IM 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND^ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Junk, 



was 'present, saw tbe King, attended by ten gentlemen of hit court, 

 mounting the first vehicle ; and the Queen, attended by the ladies of her 

 suite stepping into the second carriage, which closely followfd the first. 

 They started at the same time, and the walking distance of 45 minutei 

 was accomplished in five minutes. Witnesses still liTingare: — M. 

 von Meding, minister of state and of the cabinet; M. Albert, principal 

 counsellor of mines (Olerhtrgatlt) ; M. Muehlenfeldt, principal en- 

 gineer (Jilaschinen direclor) ; and Dr. Jordan, assayer of the mint 

 (Muengicardiin), at Elansthal, a Hanoverian town of the Hercynian 

 district. Several years afterwards, when M. Frederics, then in an ad- 

 vanced age, was taken ill, he sent to the barrister to frame his last 

 will. The latter did so, and next waited on him, whom he found en- 

 gaged in executing a drawing. "This is," said M. Frederics, "in- 

 tended for an English gentleman, who wishes to run ray new cart in 

 his own country as I do here. He admires it; and I take great care 

 in executing my work, in order to prove that we here are not a set of 

 blockheads." 



Thus this invention was transferred to England, where Mr. Thomas 

 Gray, of Exeter, advocated it zealously. He led the way in intro- 

 ducing and establishing it in this country; he pointed out to the most 

 influential public men of the day the advantage of direct lines over cir- 

 cuitous ones, the economy which by the construction of railroads upon 

 the direct principle would be effected in horses, carriages, and time ; 

 he explained his system in memorials illustrated by maps, which with 

 the petitions of meetings he forwarded to Government ; and finally he 

 brought his plan in a printed form before the public, all which could 

 not be done without personal sacrifices. Others came to hii assistance, 

 supported and recommended the new invention, but his exertions 

 ■were more prominent and longer continued. The efficiency of steam 

 in propelling vessels having been ascertained, this new invention was 

 (it is not precisely known by whom first) combined with that of Mr. 

 Frederics, and the new medium of communication rendered more 

 valuable. 



The account of the origin of the railroad system, given by the Ger- 

 man barrister, certainly contains details not known before; but the 

 simple fact of M. Frederics having invented the railroad system, and 

 communicated his invention to an English gentleman, was all along 

 known among the inhabitants of the Hercynian district and the adja- 

 cent country. The late poet Thomas Campbell, in speaking of Ger- 

 many in one of his much admired poems, says, the world was indebted 

 to her for three most important inventions, viz., those of powder, 

 printing, and clockmaking. M. Frederics added to them the fourth, 

 which is now very generally acted upon throughout Europe. 



John von Hoen, D.D. 



12, Smaez'Streei, Unmniiy College, London. 



FRICTION IV THE BEAM AND DIRECT ACTION STEAM 

 ENGINES. 



Sir — I have had my attention directed to s paper in your April 

 number, entitled "Comparative Loss of Friction in Beam and Direct 

 Action Engines," and as I am much occupied in considering dynamical 

 questions, I naturally take great interest in such a subject, and must 

 congratulate you on such a complete exposure of error ai is there 

 made. Your correspondent is evidently well versed in scientific prin- 

 ciples, and his criticisms illustrate a point which you have laid down 

 in an article in your May number, that it is quite neceisary that scien- 

 tific men should go hand in hand with practical men, and not let petty 

 jealousies keep them apart. If this desirable end were attained, of 

 bringing science and experiment more directly together, we should 

 never have had such a mass of mistaken labour as Mr. Pole's paper. 

 You are fortunate in having secured the services of so sound a contri- 

 butor as H. C. I have read his remarks with great pleasure, not only 

 derived from seeing that the real points at issue are grappled with, 

 that an ignorance o{ dynamical pri7tciple is shown to exist so clearly 

 and so forcibly, but that it is made intelligible even to men who know 

 nothing of mathematics, that Mr. Pole's paper is all wrong. 



Just consider what an injury is done to science by any one who pre- 

 sumes to point out an application of our laws; and so signally fails, 

 that it is impossible but that experiment should show a wide dis- 

 crepancy, (a discrepancy so wide that the mere empiric will at once 

 throw overboard the science). The long desired union of theory and 

 practice is being put olf by such writings instead of being advanced. 



1 have often thought that if the French had had our opportunities 

 and our workmen, they would long since have beaten us in the field 

 of engineering, and 1 am persuaded that this result so much to be de- 

 precated, will be brought about by patronizing and putting forward 

 such waste of energy, labour and time, at Mr. Pole'i paper. If our 



science is wrong, our neighbours who are getting our workmen and 

 our experience, will in time march a head of us. 



Now how are we to amend ? for it is not enougli to censure. I 

 think the jealousy of science which some show, only proves that they 

 are conscious of their own deficiency, and are afraid that theory 

 should prove it to the world. The true way is to give us a kind of 

 free trade in mechanical and engineering progress. Let every one do 

 all he can, but let him also endeavour to understand clearly and 

 thoroughly what his neighbour is doing, that so we may not impede 

 but assist each other. The scientific man should know the results of 

 experiment, and the experimentalist endeavour to enlighten the 

 theory, where data are wanting. By following such a course as this, 

 the magnificent science of engineering (the adaptation of the powers 

 of nature to man's wants) will really advance, and those who are now 

 at the top of the tree, the English engineers, will keep the position 

 they have gained, by intrenching themselves within impregnable ram- 

 parts, viz., the eternal truths of science. 



I remain, your obedient servant, 



M. CowiK. 



College, Putney, May 7, 1845. 



*** This is not the only letter which we have received to the same 

 effect. But the name of Mr. Cowie, who was senior wrangler of his 

 year at Cambridge, and since moderator and examiner in the Univer- 

 sity mathematical examinations, will be quite conclusive as to the 

 value of the investigations which lie has examined. — Ed. C. E. and A. 

 Journal. 



THE FOUNTAINS OF TRAFALGAR-SQUARE. 



[We insert the following letter, though at the cost of some self-de- 

 nial, on the approved principle that "virtue is its own reward." We 

 must however preface the letter by .begging the reader, if he should 

 be able to get through it, to read the remarks which we have taken 

 the liberty of appending.] 



Sir — A gentleman who in his zeal to instruct the public occupies 

 with his correspondence so conspicuous a portion of your journal as 

 that appropriated to "The Fountains of London and Paris" in your 

 last number, might have taken a little more pains to be correct in his 

 facts, however uncandid it may please him to be in his observations. 

 Suum ctiique is a wholesome rule, and you may perhaps spare a 

 corner to inform your correspondent (it is diflBcult to imagine any one 

 else can require it) that the Nelson Column is not only not the design 

 of Mr. Barry, but that it w;is placed in the situation it occupies in di- 

 rect opposition to liis judgment, as being totally out of character with 

 his plans for the general arrangement of the site. This fact your cor- 

 respondent might have learned from what took place before a Com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons, not so long ago but that it must be 

 supposed within the knowledge of any one thinking himself qualified 

 to have an opinion upon the subject. Thus much for the assumption 

 which supplies 'your correspondent with a good half of the diatribe 

 aimed at Mr. Barry, but which in reality hits Mr. Railton. With re- 

 gard to the fountains little need be said in reply to a critic reduced to 

 borrow the capital joke of the dumb waiter To attempt to disparage 

 the Trafalgar-square fountains by a comparison with such as are most 

 remarkable for their large scale and elaborate design, is merely to say 

 that they are what they are, and not something else which they do 

 not pretend to bff, and it would be more candid before such compari- 

 sons are instituted, to inquire what means were placed at Mr. Barry's 

 disposal for their erection. It would, perhaps, be found that he was 

 limited by Her Majesty's Commissioners to a cost which would not 

 have produced one of the ocean deities the absence of which is made 

 such a reproach. 



It might be thought that while your correspondent was making 

 comparisons, he might have extended them a little further; to Rome, 

 for example, wh're he might have found some fountains of the 

 "dumb waiter" form, the "intense ugliness" of which has not hitherto 

 been remarked. If it is the composition to which he objects (and this 

 must be his meaning, if he means anything) it is rather strange that 

 he should have selected by way of contrast, two fountains of wliich 

 the composition, apart from the detail, is essentially tlie same, with 

 this variety in one of them, that the upper basin is placed topsy- 

 turvey. It would be easy to criticise the "nearly sixty other" foun- 

 tains of Paris in the tone assumed by your correspondent by affirming 

 that any one in possession of a cistern with a tap in it can command 

 a better show of water than is exhibited by a great majority of them, 

 and that they are for the most part absolutely insignificant. It is, 

 however, dealing with them and with their authors rather more justly 

 and honourably to observe that for the most part they display much 

 ta»te and ekiU io taking advantage of very scanty resources ; but that 



