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River Engineering,” and it is now in its third edition. In this 
book he has given the results of his practice in the treatment of 
rivers, and it will long remain the standard work in this difficult 
branch of engineering. In 1877, at the request of the authorities, 
he delivered a course of four lectures on “ Canal and River 
Engineering ” to the students of the School of Military Engineer- 
ing, Chatham. 
During the height of the railway mania, when speculators were 
overwhelming the Admiralty and Woods and Forests with schemes 
too numerous to be dealt with by the officials, Mr Stevenson was 
appointed to hold Courts of Inquiry, under the “Preliminary 
Inquiries Act,” into the merits of a large number of railway and 
harbour projects and water-supply schemes, and in all cases save 
one his views were given effect to by the Authorities and Committees 
of Parliament. This exception was the proposed crossing of the 
Clyde by the Caledonian Railway. He reported that the railway 
might be allowed to cross the Clyde above Stockwell Bridge, but 
the Admiralty refused their sanction. A crossing, however, was 
subsequently applied for, and has been made. 
In 1853 Mr Stevenson succeeded his brother Alan as engineer to 
the Northern Lighthouse Board, and, along with his brother Thomas, 
who was at a subsequent date conjoined with him in the engineership, 
he designed and executed no fewer than twenty-eight beacons and 
thirty lighthouses, three of which — on North Unst, Dhu Heartach, 
and the Chickens Rocks — were works of great difficulty, requiring 
the exercise of great engineering skill. The advice of the firm 
was also taken by the Governments of India, Newfoundland, New 
Zealand, and Japan on lighthouse matters, and schemes for the 
lighting of the whole coasts of the two last countries were matured, 
and are now being carried out. In connection with the lighting of 
the coasts of Japan, where earthquakes are of frequent occurrence, 
Mr Stevenson devised the aseismatic arrangement, to mitigate 
the effect of shocks on the somewhat delicate apparatus used in 
lighthouses, and was awarded the Makdougall-Brisbane Medal of 
the Royal Scottish Society of Arts for his invention. Mr Steven- 
son took a great interest in the introduction of paraffin as an 
illuminant for lighthouses, instead of the more expensive colza oil. 
After experiments conducted at Edinburgh with the Doty burners, 
