144 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[April, 



■we dismiss the work we must call the attention of the reader to con- 

 sider the vast talent and discrimination that has been bestowed on 

 the works of the railway by the several resident engineers on the 

 line ; and it would artbrd us much pleasure if we could see on the 

 rai-ious parts of tlie railway some tablet or inscription stating the 

 names of the individuals to whom the works were intrusted by the 

 engineer in chief, Robert Stephenson, Esq. To Ih'is engineer, 

 however, no inscription is necessary, for the railway alone will be a 

 sufficient monument to hand down to future ages the name fif 



RoBFRT StEPHEXSON. 



JiMiCoe'.s Booh of the Grand J unction Railway, from Birmrtigham, 

 Liverpool, und Manchester, uitli sixteen Engroiin-g^, and /'our 

 Majpx. London : Orr and Co. 



During the progress of tliis work through the press, we have had 

 , occasion several times to speak of it, and its conclusion fully justifies 

 what we have before said in its praise. The various engravings are 

 beautifully executed, and present faithful representations of some of 

 the principal works on the railway, together vn\h views of the 

 adjacent country. The -fetter press contains much useful and inter- 

 esting information connected with the progress of the railw ay, and 

 descriptions of the to^^-nsand villages in the vicinity of the line. 



Certainly, however much authors may regret the destruction of the 

 picturesque by railways, they must admit that these works have not 

 been without some benefit to the literary world, for on the Birming- 

 ham road alone a hundred guide books must have been written, and 

 some, as in this instance, ntiiting the highest resources of the sister 

 arts. 



Popular Instructions on the Calculations of Prohahilities ; translated 

 from the French of M. A. Quetelel. by R. Beamish, Esq., C.E., 

 P.R.S., &c. London: Weale, 1839. 



The doctrine of probabilities is one which has for a long period 

 occupied the attention of philosophers, and the work of M. Quetelet 

 is the latest, and at the same time, one which assumes the merit of 

 a popular form. M. Quetelet has certainly not shown a very great 

 power in eflecting his object, and from the skill displayed by Mr. 

 .Beamish, we should have preferred an original work to this 1 ransla- 

 tion. Indeed the whole work wants a recast to adapt it to English 

 habits and English social progress, and in its present stale while some 

 parts seem redundant, others require explanation. Mr. Beamish 

 leaves several thing-^ to be wished for with regard to style, and there 

 are many points whicli he has left unelucidated, where a simple note 

 would have cleared up the subject. It ought to be explained that 

 a pack of cards on the continent, as for piquet in England, consists of 

 32, rejecting all cards under the seven except the ace. The questions 

 at the end of each chapter are a superannuated process which had 

 better be dismissed: the first and second chapters are too dift'use ; 

 in the treatise on lotteries Geneva is confounded with Genoa : and 

 the chapter on assurances is almost inapplicable to this countiy, 

 es is that on the decisions of tribunals, where we have no judges of 

 facts. 



Mr. Beamish has in the notes exhibited an ability which we slionld 

 have liked to have seen better employed than as a satellite to M. 

 Quetelet, and indeed his labours confer on the work a value indepen- 

 dent of its original merits. The bearings of the law of probabilities 

 on hypothesis is an important department of mathematical philosophy, 

 and one which no one eng;iged in study or investigations should 

 neglect, while in this small volume may be fomid useful information 

 delivered in a clear and plain manner, which, while it cannot fail 

 to be beneficial to all classes, to most readers must be highly 

 Taluable. 



The Year Book of Facts in Science and Art. By the Editor of the 

 " Arcana of Science." London: Simpkin and'Marshall, Is3;). 

 The Editor of this work had in the course of his labours on the 

 " A^reana of Science," the opportunity of acquiring an experience, 

 which he has happily devoted to carrying out the same plan on a 

 more extensive scale. In the small space of this duodecimo the on- 

 ward progress of science and art is chronicled, and both the practical 

 and theoretical student can appreciate how far the wheels of the tri- 

 umphant car have been driven in their successful course. The new 

 mventions in mechanics, and the useful and speculative arts are regis- 

 tered from the most authentic sources, and we feel happy to see that 

 We ourselves have been able to contribute in some degree to the 

 general store. The editor has long laboured in the school of cheap 

 and good literature, and he has in this instance produced a work 

 worthy of his former exertions, and propitious to his future career. 



Theory, Practice, and Architecture of Bridc/es. The Theory by James 

 Hann, of King's College ; and the Practical and Architectural 

 Treatise bi/ William Hosking, F.S.A., &c. London: John Weale, 

 1839. Part 1. 



From the specimen number hefore us, this promises to be an invalu- 

 able work, and one that was much wanting. It is surprising that 

 England, whioh can boast of having the grandest luidges in the world, 

 lias not a single treatise on their construction. We regret that we have 

 not space in the present inuid)er to enter into the character of the 

 work, but in our next will enter into it more fully, by which time we 

 hope to see one or two more parts published. The first part contains 

 an admirable engraving of Cieorge Stephenson, besides three outline 

 engravings of an American timber bridge ; a bridge over the C'alder 

 and Hebble navigation ; three plates of the Wellington Dean viaduct 

 bridge ; two of the Ouse-burn viaduct ; one of the Victoria bridge on 

 the Durham junction railway ; and a bridge on the London and 

 Croydon railway. We must impress on the attention of both the 

 editors and tlie publisher, the necessity of giving full specifications and 

 estimates of the bridges as far as possible, for to the profession tliey will 

 form the most valuable part of the woik. The unusually low price at 

 which each part is published, and the excellency of the engravings, 

 must ensure it a large sale, which there appears every endeavour on 

 he part of the publisher to merit and obtain. 



Illustration of Mechanics. By the Eev. H. Moseley, M.A., F.R.S., 

 &c. London : Longman and Co., 1 833. 



We hail with pleasure the first volume of a series of " Illustrations 

 of Science, by Professors of King's College, London." Such works 

 will do more to enlighten the stiident than any works with which we 

 are acquainted ; they will form invaluable references and assistance to 

 those who may attend the lectures of the professors. In our next 

 Journal we shall enter into a more minute enquiry into these works, 

 and the system of education adopted in the class of Civil Engineering 

 at the college. 



Observations upon the Report of the Irish Railway Commissioners. 



By Georoe Lewis Smyth. London: Hooper, 1839. 



This is a most able summary of all the arguments on the moral 

 and political bearings of tliis nefarious job. Mr. Smitli fully proves 

 that the government, from all past experience, is totally incompe- 

 tent for such a trust, and that, even if they were, that their interfer- 

 ence has been attended with the most fatal results to the Irish 

 people, inducing a blind dependence on the government, and dead- 

 ening all their enterprize and exertions. 



The subject is treated clearly and efficiently, and there is such a 

 collection of documentai'y evidence as might even convince one of 

 the principal jobationers. We are happy to hail the co-operation of 

 Mr. Smyth, and cannot but express our sentiments of the senice 

 which this work is calculated to do in expo.-,ing that ridiculous 

 abortion of selfish interests and public jobbers. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



We have reserved our notice of Mr. Hay's work On Cnlmn- until our next 

 number. 



The Popular Lecturer is the title of a periodical published hy Paul, which 

 for tlie price of a penny weekly, gives lecture'^ delivered at the ditfercnt in- 

 stitutions by men of eminence. The parts before us contain lectures by 

 Messrs. Bowrin^, Birkbeck, Col. Thompson, Grainger, &c, and the subjects 

 are illustrated with numerous wood-ciUs. Like a buoy floating on the sea, 

 this publioation shows the state of things below the surface, and is an ex- 

 cellent omen of the progress of literary institutions in the metropolis, and of 

 tlie manner in which they are diffusing popular information. 



The Sepuldirol Muiinutenls, by Carl Tottie, we noticed individually on the 

 appearance of the first parts, and those since received nmintiiin the same 

 character. The ph.tes are beautifully engraved, and the designs are infinitely 

 superior to anything of the same kind which has yet been presented to the 

 public. Their merit is simplicity, but this wu regret too often degenerates 

 into nakedness; the artist is evidently deficient in a correct eye for proportion, 

 leaving large spaces unrelieved, or when this fault is remedied, it is often by 

 the introduction of some extraneous feature which is an equal disparagement 

 to the design. 



4 Letter fit the Shirehfllders in the Great Western Ratlwint, hy Edward 

 Ryley. is an undigested pamphlet, from such sources as the Irish Railway 

 Commission, and Wood and Hawkshaw's reports, brought forward a prop 

 to IvoUnian'.s patent railway. The writer's motto, from Virgil, is Tros 

 Tyriusre mihi nnlio Jiscrimine agetvr, which, translated, signifies. " I care 

 neither for Tiojan or Tyrian, but for egomii, — I, by myself." 



