1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



I2l 



rocks by gunpowder remains a subject of controversy ; for although 

 he. has undoubtedly removed the material in an economical manner, it 

 may be very much doubted whether he has not so shaken the re- 

 maining rock, and so extended its fissures, as to threaten hini in sub- 

 sequent years with serious slips, which may be productive of much 

 embarrassment. So also the application of the artesian well system 

 requires caution, for by want of care the well may be carried down 

 to a limited reservoir only, when any other well being carried down 

 to the same natural tank will diminish the supply to the previous 

 well, and require both to be carried to a greater depth. The theory 

 of artesian wells is satisfactorily established, but its application is in 

 many cases matter of great controversy, as in the instance of the 

 Trafalgar Square well, and it is necessary that the engineer should be 

 well instructed so as eflficiently to conduct his operation, and satis- 

 factorily to defend its propriety. We may remark here era ^assa?!/ 

 that the progress of the artesian well system is one of deep interest 

 to the engineer, and with regard to which many valuable experiments 

 are going on : thus at Naples the supply of water from the exterior 

 is scanty and expensive, and a well is being bored in the King's 

 garden to try for water at a lower depth: so too in the desert of 

 Egypt a similar experiment is contemplated by the Pasha, the result 

 of which will have an important bearing, and if successful, will alle- 

 viate one of the great difficulties of the Indian transit. An acquaint- 

 ance with the inferior strata of water is indeed of the greatest value, 

 for it will sometimes happen that water will abound below, which 

 cannot be retained on a sandy surface, or it may exist in a state of 

 greater purity, filtered through loose strata, while on the surface, it 

 may be so mixed with extraneous matters as to be unfit for use. A 

 better acquaintance with this subject may lead to some relief of the 

 great droughts suffered by some districts of Australia, and which ma- 

 terially impede the progress of our colonies there. To return to the 

 railway and canal engineer, it will sometimes happen that in cuttings 

 he will come on deposits of septaria, which are extensively used in 

 the manufacture of Roman cement, or on coprolites, which have been 

 pointed out as a copious source of manure, and likely to be so em- 

 ployed, or he may come on some calcareous formation, the qualities 

 of which being duly ascertained may be of great value for agricul- 

 tural purposes or in the composition of cements. 



In mining the possibility of reaching coal or ironstone is often left 

 to the investigation of the engineer, and the educated engineer will 

 not do now what was formerly done, bore for coal in the tertiary de- 

 posits. He has, too, as we have before observed, to make himself 

 well acquainted with the geological character of the district in which 

 he is engaged, and he has thus the opportunity of ascertaining its 

 mineral resources, and of suggesting the necessary means of exploi- 

 tation. The opening of the coal and lime works by the Messrs. Ste- 

 phenson on the line of railway in Derbyshire, has not only been a 

 means of affording great benefit to the district, but of bringing in con- 

 siderable profit to the projectors. An investigation into the supply 

 of ironstone, the presence of the requisite flux, and the accessibility 

 to fuel is requisite to determine the formation aud establishment of 

 an iron work, and its successful prosecution. Indeed, various are the 

 occasions on which geological skill will be found one of the most 

 Taluable attainments of the engineer. 



In hydraulic works this knowledge is indispensable, one coast differs 

 from another, rivers from rivers, and a well grounded acquaintance 

 with the natural operations going on in the locality and elsewhere 

 must be the chief guide to the engineer. Here the ris medicalrix 

 natiirce is of the greatest utility, nature cannot be contended with, 

 she must be humoured, and her powers turned to account. The most 

 elaborate piers and jetties may be erected, but if the backwater be 

 poured in at right angles to the tide, a deposit must take place. So 

 too, an ill considered disposition will make a costly harbour a mere 

 shingle trap, and the extension of piers and jetties only results in the 

 carrying of the bar further out out to sea. Here, too, is a depart- 

 ment where much is to be studied and much is to be done, at present 

 it decidedly remains the domain of empiric practice, and harbour is 

 made after harbour, and hundreds of thousands spent after hundreds 

 of thousands only to result in failure. A careful examination of re- 

 sults would show a most lamentable condition of this branch of en- 

 gineering science, for few indeed are the works which have proved 

 effectual. This, too, must be the case so long as Mr. A. or Mr. B. is 

 directed to improve Mudport Harbour, in the teeth of his repeated 

 failures, for here a man is not fried by the efficacy of his cure but by 

 the polish of the instruments he has employed in maiming or de- 

 stroying his patient. His harbour is barred in a calm, and inaccessible 

 in a gale, but what matters that, his north pier is an admirable spe- 

 cimen of constructive skill, his pier wall is faultless, and his lock 

 gates magnificent, and so lie goes on, and people talk about back 

 Vva.ter, scouring power and shingle, and when tliey have bothered their 



own heads and other person's, there is an end of the matter. So long 

 as your engineer can employ a ballast engine, and dredge away the 

 obtrusion, he gets one or two feet more water, and people are satis- 

 fied, not considering that he has applied a mere palliative and not 

 removed the evil. The only remedy we can suggest under the cir- 

 cumstances, is to leave the design of harbour works open to public 

 competition. The result we think would be to give the young engineer 

 an excitement to study this branch, to give due effect to local ex- 

 perience, and to bring nautical knowledge to bear, while the public 

 would feel much more deeply interested, the plans would be judged 

 by a much more jealous tribunal than they now are, a great degree 

 of valuable information would be obtained, and the basis laid for the 

 scientific pursuit of hydraulic engineering; as it is, we consider, the 

 grand defect undoubtedly to be an ill acquaintance with natural 

 operations, aud an inattention to the proper application of natural 

 resources. 



We may make the same remarks with regard to embanking, which 

 as a scientific study, is in its infancy. Some thousand acres have 

 been recovered on the Lincolnshirecoast, but it has been by brute force 

 rather than otherwise, and the means of applying natural resources 

 to the recovery of the numerous available sites on our coasts have 

 been totally neglected, though nothing would be more easy than the 

 reclamation of very large districts, if adequately treated. We shall 

 have occasion, in alluding to the force of water, and the amount of 

 solid matter held in suspension, to show what an immense power is 

 available if properly directed. We may remark with regard to any 

 hydraulic construction, that careful study is required, the contour of 

 nearly every coast varies, and consequently the set of the currents, 

 which form the chief disturbing forces. This will be recognised at 

 once, if we compare the eastern coasts of England with the west or 

 with the south. Each has its peculiarities; and it is quite absurd to 

 set an engineer at work in one locality, even on the gronnd of his 

 success in another. How differently do the tides and currents set in 

 the straits of Dover to what they do elsewhere: then again look at 

 the tidal current acting in St. George's Channel, where at one end it 

 has a broad entrance, and at the other is confined within the narrow 

 space between Port Partrick and Donaghadee. How different is this 

 from the long line of current sweeping for several hundred miles along 

 the east coast. 



Were there no other motive for the study of geology by the en- 

 gineer, yet the uniqiae opportunities he has for making new discove- 

 ries ought alone to incite him. In the bowels of the earth extraor- 

 dinary phenomena meet his eye first, unexpected faults, slips, and 

 novel fossils; in his cuttings and in his tunnels, he has the means of 

 perceiving the order and superposition of strata, their depth, their 

 extent, and the organic remains which characterise them, and under 

 circumstances which other geologists vainly seek. It is with 

 pride we point to many engineers, who have availed themselves of 

 these opportunities, as the collection of railway sections in the 

 Museum of Economic Geology will show, and who have rendered 

 great service by many valuable discoveries and important commu- 

 nications. 



With so many members of the profession devoting themselves to 

 colonial pursuits w'e cannot too strongly recommend to young men 

 the importance of geology. As the medic, d man is called on in the 

 colonies to find supplies of drugs and medicines, by the use and sub- 

 stitution of local plants, so the colonial surveyor has to discover 

 adequate materials, and to point out the resources of the district in 

 which he is employed. By such exertions his value to the community 

 of which he is a member, and his importance are enhanced, and by well 

 directed investigation he may much increase the produce of the 

 colony, and find many advantageous means of investment on his own 

 account. The discovery of coal in a colony is recognized, as a most 

 valuable service, and its exploitation, either immediately or indirectly, 

 gives employment to the engineer, increases his professional income, 

 and afiibrds a permanent source of occupation. 



We have now before us two works produced by Mr. Van Voorst, a 

 circumstance, which to those who know his publications, will be alone 

 a sufficient recommendation. Each work appears in parts. Mr. 

 Ansted is Professor of Geology at King's College, and he gives 

 abundant proof in every page of his qualification for the task he has 

 undertaken. The arrangement of his work, and his treatment of the 

 subject rather differ from the course usually pursued, but they are 

 such as to give the student a clear and well grounded acquaintance 

 with the study. Mr. Ansted carefully eschews all theory at the com- 

 mencement, and begins his description of the strata with the palaeo- 

 zoic, instead of with the tertiary, as is frequently the case. His style 

 is simple, and his great endeavour is to give the learner a clear idea 

 of what is before him. It is a book written, not as such works too 

 often are written, for the learned man, but for students, in which 



