392 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[October, 



nr. 



fThe Lower Teitiaries or Eocene Group. 

 I The Middle Tertiariee or Miocene Group. 

 _T,„~Y,'Uy ■( The Newer Tertiaries or Pliocene Group. 

 IbKllAKi. u.,,g Superficial Deposits of Gravel, &c., or Pleistocene 

 L Group. 

 Tl]e progress of palscontology, or tlie natural history of tlie ancient 

 world, is inseparably connected with classification. The fossils, cha- 

 racteristic of a stratum, are the keys by which we can arrive at its 

 true position, whether we find it in England, or discover it for the 

 first time in the remotest regions of America or Australia ; nay, the 

 transmission of fossils from a remote country will often enable us to 

 arrive at an accurate decision as to its geology. This is a department 

 which, as it has been studied with extreme minuteness by professed 

 naturalists, is apt to deter the engineer from enquiring into it, though 

 witliout adequate cause, as a competent knowledge of the most re- 

 markable fossils can be readily, nay empirically attained, without the 

 elaborate study necessary to make a proficient pala;ontologist. It will 

 be evident that were we desirous of recognizing the coal measures 

 only, an .icquaintance with their distinguishing fossil remains would 

 be desirable, but, indeed, we can never become useful and practical 

 geologists unless we extend this admission to strata generally. Prof. 

 Ansted seems to us to have treated this portion of his work witli skill. 

 He has given an admirable introductory essay, briefly but clearly illus- 

 trating the general principles, and then he has followed up each sepa- 

 rate system with a chapter describing its distinctive fossils, confined 

 as much as possible to the most characteristic specimens, so as not to 

 overburden the practical man too much in the study of what to him 

 must, after all, be to a great degree, a subsidiary pursuit. 



The account of the several formations and their characteristics con- 

 stitutes what is called Descriptive Geology, and to this the whole of 

 the first volume and the beginning of the second is necessarily de- 

 voted. The illustrations which are in the superior style by which all 

 Mr. Van Voorst's productions are distinguished, comprise very nu- 

 merous sections of the several formations. The fossils figured are no 

 less than two hundred and twenty in number, nor is the ])ractical por- 

 tion of the work less completely illustrated. 



On coming to the practical part of the work, we think it right, as 

 we have before observed to point out the importance of geology to 

 the engineer, which we do, not merely to call his attention to the study, 

 but to point out to him the wide field of engineering employment, in 

 connection with applied geology, which the engineer is the instructed 

 man of science to occupy, and which we consider has hardly as yet 

 been properly attended to. The engineer, it must be borne in mind, 

 is not merely an official called in to perform a certain fixed task, but 

 he is to be considered as a skilful counsellor called in to discover re- 

 sources and to apply them beneficially. The knowledge of commer- 

 cial economy possessed by our engineers has often to be turned to ac- 

 count, they have frequently not merely to create a railway, dock, road, 

 or canal, but to find the materials to construct it, or the traffic for its 

 support. So, too, the engineer has to turn his geological knowledge 

 to account. The discovery of a mineral or fuel in a convenient posi- 

 tion, an adequate access to the market, or to other minerals necessary 

 for the profitable working of an establishment, require able combina- 

 tions and high powers of mind. The engineer must be a man of 

 science and a practical man, but he must not be merely this — he must 

 not be a mere mechanic, a mere drudge, but he must above all things 

 be a man of business. If we look to the leaders of the profession we 

 particularly recognize this quality, the Stephensons, Brunels, Walker, 

 Locke, Cubilt, are all distinguished for their business powers, while, 

 on the contrary, we shall find many men of great abilities, and who 

 have had good opportunities, who, from want of these characteristics, 

 only occupy a secondary position. Not unfreqnently do we find that 

 an engineer, otherwise skilful, makes a bad witness before a parlia- 

 mentary committee, or a bad adviser of a board of directors ; from his 

 want of business habits capitalists have no confidence in him, and his 

 sphere of usefulness is by so much diminished. It is by facts like 

 these that the man anxious to hold a respectable rank in his profes- 

 sion is urged to cultivate his mind in every respect, so as to bring to 

 bear the greatest amount of knowledge and ability on the work in 

 which he is engaged. Geological engineering particularly admits the 

 application of these, and for this reason we call attention to it. Mining 

 rests almost as much on geology as on engineering, the two however 

 are closely connected together, and yet we find but few engineers who 

 have devoted themselves to this branch. In Cornwall particularly, the 

 direction of mining operations is almost exclusively left to the mining 

 captains, though a preference would naturally be given to an educated 

 man possessing the same degree of local information, well grounded 

 in the principles of geology, mineralogy, metallurgy, and chemistry, 

 competent to superintend the machinery and drainage operations, to 

 . make the assays, and to conduct all the proceedings in a business-like 



way. It is very true that from the class of mine captains, as well as 

 from that of coal viewers, we have obtained some very eminent engi- 

 neers — Trevithick, Stephenson, and Buddie, are names of men of first 

 rat- eminence — but it cannot be denied that generally the standard of 

 education in the mining profession might be raised with advantage. 

 It is too well known to those who have any connection with mining 

 that from bad preliminary education, and want of superior special 

 knowledge, great errors are committed, operations carried on in a 

 heedless and wasteful manner, much money needlessly squandered, 

 and jobbing of all kinds allowed, and it can scarcely be doubted that 

 the resources of the mines are far from being made so available as 

 they might. When, however, we find mines under the direction of 

 men of high attainments, like the Taylors and Foxes, we find a state 

 of affairs much more satisfactory, so that we are convinced the employ- 

 ment of well-educated engineers, having a professional reputation at 

 stake, would prove of considerable benefit even in comparatively 

 small operations. Here, by the bye, we would pause to point out a 

 great benefit, which might be conferred by Mr. John Taylor, or some 

 other spirited engineer or capitalist having the direction of large ope- 

 rations, and which would go far to supply the present want of mining 

 schools. Let him appoint to the clerkship of one of his mines for two 

 years some student who has distinguished himself in the preliminary 

 studies of mining engineering, establishing a kind of mining scholar- 

 ship or exhibition, which would give the holder bread and cheese and 

 the opportunity of acquiring practical mining information on the spot. 

 We have no doubt such appointments would be zealously contended 

 for, and the proprietors would obtain a greater amount of skilled ser- 

 vice for the ordinary salaries, as the opportunity of acquiring expe- 

 rience would be by the student looked upon as equivalent to a con- 

 siderable premium. Mr. Taylor is Treasurer of University College, 

 and might advantageously give such an advantage to the engineering 

 class of that institution, in the same way that another treasurer attached 

 to it. Sir Isaac Goldsmid, has so liberally and munificently secured an 

 East India surgeoncy for the most proficient medical student. King's 

 college has good friends enough, and we recommend this hint to Pro- 

 fessor Ansted's attention, and we have little doubt something may be 

 done, for the conductors of King's College evince great zeal in the se- 

 curing the efficiency of its engineering class. We give the same hint to 

 Durham University, which is most favourably situated for carrying it 

 out. 



If we find the want of educated mining engineers in our home es- 

 tablishments, where the remuneration is on a low scale, we feel it still 

 more strongly in all our foreign operations. However well the Cornish 

 mining captain may get on in his native county, with his small woriks 

 and among his own people, he is totally incompetent and most mns- 

 chievous in a foreign country, so that in Mexican or Brazilian appoi t- 

 ments, competently, nay often lucratively, remunerated, we find a m^st 

 miscellaneous selection. In some cases German mining engineers 

 have been appointed, but they are by no means calculated to give 

 satisfaction to English capitalists, so that, for the most part, educated 

 English gentlemen, not brought up as engineers, have been preferred, 

 and in one case an Italian refugee. In an isolated establishment in the 

 new world it would, however, be of incontestable advantage to have 

 on the spot the varied resources of a well-trained man of science able 

 to turn the produce of the mine to the best account, and efficiently to 

 extend the operations of the company, and at the same time to con- 

 duct the financial affairs in a proper manner. In Guanaxato, or Mnias 

 Geraes, there is no mechanical engineer at hand to invent new ma- 

 chinery, or adapt the old machinery to the workings in the best way, 

 there is no geologist, no analyst, to be obtained at a short notice, all 

 this should be done at the mine, but all this is unfortunately not done. 



It we were to go over the field of mining operations in this coun- 

 try only, we should be able to show what a wide field there is for the 

 young engineer, but we must restrict ourselves to the remarks we have 

 already made. What may be done by skill is well shown by the case 

 of George Stephenson and the Kilworth colliery. 



Now with regard to another branch, the great attention which is 

 now being paid to scientific agriculture particularly claims the no- 

 tice of the engineer. Here his engineering and his geology both 

 come into play with advantage, 'fhe survey of an estate calls 

 forth the skill of the engineer to determine its soils and subsoils, the 

 nature of its available fossil products, the superficial and subterranean 

 supplies of water, the drainage, the sites for buildings, the available 

 natural power, the machinery and millwork which may be applied, the 

 state of the roads, their direction and the mode of permanently and 

 cheaply repairing them, the capabilities of the streams lor affording 

 water conveyance — all these anil many other points admit of the ad- 

 vantageous application of a very extensive range of study, in which 

 geology enters as no inconsiderable portion. We have ro doubt that 

 when Mr. Josiah Parkes vras appointed consulting engineer to the 



