Nov. 30, 1876] 



NATURE 



99 



ley) was considered probably Triassic. And another 

 portion of this plant series (in Kutch) was found asso- 

 ciated with a marine fauna ranging from the age of the 

 Bath Oolite up to the Tithonian of Continental geo- 

 logists. 



On the whole question, the Triassic fossils, though their 

 suggestiveness was admitted, were not considered suffi- 

 cient to have much influence, and to the upper part of the 

 plant-beds a Jurassic age was assigned, while the lower 

 portion, apparently on the evidence of the Glossopteris, 

 was thought to be Palaeozoic, an opinion, however, which 

 does not appear to have been universally received. 



In this state, or one very similar, Dr. Feistmantel 

 found the subject upon commencing his examination of 

 the Indian fossil plants, aided by the separation of the 

 series into several groups on stratigraphical grounds by 

 the officers of the Geological Survey. 



His examination has led to results so far as yet pub- 

 lished, which will be found in two papers among the 

 Records of the Geological Survey (vol. ix., parts 2, 3). 



From these it appears he considers the Kutch flora to 

 represent a period in the Jurassic epoch somewhat earlier 

 than that indicated by the associated marine fauna, so 

 far as this has been examined, which is one of the points 

 in debate, and that five of the upper divisions of the 

 Indian plant beds (or Gondwana series) are Jurassic, 

 while he contends that the remaining three of its lower 

 groups are neither Jurassic nor Carboniferous, but 

 Triassic. 



In a paper immediately following Dr. Feistmantel's 

 second contribution to the Records of the Indian Survey, 

 Mr. W. T. Blanford discusses the whole question, and 

 jarrives at the conclusion that the evidence connecting the 

 lower Indian plant beds with the Australian carboniferous 

 jrccks is about equal to that for their being of the same 

 jage as the Trias of Europe — pointing out that the land 

 faunas and floras of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic times 

 differed from each other in different parts of the globe, at 

 least as much as they do at present, and far more than 

 the fauna of the sea. Also that the evidence founded 

 ^pon fossil plants of the age of rocks in distant regions 

 must be received with great caution, being certainly in 

 same cases opposed to that furnished by the [contem- 

 poraneous] marine fauna. 



In a coming volume of the *' Palaeontologia Indica," 

 Dr. Feistmantel will no doubt state his views and their 

 ■easons as fully as possible ; meantime, enough has been 

 said to show the interesting, yet rather difficult, nature of 

 he subject, for more detail regarding which the papers 

 ust mentioned may be referred to. 



tr 



THE RIVER CLYDE 



HE profession of Civil Engineering, as defined by 

 Telford, which definition is incorporated into the 

 Charter of the Institution of Civil Engineers, is " the art 

 )f directing the great sources of power in Nature for the 

 ise and convenience of man," and there are few more 

 striking examples of what science may do for commerce, 

 )r of what man may accomphsh by working hand-in-hand 

 ivith Nature than is the proud position of the River Clyde 

 It the present day, as compared to what it was one hun- 

 ired years ago, or even as late as the year 1840. ** 



To many of those who attended the recent meeting 

 )f the British Association, and who have fresh in their 

 nemory the geography of the City of Glasgow, with 

 vhich must indissolubly be connected the princely hospi- 

 ality of its inhabitants, it may be interesting to know that 

 he noble river which has made Glasgow the mighty city 

 hat it is, from whose shores some of the largest ironclads 

 if our fleet have been launched is a water highway, almost 

 ,s much the work of man as is the Suez Canal itself. 



One hundred years ago the Clyde was little more than 

 ' picturesque mountain-stream, so shallow, that at a place 



called Dumbuck Ford, twelve miles below Glasgow 

 Bridge, passengers could traverse it on foot. Now, vessels 

 drawing twenty-three feet of water can ride safely in the 

 heart of the city at low water, and the largest ocean-going 

 steamers can come up the river at all times of the tide. 



This wonderful change has been brought about by a suc- 

 cession of engineering operations, in all of which Nature 

 has been coaxed, by artificial means, into doing the largest 

 share of the work ; and the operations of man, great as 

 they have been, have been directed solely to assist that 

 work, and to remove obstacles which stood in its way. 

 The names of the engineers under whose directions these 

 improvements have been made, alone show that the highest 

 scientific skill has been brought to bear upon the develop- 

 ment of the water-way to the City of Glasgow ; for, within 

 the last 100 years, among the engineers who have been 

 employed by the Clyde trustees, either to carry out im- 

 provements, or to prepare reports in connection there- 

 with, will be found the names of Smeaton, Golborne, 

 Watt, Sir John Rennie, Telford, Stevenson, Walker, 

 Scott Russell, and Bateman ; but the largest engineering 

 operations have been left for Mr. Deas, the present engi- 

 neer of the Clyde navigation to carry out, for since the 

 year 1872 greater progress has been made than during any 

 previous equal period. In that time no less than 1,505 

 lineal yards of quayage have been added, slip and graving- 

 docks have been constructed, large cranes erected, and 

 very considerable progress towards completion has been 

 made in the celebrated Stobcross Docks of which we shall 

 speak further on. 



The exceptional construction of these docks, necessi- 

 tated by the local peculiarities of the geological strata, 

 formed the subject of a valuable paper read before the 

 British Association by Mr. James Deas, C.E., under 

 whose directions they are being constructed, and who 

 has recently published a most interesting work upon the 

 Clyde,^ illustrated with maps, sections, and tidal dia- 

 grams, and from which many of the data contained in 

 this article have been derived, and to which we would 

 refer those of our readers who wish for further investi- 

 gation. 



It is just a hundred and eight years ago since John 

 Golborne, of Chester, visited the Clyde and made his 

 first report, in which he pointed out that the shores of the 

 river " in most places being much softer than the bottom, 

 the current has operated there, because it could not pene- 

 trate the bed of the river, and has by those means gained 

 in breadth what is wanting in depth ;" and, he added, " I 

 shall proceed on these principles of assisting Nature when 

 she cannot do her own work, by removing the stones and 

 hard gravel from the bottom of the river where it is shal- 

 low, and by contracting the channel where it is worn too 

 wide." 



Golborne, carrying these principles into practice, erected 

 a number of rubble jetties so as to contract the channel, 

 giving to the stream greater rapidity, and consequently 

 greater scouring power, and by a system of dredging in 

 the deeper shallows, and horse-ploughing in those which 

 were exposed at low water, he loosened the hard crust 

 forming the bed of the river, exposing to the action of 

 the current the softer material below, which was speedily 

 scoured away, and in less than eight years the depth of 

 water at Dumbuck Ford was increased from 2 feet to 

 14 feet. Golborne was followed by Rennie, who, in 1799, 

 recommended the shortening of some of the jetties, the 

 lengthening of others, and the construction of new ones, 

 so as to direct the channel in its proper course with the 

 least obstruction to the water ; and to insure this he re- 

 commended building rubble walls from point to point of 

 the jetties, so as to avoid the formation of shoals between 

 them. These suggestions were carried out by the Clyde 



I "The River Clyde ; an Historical Description of the Rise and Progress 

 of the Harbour of Glasgow." By James Deas, M.Inst.C.E. (Glasgow: 

 James Maclehose, 1876. 



