214 



NATURE 



I7u/y 8, 1880 



bridge to twenty-five miles per hour, much higher speed 

 being frequently run; that while of opinion that the fall of 

 the bridge was occasioned by the yielding of the cross 

 bracing and fastenings, it might possibly have been due 

 to the fracture of one of the outward leeward columns. 



Col. Yolland and Mr. Barlow conclude by stating "that 

 there is no requirement issued by the Board of Trade 

 respecting wind pressure, and there does not appear to be 

 any understood rule in the engineering profession regard- 

 ing wind pressure in railway structures ; and we therefore 

 recommend that the Board of Trade should take such 

 steps as may be necessary for the establishment of rules 

 for that purpose." 



Mr. Rothery, in his independent report, while stating 

 that there is an entire agreement between himself and his 

 colleagues in the conclusions arrived at from the evidence, 

 goes further than them, and unhesitatingly apportions the 

 blame among the different parties concerned. On the 

 recommendation that the Board of Trade should establish 

 rules providing for wind pressure, he differs from his 

 colleagues, emphatically stating that it is for the engineer- 

 ing profession to make them, and evidently regards the 

 superficial character of an official inspection as no great evil. 

 Where French engineers have long adopted 270 kilo- 

 grammes per square metre, and many English engineers, 

 on the authority of Rankine, the equivalent 55 lbs. per 

 square foot, while nearly the same figure is used in 

 America, it seems strange that so much difference of 

 opinion should be found to exist ; but one thing at least 

 is certain, that the instruments at present in use for 

 measuring wind pressure are exceedingly crude and liable 

 to error, and that until these are improved and much 

 increased in number there is little chance of being on 

 the spot when these excessive pressures occur, or of 

 truthfully recording them when met with. 



Respecting the transfer of these responsibilities to a 

 Government Department, we believe that such apron- 

 string policy would be fatal to the profession of the civil 

 engineer ; we would rather see the Board of Trade In- 

 spection, which at least is formal and superficial, rela.xed 

 than any attempt made to increase its efficienc)'. The 

 medical profession does not require a fatherly department 

 to watch over its operations or give an opinion on an am- 

 putation ; why then should the engineering profession ? 

 It cannot be too clearly understood that an engineering 

 work cannot be successfully carried out by mere rule of 

 thumb or even by the copious use of " Molesworth " or 

 " Rankine" ; each operation is to some extent a physical 

 experiment subject to known laws, but under variable 

 conditions. The physicist and the engineer have already 

 to a great extent established the laws for him, but it 

 remains for the scientific engineer to carefully watch their 

 operation, and thus gain that practical experience which 

 will enable him to deal with each special case as it arises. 

 The conclusions we draw from the evidence and report 

 • are that the design of the piers was most imperfect, 

 cheapness appearing to be the ruling element in every 

 detail, a cheapness too that must have been completely 

 delusive, as any money saved in first cost would soon, in 

 such a rickety structure, have been swallowed up in main- 

 tenance. At nearly all points an absence of consideration 

 }or small details is most apparent, indicating probably 

 that these were intrusted to some subordinate, who failed 

 to appreciate their importance. 



It is very far from our object in this article to hold up 

 any particular individuals to blame for this disaster, but 

 we should like to point out on whom the responsibility 

 should rest if such a thing should occur again. 



It would be quite impracticable for the Board of Trade 

 to exercise such supervision over the selection of the 

 material and the execution and erection of a large work 

 throughout its progress, as would render its certificate of 

 any value ; we believe, therefore, that the undivided respon- 

 sibility should rest on the engineer. Any dishonesty on 

 the part of the contractor or his workmen, — and we are 

 sorry to believe this still exists in some cases, — could be 

 easily rendered hazardous by legal penalties. 



Doubtless with the keen competition of the present day 

 things must be " cut finer " than they used to be ; but while 

 we would remove any arbitrary restrictions imposed by 

 Government on the judgment of those who ought to be 

 best able to appreciate the particular conditions of their 

 own work, we should be very sorry to see the introduction 

 of flimsy structures or reckless traffic arrangements with- 

 out it being clearly understood on whom the responsibility 

 rested in case of failure. 



CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES 

 Cdin/is II! the Caribbces. The Adventures of a A\itiiralist 

 ill tlie Lessei- AiiiiUes. By F. A. Ober. (Boston, U.S. : 

 Lee and Shepherd ; Edinburgh: Douglas, 1880.) 



THE author of this lively and very entertaining book 

 of travel undertook in 1876 the exploration of the 

 Caribbees or Lesser Antilles, which islands extend over 

 eight degrees of latitude between Porto Rico and Trinidad, 

 connecting the Greater Antilles with the continent of 

 South America. The islands had been hitherto little 

 visited by naturalists, and the author made his expedition 

 under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, with 

 the especial object of collecting the birds of the group. 



Around the borders of each island there is a cleared 

 belt of fertile land, and on the coast often large villages 

 and towns, whilst the interior is one vast forest covering 

 wild hills and mountains. It was in the forests that the 

 author's work lay. He took his camera into the moun. 

 tains with him and photographed everything of interest 

 which he met with, and the book is illustrated by numerous 

 wood engravings of remarkabl)- fine quality taken from 

 the photographs and his sketches. About half the book, 

 which is an octavo of 350 pages, describes adventures 

 in the island of Dominica. Barbuda and Antigua were 

 visited, but are not referred to at length. The account of 

 the islands of St. Vincent, Grenada, Guadeloupe, and 

 Martinique compose the remainder of the work, together 

 with a catalogue of the birds of the group and descrip- 

 tions of the sixteen new species of birds discovered. 



Dominica was so named by Columbus, who happened 

 to hit off the Lesser Antilles on his second voyage, be- 

 cause he sighted the island on a .Sunday, November 3rd, 

 1493. The island is most beautiful. The hills are broken 

 and ragged, seamed, furrowed, and scarred, yet covered 

 with a luxuriant vegetation of every shade of green — 

 purple of mango and cacao, golden of cane and lime^ — 

 whilst the ridges are crowned with palms, and behind 

 Roseau, the capital, rises Lake Mountain, four thousand 

 feet in height, five miles distant from the town, yet seem- 

 ing to overshadow it. 



Mr. Ober started forthwith for the mountains, and 



