RONALDS. 99 



neer. The latter was a mere quicksand 40 feet deep, mixed with 

 mud and the wrecks of old ships ; the whole of which was excavated, 

 and a magnificent basin constructed with a surrounding wall of 

 granite, with which three large and commodious dry docks com- 

 municated. Several magnificent works of great public utility were 

 proposed to the government by Mr. Rennie but never executed. 

 The most remarkable of these is his design for a great naval arsenal 

 on the Thames at Northfleet, intended as a substitute for the im- 

 perfect naval establishments on the river. It was to consist of six 

 capacious basins, with an area of 600 acres within the walls, and to 

 comprehend machinery for every operation connected with the naval 

 science. The estimated cost of this noble plan was eight millions, 

 which might have amounted to ten or eleven millions, but would 

 even then have been a measure of economy compared with the 

 vast sums expended on the old establishments on the Thames and 

 Medway. 



Before closing the present brief account of this celebrated engi- 

 neer's life and works, his lighthouse on the Bell Rock must not be 

 passed by without notice. Like the Eddystone, it was built of 

 stone ; commenced in 1806, and finished in 1811, it still remains an 

 enduring monument of the skill of its architect. 



Until within a few years of his death Mr. Rennie enjoyed robust 

 health, but he was cut off in the sixty-first year of his age after a 

 few days' illness. He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, his re- 

 mains being interred near to those of Sir Christopher Wren. Ency- 

 clopedia Britannica. North British Review, Feb., 1861. Mechanics' 

 Magazine, September 20 and November 22, 1861. 



FRANCIS RONALDS, F.R.S. 



Francis Ronalds was born in London, in the year 1788. From a 

 very early period in life he devoted himself to the advancement of 

 electrical science, a course he has consistently pursued during a 

 large portion of his life, which has not yet we are glad to be able to 

 state drawn to its close. He is the inventor of an electric telegraph, 

 electrical machine, electrometer, a new mode of electrical insulation, 

 a pendulum doubler, an electric clock, several meteorological and 

 magnetical instruments and other mechanical contrivances. The 

 year 1816, however, marked Mr. Ronald's great achievement in the 

 advancement of electric telegraphs. During that year he was the 

 first to demonstrate that they could be practically and unerringly 

 applied to the passage of messages through a long distance. Well 



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