1842.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



301 



character and picturesque expression to recommencl it to an archi- 

 tectural pencil— he shows nothing ; of the Bank and its neighbourhood 

 just as much ; and of New London Bridge, and the new street and 

 buildings just by it, ditto, not to mention other dittos— for that would 

 be to make a list of almost everything worth showing. It is true, he 

 does favour us with a sight of St. Paul's, but then it is only of a mere 

 bit of it, as seea from Ludgate, where nearly all but the dome is con- 

 cealed, and that is so drawn as to be so unsightly, that it might as 

 well have been kept out of sight altogether. There is very little, 

 indeed, to show what London is at the present day, where its street 

 architecture has been improved. There is a view of Pall Mall, and 

 two others of Regent Street, one of them taken from Hanover Chapel, 

 of which not the front, but merely a single column of its portico is 

 introduced, and that drawn monstrously out of proportion, — and they 

 are almost all. Whatever may be his ability in other respects, Mr. 

 Boys is evidently not a very able architectural draughtsman. In fact, 

 he seems to have considered the buildings themselves as of very 

 secondary importance — as nothing more than backgrounds to his 

 groups of figures ; and he would, therefore, have done better to have 

 undertaken a work that did not require proficiency in architectural 

 drawing, and whose title would not have held out the promise which, 

 far as it is from fulfilling it, it now does. Foreigners, and others who 

 have not visited Loudon, must form not the most favourable idea of it 

 from the representations here given of it. 



The work is eminently calculated to dissatisfy and disappoint, if 

 only by its challenging comparison with such works as Nash's " Man- 

 sions," Haghe's " Belgium," MuUer's " Age of Francis L" &c., which 

 it rivals in /;r/«, in size, and external appearance, but although in- 

 tended so, is certainly not worthy of being placed on the same slielf 

 with them. A similar remark applies to Morison's " Views of Haddon 

 Hall," for though that also is livened exactly like the publications we 

 have just mentioned, it is so obviously inferior to tliem in execution 

 that, even if admitted to the same table, it must be content to sit 

 "below the salt." In truth, it is very ill-timed ; had it appeared 

 some half-dozen years ago, it might have been considered a very fair 

 specimen of its kind, whereas now, coming after Nash's and other 

 masterly specimens of architectural drawing and lithography, it mani- 

 fests a very sad falling off. We are aware that the character we have 

 here given, both of Mr. Boys' and of Mr. Morison's work, differs 

 greatly from that expressed by other journals, who have spoken of 

 both in terms of highest commendation — as they would probably do 

 of anything else, no matter what — were it to come before them in the 

 same imposing form and array. In fact, there are some journals which 

 seem to keep blank forms of criticism, requiring merely to be filled 

 up with the names of the publications sent to them, for the same tone, 

 the same off-hand remarks, the same complimentary epithets occur 

 again and again, and perhaps suit one work just as well as another. 



On increasing the evaporative power of boilers, icith incidental remarks on 

 the managtment of furnaces and the prevention of smoke. By Charles 

 Wye Williams, Esq. 



Whatever we may think of Mr. Williams' talents, we must at least 

 allow that his industry is most exemplary. To an ordinary man the 

 duties of managing director of a steam company would alone have 

 afforded abundant occupation ; but so lightly do those duties sit upon 

 Mr. Williams that he is able to reconcile them with the functions of 

 an itinerant lecturer, and maintains as great an agitation respecting 

 his patent projects as if no other subject had a claim upon his serious 

 attention. We might applaud this diligence if exercised in a proper 

 spirit or expended on a legitimate object ; but when devoted to the 

 multiplication of vain and arrogant elucidations of useless and puerile 

 devices, its only effect is to quicken contempt and provocation into 

 active resentment. But our anger if raised is immediately softened 

 into commiseration by the spectacle of a man so possessed with the 

 passion for popularity, even among withered hopes and in declining 

 years, as to hold no means unsanctified that will place in his trembling 

 hand the glittering gaud : — querulous and irritable from the conjunc- 

 tion of meagre abilities with measureless ambition — and growing old 

 in dipping buckets into an empty cistern in the visionary idea that he 

 draws something up. 



We entered so fully into the merits of Mr. Williams' projects in 

 some of our former numbers that it wou'd be superflous now to re- 

 examine them, especially as there is nothing in the present treatise 

 capable of weakening in the least degree the furce of our former argu- 

 ments. We showed, we believe, to the satisfaction of our readers 

 that the spike boiler was neither original nor etiicacious, and that the 

 argand furnace was neither more nor less than one of the old smoke 



burning projects raised from the dead, and disguised under a new 

 name, and a few insignificant variations. The proofs of these facts it 

 is needless to multiply, and would be useless to repeat; and we mean 

 on the present occasion to limit our remarks to the characteristics of 

 this gentleman as an author — his merits as an inventor being suffi- 

 ciently notorious. 



Mr. Williams commences by giving us an explanation of the cir- 

 cumstances which led him to inquire into the defects of boilers, and 

 which he says " will be a sufficient answer to the assertion that engi- 

 neers and boilermakers know their business much too well to lack in- 

 struction from a pack of effervescent chemists and druggists." These 

 circumstances are, that in 1S23 he established a steam company "and 

 undertook to have the first steam vessel constructed capable of main- 

 taining a commercial intercourse across the Irish channel during the 

 winter months, and which till then had been considered impracticable," 

 — that with respect to the perfection to which the hulls of steam ves- 

 sels have been brought, he begs to refer to the specifications of those 

 belonging to the City of Dublin Company furnished to the commis- 

 sioners of steam vessels inquiry — and that with respect to the per- 

 fection to which bothA!(//s and machinery have been brought, he refers 

 us to the steam ship Oriental. Our readers will perhaps be puzzled 

 to discover what all this has to do with the allegation that engineers 

 and boilermakers are at least likely to know something more of en- 

 gines and boilers than a parcel of empty and self-sufficient apothecaries; 

 and indeed v/c are at a loss to discern any purpose in these intima- 

 tions, unless it be to impress us adequately with Mr. Williams' im- 

 portance. But we think the illustrations peculiarly unfortunate : the 

 specifications referred to are very imperfect in many respects, and all 

 the world knows that the most of the vessels belonging to the City of 

 Dublin Company are the worst planned and most unsightly tubs afloat. 

 The Oriental is certainly a fine vessel, though we are not aware of 

 anything peculiar about her for which particular merit can be claimed : 

 but nothing can be clearer than if the nature of Mr. Williams' respon- 

 sibility be such, that to him is due the merit of success, to him should 

 also be due the demerit of failure if failure arise. Now the Liverpool, 

 the consort of the Oriental, and also under Mr. Williams' conlroul, 

 was at first a failure ; yet Mr. Williams declines all participation in 

 the blame consequent thereupon: so that it would appear to be his 

 happy prerogative to monopolize all the credit of success, and throw 

 the odium of failure, as often as it occurs, upon some other person. 

 Mr. Armstrong states in his treatise on steam boilers that the return 

 of the Liverpool on her first voyage to New York arose from the in- 

 troduction of some species of smoke burning scheme — or at least some 

 tampering with the furnaces of which the makers of the machinery 

 did not approve; and altfcongh Mr. Williams denies that this was the 

 cause of the failure, he admits that such interference actually took 

 place with the view, he says, of relieving, if it could not remove, cer- 

 tain supposed defects in the construction of the boiler. This admis- 

 sion settles the question : for if the boilers were taken out of the hands 

 of the manufacturers, and the furnaces altered to suit the views of 

 other parties, the manufacturers could not be held accountable for the 

 result: and as the same boilers, so soon as the furnaces were restored 

 to their original mode of action, enabled the vessel to make subse- 

 quent voyages to New York without any failure, it would certainly 

 appear that the first failure arose not from any inherent defects iu the 

 boilers themselves, but in consequence of the introduction of some 

 improvement which when removed or discontinued enabled the boilers 

 to operate with their proper efficacy. 



It had always been our impression that steam communication had 

 been maintained across the Irish channel during winter antect-dently to 

 1823; but Mr. Williams assures us that up to that date the mainten- 

 ance of a commercial steam intercourse during winter was looked upon 

 as impracticable. Now a commercial steam intercourse could hardly 

 be held to be impracticable if any kind of steam intercourse had pre- 

 viously been maintained ; for the doubt was not whether a bale of 

 muslins could be carried, but whether the voyage could be performed 

 under adverse circumstances of wind and water; and as this doubt 

 continued to exist according to Mr. Williams up to 1S23, when he first 

 built a steamer, and showed it to be without foundation, we must set 

 him down, as by his own showing, the first person who accoaiplished 

 regular winter voyages across the Irish channel. Now in a report ot 

 a Select Committee of the House of Commons of the date of May 2nd, 

 1822, and another of the date of June 12th, 1822, we find it stated tiiat 

 a steam commiuiication hail been maintained all the precednig winter 

 across the Irish channel, and that numerous steam vessels conunercial 

 and others had maintained a regular winter communication upon the 

 open sea for some time previously. We confess ourselves unable to 

 reconcile this statement with that of Mr. Williams, that up to 1S23 

 when he began operations such an achievement was looked upon as 

 impracticable ; and we trust that our readers before they arrive at 



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