1849.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



330 



themselves, of which even the oldest practitioner may have had no example 

 previously ; and other means taken to obviate evils that may and do thus 

 arise may be the best that both science and art could point out, and yet fail 

 in their object. I say that these are misfortunes only, not faults; but when 

 they occur with a man unqualified by scientific linowledge to deal with thera, 

 they are very serious faults indeed, and should be visited vrith the utmost 

 censure. 



Engineering (says Mr. Hyde Clarke), is of all profpssions, the military 

 excepted, that in which a new adaptation of expedients to unforeseen occur- 

 jences is ever most imperatively required, and in which a mere knowledge of 

 past eiTorts will be insufficient, unless the mind be competent to invent new 

 processes, as well as to avail itself in the best manner of old ones. No man 

 can go upon a spot and say, I will certainly do such and such things at such 

 an expense : some unexpected variation of nature beneath the surface will 

 often thwart the best-calculated plans, and render all attempts at economy 

 abortive. It is practice, aided by scientific knowledge of the highest kind, 

 that only can properly preside over the just application of material to the 

 ever-occurring variations which spring up in the course of an engineering 

 undertaking. And if science and practice sometimes fail in effecting their 

 object at once, what must be the result when ignorance attempts the work ? 

 Failure, certain and disastrous failure, heaping disgrace upon the head of the 

 quack practitioner, and often ruin upon his employers. I use the word quack 

 advisedly, for although neither architect nor engineer unfortunately need 

 diplomas of practice to give them a right to the use of C.A. or C.E. after 

 their names, — they yet have morally, and in common honesty, an obligation 

 which should bind thera to certain spheres of work which they feel them- 

 selves qualified to undertake; and depend upon it every man knows his own 

 capabilities. If, then, men calling themselves engineers or architects, under- 

 take a work they know they are incapable of performing without the assist- 

 ance of a dry-nurse, in the shape of a good " clerk of the works," they are 

 quacks in every sense of the word, — quacks as much as the charlatan who 

 practices medicine without the sanction of the colleges. 



The demand for engineers, caused by the hair-brained railway speculations, 

 has filled the profession with unqualified persons, and has tended to lower it 

 below its proper level : and although the present times are, I am rejoiced to 

 say, weeding them out pretty fast, it will, and must, be some time before it 

 reaches its healthy state again. 



It is true, the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institute of Archi- 

 tects exist, and men to become members of either must present proper 

 qualifications; but there are numerous practitioners who are not members, 

 and who seek and gain employment. But I hope to see, ere long, by legisla- 

 tive enactment, both architect and engineer oliliged to take out a diploma 

 before being allowed to take upon themselves the responsibility of any woik, 

 when lives, or a sum of money beyond a certain amount, are at stake, — a 

 diploma granted only after a severe examination as to scientific acquirements, 

 and a practice under others of at least seven years. 



I here beg permission to quote some passages from a paper written by Sir 

 John Soane, which appeared in the Artist of June 13th, 1807, — as quota- 

 tions from this high authority will give strength to what I have ventured to 

 suggest myself: — 



" An architect, strictly so considered, is not sufficiently employed ; his pro- 

 fession is too open to the assumption of persons who have no claim by 

 education or ability ; and these are admitted to that patronage without which 

 the architect has no chance either of emolument or fame. There are, there- 

 fore, very few persons engaged solely in the practice of architecture. The 

 great mass of those whom we here call architects, though many of them 

 respectable in talents as artists, are under the necessity of combining with 

 their study of the science pursuits not strictly analogous, and are, in conse- 

 quence, and to their great discouragement and mortification, assimilated with 

 another description of professional men called surveyors, and that name is 

 again assumed by all sorts and classes of building workmen and others, until 

 it becomes utterly contemptible." 



After enlarging somewhat (and in language by no means mild) upon the 

 difficulties which beset an architect when carrying out a design, through the 

 interference of public boards, and complaining, justly, that unqualified per- 

 sons are allowed to enter into competition with him, by the aid of pilfered 

 plans, Sir John concludes thus : — 



" Before the state of architecture can be improved, and the professors 

 excited to that species of emulation which only can make them eminent, 

 strong and marked distinctions must take place. Those who have patronage 

 must consider it a sacred trust and deposit, — the meed only of science and 

 genius. The claims of the untaught, ignorant, and presumptuous, must not 

 only be disallowed, but repelled with indignalion and contempt, till at length 

 they are consigned to that obscurity whence they ought never to have been 

 suffered to emerge." 



Both engineer and architect must also be men of business ; and to the 

 knowledge of the uses and relative advantages of materials must be added 

 the knowledge of their commercial value. The sum to be expended in any 

 undertaking is always a marked feature; and the reputation of an engineer, 

 especially, will be raised by the commercial success of his work. Harbours, 

 roads, canals, and railways, before they are commenced, must show that the 

 traffic or dues from them will amount to such a sum as will insure to their 

 projectors a proper return for their money. The first estimate of the 

 engineer is the document from which the probable amount of returns is cal- 

 culated. The statistical calculations, or the quantity of trade that wiU arise, 

 is not, strictly speaking, in the department of the engineer ; and he is not 



answerable if the scheme is not a paying one, from a deficiency in the traffic 

 returns or dues ; but if it fail through any excessive expenditure over and 

 above his estimate, he is answerable. His estimate and scliedule of prices, 

 fixed through knowledge of local charges and custom of labour — through 

 his close observation and acquaintance with tlie geological features of the 

 spot, and through his knowledge of the best districts from whence to draw 

 his foreign materials — must he so worked out in detail, and capable of being 

 referred to precedent, if precedent exist, or borne out by tlie opinion of 

 others, that it will bear the strictest investigation — we will say for the sake 

 of example, that of a Parliamentary Committee; for be it remembered, that 

 estimates are the most vulnerable points in which opponents strike when in 

 the " House ;" and if the said estimates do not carry on the face of them 

 the handiwork of a man of business, they will be the first and last work of 

 the scheme — for the session in which they are brought forward at all events. 



Perfect knowledge of the business habits of contractors, and of the work- 

 ing habits of artisans, can alone enable him to draw out his specification 

 properly. It is true, the lawyer will be called upon to give to it its legal 

 phrases and finely-drawn pains and penalties for any breach in the perform- 

 ance thereof; but the lawyer will have to work upon a base of the engineer's 

 planning, and, be it sure, the blame will rest with hira if any oversight has 

 been committed. 



In the specification must be described the exact method by which the 

 various works enumerated therein are to be perlornied. All the drawings 

 must he enumerated, and more particularly referred to and exijlaincd; in 

 short, the specification must be a hook of reference, as it were, for the con- 

 tractor, by which he can settle dimensions and quantities, and appeal to in 

 case of any dispute with his employers as to the proper performance of his 

 duty. There can therefore, I think, be no doubt but that the engineer must 

 be a thorough man of business. 



Because I have not alluded in these examples to the architect, it must not 

 be supposed that such documents as estimates and specifications are foreign 

 to his practice, for, equally with the engineer, must he be capable of direct- 

 ing the modus operandi of his undertaking, — nay, even probably with still 

 greater minuteness of detail, seeing that his work is generally more minute, 

 and depending more particularly upon exact dimensions for its success. 



Both architects and engineers must also understand those branches of law 

 which relate to their profession, and study the science of jurisprudence, so 

 far as to enable them to judge of the legality of their proceedings, to pre- 

 vent their employers from being involved in law-suits through their means ; 

 and to extricate them by the shortest way when so involved, by a cessation 

 or alteration of the offensive operations, if the cause be connected witli their 

 pursuits. I mean not that their duties should in any way trench on those of 

 the attorney, or that they should advise in any matter involving a legal or 

 technical question, for "a little law is a dangerous thing;" but they should 

 always understand the particular sections of the law relating to their opera- 

 tions, that they may be able to steer clear of the dangerous rock of litiga- 

 tion. 



All the laws of England contain enactments and regulations concerning 

 building, and theyconsist both of written laws or statutes, and unwritten 

 laws, or laws of common customs. It would be out of place here to describe 

 all the laws which affect the operations of an engineer or architect, but I 

 may be pardoned for making mention of one or two points that have come 

 within my experience, to serve as illustrations of my statement, that they 

 should know " their own law." When the inhabitants of a county are 

 liable for the repairs of a public bridge, they are liable also to repair, to the 

 extent of 100 yards, the highway at each end of the bridge. One instance 

 came under my observation, in which a surveyor neglected not only to take 

 into account the existence of that law in his estimate of the work to be 

 done, but even through his ignorance suffered an action to be brought against 

 himself, as the official representative of the county authorities. He lost the 

 action, and the magistrates refused to bear him harmless, " because he ought 

 to have known the law." 



I may mention another instance in the case of a bridge. An engineer 

 was employed by a private gentleman to build a bridge for a public road 

 upon his estate; two years after its completion it was washed avv:iy by a 

 flood. It had become so useful to the public that it was necessary to 

 have it rebuilt, and the owner then thought that it might be erected at the 

 expense of the county. But the county refuwed, because his eugineer had 

 not submitted his plans to, and oblaiued the approval of, the couuty sur- 

 veyor, — this neglect freeing them from the legal obligation. 



Again, an architect designed and erected for a genthman a very expen- 

 sive conservatoi'y, and it was made portable, for as this geutleniau was 

 only a yearly tenant, he intended to remove it should he change his resi- 

 dence. But his architect erected the conservatory on a brick luuudatiou; 

 it thus became a fixture, and the property of the landlord. 



Examples of such cases might be repeated until the relation of them 

 might fill a considerable volume, but those mentioned will serve to show 

 that the artist employed to execute any works should inquire cuucerniug 

 the laws relating to them. 



I have now said as much as the limits of a lecture will allow, upon the 

 duties required of architects and engineers, but I will add a few words 

 upon the duties of the general community with regard to architecture more 

 especially. 



If we refer to history we shall find that exactly in proportion as civilisa- 

 tion advanced, civil aixhileclure flourished — had its I'ise, its progress, and 

 decay. It took its styles, its varieties, and its general tone, from lire uatiou 



44* 



