286 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[November, 1905. 



CHAPTER 1\\ 



The Great Idea. 



Cornelius, with heavily-burdened mind, strolled out 

 alone on to the Embankment. Revolving over in his 

 mind the various proposals, he noted that there was 

 one peculiar feature which happened to be common to 

 nearly all of them, which was that they had as their 

 main requirement a large plot of land centrally situated 

 in London. This was all very well, but the place was 

 altogether too crowded as it was. Cornelius was sad, 

 sad because he was baffled. Vet he felt confidence in 

 himself. Past experience told him that expedients and 

 remedies always came eventually to his ever-ready 

 brain; so he lived in hope. He sauntered on along the 

 broad Embankment with its plane trees and dolphin 

 lamps. Many a miserable creature did he pass, skulk- 

 ing along or huddled on a seat. These people did not 

 possess such confidence as his. It is true they found 

 bread was wanting, and lived in hopes of its coming 

 spontaneously to their mouths, rather than that ideas 

 should come to their minds. They thought of present 

 wants, Cornelius only looked to the future. With 

 prospects of impending happiness and plenty we can 

 easily struggle through troubles and hard times, but 

 when there are no prospects, what is one to do? " Turn 

 your mind over," mused Cornelius, " plough it up like 

 a cornfield, put in the seeds, the ideas, the data, and 

 a crop will surely grow." Well, what were the seeds 

 to l>e? What was required? If only an acre of City 

 land could drop down from heaven and plant itself in 

 its proper place, then all would be well, that is, if 

 Cornelius owned it. He wandered on towards that 

 great beacon shining in the sky; that outward and 

 visible sign of the inward and spiritual brain of the 

 Empire, the Clock Tower at Westminster. Here he 

 met the busy, hurrying stream of transpontines making 

 their way homeward, and, carried as it were by the 

 stream, he, too, moved on to the great wide bridge. 

 Possibly because his mind was absorbed, his instmct 

 was leading him to his late home. At the centre of 

 the bridge he stopped and paused to gaze upon the 

 sight presented looking down the river towards the 

 City. The thousands of lights of all colours ! The 

 gas lamps, the blue electric lights, the red and green 

 railway lamps, the lurid glow of the illuminated streets 

 beyond, and then their reflections in the great black, 

 surging stream below. How weird that looked ! How 

 many people at the lowest depths of despair had there 

 gazed and then thrown their vile bodies into the muddy 

 swirl to end for ever their earthly miseries ! Cornelius 

 thought of this. Had he, too, come to that pass? 

 Should he, too, find his death in the gloomy depths, or 

 could he there find the first shooting blade for his 

 mental cornfield? " .Ah ! " he thought as he surveyed 

 that silent, vast expanse of emptiness devoid of people 

 or traffic, surrounded by crowded houses, yet itself 

 nothing but expanse, a layer of waters stretching so 

 far away to the distant lights lining the south bank, 

 "If that were onjy dry land ! " 



The seed has sprouted ! The merest speck of green, 

 but there was a speck, and might that not become a 

 blade? " Only luridf " Could it not be utilised as 

 such? Could it not he made land? Here he was 

 standing on solid enough ground with the water flow- 

 ing beneath him. Could it not all be bridged over and 

 houses built on the bridge, even as they were in the 

 days of ancient London Bridge? The river would then 

 be but a huge sewer. What size of pipes would it re- 

 quire to carry that great flow of water? But then, 

 might not the pipes be distributed about under the 



great City; or could not an enormous tunnel be con- 

 structed, deep down, below the level of the " twopenny 

 tubes"? Really, there seemed promise in all this. 

 The Thames, caged and tamed, and made to go where 

 man may will ! Then why not divert its course, lead 

 it out into the country, and leave all that great area of 

 City property dry, and available for building? 

 Cornelius fairly gasped. It was a huge idea that had 

 struck his brain. .'\n idea that must be at once care- 

 fully fostered and matured. 



For some time he remained leaning on the parapet 

 deeply engrossed in his thoughts, oblivious to the 

 human stream that flowed steadily past him. Then 

 suddenly he stood up and looked around. " Yes," he 

 said, almost audibly, " it will be the biggest thing ever 

 heard of. My fortune is made." Then, after eyeing 

 carefully first one end, then the other of the bridge, he 

 briskly walked back, and having aligned himself with 

 the Embankment wall, started to carefullv pace the 

 length of the bridge. " Over 300 yards ! Then every 

 fifteen yards of river will give us nearly an acre of 

 ground. ^^ hy, there must be fully 300 acres between 

 this and the Tower ! Here is a site for Singman's 

 Emporium, for KitzEdmund's Theatre, and for all the 

 others put together. I can take on the whole lot, come 

 what mav. I'll write to them all tcS-morrow, and say 

 I can arrange for suitable sites ;/ they will nav me 

 price and not require immediate possession." 



But what was to be the price? It would require a 

 big calculation. L'ndoubtedly the most practicable 

 scheme was that of deviating the course of the river to 

 flow through country fields instead of among crowded 

 houses. There would then be a huge canal to con- 

 struct. But though, perhaps, wider, it need not be 

 one-tenth the length of the Suez Canal, and, probably, 

 not so deep, unless, indeed, it were ft)und desirable to 

 make a s/i//> canal right round London. The land over 

 which the deviation must be cut would have to l>e 

 bought. This would require a large sum, since it would 

 involve the purchase of much house property. .'\nd 

 whereabouts was it to be? Which would be the best 

 course for the new river to flow to the sea ? Where 

 was the lowest lying country, or what would be the 

 size of cuttings through the hills? 



Then what was to be done with the reclaimed land, 

 which would be wide enough for, perhaps, four parallel 

 streets? The bed of the river could be filled in, to 

 b me extent at least, with tiie earth got from tiie cuttings. 



There is, too, the river traffic to be considered. All 

 those barges and steamers must go somewhere, else 

 enormous compensation would be demanded. But they 

 don't take up all the river, .'ind a narrow portion could 

 be left as a canal for the water-borne trade of London, 

 while communication between the upper and lower 

 reaches of the river could be continued on the de\iation. 



Railways, drains, electric wires, and such like rould 

 be laid along the bed of the river and built over. 



Yes, all this would truly require enormous funds, still 

 it had its merits, and a good thing can alwavs be run 

 if it is properly worked. The capital is there, some- 

 where. It only needs to be got hold of. 



ICvidently the way to set about it is to form a huge 

 company. .Advertise enough, make the most f)f all the 

 various advantages to be gained, anti all the different 

 ways in which money is to be made out of it (,ind men- 

 tion none of the dilTirultics or possibilities of failure), 

 and the capital will be forthcoming. 



Thus did Cf)rnelius conceive his crop sprouting up, 

 and visions of the h;irvost he would some day reap 

 hauntf-rl him throughout the night. 

 fTo be continued. ) 



