254 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[August, 



as the commissioners direct ;" and in return the owners have the privilege 

 of an exemption from rates for ten years. Yet we are informed, on the 

 authority of a Committee of Inhabitant's, that the new streets are not paved 

 nor laid out with proper inclinations for the discharge of surface water, and 

 they add, that there are pools and open ditches in some of tlie streets. This 

 neglected condition of the streets is attributed by tbem to the want of a con- 

 trolling power before the houses are built. At Derby, hy an Act passed in 

 1825, the commissioners are empowered to pave all present and new streets ; 

 but the reply on this subject from a Committe of the Inhabitants states, that 

 many new streets require paving and draining. We could multiply these 

 instances by a repetition of the examples before given by us with respect to 

 drainage. But except in place* where the jurisdiction of commissioners is 

 excluded, as at Salford, and a few other towns, until the streets are more 

 than half formed, tbere is less excuse for this neglect, the powers for this 

 neglect, the powers for tliis purpose being generally more stringent, and more 

 frequently found in the local Acts; the jurisdiction of the local authorities 

 is, however, equally excluded from the courts and alleys. The same disregard 

 to their condition is also exhibited in respect to the paving, that we have 

 above shown to exist with regard to the drainage. At Bath, where, as we 

 have before stated, four local Acts are in force, one only contains a power 

 for making sewers. In the report upon that city, it is stated as an instance 

 of the etfect of such subdivisions of jurisdiction, that in York-street, near the 

 Abbey, one-half of the street was paved (longitudinally) and the other half 

 was Macadamised. The two divisions of the street were not on the same 

 level. At Manchester we find that although the streets are formed in the 

 first instance by the town council under the local Act, they are subsequently 

 repaired by the surveyors of the Highway Board. 



GEOLOGY AS A BRANCH OF EDUCATION. 



(From a Lecture delioered be/ore the College of Civil Engineers, at Putney.) 



By Professor Ansted. 



As a subject of education, I believe Geology is the best adapted of all the 

 Natural History sciences, and requires most immediately the exercise of those 

 intellectual powers which it is desirable to cultivate by such pursuits. This is 

 the case for many reasons. In the first place, Geology is the link by which the 

 sciences of observation, properly called Natural History, connect themselves 

 with Astronomy, and become capable of the applii-ation of the principles of 

 pure mathematics. Its leading conception also seems to be that of historical 

 clause : in the consideration of its details, every other department of Natural 

 History must necessarily enter: it admits of both those methods of investi- 

 gation, an habitual practice of which is most conducive to the advance of 

 the student ; and while it opens a new and more extended lield to the ma- 

 thematician, it brings back to simple analytical priMciples the discursive 

 habits acquired by tlie observer of Nature's works in the field, and leads him 

 to stricter investigations and habits of closer thought. 



But it may be necessary to show how this is the case, and what is the na- 

 ture of Geological science, and its relations with general science — and this I 

 proceed to do. 



Geology, as I have already observed, is not merely an important depart- 

 ment of Natural History, but is that particular department by means of which 

 Natural History is connected with mathematical science. Its object is to 

 observe and describe the structure of the external crust of our globe, and 

 from the consideration of phenomena thus presented to view, to trace the 

 successive changes that have taken place upon the earth, and the various 

 laws or modes of action employed in effecting these changes. 



The facts of Geology are derived from, and partly consist of, observations 

 made concerning the nature of the earth's crust in all parts of the known 

 world ; and they may be comprised under three distinct heads. These are, 

 1st, the fact of stratification, in other words, the fact that the earth's surface, 

 examined to as great a depth as we are able to penetrate, exhibits not a mis- 

 cellaneous assemblage of rocks and stones, promiscuously huddled together; 

 but a very regular series of beds or strata, each stratum being itself regular 

 and evenly-disposed, and differing from those above and beneath it. 2nd, 

 The fact of the existence in these beds of the remains of animals and vege- 

 tables characteristic of them, and differing for the most part from the species 

 at present inhabiting the earth and seas; and 3rdly, the fact that these dif- 

 ferent fossilifernus strata are frequently altered from the originally horizontal 

 position in which they must have been deposited ; and rocks are occasionally 

 present, which seem to have been subsequently intruded, and their intrusion 

 to have been accompanied by mechanical violence. The three great classes 

 of facts thus grouped and considered in their bearing upon one another, and 

 upon Natural History, form the ground-work of all geological speculation ; 

 and the statement of the details with reference to each of them forms to- 

 gether what is called Descriptive Geology. * » * 



Practical applicaliom oj Geology. 

 The applications that bear most distinctly and immediately on practical 

 conclusions, are more numerous and direct with respect to Geology than 

 other of the Natural History Sciences. Thus in mining, the selection of a 

 mining ground in an untried district, the determination of the spot where 

 boring for coal or other embedded minerals shall take place, the method of 



proceeding when a fault or a system of disturbances is unexpectedly met 

 with, are all dependent on the structure of the earth, and are. therefore, in 

 80 far, directly geological questions. In engineering, again, the selection of 

 a spot for sinking an Artesian well, the determination as to which is most 

 expedient of two conflicting lines of railway, the actual construction of a 

 railway with regard to cuttings and tunnels, and many other matters of lik« 

 kind, are also immediate applications of geohigical principles; and so, like- 

 wise, must be considered tlie selection of a safe foundation, or a good mate- 

 rial for building, as geological results not less important to the architect, 

 and the proper management of the soil and subsoil to the agriculturist. Itt 

 all these cases, however, it is by a knowledge of the principles upon which 

 the science is founded, and not merely upon a slight and popular acquaint- 

 ance with its general resnlts,that Geology is a useful guide, and an important 

 aid in arriving at practical conclusions. 



It cannot possibly be impressed too forcibly upon you that a mere super- 

 ficial knowledge of facts is absolutely useless, and may even be mischievous, 

 and that this is nowhere more true than with reference to Geology and its 

 application to practice. Every day renders it more important that practical 

 men should be acquainted with Geology ; for this science is constantly ex- 

 hibiting new analogies, new relations of cau^e and effect are traced, and 

 modifications of laws are discovered, all bearing more or less directly on 

 questions affecting the stability and permanence of engineering and archi- 

 tectural works, whether undertaken on the surface or in the bowels of the 

 earth. But the very vigour of life which causes these discoveries to multiply 

 so rapidly, renders it the more necessary to be cautious and philosophical in 

 arriving at conclusions : and it is therefore a familiarity with the fundamen- 

 tal principles, not an empirical knowledge of results, that can alone be per- 

 manently useful. 



The general usefulness of a science seems to depend on two conditions : 

 first, on the degree of definiteness of which it is capable; and next, on the 

 nature of its applications. In both these respects Geology ranks very high, 

 and in the latter, more especially, it is hardly surpassed by any science. The 

 importance of distinctness in fundamental principles also will be evideut 

 when we consider how much we depend in forming our opinions on the de- 

 gree of certainty that can be reposed upon the system to which we refer. 

 Now, in Geology, all the main tacts are clear and undeniable, and may be 

 made evident to the eye and uuderstanding of every one who will honestly 

 and patiently search for them. 



These facts are indeed startling, and seem perhaps to oppose themselves 

 in some measure to preconceived notions ; but they are not, for that reason 

 the less certain ; nor because they are unexpected, may we venture to set 

 them aside unconsidered. The applications of Geology are, in like manner, 

 numerous, direct, and highly important, bearing immediately on pursuits in 

 which large sums of money are employed, and many thousands of human 

 beings exposed daily to frightful risks, and scarcely less immediately on other 

 occupations, as for example, those of Engineering, Architecture, and Agricul- 

 ture, certainly most important to the well being and progress of society. Iti 

 point therefore, of general usefulness and importance in its hearing on prac- 

 tical pursuits, it will, I trujt, be clear that our science is well worthy of in- 

 vestigation. ***** 

 Geology not apeculatire but demonstrative. 



The point to be chiefly borne in mind in studying Geology, is that it is 

 real — a statement of facts, not of opinions. The importance of this can 

 hardly be overrated ; for, instead of expressing as a mere probability that 

 the earth was formed according to certain views we may have of the matter, 

 and that if this view should prove correct, the phenomena, whatever they 

 may be, possess a certain significance, Geology simply states as a matter of 

 fact, that there are such and such appearances, account for them how we will, 

 or whether we account for them at all or not. Say what we will, and think 

 as we will, the surface of the earth is formed for the most part of beds lying 

 one over another, amounting to a very great number ; these beds contain 

 fossils in a certain condition, and they exhibit certain marks of disturbance. 

 These are facts, not speculations^ — Geology has to describe these facts, and 

 to make use of them ; and this is perfectly independent of any attempt to 

 account for them. It is, indeed, true, that half a century ago, these facts 

 were not known, or if known, were not recognised ; but the wild speculations 

 of those days of ignorance were not more thoroughly irrational than would 

 be at this day the questioning the existence of observed phenomena, or at- 

 tempting to account for them by any methods but those we should apply in 

 investigations of other kinds, where no conclusion was to be dreaded, and 

 where common sense and reason were our only guides. 



But, besides the general structure of the earth's crust. Geology, we find, 

 also introduces us to a knowledge of certain remains of organic beings, em- 

 bedded in the different strata at the time of their formation. The study of 

 these introduces another, and a large class of facts, bearing upon general 

 Zoology and Botany ; but strengthening, in a singular manner, the conclu- 

 sions to which we otherwise arrive in the study of pure Geology, or the ar- 

 rangement and superposition of strata. This subject also involves difficulties, 

 and requires careful investigation ; but, like the former, it is real, and not ia 

 any sense an opinion or a speculation. 



The rocks and their contents, which appear to have been regularly d«. 

 posited, are now irregular, and exhibit marks of disturbance. The study of 

 these disturbances is one which properly, and even necessarily belongs toow 

 subject ; but it is perhaps the most diflicult of all the departments of Descrip- 

 tive Geology, requiring great experience and the exercise of a cautious and 

 philosophic spirit. 



