374 I'lKH'uSKh KXTKXSIOX <>F THE 1'Aiu'Y. 



bridge, lie replied that he had no plan of it on paper, 

 but he would illustrate it by a model. He went out and 

 bought a large cheese, which he brought into the room 

 and cut into two equal parts, saying, "Here is my 

 model." The two halves of the cheese represented the 

 semicircular arches of his bridge ; and by laying over 

 them some long rectangular object he could thus readily 

 communicate to the committee the position of the river 

 flowing underneath and the canal passing over it. 1 On 

 another occasion, when giving his evidence, he spoke so 

 frequently about "puddling," describing its uses and 

 advantages, that some of the members expressed a desire 

 to know what this extraordinary mixture was that could 

 be applied to so many and important purposes. Pre- 

 ferring a practical illustration to a verbal description, 

 Briiidley caused a mass of clay to be brought into the 

 committee-room, and, moulding it in its raw un tempered 

 state into the form of a trough, he poured into it some 

 water, which speedily ran through and disappeared. 

 He then worked the clay up with water to imitate the 

 process of puddling, and again forming it into a trough, 

 filled it with water, which was now held in wit bout a 

 particle of leakage. " Thus it is," said Brindley, "that 

 I form a water-tight trunk to carry water over rivers 

 and valleys, wherever they cross the path of the canal." 

 On another occasion, when Brindley was giving evi- 

 dence before a committee of the House of Peers as to the 

 lockage of his proposed canal, one of their Lordships 

 asked him, " But what is a lock ? " on which the engineer 

 took a piece of chalk from his pocket and proceeded to 

 explain it by means of a diagram which he drew upon 

 the floor, and made the matter clear at once. 3 



1 Stated by Mr. Hughes, in bis 

 ' Memoir of Brindley,' as having been 

 communicated by James Loch, Msq., 

 M.P., the agent lor the Duke's Trus- 

 tees. 



rs on 



Hughes, C.E. in 'Weale's Papen 

 Civil Engineering. 1 



3 As tin; render ni;iy possibly de- 

 sire information on the snme point. 

 \ve iiiny here hrielly explain the n;i- 



' : 'Memoir of Brindley,' by S. ture of a Canal Lock. It is employed 



