LONDON

ART. I.-1. Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1836 to 1842. 3 vols. 4to., Plates, 1842.

2. Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1837 to 1857. 8vo., Plates. Edited by Charles Manby, F.R.S., C.E., Secretary of the Institution. 8. Account of the Formation of the Railway over Chat Moss, 1826-30. By John Dixon, C.E. (MS.)

THE traveller by railway sees comparatively little of the formidable character of the works along which he is carried. His object is merely to pass over a given space in the shortest time and with the greatest comfort. He scarcely bestows a thought upon the amount of hard work that has been done, the anxieties that have been borne, the skill and contrivance that have been exercised, and the difficulties that have been overcome, in providing for him a smooth road through the country, across valleys, under hills, upon bogs, over rivers, or even arms of the sea. Yet for boldness of design, science of construction, and successful completion, the gigantic engineering works executed in connexion with our railways greatly surpass, in point of magnitude as well as utility, those of any former age; and it will not, we believe, be without interest if we pass rapidly in review a few of the more remarkable difficulties with which the engineers of our day have found it necessary to grapple.

It is a remarkable proof of the practical ability of the English people, that the greatest engineering works of the last century have been designed and executed for the most part by self-educated men. Down

to quite a recent date, there was no college or school for engineers in this country; and some of the most eminent practitioners had not even the benefit of ordinary dayschool instruction. Brindley was first a day-labourer, afterwards a working millwright; Telford, a working mason; John Rennie, a farmer's son apprenticed to a millwright; George Stephenson, a brakesman and engineman. Probably no training would have made them greater than they were. Endowed with abundant genius and perseverance, their best education was habitual encounter with difficulties.

It is also worthy of note, that although the English have latterly eclipsed all other nations in engineering, it was the last of the practical sciences to which they applied themselves. Down to the middle of last century, England had not produced a single engineer of note; and we depended for our engineering, even more than we did for our pictures and our music, upon foreigners. Great Britain had then indeed made small progress in material industry compared with continental nations. There was little demand for engineering works of any kind; and when any project of importance was set on foot, it was found necessary to call to our aid some distinguished Dutchman or Frenchman. Thus, the first engine set up in England for supplying houses with water through leaden pipes, was erected on the Thames at London Bridge, by Peter Morris, a Dutchman; and when the embankment of the Great Bedford Level was determined on, Cornelius Vermuyden, another Dutch engineer, was employed to conduct the works. The first extensive bridge erected in Eng