448 ARCHITECHNICS. 



Topographical Engineer, has been more recently applied to those 

 persons engaged in making surveys or reconnaisances for viatectural, 

 or similar purposes. 



In 1771, Mr. John Smeaton, the constructor of the Eddystone 

 Light House, and other works, procured the formation of a Society 

 of Civil Engineers ; since which time, this art has been recognized as 

 a distinct profession. The term Civil Engineering has since been 

 more widely extended, at least by some writers, to include the con- 

 struction of machinery in general, and the arts of metallurgy and 

 mining. For this reason, and for greater symmetry in the nomen- 

 clature, we have ventured to propose the term Viatecture, as above 

 defined, to include a more limited and distinct range of objects, all of 

 which properly be comprehended as arts of conveyance. The qua- 

 lifications of the viatecf, or civil engineer, should be essentially the 

 same as those of the architect; though somewhat differently directed. 

 On the importance of this art, already alluded to, in introducing this 

 department, as one of the means by which improvement is extend- 

 ing its march among the nations, we have no farther room to ex- 

 patiate. 



The construction of Roads, must have commenced at an early 

 period of history ; and those of the Romans are justly celebrated ; 

 some of them being of masonry, several feet deep. Great improve- 

 ments have been made, in modern France and England, particularly 

 by McAdam and Telford, in the construction of stone roads, at once 

 both cheap and durable. Of Bridges, the earliest remains are those 

 of the Romans ; who constructed no fewer than six, across the Tiber, 

 at Rome. The first cast iron bridge, was that of Colebrookdale, over 

 the Severn, erected in 1777. The earliest Canal for navigation that 

 we can mention, was in Egypt, from the Nile to the Red Sea, begun 

 by Necho, 616 B. C. ; and completed by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 

 280 B. C. Other 'canals were constructed in Egypt; and a few in 

 Italy, by the Romans, chiefly for purposes of draining. Locks, were 

 invented in Holland, about A. D. 1371 ; and used soon after in Italy. 

 The first great canal in France, was that of Briare, uniting the rivers 

 Loire and Seine; begun in 1605, but completed in 1642: and the 

 first of magnitude in England, was the Duke of Bridgewater's canal, 

 extending from his coal mines, to Manchester, begun in 1758, and 

 completed in 1776; Mr. Brindley being the Engineer. The Mid- 

 dlesex canal, in Massachusetts, the first of note in the United States, 

 was begun in 1789, and completed in 1808 ; under the supervision 

 of Col. Baldwin. 



Railroads, appear to have been used in the stone quarries of an- 

 cient Egypt; and, at a more recent period, in the mines of Germany. 

 They were first introduced in England, at the coal mines near New- 

 castle, in 1630 or 33. Iron rails were not used until 1738; nor on 

 any extensive work until 1767, when they were employed at Cole- 

 brookdale. The first railroad in the United States, was that from 

 the stone quarries, in Quincy, Massachusetts, to Boston harbor; 

 completed in 1827. Locomotive engines, of imperfect construction, 

 were invented and patented, as early as 1802, by Trevithick and 

 Vivian ; but it was not till 1829, when the great trial took place on 



