laid before the Emperor of the French in 1856, 
for ‘ laying on the bed of the sea a tunnel made or formed 
of concrete, so as to form, when completed, a monolith.’ 
He would construét it on the shore and ‘ draw it down to its 
place in sections.’ And he considers that greater economy 
and security might thus be obtained than by the other 
methods that have been proposed.” 
After reviewing these several projects Captain Tyler, 
though unable to convince himself of the feasibility of any 
bridge scheme, considered ‘‘ that it might be wise to test the 
practicability of a tunnel scheme by means of preliminary 
driftways. It is probable,” he said, ‘*‘ that, even if any of them 
should hereafter be carried out in practice, they could not go 
forward otherwise than under the supervision of, and a pre- 
vious guarantee from, thetwo Governments; and obvious that, 
as at least 10 or perhaps 15 years mayelapse before they could 
be made available for traffic, improvements in the shape of 
more convenient and larger steam vessels are required in the 
meantime for the better performance of the service.” 
In the spring of 1870 Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Belcher 
read a paper before the Institution of Naval Architects 
wherein he expressed himself favourable to a proposed ferry 
scheme, and to the practicability of constructing ferry 
steamers suitable for the service. The outbreak of war 
on the Continent put an end to Mr. Fowler’s project; but, 
in 1871, we find M. Dupuy de Lome at the head of a 
similar undertaking in France. His project was for, first, 
the creation at Calais of a maritime station, with 16 feet 
6 inches depth of water at the lowest tides, and about 30 
acres in area, connected with the shore by an iron railway 
jetty, making a junction with a branch of the Northern 
Railway—and open to the sea by an entrance 260 feet wide, 
accessible in all weathers, and at every stage of the tide; 
secondly, the construction, for crossing the Channel, of steam 
vessels of large dimensions and of great power, embracing 
all of the most important conditions of speed and comfort, 
and able to carry 30 passenger carriages or goods wagons. 
These vehicles would be placed on a double line of rails 
running fore and aft; they would be shipped and unshipped 
by the assistance of a system of inclined planes leading to 
