XVII 



repression of -waste, and with greatly improved sanitary conditions. 

 The introduction of the system involved many difficulties and much 

 opposition ; but he always spoke of his success in it with great satis- 

 faction and pride. 



It must not be supposed that municipal engineering in the days of 

 Mr. Hawksley's early practice meant simply building and mechanical 

 operations. It involved often grave and novel considerations, and it 

 was his merit to bring to bear upon them accurate scientific know- 

 ledge and careful study. The lucid and skilful manner in which he 

 was in the habit of applying scientific principles to his professional 

 practice was well known to engineers generally : " Mr. Hawksley's 

 formulae," " Mr. Hawksley's data," " Mr. Hawksley's general results," 

 and so on, were continually adopted as familiar guides by his profes- 

 sional brethren, and were quoted as authorities against which there 

 could be no appeal. 



On one occasion he had to advise on the drainage of one of the 

 largest towns in the kingdom, and a question arose involving some 

 artificial hydraulic conditions of much greater magnitude than usual. 

 Doubts were expressed as to the feasibility of his scheme, but 

 Mr. Hawksley had a strong impression that the ordinary rules, based 

 on comparatively small experiments, did not apply. He accordingly 

 examined the question thoroughly, bringing to his aid certain recent 

 hydraulic researches by eminent French mathematicians ; and, with 

 the help of the writer of this notice, he succeeded in showing the 

 practicability of the plan by an amount of scientific evidence which, 

 while it was perfectly new, was absolutely incontrovertible. 



Mr. Hawksley was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 for the years 1872 and 1873, and of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers in 1876 and 1877. 



In 1876 he was elected President of the National Association of 

 Social Science, holding their meeting at Liverpool, when he gave an 

 address especially remarkable for its happy application of statistics to 

 sanitation. He was a clever and lucid writer, and his keen appre- 

 ciation of scientific reasoning gave great weight to his opinions. 



He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on the 6th of June, 

 1878, as being "especially distinguished for the application of Science 

 to Hydraulic Engineering." 



Mr. Hawksley was blessed with a constitution which prolonged his 

 life and energy much beyond the ordinary lot of man. In the begin- 

 ning of September, 1893, sixty-three years after his appointment as 

 engineer to the Nottingham Waterworks, he undertook one of his 

 customary tours of inspection of his works in progress in distant 

 parts of England ; but a fortnight afterwards he was attacked by a 

 sudden and formidable disease, which his aged frame was not able to 

 resist, and he died at his, residence at Kensington on the 23xL 



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