I have thus endeavoured to give, in the foregoing narrative, an account of my professional and private life as near as my memory would serve. I have not had a single date, or note-book, or journal to refer to; so that many inaccuracies may have occurred, particularly with regard to the dates, although the facts and circumstances are, I believe, pretty fairly narrated.

In my professional career I consider that I have executed the following works:

I. London Bridge. This was designed by my father, as far as the general outline and proportions, but he did not live long enough to design any details, such as the depth of the arch-stones and those of the inverted arches between the main arches, or the adjustment of them, so that the whole might be placed in a perfect state of equilibrium, not only as regards the individual arches, but also with each other; neither was the width of the foundations of the piers and abutments given, nor the extent of piling necessary, the cornice and parapets, stairs, pilasters of the piers and abutments, the construction of the cofferdams and centres; the specification as to what materials should be used, and how they were to be put together; the approaches to the bridge on both sides, or how they were to be designed and put together; all these had to be worked out and executed by myself. It is true that my brother George gave me his advice when I required it, but still I was the sole engineer, and the whole responsibility rested with myself. The execution of these works was rendered much more difficult than intended by my father, for at his death the site was that of the old bridge. But the Committee of the Corporation of London insisted that the new bridge should be built immediately above the old one, the latter to be left standing during the construction of the new bridge. I was therefore obliged to build it in the deep hole above the old bridge, which was from 25 to 30 feet below the level of low-water mark of spring tides.

II. The completion of the great works of Sheerness Dockyard. These, as I have said, had been wholly designed by my father upon an entirely original and novel plan of hollow walls, which he first carried into effect at Great Grimsby Docks, in the year 1786. These walls, though composed of a mass of materials of the same weight as ordinary dock walls, were distributed over a wider area, and pressed less heavily upon that surface in proportion to their extent, and therefore the soft, sandy foundation upon which they were built was able to bear them without yielding; the increased friction also produced by the increased surface of their base enabled them to withstand with greater effect the lateral pressure of the earth behind them; thus a double object was gained, namely, security against both vertical and lateral pressure.

When my father died, on the 4th of October 1821, the northern half of the new dockyard, including the sea wall, the great basin, the three large dry docks at the west end, and the mast ponds and locks, had been nearly completed; so that it only remained to fix iron gates for the dry docks and those of the mast and boat ponds, which had been already designed and ordered, and were put into their places under my direction. This portion of the dockyard, although comprising the most extensive and costly part, was not the most difficult. The most arduous task still remained, namely, the construction of the northern portion. Here was the greatest depth of water, varying from 25 to 30 feet at low water of spring tides, the worst foundation, and the situation was much exposed to northerly and easterly winds. These obstacles were felt so strongly by my father, that he originally contemplated carrying out the works by means of the diving bell; but as so much experience had already been obtained by the employment of cofferdams in similar constructions, where they had been very successful, it became a question for my serious consideration whether it would not be better to use cofferdams for the northern portion of the dockyard, instead of employing the diving bell, which would necessarily require much more time. After consulting with the enterprising contractors, Messrs. Jolliffe, Banks, and Nicholson, who had completed the works already made, and Mr. John Thomas, the experienced resident engineer, we came to the unanimous conclusion that it was perfectly practicable to construct the remainder of the works by means of cofferdams; and although it would be rather more expensive, nevertheless they could be done much better and far more speedily than by the diving bell; and, indeed, they told me that my father had expressed the same opinion before he died; and that there was little doubt but that if he had lived he would have recommended cofferdams instead of the diving bell. I consulted my brother George upon the subject, and he was of the same opinion. We resolved to recommend that the remainder of the works should be completed by cofferdams, and the Admiralty approved of our recommendation. Messrs. Jolliffe, Banks, and Nicholson therefore undertook the contract for these works at the sum of 845,000l., and gave ample security; and they were most successfully finished for the sum of 854,000l. in round numbers, or at about 9000l. beyond the contract price, our estimate being nearly 900,000l.; so that they were actually completed for about 45,000l. below our estimate, and fully three years sooner than they would have been if the diving bell had been used. Of course the real merit of these works is due to my father; but I claim some credit for having successfully carried them into effect, for if any failure had taken place—and there was very great difficulty and risk—I should have been blamed for it, and probably been ruined at the outset of my career, as the whole responsibility rested with me; my brother never went near them.

III. I finished the Chatham dry docks, commenced by my father, at the cost of 100,000l. In these there was nothing remarkable; after those of Sheerness they were much less difficult, although of a somewhat similar kind.

IV. The next great work was the finishing of the great breakwater in Plymouth Sound. The chief merit I claim for this is in adding the benching or berm on the outside, at the base of the sea slope, which breaks the sea before it reaches the slope and prevents it from acting injuriously upon it. I also claim a certain portion of the credit for arranging and executing the paving of the upper surface, and the dovetailed masonry of the two ends of the breakwater.

V. The design and execution of the Royal William Victualling Establishment, at Stonehouse, near Devonport, I claim entirely as my own, with the exception of the machinery, for which my brother George is entitled to an equal share of credit with myself. This establishment, including the cost of the land, amounted, I believe, to between 600,000l. and 700,000l.

VI. The great basin, two building slips for first-rates, mast slip, and the river wall in front, at the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich, costing 340,000l.

VII. In company with Mr. Joseph Whidby, Mr. Walker, and Captain Fullerton, of the Trinity House, I made a report for removing the bar, by means of dredging, at the entrance of Portsmouth harbour, upon which there was only 13 feet at low water of spring tides, which we estimated at 55,000l.; and it is singular that this important work was never carried into effect until many years afterwards, when it proved to be completely successful as far as it went. The bar was lowered 5 or 6 feet, and it might be lowered 8 or 10 feet more, so as to enable the largest class of vessels to enter and depart at low water of spring tides, which would be of the greatest possible advantage to the public service; and although the Admiralty have not carried the dredging far enough, still there is now 18 feet at low water of spring tides, which enables the largest class of vessels to pass the bar at half tide, instead of only at high water as before. This fully proves the value and correctness of our joint report; it only now requires that our recommendation should be carried further, and there can be little doubt that it will be successful. This great national harbour will be rendered accessible at low water, and it ought to be, particularly after the enormous sums that have been expended upon it, for unless the depth over the bar is increased all improvements will be comparatively valueless. Mr. Murray and myself wrote a joint report to the Admiralty, recommending that, in order to assist the dredging operations over the bar, a sluice should be erected across the entrance to Langston harbour, with the gates or doors of the sluice pointing inwards, so that at high water they might be shut, and all the water, or so much of it as might be required, should be sent through Portsmouth harbour at ebb tide, to assist in scouring down the bar. Of course, in order to render these works effective, it would be necessary to enlarge the connecting channel between Portsmouth and Langston harbour, so that all the Langston tidal water should flow out through Portsmouth during the time of ebb.

The Admiralty up to the present time have not adopted this report. They must, however, in order to preserve the requisite depth over Portsmouth bar, do either the one or the other, or both; that is to say, they must increase the dredging operations, or send more tidal water over it, and the latter can only be obtained from Langston; as this harbour is of little commercial value, supposing that any partial silting up should take place, the depth could be restored by dredging; but if both the dredging of Portsmouth bar and the additional quantity of tidal water from Langston harbour should be resorted to, the bar might be kept down to the depth required, and Langston would not be injured. If these two operations are skilfully conducted, so as mutually to assist each other, the result will be successful, and this success is the more necessary, in consequence of the quantity of land which is now being reclaimed from Portsmouth harbour for the new works.

VIII. The great flour mills and biscuit machinery at the Clarence Victualling Yard, Portsmouth, were designed and executed by my brother George and myself. The idea of the bread apparatus was proposed by M. Grout, and worked out by ourselves. The great flour and biscuit mills at Deptford were also designed and executed by my brother and myself.

IX. The Thames Tunnel shield; the rolling machinery of the Bombay, the Calcutta, and the Mexican mints; the machinery at Constantinople for manufacturing small arms; numerous locomotive engines and tenders for different railways, amongst them the ‘Satellite,’ for the Brighton Railway, which was one of the first that travelled at the rate of 60 miles an hour. The engines and machinery for several of Her Majesty’s vessels of war, amongst which may be mentioned the ‘Bull Dog,’ the yacht ‘Elfin,’ and others; four iron vessels, engines, and machinery for the Russian Government for the Caspian Sea, the first that were ever placed there; two yachts for the Emperor Nicholas; the ‘Vladimir’ frigate; two large screw vessels of war for the Baltic; three also for the Black Sea; several for the Danube Company; cranes, sugar mills, diving bells, and machinery; gantry cranes for the mahogany roofs of the West India Docks; spinning and all kinds of machinery, from the year 1821 until the year 1852.

X. The first sea-going screw vessel that was constructed, namely, the ‘Archimedes;’ and also the ‘Dwarf,’ 1839, the first screw vessel of war that was introduced into the navy.

XI. I recommended that the use of the Cornish high-pressure condensing system should be introduced into the steam-vessels of the Royal Navy. At that time they were entirely upon the system of Boulton and Watt, when steam was only employed to the extent of 5 lb. pressure upon every square inch. Now it was well known that the intensity of the power of steam increased in a much greater ratio than the additional quantity of fuel required to raise the temperature, so that high-pressure condensed steam was much more economical than low pressure. There was a good deal of prejudice against it, in consequence of the decided objections of Boulton and Watt, and therefore it was not adopted at the time, but by degrees this prejudice has been overcome, and now steam of 25 to 30 lb. is employed in the Royal Navy, with great advantage and economy.

XII. I may also say that I was the means of introducing oscillating engines into the navy. These I believe were invented by a Mr. WittÉ, of Hull, but in consequence of the extreme accuracy required in making them, and some degree of prejudice against the vibratory action of the cylinder, this very valuable invention was laid aside. The able and ingenious Mr. Maudslay took it up, but was dissatisfied with it, and abandoned it. Mr. John Penn, who had a small establishment for making machinery at Greenwich, then adopted it, and commenced manufacturing these engines upon a small scale for the steamboats on the Thames. He improved on the idea, acquiring the greatest experience in constructing the engines, and he was convinced that they could be made upon any scale with equally successful results. It happened about this time that the Admiralty required new engines of greater power for their official yacht, the ‘Black Eagle,’ whose speed averaged little more than 8 knots an hour, and they applied to Boulton and Watt, who had made the old engines for the ‘Black Eagle.’ They said they could easily make more powerful engines, but that these would necessarily be heavier, and sink the vessel lower in the water, when the resistance would be so much increased that very little additional speed would be gained, and therefore it would be better to have an entirely new vessel. The Admiralty did not wish to incur the expense, and the matter was likely to fall to the ground. Penn heard of this, and, quite uninvited, sent in a tender to make new engines for the ‘Black Eagle,’ double the power of the old ones, of the same weight, and occupying the same space, for a sum, not, I think, exceeding the cost of engines of the same power on the old method. He further offered, if the Admiralty officers were not satisfied, to take them out, and replace the old engines at his own expense. I happened to be present upon other business with the Comptroller of the Navy, Sir Thomas Byam Martin, when Penn’s tender was sent in, and after reading it he threw it to me, and said, “Rennie, what do you think of that; should I accept it or not?” I read Penn’s tender carefully, and knowing something about the oscillating engine, and having a good opinion of it, I said I thought he should accept it. “Then,” said he, “I will do so, and if it turns out badly you shall have the blame.” “Very well,” I replied, “if it turns out badly I will take the blame.” Penn’s offer was accordingly accepted. The engines were made and fixed on board; all the conditions of the tender were fully complied with, and the Admiralty were perfectly satisfied with their bargain. From that time forward Penn became one of the chief manufacturers of the Admiralty engines, and has continued to be so up to the present time.

The harbours which I made are described in my work on ‘British and Foreign Harbours’; they were a portion of Kingstown, in Dublin Bay; Donaghadee, Port Patrick, Port Rush, Warkworth, Sunderland, East Hartlepool, Whitehaven; nearly rebuilding Ramsgate harbour; Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. I designed harbours for Oporto; the Mattozenhas; Viana, Aveiro, Figuera, and St. Ubes, for the Portuguese Government; also for Douglas, Castleton, Peel, Ramsey, and Laxey, in the Isle of Man, for the local authorities; and Redoubt KalÉ, in the Black Sea, for the Russian Government.

XIII. London Bridge; Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and Staines Bridges, besides finishing those at Crammond and New Galloway, designed by my father.

I laid out and carried through Parliament the Brighton Railway and the Black wall Railway, in 1838; also the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, in conjunction with my brother George, in 1827. In 1838 I designed the Central Kent Railway, which, by passing through the centre of the county, connected all the leading towns on the main line, besides reducing the distance between the metropolis, Dover, and Folkestone to the minimum.

I also projected a line for the Great Northern in the years 1844-45, which was admitted to be the best and shortest line; but it unfortunately failed in consequence of the late Mr. Francis Giles not having completed the parliamentary surveys. I laid down a railway between Leeds and Carlisle, that would have materially shortened the distance between the important manufacturing town of Leeds, Carlisle, Glasgow, and the north of Scotland; a line between Leeds and Bradford, and another between York and Scarborough. Another, called the North Wales Railway, between Bangor and Port Dyllaen, where I designed a capacious harbour and docks, that would have been of the greatest advantage to Liverpool, avoiding the dangerous navigation between that place and Port Dyllaen, and affording an excellent point of departure for Ireland. I also made a design for a new port for Holyhead, upon the principles laid down by my father, that would have answered the purpose far better, and have saved in a great measure the expense that has been incurred by the present ill-contrived harbour, and which has not answered the object intended.

In company with my friend Mr. George Remington, I designed the direct London and Manchester Railway in the years 1844-45; this line would have reduced the distance between London and Manchester to 176 miles, besides affording railway communication to a number of the intermediate towns, such as Bradford, Burton, Leicester, Congleton, and other places that had not hitherto received the benefit of direct railway accommodation. This line was pronounced by the Board of Trade to be the most important and best laid down line that had been brought before Parliament, and was strongly recommended by them; and it would have been carried, but unfortunately there was another competing line by Mr. Rastrick, that was ultimately abandoned by its promoters, who, before doing so, united with us; but in doing this the reference books containing the names of the owners and occupiers along both lines became mixed, and the result was, that seven miles of the reference of the competing line was substituted for seven miles of our line, and vice versÂ. This was fatal, and the Bill was consequently lost; and this valuable line, almost the best of any in England, could never be resuscitated. The North-Western Railway, thinking that they were safe from all competition, declined taking up the line, though their interest imperatively called upon them to do so, and further, would not unite with nor buy up the Midland from Leeds to Rugby. The Midland Company then determined to make an independent line to London, and took the identical course laid down by Remington and myself. They have become a very formidable rival to the North-Western, and this is precisely a similar case to that between the South-Eastern and the London, Chatham, and Dover Companies. If the South-Eastern Company had only adopted my Central Kent line, which was laid down in 1838, before they had commenced their present line—and they promised to do so—the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway would never have been made, and the county of Kent would have been better served, many millions would have been saved, and many thousand unfortunate shareholders would have avoided ruin.

I laid down lines for the kingdoms of Sweden and Portugal, which have been more or less adopted, and projected a line from Odessa to Moscow. Also the London, Brighton, and South Coast as far as Salisbury, and from thence to Warminster, which has since been adopted. A line from London to Birmingham, Leeds, and Carlisle; Leeds and Bradford; Dumfries and Port Patrick; Newry and Enniskillen, in Ireland; Bangor to Port Dyllaen, North Wales; Cannock Chase line, in Staffordshire, through an undeveloped coal district, another of my lines which has since been carried into effect. The East Lincoln, from Lynn to Great Grimsby; the direct London and Norwich, from Bishop’s Stortford to Thetford, which would have shortened the distance between London and Norwich and Yarmouth. All these lines were laid upon the direct principle, that is, taking the shortest distance that the nature of the intervening country would permit between the two termini; this principle is now proved to be the correct one, and if it had only been acted upon before, we may readily conceive the vast amount of capital which would have been saved, while the counties through which railways have been made would have received a much greater benefit; whereas, by the system which has hitherto been adopted, a great number of unnecessary lines have been constructed, and a constant competition and rivalry have taken place between the different companies, and now, with reduced dividends and increased charges, they find out their error, when it is too late to be remedied.

Another most important error has been committed by a too narrow gauge having been adopted. My brother and myself, when we carried the Bill for the Manchester and Liverpool through Parliament, in the year 1826—and this may be considered almost the very commencement of the railway system—after investigating the width between all the various carriage wheels, whether for goods or passengers, we decided that the width of gauge from centre to centre of the rails should be 5 feet 6 inches or 6 feet. When Mr. George Stephenson became the engineer for executing the line, he decided that the gauge should be only 4 feet 8½ inches from centre to centre of the railway, for no other reason than that the gauge between the old colliery rails was 4 feet 8½ inches; hence arose all the subsequent difficulties. It was quite clear that 4 feet 8½ inches was too narrow. Brunel, seizing on this mistake, proposed at once to make the gauge 7 feet from centre to centre of the rails for the Great Western Railway. This was as evidently too much as Stephenson’s was too little. The power of a locomotive engine is in proportion to its weight, and the greater the weight the greater the power, acting as it does by its adhesion to the rails; and to increase the power of an engine upon the narrow gauge could only be done with safety by increasing its length; for if it be done by increasing the height, the centre of gravity would be raised also, and the motion of the engine would be rendered unsteady; and by increasing the length the engine would be less adapted for going round sharp curves. Now in the ordinary traffic of goods, such as coals, &c., extraordinary velocity was not required, and therefore the width of the gauge was not of so much consequence, but when it came to carrying passengers the case was wholly altered. Latterly the coaches and mails had travelled at the rate of 10 and 12 miles an hour, whereas goods were seldom carried at the rate of more than 3 miles an hour. If passengers were to travel by railway it would not be less than 12 miles an hour, and therefore it was at length necessary to provide for this velocity, and more; otherwise, as there was a certain prejudice on the outset against railway travelling, the latter could not expect to have the preference. But when it was ascertained, as it was at the trial of engines upon the Rainhill plane of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, that the imperfect locomotives of that day could go at the rate of 30 miles an hour, the whole case was changed; the carriage of goods, which at first was most important, gave way to that of carrying passengers, and it was evident that the whole system of locomotion, whether of goods or passengers, must be absorbed by railways. It was therefore more especially necessary that the question of the gauge should be most carefully considered. I may be answered, certainly, that the improved locomotive engines upon the narrow gauge realize a speed of 50 to 60 miles an hour, and this is fast enough for anything; but then this cannot be done without incurring greater risk than upon a broader gauge. The Great Western realize a speed of 45 miles an hour without the least risk, i.e. including stoppages, whereas the narrow gauge does not do more than 35 to 37 miles an hour, and that probably with a greater wear and tear of the rails. A medium therefore between the two gauges, that is 5 feet 6 inches or 6 feet, instead of 4 feet 8½ inches or 7 feet, appeared to my brother and self the proper gauge; and if such had been adopted we should never have heard of the 7-feet gauge, and the 5 feet 6 inches or 6-feet gauge would have been universally adopted, to the great advantage of all.

Before leaving railways, it may be proper to say something about the atmospheric system. When an experiment was made on a large scale and succeeded very well, it was subsequently reduced to practice upon the Dublin and Bray Railway, between Kingstown and Dalkey, a length of about 3 miles. Here it succeeded perfectly; the steepest incline was completely mastered, and the smoothness and luxury of travelling were unequalled. Brunel afterwards took it up, and employed it upon the South Devon Railway. There it succeeded also perfectly as far as speed and luxury of travelling were concerned. The difficulty however of making the valve in the exhausting tube was so great that it was ultimately abandoned, after having incurred great expense, and the locomotive system was again resorted to. The Croydon Railway also adopted it, but gave it up for the same reason as the South Devon. My brother and myself were much taken with this system, and made several of the steam engines for it, that answered their purpose perfectly, and we thought that by a little more perseverance in it, the difficulties complained of might have been overcome, but the proprietors would not listen either to Brunel or ourselves. The Stephensons made a dead set against it, and, taking the facts at the time, perhaps they were right; but it is very rarely that a new invention succeeds at the first or second trial: it requires time to ascertain the defects, and to study more minutely the remedy, and, after a little while, the cure for the evil is found out. I should not be surprised if ultimately the atmospheric system comes to life again: indeed, the very strongest opponents of it have already adopted it in London, with certain modifications, for conveying the mail bags in London from the General Post Office to some of the railway stations, with considerable success, and Mr. Rammell made an experimental line of this kind at the Crystal Palace. The defects in the original lines were principally those of workmanship, and can be remedied by degrees, as is always the case whenever a principle is sound, for it only requires perseverance to achieve ultimate success.

XIV. Drainage of lowlands upon a large scale I have carried into effect in several instances already described. The completion of the Eau Brink Cut, the designing and making the Norfolk Estuary Cut below Lynn, and the Marshland works, by means of which from 350,000 to 400,000 acres of land are drained; the Nene Estuary Cut, by which about 150,000 acres of land are drained; the improvement of the Witham between Boston and the sea, by which the drainage of about 250,000 acres has been materially improved; the Ancholme drainage, by which 50,000 acres of lowlands have been well drained; altogether amounting to between 800,000 and 900,000 acres.

XV. I may also say that I have embanked from the estuaries of the Ouse, the Nene, and the Witham, about 6000 acres of fen land, which is now more or less under cultivation. I have also laid down a plan, at present being carried into effect, by which 32,000 additional acres will be embanked from the estuaries of the Ouse and Nene; and another plan for embanking 45,000 acres from the estuaries of the Welland and Witham; indeed, my original plan of 1837 was for embanking from 150,000 to 200,000 acres of land from the estuaries of the Ouse, Nene, Welland, and Witham, and the Great Wash; and I have no doubt that in time this will be effected, and another large and most valuable county—all rich agricultural land—will be added to the kingdom. I also obtained an Act for embanking 32,000 acres from the north side of the estuary of the Thames, near Shoeburyness. I believe that, in addition to this, three times the amount may be taken from this and other parts of the Thames estuary. Let to these be added the lands which may be saved from the estuaries of the Humber, the Forth, the Tay, the Clyde, the Solway, Morecambe Bay, and the Mersey, altogether from 500,000 to 600,000 acres of land may be reclaimed, or three large new counties may be added to the kingdom, capable of producing annually an additional supply of 3,500,000 quarters of corn, which, at 3l. per quarter, would, after deducting 20s. per quarter for the cost of production, add a revenue of about 6,000,000l. a year to the country. A great deal may be done in this way also in Ireland. We should, however, deduct a million a year for the first fifteen years to cover the cost of embankment. The clear annual gain would be 5,000,000l. a year to the country; or, putting it in another light, the land so acquired would maintain an additional number of inhabitants. Besides this, large tracts of lowlands adjacent to these estuaries might be greatly improved in their drainage, in connection with the reclamation works, which would add considerably to their produce.

The execution of all these works, besides draining the quantity of land I have stated, and more than doubling its value, has also very greatly improved the navigation.

I also extended the Newry Ship Canal nearly two miles, which has a depth of 16 to 18 feet, and is 130 feet wide, with an entrance lock 50 feet wide. I deepened the old canal to Newry, so that large vessels, drawing nearly 16 to 17 feet, can come up to the town.

XVI. Soon after my father’s death, in 1821, when I may be said to have entered my professional career upon my own account, I began to consider the water question; that is to say, the best mode of economizing water, so that those districts where it might be most required could be supplied, as far as the physical geography of those places would render it practicable. Generally speaking, there falls a certain quantity of rain in every district during the year, and this, with more or less regularity, at particular seasons and times. In some places the rain is periodical, and falls in the course of three or four consecutive months; in other countries it falls at different times, principally, however, in the winter and autumn months. Now after the periodical rain is over, the whole country is deprived of water throughout the remainder, or about three-fourths, of the year. The remedy for this is to construct reservoirs in the most convenient places, upon such a scale as the wants of the country may require; in these reservoirs the surplus waters should be stored during the periodical rains, to serve as a supply in the dry season, not only for domestic purposes, but for irrigation, navigation, &c.; the reservoirs should, in some cases, be covered, and in others open, even to the extent of making them large lakes. They should be provided with proper sluices and culverts, open or covered, as may be required, and best adapted for distributing the water in the most beneficial manner.

Having obtained a sufficient supply, the next point to be attended to is, to take care that the water shall not be polluted: in order to effect this, in all thickly-peopled districts the sewage should not be discharged into the river or watercourses, but into separate, isolated, and well-ventilated tanks, and then be deodorized by mixing it with earth, or subjecting it to any well-known process for this purpose, and the refuse should be distributed for manure; thus the sewage, instead of being a nuisance, will become valuable for agricultural purposes.

By these means, regulated according to the particular circumstances of each case, the whole question, viz. economy of water, which is so very important in every respect, is solved. I have long endeavoured to make it clearly understood, but in England we are slow to move in a new direction. The enemy must be at our doors before we are prepared to meet him, and then we begin in earnest. Such has been the case with the water question: we carried drainage almost to the utmost extent, so that the rainwater was discharged into the adjacent watercourses and rivers with the greatest rapidity and was carried off to sea, and we thought not a moment that the day would come when we should want it. The universal cry was, “Only get rid of the water, and all will go on well.” At the same time all the sewage matter was discharged into the watercourses, the cry being, “Only get rid of the sewage, and our cities and towns will be healthy, and we shall hear no more of it;” little thinking that the streams would be polluted, and that water when most wanted would not be forthcoming, and that even the moderate quantity that could be obtained would be unfit for domestic purposes. The Thames and all the great rivers and streams were converted into common sewers, threatening to spread pestilence around them. The water that was to be obtained for domestic purposes was polluted to such an extent, that the malaria caused by the foul state of the watercourses was increased by drinking the contaminated water that we fondly expected we had got rid of. At last the public opened their eyes, and asked how all this had arisen; then commissioners of all kinds were appointed by the Government to investigate these important questions; and what is the result? Precisely that which I mentioned years ago, namely, 1. That means must be established for economizing water and for affording an ample supply at all times. 2. That all sewage matter must be diverted or be prevented from being discharged into the watercourses. 3. That as far as practicable the sewage matter must be utilized for manuring the land. All these three propositions, which constitute the whole elements of these important questions, are now being carried into effect by Acts of Parliament; better late than never, for if these terrible evils had been allowed to exist much longer the consequences would have been most fatal.

About four years ago I wrote two letters to ‘The Times,’ which were printed in that journal, embodying my views upon this subject in a detailed manner, according to the principles above described. I am extremely glad that at the eleventh hour the subject is beginning to be thoroughly understood, and it is to be hoped that now the proper remedy will be employed; it is contained in the principles that I have recommended for the last forty years. I may not perhaps claim the merit of the whole; but this I must say in justice to myself, that I have contributed in some degree to direct attention to the subject, and I most sincerely trust that, having been made conscious of its importance, the public will not be content until the question has been thoroughly sifted, and the evils complained of successfully remedied. Up to the present time neither compensating reservoirs for the due supply of water during the dry seasons have been made, nor, with a few solitary exceptions, has the sewage been excluded from the rivers, nor have the watercourses been properly improved so as to prevent inundations of the adjacent lowlands. In fact, the authorities have only just begun to get an idea of what is required to obtain an ample supply of good water; but the more they investigate the subject, the more they will find that only upon a right understanding of the principles above recommended can this supply be procured. Sewage matter has now been recognized as a fertilizing agent, and the only points undecided with regard to it are the best modes of deodorization, so as not to injure its manuring value, and the most suitable method of applying it to the land, whether in a liquid or in a solid state.

With regard to water for domestic use, considerable progress has been made: the water is conducted into covered reservoirs, where it is excluded from the action of the atmosphere; it is also filtered, so that all the alluvial and tangible vegetable matters are excluded; and the best method of separating from it those injurious ingredients with which it is chemically combined has made great progress. These, no doubt, are considerable advantages gained, but unless the means of obtaining an ample supply be used, the other advantages will be comparatively of little service. It is true they will be valuable as far as they go, but if there be a deficient supply of water, there will remain a great deal to be remedied, therefore it will be necessary to secure an ample supply by means of open reservoirs.