'390 HARBOE AND COAST IMPROVEMENTS. 



iterests of commerce and the arts of civilization, must take a very 

 high rank among the great works of man, and they are fast 

 assuming a magnitude greatly exceeding their former relative 

 importance. The extension of commerce and of the military 

 marine, and especially the introduction of vessels of increased 

 burden and deeper draught of water, have imposed upon engi- 

 neers tasks of a character which a century ago would have been 

 pronounced, and in fact would have been, impracticable; but 

 necessity has stimulated an ingenuity which has contrived means 

 of executing them, and which gives promise of yet greater per- 

 formance in time to come. 



Indeed, although man, detached from the solid earth, is almost 

 powerless to struggle against the sea, he is fast becoming invin- 

 cible by it so long as his foot is planted on the shore, or even on 

 the bottom of the rolling ocean ; and though on some battle-fields 

 between the waters and the land he is obhged slowly to yield his 

 ground, yet he retreats still facing the foe, and will finally be able 

 to say to the sea, " Thus far shalt thou come and no farther, and 

 ere shall thy proud waves be stayed ! " * 



Great Works of Material Improvement. 



Men have ceased to admire the vain exercise of power which 

 'heaped up the great pyramid to gratify the pride of a despot with 

 a giant sepulchre ; for many great harbors, many important lines 

 of internal communication, in the civilized world, now exhibit 

 works which in volume and weight of material surpass the vast- 

 est remains of ancient architectural art, and demand the exercise 

 of far greater constructive skill, and involve a much heavier pe- 



* It is, nevertheless, remarkable that in the particular branch of coast en- 

 gineering where great improvements are most urgently needed, comparatively 

 little has been accomplished. I refer to the creation of artificial harbors, and 

 of facilities for loading and discharging ships. The coast of the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea is, one may almost say, harborless and even wharfless, and there 

 are many thousands of miles of coast in rich commercial countries in Europe, 

 where vessels can neither lie in safety for a single day, nor, even in better pro- 

 tected havens, ship or land their passengers or cargoes except by the help of 

 lighters and other not less clumsy contrivances. It is strange that such enor- 

 mous inconveniences are borne with so Uttle effort to remove them, and especi- 

 ally that breakwaters are rarely constructed by Governments except for the 

 ".benefit of the military marine. 



