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struction of docks and other marine works. There are, indeed, 
very few rivers and harbours in Scotland with which he was not 
in some way professionally connected. He was also called upon to 
report or to execute works for the improvement of the rivers Dee, 
Lune, Ribble, and Wear in England ; the Erne and Foyle in 
Ireland ; and the Forth, Tay, Ness, Nith, and Clyde in Scotland. 
He designed and executed the works of restoration and enlargement 
of the Fossdyke in Lincolnshire, — the oldest artificial navigation in 
Britain, — the widening and deepening being accomplished without 
stopping the traffic. His advice was also taken on many important 
questions relating to salmon fishings in rivers and estuaries, and in 
his Report of August 1842 on the Dornoch Fishings, he defined 
the different compartments of rivers, according to their physical 
characteristics, as “sea proper,” “tidal,” and “river proper.” The 
views expressed in this report were subsequently treated at 
greater length in “ Remarks on the Improvement of Tidal Rivers,” 
communicated to this Society on 17th March 1845, which paper 
was afterwards published in a separate form by Mr Weale. In this 
paper he stated his views with regard to the special works which 
should be undertaken for the improvement of the different com- 
partments, and he showed conclusively that, if tidal propagation 
were accelerated, difference of level or height of head will be 
lessened and the velocity of the tide currents decreased ; and 
the notion that, by deepening a river and removing obstructions, 
the water in it may be caused to rise higher and to endanger pro- 
perty on its banks, was without foundation. All his subsequent 
experience went to prove that the views expressed more than forty 
years ago were sound. He was also the first to enunciate the true 
theory of the origin of bars at the mouths of rivers, and to point out 
the works necessary for removing them and preventing their re- 
formation. The necessity of having accurate data before designing 
works for the improvement of rivers, estuaries, and harbours led to 
his writing a treatise on the “ Application of Marine Surveying and 
Hydrometry to the Practice of Civil Engineering.” His known 
standing as a marine engineer led his old friend, the late Mr Adam 
Black, to invite him to write the article “ Inland Navigation ” for 
the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. This article was 
republished in 1858 as a separate treatise, entitled “Canal and 
