1850.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



19 



into balls, which greatly extended its consumption. About two years 

 before the termination of the war, Mr. Brunei, under the coun- 

 tenance of the Duke of York, invented a metliod of making shoes 

 for the army by machinery, the value and cheapness of which were 

 fully appreciated, and they were extensively used; but the peace 

 of 181 j lessening the demand, the machinery was ultimately laid 

 aside. Steam navigation also at that time attracted his attention. 

 He was engaged in the building of one of the first Ramsgate steam- 

 boats, and, we believe, introduced the ]irinci))le of tlie double en- 

 gine for the purpose. He also induced the Admiralty to allow him 

 to build a vessel to try the experiment of towing ships out to sea, 

 the possibility of which was then denied. Many other objects of 

 great public utility occupied his mind, which in this mere outline 

 of a long and active life must be excluded. 



The visit of the Emperor Alexander to this country, after the 

 Peace, led him to submit to the Emperor a plan for making a tunnel 

 under tlie Neva, where the accumulation of ice, and the sudden- 

 ness with which it breaks up on the termination of winter, rendered 

 the erection of a bridge a work of great difficulty. This was the 

 origin of his plan for a tunnel under the Thames, which had been 

 twice before attempted without success. In 182i, however, a com- 

 pany was formed, and supported by tlie Duke of Wellington, who 

 took from first to last a deep interest in the work. Many men of 

 science also joined it, amongst whom the late Dr. Wollaston was 

 the most prominent, and wliose brother long continued one of the 

 most active and able promoters of the scheme. The work was 

 commenced in 1824. It was stopped more than once during its 

 progress by the breaking in of the river, and more effectually at 

 last by the exh.austed finances of tlie company, which never ex- 

 tended beyond the command of 180,000/. At length, after the sus- 

 pension of the work for many years, by a special act of Parliament, 

 a loan was sanctioned. The Exchequer Loan Commistioners ad- 

 vanced the funds necessary for the completion of the work under 

 the river, and, notwithstanding many weighty jirofessional opinions 

 %vere advanced against the practicability of the work, from both 

 the loose alluvial nature of the soil through which it had to be con- 

 structed, and the superincumbent flood of water, it was finished and 

 opened to the public in 1843. In a scientific point of view this 

 work will always be regarded as displaying the highest professional 

 ability, an amount of energy and perseverance rarely exceeded, 

 and a fertility of invention and resources under what were deemed 

 insurmountable difficulties, wliich will alwys secure to Sir I. 

 Brunei a high place amongst the engineers of this country. During 

 Lord Melbourne's administration Mr. Brunei received the honour 

 of knighthood, on the recommendation of the late Lord Spencer, 

 then Lord Althorp. 



Sir I. Brunei was a vice-president of the Royal Society, a cor- 

 responding member of the Institute of France, and a vice-presi- 

 dent of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was a Chevalier 

 of the Legion of Honour. He was unaffected, simple in his habits, 

 and benevolent, and as ready to do a kind act as he was to forget 

 an injury. He died in his 81st year, after a long illness, which 

 first visited him soon after the completion of the Tunnel. The 

 care, anxiety, and constant strain of body and mind, brought on a 

 slight attack of paralysis, from which he never thoroughly reco- 

 vered. He leaves a widow, Lady Brunei, one son, the eminent en- 

 gineer, and two daughters, the eldest married to Mr. Hawes, the 

 Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the youngest to the 

 Rev. !Mr. Harrison, the vicar of New Brentford. 



PROCSEDINGS OF SCIBNTIFIC SOCIETISS. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENCxINEERS. 



Dec. 4, 1849. — Joshua Field, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



The discussion was continued on Mr. Paton's '■^Descrijithm of the 

 Southend Pier, and the rurayes of tlie ''Teredo JVaimlis,' and other 

 Marine Worms." and was extended to such a length as to preclude 

 the reading of any original communication. 



Numerous specimens were exhibited, and commented on, of 

 timber thoroughly perforated by worms; whilst beside them, under 

 the same circumstances, the "Jarrow wood," from Australia, was 

 shown to have remained completely free from injury. 



The reference to the age of Homer, as an instance of the ravag- 

 ing habits of the Teredo, induced a return to geological questions; 

 and it was shown that in the London clay, remains had repeatedly 

 been found of timber perforated by sea worms. The oolite and 



greensand formations also exhibited petrified wood, filled with 

 boring moluscie. This led to the consideration of the formation 

 most likely to withstand the attack of the I'/ij/as; and it was 

 shown, that the Portland stone was, from the quantity of silica 

 it contained, least liable to be attacked. 



The f kolas was shown to have been in active operation upon 

 certain rocks from their earliest periods, but never upon Portland 

 stone. Hence it was argued, that kind of stone should be used for 

 breakwaters and other works exposed to the action of the sea. 



The early state of the Teredo was noticed; when escaping from 

 the egg, in'the shape of a free swimmer, it was drifted about with 

 the tide until it met with a log, a pile, or the side of a ship, to 

 which it attached itself, and making an inroad into it, became a 

 non-locomotive animal of different form and habits, never again to 

 leave tlie habitation it had burrowed for itself in the body of the 

 timber. The question of wliether the boring operation of the 

 marine worms was carried on by chemical, or mechanical means, 

 was lengthily discussed. The thin shell, covered by its delicate 

 membrane, was instanced as not jjossessing strength enough to cut 

 away timber; but it was on the other hand shown, that the shape 

 of the two shells, forming the extremity of the animal, admirably 

 adapted them for powerful cutting, or rasping tools, when moved 

 rapidly in a circular direction, as was evidently the case, from the 

 uniformly cylindrical character of the holes. 



The shells of the Fholas were also shown to be used in that 

 manner, and the opinion appeared generally to lean to mechanical 

 cause for the effects observed. 



This bearing of the discussion naturally induced remarks upon 

 the ravages of the white ant of India; which, however, appeared 

 to have been little studied, and less understood, as far as attempt- 

 ing to arrest, or to prevent its inroads. 



The various materials, sucli as Kyan's corrosive sublimate of 

 mercury. Sir W. Burnett's chloride of zinc, Margary's salts of 

 metals, Payne's combination of muriate of lime and sulphate of 

 iron, forming in the timber an insoluble compound, and Bethel's 

 creosote, or oil of coal tar, were discussed. All had their parti- 

 sans, and were stated to have succeeded and failed under certain 

 circumstances. Specimens of piles from Lowestoft harbour, whose 

 waters were notoriously full of worm, showed that timber in a 

 natural state was in a few months thoroughly perforated by Teredo 

 in the centre, and Limnoria on the surface; but that piles, which 

 had been properly saturated according to Bethel's system, in 

 exhausted receivers, and subjected to such pressure as insuredthe 

 absorption of about ten pounds' weight of the creosote, or oil of 

 coal tar, by each cubic foot of the timber, were perfectly preserved 

 from attacks of marine animals of any kind. 



In one instance a partially "creosoted" pile had a notch cut into 

 it, deeper than the impregnation had extended; a Teredo made its 

 entry, and was found to have worked in every direction, until it 

 arrived within the reach of the creosote, when the animal turned 

 away and eventually left the pile. 



Bethel's system was admitted, by all the speakers, to be that 

 which hitherto, after many years' experience, had afforded the most 

 satisfactory results. 



Some most conclusive experiments, instituted by Mr. Rendel at 

 Southampton, were stated to have produced the same results; and 

 at Leith all the jiiles were weighed before and after their satura- 

 tion, to insure their absorbing tlie full allowance of at least ten 

 pounds per cubic foot. 



X)ec. 11. — The paper read was "On the facilities for a Ship Canal 

 Communication heluren the Atluntic-and Facific Oceans, through the 

 Isthmus of Panama." By Lieut. -Col. Lloyd, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



In treating this subject, which, on account of recent events, has 

 become one of great importance to the political and the mercantile 

 world, the author brought to bear all the knowledge and experi- 

 ence acquired during a lengthened residence in South America, 

 when serving in the Columbian Engineers, under General Bolivar, 

 from wluim, after much difficulty, he obtained permisson to make 

 the first survey of the Isthmus, which he accomplished in the most 

 complete manner, as well as making soundings throughout the 

 principal rivers and in the chief harbours; compiling, at the same 

 time a mass of minute and valuable information relative to the 

 country, which he transmitted to the Royal Society, in whose 

 archives they were deposited, and a paper on the subject was pub- 

 lished in the Philosophical Transactions in 1830. Thus may Great 

 Britain claim not only the projection of one of the greatest works 

 of modern ages, but also fur one of her sons the merit of having, 

 for the pure love of science, been the first to demonstrate the 

 facility of the accomplisliment of that, which so many liave since 



4* 



