CHAPTER XVII.
EXTRACTS FROM EARLY REPORTS.
Wide range of subjects on which Mr. Stevenson gave advice—Reports on ruins of Aberbrothock Abbey—St. Magnus Cathedral, and Earl’s Palace, Kirkwall—St. Andrews Cathedral—Montrose Church Spire—Melville Monument, Edinburgh—Lipping of joints of masonry with cement—Provision for flood waters in bridges—Hydraulic mortar—Protection of foreshores—Cycloidal sea wall—Checking drift sand—Night signal lamps—Cause of heavy seas in Irish Channel—Sea routes across Irish Channel—Build of ships—Prospective increase of population—Tidal scour—Unscrewing of bolts by the waves—Cement Rubble cofferdams—Buoyage system—Observations on fog signals—Regulations for steam vessels—Notes on shipwrecks.
Judging from Smeaton’s well known “Reports,” to which all have access, we may conclude that the “professional advice” given by early Engineers was very generally accompanied by a fuller and less reserved discussion of opinion than is to be met with in the brief and technical Engineering reports of the present day. In early times, Engineers did not hesitate to express themselves freely on physics, æsthetics, or commerce, provided their views had a collateral bearing on the subject under discussion, and this often added to the interest of their reports.
These early Engineers were also consulted on a much wider range of subjects than the Engineers of modern times. We know that the larger requirements of modern Engineering demand that its practice should be classified under distinct branches, such as harbours, navigations, water works, gas works, lighthouses, or railways, not to mention electrical and sanitary engineering, and other branches of modern growth, all of which cannot possibly be advantageously practised by any one member of the profession; for no one mind can grasp the theoretical knowledge, and no one life can compass the practical experience, to enable a man to attain eminence in all these departments of modern Engineering.
A biographical sketch of Mr. Stevenson’s professional life would, it seems to me, be incomplete if it did not convey to the reader some notion, however general, of the wide range of subjects brought under his notice, in these early times, and of his comprehensive and suggestive mode of treating every case on which he was professionally consulted. This object would be only imperfectly attained were I to restrict my reference to his reports to the examples given in the preceding chapters; for I have found in his numerous writings casual notices of a miscellaneous and fragmentary character, many of which seem to me to be interesting to the profession, and worthy of preservation, and I propose, in this chapter, to give a few of these extracts, without order of subject or date; and I think they will justify my remark as to the great variety and fulness of treatment to be found in the reports of early Engineers.
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It appears, for example, that Mr. Stevenson was often called to advise on matters which were more related to architecture than engineering. Of this nature was his tour of inspection to the jails of England, in company with Sir William Rae, the Sheriff of Edinburgh, in 1813, referred to in a former chapter.
ABERBROTHOCK RUINS.
In like manner he inspected Aberbrothock Abbey, with Sir Walter Scott and the Sheriff of Forfar, in 1809, to advise as to preserving the ruins, some of the turrets being in imminent danger of falling; and after procuring a survey of the whole building he prepared a report, with plans and specification, which were submitted to the Barons of Exchequer, and the work was thereafter carried out under his direction.