Chapter VI: Part 6

John Rennie was born at Phantassie, in the parish of Prestonkirk, in the county of East Lothian. His father was a highly respectable farmer, who died in 1766, leaving a widow and nine children, of whom John was the youngest. He acquired the first rudiments of his education at the village school, which was situated on the opposite side of a brook. To cross this at certain seasons of the year it was necessary to make use of a boat, which was kept at the workshop of Andrew Meikle, an ingenious mechanic well known in Scotland as the inventor of the threshing machine. Young Rennie, having thus frequent occasion to pass through Meikle's workshop, became deeply interested in the various mechanical operations that were in progress, and a great part of his leisure and holiday time was spent therein. During the evening he employed himself in imitating the machines which had particularly attracted his attention, and when only ten years old succeeded in constructing a model of a steam-engine, a windmill, and a pile-driving machine. At twelve years of age he left the Preston school and entered the service of Mr. Meikle for a space of two years, at the end of which time, finding that a constant application to manual labour retarded the progress of his intellectual faculties, he determined to place himself under the tuition of Mr. Gibson, an eminent mathematical master at Dunbar. Here Young Rennie attained such proficiency in his studies, that when, two or three years afterwards, Mr. Gibson was appointed master to the public academy at Perth, he was able to undertake the temporary management of the Dunbar school. While at this school he attracted the especial notice of Mr. David Lock, who, in describing a visit to Dunbar, makes particular mention of him as one likely to prove an honour to his country.[29] On leaving Mr. Gibson, Rennie returned to Mr. Meikle, continuing more or less with that ingenious man for the next two or three years.[30] His first essay in practical mechanics was the repairing of a corn mill in his native village, and he erected two or three others before he had reached the age of eighteen. While occupied in these works Rennie took care at the same time to attend to his other studies, managing occasionally to visit Edinburgh, where he entered himself as a student at the University, and attended the lectures of Professors Robison and Black. With the former gentleman he gradually formed an intimate acquaintance, and was by him introduced to Messrs. Boulton and Watt, of Soho, with whom he remained during the space of twelve months; it being their wish to have engaged his services for a longer period, but Rennie, conscious of his own powers, determined to make the capital the theatre of his future efforts. His first practical essay at millwright work in England was the rolling mills at Soho, which were entirely remodelled and rebuilt under his direction.

In 1784 he established himself in London, and commenced work by the erection of the Albion Mills near Blackfriars Bridge, Boulton and Watt, who had the direction of the steam-engines, having, in accordance with the advice of Professors Robison and Black, entrusted to him the execution of the millwork. Mr. Watt, in his notes to Professor Robison's account of the steam-engine, says that "in the construction of the millwork and machinery, they derived most valuable assistance from that able mechanician and engineer, Mr. John Rennie, then just entering into business, who assisted in placing them, and under whose direction they were executed." He also adds that the machinery, which used to be made of wood, was here made of cast iron, and considers that this was the commencement of that system of millwork which has proved so beneficial to this country. After executing this undertaking, Rennie was employed on the flour mills at Wandsworth, and the rolling and triturating mills at the Mint. His mills, and particularly his water wheels, were regarded as models of perfection, while in all hydraulic works he was the worthy successor of Smeaton. From this time until his comparatively early death in 1821, Rennie was constantly employed on various large and splendid undertakings, among which his bridges occupy an important place. Of these structures the finest is the Waterloo Bridge over the Thames, begun in 1809 and finished in 1817. It is built of Aberdeen granite, and consists of nine equal semi-elliptical arches of 20 feet span, with a level roadway 45 feet wide from outside to outside of parapet, which adds greatly to its beauty. This bridge was opened to the public by the Prince Regent, who offered at the time to confer upon Mr. Rennie the honour of knighthood; this offer, however, he declined. London Bridge, which he designed but did not live to execute, was finished by his sons, Mr. George and Sir John Rennie. It is built of the finest blue and white granite from Scotland and Devonshire, and consists of five semi-elliptical arches, two of 130, two of 140, and the centre one of 152½ ft. span, being perhaps the largest elliptical arch ever attempted. The beautiful stone bridge over the Tweed at Kelso, and those at Musselburgh and New Galloway, were also designed by him. When speaking of the first-named of these bridges, Mr. Rennie used often playfully to declare, that he considered himself a benefactor to his country, inasmuch as one of his earliest public works was to build a bridge across the Tweed! The iron bridges which he executed are, the one at Boston, over the Witham, with a span of 100 feet; and the noble bridge at Southwark, over the Thames, begun in 1815 and opened in 1819. The latter consists of three circular arches of equal curvature, the centre one having a span of 240, and the other two of 210 feet. The total weight of iron in the structure was 5780 tons, and the entire cost, including approaches, &c., 800,000_l._

The improvement of harbours and the construction of docks occupied much of Mr. Rennie's attention, and in these operations his diving-bell apparatus was of peculiar value. Smeaton was the first who used the diving-bell effectually for building with stone under water; the machine he employed for that purpose was, however, very defective, and could only be used in certain situations. But Rennie, by improvements in the instrument itself, and in the machinery by which its movements could be regulated,[31] was enabled to carry on masonry, and the foundations of sea-walls, piers, and quays, as well under water as above it. He first employed his apparatus in 1813, in building the East Pierhead at Ramsgate, the foundations of which were 17 feet below low water at spring tides. It was afterwards used in founding the pierheads and outer walls of the harbours at Holyhead, Howth, and Sheerness, and other works under his direction. Amongst the numerous wet docks introduced at Liverpool in 1716, and since constructed at almost all the principal sea-ports in the kingdom, Mr. Rennie executed the London Docks, and those at Leith, Dublin, Hull, and Greenock, and also the East and West India Docks, in conjunction with Jessop and Ralph Walker. He also constructed the harbours of Queensferry, Berwick, Howth, Holyhead, and that at Kingston, the largest attempted in this country. At the low water of spring tide, the depth of this harbour was 26 feet, while the area enclosed amounted to 250 acres. The breakwater at Plymouth for protecting the Sound from the swell of the sea was likewise designed by him and Mr. Whitby, and was the first and largest example of a detached breakwater in this country. One of the most useful works executed by Mr. Rennie was the drainage of the great Fen district bordering upon the rivers Trent, Witham, New Welland, and Ouse, and extending 60 miles in length by 25 in breadth. In the carrying out of this great work, by which many hundreds of square miles were rendered productive, and the salubrity of the district improved, he was assisted by Mr. Telford and his son, Sir John Rennie. The chief canals of which he was engineer are the Kennet, Avon, Crinan, Rochdale, and Lancaster. The naval dockyards at Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham, and Sheerness, also attest his skill as an engineer. The latter was a mere quicksand 40 feet deep, mixed with mud and the wrecks of old ships; the whole of which was excavated, and a magnificent basin constructed with a surrounding wall of granite, with which three large and commodious dry docks communicated. Several magnificent works of great public utility were proposed to the government by Mr. Rennie but never executed. The most remarkable of these is his design for a great naval arsenal on the Thames at Northfleet, intended as a substitute for the imperfect naval establishments on the river. It was to consist of six capacious basins, with an area of 600 acres within the walls, and to comprehend machinery for every operation connected with the naval science. The estimated cost of this noble plan was eight millions, which might have amounted to ten or eleven millions, but would even then have been a measure of economy compared with the vast sums expended on the old establishments on the Thames and Medway.

Before closing the present brief account of this celebrated engineer's life and works, his lighthouse on the Bell Rock must not be passed by without notice. Like the Eddystone, it was built of stone; commenced in 1806, and finished in 1811, it still remains an enduring monument of the skill of its architect.

Until within a few years of his death Mr. Rennie enjoyed robust health, but he was cut off in the sixty-first year of his age after a few days' illness. He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, his remains being interred near to those of Sir Christopher Wren.--_Encyclopædia Britannica._--_North British Review_, Feb., 1861.--_Mechanics' Magazine_, September 20 and November 22, 1861.

FRANCIS RONALDS, F.R.S.

Francis Ronalds was born in London, in the year 1788. From a very early period in life he devoted himself to the advancement of electrical science, a course he has consistently pursued during a large portion of his life, which has not yet we are glad to be able to state drawn to its close. He is the inventor of an electric telegraph, electrical machine, electrometer, a new mode of electrical insulation, a pendulum doubler, an electric clock, several meteorological and magnetical instruments and other mechanical contrivances. The year 1816, however, marked Mr. Ronald's great achievement in the advancement of electric telegraphs. During that year he was the first to demonstrate that they could be practically and unerringly applied to the passage of messages through a long distance. Well aware of the difficulties arising from imperfect insulation, which had baffled his predecessors, Mr. Ronalds secured the success of his apparatus both by employing better means of insulation than had hitherto been adopted, and also by making use of a form of apparatus which should of itself be capable of supplying any loss of electricity which might arise from defects in the insulation.[32] Mr. Ronalds placed his telegraph wire in glass tubes surrounded by wooden troughs lined with pitch, which were placed in a trench dug in his garden at Hammersmith. He also suspended eight miles of wire by silken cords from a wooden frame erected on his lawn, through which he was enabled to successfully pass messages except in wet weather, the cords not being protected from the wet.

Mr. Ronald's peculiar form of apparatus may be thus briefly described:--At two stations were placed two clocks, with a dial with 20 letters placed on the arbour of the second-hand; in front of each of these dials was placed a screen with a small orifice cut in it so that, as the dial revolved, only one letter could be seen at a time. The clocks were made to go _isochronously_, and were started at the same instant with the same letter appearing on the dial through the orifices of each of the screens, both dials, therefore, as they revolved, would of course continue to show similar letters. This formed the readable index of his telegraph; means of communication between the two stations were produced in the following manner:--connected with each end of the telegraph wire, and placed in front of the clocks, were two pith ball electrometers, upon which a constant stream of electricity, produced from an ordinary frictional machine, operated and consequently kept in a state of divergence, except when a letter on the dial was to be denoted; the electricity was then partially discharged by breaking the connection, the pith balls in a measure collapsed, and the distant observer was thereby informed to note down the letter then visible through the orifice on the screen. In this way letter after letter might be denoted and intelligence of any kind conveyed. All that was absolutely required for the success of Mr. Ronald's telegraph was, that the clocks should go isochronously _during the time_ intelligence was being transmitted, for, by a preconcerted arrangement, both clocks might be easily started at the same letter upon a given signal. The attention of the distant observer was called by the explosion of gas by means of an electric spark. In 1823, Mr. Ronalds published a full description of his telegraph, in a work entitled, 'Descriptions of an Electrical Telegraph, and of some other Electrical Apparatus.'

In 1825, Mr. Ronalds invented a perspective tracing instrument, to facilitate drawing from nature or from plans and elevations, an account of which he published in 1828 in a work entitled, 'Mechanical Perspective.' With this machine he was enabled some years afterwards (in 1835), assisted by Dr. Blair, to procure exact perspective projections taken from given noted stations, of the Celtic remains at Carnac in Brittany. The result of these researches was published by Mr. Ronalds and Dr. Blair in 1836, and was entitled, 'Sketches at Carnac; or, Notes concerning the present state of the Celtic Antiquities in that and some of the adjoining Communes.' In connection with this tracing apparatus, he likewise contrived a hexipod staff used for a support, and which has been much employed for the support of instruments requiring great steadiness, such as telescopes, theodolites, cameras, &c. In the year 1843 he became the first and honorary director of the Kew Observatory, and while occupying this office he supplied the observatory with various new contrivances, for which he received a government reward from the special service fund, and a small pension from the civil list. The most considerable of these contrivances were his atmospheric electrical conductor and its appendages, adopted at the Greenwich, the Madrid, and the Bombay magnetic observatories; his photo-barograph, and two photo-thermographs, adopted at the Radcliff observatory, Oxford; his photo-electrograph, and three photo-magneto-graphs. Besides the writings above-mentioned, Mr. Ronalds is the author of an article in the _Philosophical Magazine_ of 1814, entitled, 'On Electro-galvanic Agency, employed as a moving power, with descriptions of a Galvanic Clock;' and other articles in the same journal, detailing his original experiments to illustrate the relations of _quantity_ and _intensity_ in the electric pile. He also wrote four Reports on the Kew observatory, which were fully illustrated and printed in the reports of the British Association for the years 1845-50-51 and 52; and one paper in the Philosophical Transactions on 'Photographic Self-registering Meteorological and Magnetical Instruments,' written in 1846 and printed in the year following. In 1856 Mr. Ronalds published in French, at Paris, a summary of these reports, with some additions, entitled, 'Descriptions de quelques Instruments Meteorologiques et Magnetiques,' intended to explain his instruments at the French exhibition.

Mr. Ronalds is now (April 1864) residing at Battle in Sussex, and during the latter years of life has spent much time and part of his small pension, in collecting and collating an electric library, which might be conveniently available for the advancement of his favourite science, and prove worthy of presentation or bequest to some British public institution, so as to form the nucleus of one which might approximate possibly to a complete electrical library.--_From particulars derived from authentic sources._

COUNT RUMFORD (SIR BENJAMIN THOMPSON), LL.D., V.P.R.S.,

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, ETC.

Born March 26, 1753. Died Aug. 21, 1814.

Benjamin Thompson, the founder of the Royal Institution, and more generally known by the title of Count Rumford, which he afterwards acquired, was born at Woburn in Massachussets. His ancestors appear to have been among the earliest colonists of this district, and in all probability came originally from England.

Thompson's father died while his son was a mere infant, and two or three years afterwards his mother married a second husband, Josiah Pierce, also a resident at Woburn. As soon as young Thompson was able to learn his letters he was sent to the school of his native town, kept by a Mr. John Fowle, where he remained until his eleventh year, when he joined the school of a Mr. Hill at Medford. Here Thompson made such advances in mathematics and astronomy as to be able to calculate eclipses. At the age of thirteen he was bound apprentice to Mr. John Appleby, a respectable merchant in Salem, the second town in point of size in Massachussets. His occupations with Mr. Appleby were principally those of a clerk in the counting house, but he appears to have had sufficient leisure to extend his reading in scientific subjects, and also to indulge a taste, he began to exhibit, for designing and engraving. At this time he was likewise occupied with a contrivance for solving the famous problem of perpetual motion, but was ultimately made to see the fallacy of his expectations, by the arguments of an old friend and schoolfellow, Loammi Baldwin, who induced him to attempt-something more practicable though less magnificent.

At this period, 1767, the differences between Great Britain and her American colonies were beginning to assume a serious aspect, and there ensued such a stagnation of trade at Salem and other towns, that Mr. Appleby, having no further occasion for the services of a clerk, was glad to give up to young Thompson his indentures, and allow him to return to Woburn. For the next two or three years Thompson's course of life seems to have been wavering and undecided. At one time he appears to have had thoughts of entering the medical profession, for he remained during some months under the tuition of Dr. Hay, a physician in Woburn, and entered zealously upon the study of anatomy and physiology.

In 1770, however, he resumed his mercantile avocations in the capacity of a clerk at a dry goods store at Boston, kept by a Mr. Capen, and was thus engaged during the famous riots which took place in that town, on the attempt to land a cargo of tea from a British vessel, contrary to a resolution of the colonists against admitting British goods. These disturbances caused Mr. Capen's business to decline as Mr. Appleby's had formerly done, and Thompson was again obliged to return to Woburn. He now seriously turned his attention to the acquisition of scientific knowledge, and in company with his friend Baldwin attended a course of lectures on experimental philosophy delivered at Harvard College, instituting at the same time many experiments of his own, some of which proved the germs of valuable conclusions published in after life. In particular may be mentioned a course of experiments which he began in order to ascertain and measure the projectile force of gunpowder.

Thompson, though still only in his seventeenth year, had now acquired a certain amount of reputation; he was also endowed with much natural grace and many personal advantages, which subsequently proved the means of gaining him access to the first circles in Europe.

Towards the close of the year 1770 he was invited by Colonel Timothy Walker, one of the most important residents in the village of Rumford, now Concord, in New Hampshire, to take charge of an Academy in that place. Two years later, at the age of twenty, he married Mrs. Rolfe, a colonel's widow possessed of a considerable fortune. After his marriage Thompson took his place as one of the wealthiest inhabitants of the district in which he resided, mixing with the best society the colony afforded. Among others he made the acquaintance of the governor John Wentworth, who, wishing to attach to the British party so influential a colonist, gave Thompson the commission of major in a regiment of the New Hampshire Militia, in which a vacancy had occurred. This act of attention, while gratifying to Thompson, procured him much ill-will from the officers already in the service, and over whose head he had been promoted.

From this period he began to be unpopular in his native country. He was represented as a friend of Great Britain, and an enemy to the interests of the colonies. The public hatred of him at length rose to such a height, that he only escaped by flight from the ignominy of being tarred and feathered in the open streets. Leaving his wife and an infant daughter, Thomas first took refuge in his native town of Woburn, and then proceeded to Charlestown where he remained for several months. From Charlestown he went to Boston, at which place he was well received by General Gage and the officers of the British army at that time in garrison at Boston. Returning in the spring of 1775 to Woburn, he again ran the risk of being tarred and feathered, but was saved by the interference of his friend Baldwin.

The commencement of open hostilities between the Colonists and the British troops in May, 1775, made Thompson's position still more critical, and finding that he could not overcome the prejudice felt against him, he came to the desperate resolution of quitting his native country, and leaving his wife and child. To effect this he first escaped to Boston, where he remained, with his friend General Gage, until the evacuation of the town by the British troops, when he embarked on board the Scarborough, and set sail for England, with despatches from General Gage to Lord George Germain, the British Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs.

Although Thompson arrived in England the bearer of gloomy tidings, and sustaining the equivocal character of a deserter from the American cause, he soon showed that he was a man capable of commanding his fortune anywhere. The capacity in which he had come over introduced him to various public men who were both struck by his abilities and charmed by his manners. But a short time elapsed after his arrival before he was offered a post in the Colonial Office, and four years after, in 1780, was raised by his patron Lord Germain to the post of under secretary for the colonies, an instance of rapid promotion which, considering the circumstances in which the subject of it stood, is almost unexampled.

The income and consequence which Thompson derived from this office gave him admission to the highest metropolitan circles, and he had thus opportunities not only of becoming known, but also of exercising his inventive mind in many pursuits not immediately connected with his official duties. Fertility of resources, and a disposition to propose improvements in all departments, appear to have been his most striking characteristics, and it was probably this ready genius for practical reform in everything which came under his notice, that recommended him so much to public men. While engaged generally in a variety of matters, Thompson was at the same time following out certain specific lines of scientific investigation. His experiments on the heat caused by friction, deduced from the boring of cannon, are among the best we possess.

In 1777 he made some curious and interesting experiments on the strength of solid bodies, which were, however, never published. In 1778 he employed himself in further experiments on the strength of gunpowder and the velocity of military projectiles; and these were followed up by a cruise of some months in the Channel fleet, where he proposed to repeat his experiments on a larger scale. He communicated the result of his researches on this subject, in several papers, to the 'Philosophical Transactions' of the Royal Society, of which he became a member in the last-mentioned year.

On the retirement of Lord George Germain from office, Thompson was sent out to New York in the year 1781, with the royal commission of major, afterwards changed to that of lieutenant-colonel, charged with the task of organizing an efficient regiment of dragoons out of the broken and disjointed native cavalry regiments which had been fighting on the royalist side. This regiment was, however, of no avail; peace was concluded between Great Britain and the United States, and Colonel Thompson on his return to England obtained leave of absence to travel on the Continent. In crossing from England to France, it happened that he had as a fellow-traveller the celebrated historian Gibbon, who, in some subsequent correspondence, spoke of him as "the soldier, philosopher, statesman--Thompson."

While on his way to Vienna, Thompson attended a review of the garrison of Strasbourg, and, attracting general attention by his superb English horse and uniform of colonel of dragoons, became introduced to the notice of Prince Maximilian, nephew and presumptive heir of the Elector of Bavaria. This prince was agreeably impressed by the manners and address of Thompson, and furnished him with letters of introduction to his uncle, the Bavarian Elector. When Thompson arrived at Munich (so great seems to have been his power of conciliating favour), he was offered, on his first interview with the elector, an important situation at court, if he would take up his residence there. After a little delay, Thompson accepted this offer, conditional upon receiving permission from his Britannic Majesty. Proceeding to London to obtain the required consent, he was very favourably received by George III., who conferred on him the honour of knighthood, and allowed him to retain his title of lieutenant-colonel, together with the half-pay attached to it.

Towards the close of the year 1784, Sir Benjamin Thompson, at the age of thirty-one, took up his residence at Munich, and filled the posts of aide-de-camp and chamberlain to the Elector; being thus connected both with the military and civil service of the Bavarian dominions. Into these twin branches of government he soon introduced many important and salutary reforms; he reorganized the Bavarian army, and introduced many improvements into the art of agriculture as practised in that part of Europe; he also took wise and effectual measures for the suppression of mendicancy, and for the ameliorization of the condition of the poor at Munich, introducing among them some excellent plans for the economization of food and fuel.

While investigating this latter subject, Sir Benjamin paid particular attention to the construction of grates and fireplaces, and to the scientific properties of light and heat. He so improved the methods of heating apartments and of cooking food, as to produce a saving in the precious element of heat varying from one-half to seven-eighths of the fuel previously consumed; so that it was wittily said, that he would never rest satisfied until he had cooked his dinner with his neighbours' smoke. To him also is the honour due of being the first to explain the manner in which heat is propagated in fluids. In requital of these important services to the Bavarian state, Thompson was decorated with two orders of Polish knighthood; he also received the appointments of member of the Council of State and lieutenant-general in the army, was created commander-in-chief of the general staff, minister of war, and superintendent of the police of the electorate, and was finally, in 1790, raised to the dignity of Count of the Holy Roman Empire, by the title of Count Rumford, in memory of the American village where he had formerly officiated as schoolmaster. The scientific part of the community also showed their esteem for him, by electing him a member of the Academies of Munich and Manheim; and in 1787, when on a visit to Prussia, he was chosen a member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin.

When the advance of the French army under Moreau compelled the Elector to quit his capital, Count Rumford was for a short time placed at the head of the Regency, and in this capacity succeeded in the arduous task of freeing the Bavarian state from foreign invasion. This important service increased Rumford's reputation with the Elector and the people, and he was permitted to settle one-half of the pension which he enjoyed on his daughter, to be paid during her lifetime.

In the year 1798, the Elector appointed him his ambassador to the court of Great Britain; but on arriving in London, Rumford, much to his mortification, found that, as a British subject he could not hold that office. Shortly after this, in 1799, his friend and patron the Elector Charles Theodore died. Deeply grieved by the loss he had sustained, Rumford contemplated returning to his native country, in compliance with a formal invitation which he had received from the United States government. He was, however, led to change this design, and remain for several years in London, during which period he devoted the greatest portion of his time to the interests of the Royal Institution, of which he may be considered the founder. The objects of this institution, now one of the recognised scientific establishments of the world, and which can boast of having given employment to such men as Young, Davy, Brande, and Faraday, were "to diffuse the knowledge and facilitate the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, and to teach by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments the application of science to the useful purposes of life." Such an institution was precisely the one which Rumford was qualified to superintend; and in its early history, the influence of his peculiar habits of thought is discernible, in the choice of subjects for investigation by the members. Rumford's name will ever be connected with the progress of science in England, from the establishment of this institution, and also from the foundation by him of a perpetual medal and prize in the gift of the Royal Society, for the reward of discoveries connected with light and heat.

During the latter portion of his life, Count Rumford, retaining an income of 1200_l._ a year from the Bavarian court, resided chiefly at Auteuil, a small villa near Paris. Here he was married again to the widow of the eminent French chemist Lavoisier, his former wife having died in 1792. Rumford's death took place at Auteuil, on the 21st of August, 1814, in the sixty-second year of his age. His only daughter by his first wife inherited the title of Countess of Rumford, with the continuation of her father's Bavarian pension. She married Cuvier the naturalist, and survived until a few years ago, forming a link between the age of Lavoisier and those of the middle of the nineteenth century.--_Chambers' Miscellany_, No. 161.--_Encyclopædia Britannica_, eighth edition.--_Voyage de trois mois en Angleterre, en Ecosse, &c., par Marc-Auguste Pictet, F.R.S., &c._ Geneva, 1802.

DANIEL RUTHERFORD, M.D.

Born November 3, 1749. Died November 15, 1819.

Daniel Rutherford was born at Edinburgh and educated at the University of his native city. He took his degree of M.D. in 1772, and in the Thesis which he published upon this occasion, entitled 'De Aëre Fixo,' he pointed out for the first time a new gaseous substance, since distinguished by the name of Azote or Nitrogen. On the 6th of May, 1777, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and in a paper on Nitre, read before the Philosophical Society in 1778, he described, under the name of Vital Air, what is now called Oxygen gas.

On the death of Dr. John Hope in 1786, Rutherford was elected Professor of Botany and Keeper of the Botanical Gardens at Edinburgh, a duty which he discharged until the time of his death, in 1819, at the age of seventy.--_Edinburgh Philosophical Journal_, vol. 3. May 1820.

WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D.

Born March 23, 1769. Died August 28, 1839.

William Smith, the 'Father of English Geology,' was born at Churchill, a village in Oxfordshire. His father died when he was eight years old, and his mother marrying again, William was brought up under the care of his uncle, to part of whose property he was heir. From this kinsman, who had little sympathy with his nephew's early displayed taste for collecting specimens of the various stones in the neighbourhood, young Smith with difficulty obtained money for the purchase of a few books fit to instruct a boy in the rudiments of geometry and surveying. He, however, continued to prosecute these studies without instruction or sympathy, but still with ardour and success until the year 1787, when, having attained the age of eighteen, and being tolerably versed in the geometry and calculations at that time thought sufficient for engineers and surveyors, he became assistant to Mr. Edward Webb, of Stow-on-the-Wold, who had been appointed to make a complete survey of the parish of Churchill. Being speedily entrusted with the management of all the ordinary business of a surveyor, Mr. Smith traversed in continual activity the counties of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire, carefully noticing all the varieties of soil over which he passed, and comparing them with the general aspect and character of the country. Between the years 1791 and 1793, he also made minute subterraneous surveys of the High Littleton collieries, which afforded him an opportunity of confirming views previously conceived as to the regularity in formation of the different strata composing the earth's crust. At this period the services of civil engineers were in great request, and the duties entrusted to them were such as Mr. Smith was well qualified to perform. Several gentlemen in the neighbourhood interested themselves in forwarding his professional career, and he obtained an engagement to make surveys and levels for a proposed line of canal in Somersetshire. In the course of these operations, Smith discovered that the strata lying above coal were not laid horizontally, but inclined in one direction--viz., to the eastward; resembling on a large scale the ordinary appearance of superposed slices of bread and butter. This fact he had previously imagined to be the case, and it was now proved to be true.

In 1794 the Canal Bill on which he was engaged received the sanction of Parliament, and one of the first steps taken by the committee of management was to depute two of their members to accompany Mr. Smith, their engineer, on a tour of investigation as to the construction and management of other navigations in England and Wales. This journey extended altogether through 900 miles of country, and occupied the space of one or two months; the party reached Newcastle by one route, and returned by another, through Shropshire and Wales to Bath. During the whole tour Mr. Smith seized every opportunity of observing all local peculiarities as to the aspect and structure of the country passed through, and was able to verify on a large scale his pre-conceived generalizations regarding a settled order of succession, continuity of range at the surface, and general declination eastward of the different strata. During the next six years he was engaged in setting out and superintending the works on the Somersetshire coal canal; being able, from the knowledge he had acquired, to inform the contractors what would be the nature of the ground to be cut through, and what parts of the canal would require particular care to be kept water-tight. He also discovered, during the formation of this work, that each stratum contained organised fossils peculiar to itself, by examination of which, it might in cases otherwise doubtful be recognised and discriminated from others like it, but in a different part of the series. This fact was subsequently still further investigated by him, and he proved that whatever stratum was found in any part of England, the same remains would be found in it and no other.

Mr. Smith was now (1795) twenty-six years old, and at this period removed from the village of High Littleton to Bath, in the vicinity of which city he shortly afterwards purchased a small but beautiful estate. In the following year he first contemplated publishing his discoveries in geology, but it was not until the year 1799, after his engagement with the Coal Canal Company had ceased, that he made public his intention of publishing a work on the Stratification of Britain, and prosecuting an actual survey of the Geological structure of England and Wales. About this time he became acquainted with the Rev. Benjamin Richardson and the Rev. Jos. Townsend, two gentlemen thoroughly competent to estimate the truth and value of his views, and who, in conjunction with him, drew up a tabular statement of the order of the strata, with their imbedded organic remains, in the vicinity of Bath. Copies of this document were extensively distributed, and it remained for a long period the type and authority for the descriptions and order of the superposition of the strata near Bath. The original document, in Mr. Richardson's handwriting, drawn up from Smith's dictation, was presented to the Geological Society in 1831. Mr. Smith now turned all his energies to the prosecution of his profession, and the tracing out the courses of the strata through districts as remote from Bath as his means would permit. In 1799 an unusual amount of rain prevailed, producing in the neighbourhood of Bath an extraordinary phenomenon. Vast mounds of earth, displaced by the augmented force of the springs and the direction of water into new channels below the surface, were sliding down the sides of the hills, bearing away with them houses, trees, lawns, and fields. To remedy such disasters and prevent their recurrence was exactly what Smith had learnt from Geology, and many operations of this kind were placed under his care and successfully accomplished. His reputation for success in draining on new principles became established, carrying him into Gloucestershire, the Isle of Purbeck, Wiltshire, &c., and for the next few years he was almost daily occupied in various parts of the country, first in draining land, and secondly in irrigating it when drained. In 1801 he accomplished the effectual drainage of Prisley Bog, a work which had often been attempted before, but without success. Mr. Smith thoroughly deprived the bog of its stagnant water, and converted this hitherto worthless waste into valuable meadows, by conducting a running stream over its surface. For the performance of this undertaking he received in 1805 the medal of the Society of Arts. Another great work, on which he was engaged more or less during the space of nine years (1800-1809), was the draining of the marsh lands in East Norfolk, between Yarmouth and Happisburgh. These lands were continually liable to be flooded by inundations from the German Ocean, which poured in through breaches in the sand-hills lining the coast, and forming a natural barrier against these inroads. Mr. Smith at once saw that the first thing to be done, to prove an effectual remedy, must be the stopping out the sea from the whole region of marsh land. This he accomplished by filling up the vast breaches (amounting altogether to one mile in length) with artificial embankments made of pebbles and sand as like as possible to the natural barriers thrown up by the sea. This simple and effective plan, requiring almost nothing but labour for its accomplishment, entirely succeeded; and the sea now being effectually kept out, he was able to suggest to the proprietors proper methods for draining and improving the marshes.

In 1806 Mr. Smith's first published work appeared, being entitled, 'A Treatise on the Construction and Management of Watermeadows.' Several years previous to this he had been repeatedly urged by his friends (among whom he now counted Francis, Duke of Bedford, Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Crawshaw, Thomas W. Coke, of Norfolk, and the Rev. B. Richardson, before mentioned) to put in force his intention of publishing his discoveries. Many difficulties had, however, occurred; his means were continually exhausted by his scientific investigations; and an attempt, first made in 1801, to publish by subscription a work on the natural order of the strata of England and Wales, failed, partially from the deaths of his patrons the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Crawshaw, and ultimately from his proposed publisher, Debrett, falling into difficulties.

From this period until late in life, Mr. Smith continued unceasingly his professional occupations. In 1809 he began to execute the Ouse navigation in Sussex; in 1810 he restored the hot springs of Bath, which had failed; in 1811 he examined into the causes of leakage on the Kennet and Avon Canal, and reported on trials for coals in Buckinghamshire; and in 1812-1814 executed the Minsmere drainage in Suffolk. During these and a hundred other engagements of a like nature, which furnished him with the means and occasion for incessant travelling, Mr. Smith lost no opportunity of committing to paper the result of the day's observations on the direction, dip, and aspect of the rocks he passed over during his various journies. In 1812, receiving proposals from Mr. Cary to publish his map of the strata of England and Wales, Mr. Smith recommenced his efforts to produce the great work on which he had been occupied for the space of twenty years. This map was at length published on the 1st of August, 1815, being dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks, and he received from the Society of Arts the premium of 50_l._, which had long been offered for a work of this description. The fame of its author as a great original discoverer in English geology was now secured, but it brought Mr. Smith little pecuniary benefit. Geology had kept him poor all his life by consuming his professional gains; and an unfortunate speculation, which he at this time entered into, entirely failed, and compelled him to sell the property at Bath which he had purchased in 1798. A load of debt still remained to be discharged, and in order to liquidate this he proposed selling the valuable geological collection he had been making during his past life. This collection, of which the number of species was 693, and of specimens 2657, was purchased by Government for the British Museum for a total sum of 700_l._ In 1818 Mr. Smith's claims on public notice were fairly and fully advocated by Dr. Fitton, and it was chiefly from the favourable light in which this gentleman placed his long and solitary labours, that public interest for him was stimulated, and the Geological Society, who had hitherto passed him over, was at length roused to an impartial estimate of the value of his works. This resulted in the passing of a resolution in February, 1831, "That the first Wollaston medal be given to Mr. William Smith, in consideration of his being a great original discoverer in English Geology; and especially for his having been the first in this country to discover and to teach the identification of strata, and to determine their succession by means of their imbedded fossils." The following year he received from the Crown a pension of 100_l._ a-year. Previous to this, however, the state of Mr. Smith's finances compelled him to be unceasingly occupied in various professional engagements; and on one of these occasions, being engaged by Colonel Braddyll to make a general mining survey of some estates belonging to that gentleman, he drew the Colonel's attention to the great probability of there being coal at an attainable depth on part of his property situated at Haswell, in Durham. This ultimately led to the foundation of the magnificent works, called the South Hetton Colliery, which rival the greatest establishments of the Lambtons, Vanes, and Russels.

During the last few years of his life Mr. Smith lived principally at Scarborough, where, unfettered by any but temporary engagements, he devoted his mind to a review of the circumstances of his life, and the arrangement of his observations and opinions. In 1835 he received the degree of LL.D., which was conferred on him by the members of Trinity College, Dublin. Between the years 1837 and 1838 he was appointed by Government to join Sir Charles Barry and Sir Henry De la Beche in making a tour through a great part of England and Wales, to select the most suitable stone for building the Houses of Parliament. The stone ultimately selected for this purpose was the firm yellow granular magnesian limestone, of Bolsover Moor, in Derbyshire. This was the last scientific work on which Dr. Smith was engaged; a cold caught the following year brought on diarrhœa, which terminated fatally. He died on the 28th of August, in his seventy-first year, and was buried at Northampton, at the west end of the church of All Saints, in which, at the suggestion of Dr. Buckland, a tablet was erected to his memory, the expense of which was defrayed by a subscription among geologists.--_Memoirs of William Smith, LL.D., by his nephew, John Phillips, F.R.S., F.G.S._ London, 1844.

EARL STANHOPE, F.R.S.

Born August 3, 1753. Died December 17, 1816.

Charles Stanhope, third earl of that name, was born at Chevening in Kent, and was sent at a very early period to Eton; but at the age of ten he removed with his family to Geneva, where he was placed under the tuition of M. Le Sage, a well-known man of letters in that place. There can be but little doubt that the whole political career of Earl Stanhope was deeply influenced by the circumstance of his receiving his early education in this republican city; and to this may be ascribed the extreme views which he entertained in after life respecting civil liberty and other points affecting the welfare of great communities.

While acquiring these sentiments, Lord Stanhope was at the same time pursuing a course of training which subsequently made him so remarkable, as a man of science and letters. Natural philosophy was his chief study; and the knowledge which he acquired of this subject was decisively shewn by his gaining, at the early age of eighteen, a prize offered by the Stockholm Society of Arts for the best essay, written in French, on the pendulum; and this essay was the more remarkable, as being the fruit not only of mere reading, but of numerous original experiments, performed by him in person.

Shortly after attaining his majority, Lord Stanhope, together with his family, left Geneva amidst the regrets of the whole population, while crowds of poor people assembled to take a last look on the noble English residents who had long been their generous benefactors. On reaching England, the family rank and influence of the young nobleman speedily procured him a seat in the House of Commons, which he occupied until his succession to the Stanhope title called him to the Upper House of Parliament. Here it was that he became famous as a politician. Honesty and straightforwardness were the grand features of his statesmanship; his views, however, although now entertained by even moderate politicians, were at that time considered extreme, and subsequently led to a separation of the earl from his family.

But it is chiefly as a man of science, and as an inventor in the field of practical mechanics, that Earl Stanhope has rendered himself celebrated. Shortly after leaving the Continent, about the year 1775, he turned his attention to devising some means whereby forgeries in coins and bank-notes might be prevented; this resulted in his publishing a pamphlet on that subject, in which various processes calculated to prevent forgeries on the mint are recommended.

In the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1778, Lord Stanhope gives a full account of experiments performed by him, on a large scale, in presence of the Lord Mayor and members of the Royal Society, showing that wood could be rendered fireproof, by coating it with a species of stucco or plaster of his own invention. The practical efficiency of this was still more decisively shown by a fire which broke out in the earl's mansion at Chevening. Having had occasion to rebuild this some time previously, Earl Stanhope had taken care to make use of his new discovery; a portion of the offices, however, remained unsecured, and here the fire originated; but on reaching the protected portion, it was at once arrested, and the mansion saved from destruction.

Among other works of Lord Stanhope which attracted most attention at that time are his experiments on electricity, his improvements in shipbuilding and navigation, a calculating machine, and the Stanhope printing-press, which to this day bears his name. He has also been called the inventor of stereotype printing, and had at all events the merit of greatly improving this most important process, and of introducing it into general use. The application of steam to navigation was another favourite study of Earl Stanhope; and, in concert with him, Fulton the American entered into an extensive series of experiments to prove its practicability. Although unsuccessful in this last pursuit, canal navigation owes much to the earl; the value of his improvements in canal-locks being felt to this day throughout the whole land. He lived in constant pursuit of these philosophical enquiries till the age of sixty-three, when he died of dropsy, at his seat in Kent.

Lord Stanhope was essentially a practical man, of a firm, upright, and independent character; and it is related of him, that when advising his children to pursue some useful calling, he remarked of himself, that "Charles Stanhope, as a carpenter, blacksmith, or millwright, could in any country, or at any time, preserve his independence, and bring up his family to honest and industrious courses, without soliciting either the bounty of friends or the charity of strangers." He merits the grateful remembrance of posterity, not only for the practical results of his genius, but for the indirect influence of his noble example exerted on others, and for the generous patronage he bestowed on many poorer fellow-labourers in the same great field.--_Chambers' Edinburgh Journal_, No. 392, August 3, 1839.--_Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam-Engine._ London, 1829.

WILLIAM SYMINGTON.[33]

Born in 1763. Died March 22, 1831.

William Symington, claimant conjointly with Patrick Miller to the honour of originating the present system of steam navigation, was a native of Leadhills, in the county of Lanark, Scotland. He was originally destined for the church, but an early predilection for mechanical philosophy led him to abandon his theological studies, and pursue with ardour those connected with his favourite science. His genius soon attracted the notice, and secured the patronage of Gilbert Meason, a gentleman at that time connected with the Wanlock Head lead mines. Before completing his twenty-first year, Mr. Symington made several improvements on the steam-engine, for which he took out patents, and continued for some time to construct and introduce engines on his principle, in various parts of England and Scotland.

In the year 1784, the idea first occurred to him that steam might be advantageously employed for the propulsion of carriages; and in 1786 he succeeded in producing a working model of a steam-carriage, which he submitted to the inspection of the professors and other scientific gentlemen in Edinburgh. Although this steam-carriage afforded proofs of considerable capability, it was never proceeded further with, on account of the state of the roads in Scotland at that period, and the difficulty of procuring fuel and water.

In the meanwhile Patrick Miller, a gentleman of property residing on his estate at Dalswinton, Dumfriesshire, had for some time been engaged in making various experiments for the improvement of naval architecture, and had constructed a double or twin-boat, with paddle-wheels, to be moved by manual labour. At this point Miller was informed by Mr. James Taylor, a tutor in his family, of Symington's model steam-carriage, and they both called at Mr. Meason's house in Edinburgh to see it. During the course of conversation with Symington, the practicability of advantageously employing steam for the purposes of navigation was talked about, and it was ultimately arranged that Symington should endeavour to construct a steam-engine to be fitted on board Miller's twin-boat, and capable of moving the paddle-wheels. This was accomplished in the autumn of 1788, when a trial was made, in the presence of Mr. Miller and various others, of so satisfactory a nature, that it was immediately determined to commence another experiment, upon a larger scale. It may, however, be satisfactory to state here, that this, the parent engine of steam navigation, after enduring many vicissitudes, was ultimately rescued from destruction by Mr. Bennet Woodcroft, and contributed by him for exhibition in the South Kensington Museum.

In the month of October 1789, a second exemplification of the practicability of steam navigation was afforded by Miller and Symington, on the Forth and Clyde Inland Navigation Canal, in the presence of many hundreds of spectators; the boat proceeding along at the rate of nearly six miles an hour. In this instance the machinery was constructed at the Carron Works, under the direction of Symington, and placed on board a boat which had been used in Miller's previous experiments. Unfortunately, Mr. Miller now withdrew from the concern; he had already expended nearly thirty thousand pounds on various experiments, and he determined to devote his time to the improvement of the Dalswinton estate.