Chapter XVI: Mr. Brunel’s Professional Opinions and Practice

Scheme of the Chapter--Mr. Brunel’s Position in relation to the Companies of which he was Engineer--_Letter on the Direction of Railway Works in Italy_ (March 4, 1845)--_Letter on the Position of Joint Engineer_ (October 16, 1843)--_Letter on the Position of Consulting Engineer_ (December 30, 1851)--_Letter on the Position of the Engineer in relation to the Contractors_ (May 26, 1854)--_Letters on the Position of the Engineer in relation to the Directors_ (April 15, 1850, December 6, 1851, January 22, 1857)--Mr. Brunel’s Assistants--_Letters on Interference of Directors with the Assistant Engineers_ (January 19, 1842, January 28, 1842, January 12, 1851)--Mr. Brunel’s Pupils--His Relations with other Engineers--Inventors--_Letter in reply to an Inventor_ (September 17, 1847)--Mr. Brunel’s Views as to State Interference--_Letter on the Royal Commission on the Application of Iron to Railway Structures_ (March 13, 1848)--_Letter on a Proposal to obtain the Recognition in England of Decorations conferred at the Paris Exhibition of 1855_ (February 9, 1856)--Mr. Brunel’s Opinion on the Patent Laws--_Memorandum for Evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Patent Laws, 1851_--_Extract from Observations on the Patent Laws, made by Mr. Brunel at a Meeting of the Society of Arts,_ March 26, 1856.....474

CHAPTER XVII.

_PRIVATE LIFE._

Reminiscences of Mr. Brunel’s Private Life--Removal to 18 Duke Street, Westminster--His Marriage, 1836--Special Constable in 1848--Mr. Brunel’s Love of Art--His Journey to Italy, 1842--Accident with the Half-Sovereign, 1843--Purchase of Property in Devonshire, 1847--His life at Watcombe--The Launch of the ‘Great Eastern,’ 1857--Mr. Brunel’s Failing Health--Journeys to Switzerland and Egypt, 1858--_Letter from Philæ_ (February 12, 1859)--His last Illness--His Death, September 15, 1859--Funeral--Address of Joseph Locke, Esq., M.P., at the Institution of Civil Engineers, November 8, 1859.....499

APPENDIX I.

Report to the Directors of the Great Western Railway on the Broad Gauge, &c. (August 1838).....525