On the Royal Commission on the Application of Iron to Railway Structures.[191]
March 13, 1848.
I regret that the Commissioners should have done me the honour of requesting ‘my opinion upon the enquiry referred to them;’ because, as it is known to one or more of these Commissioners that I have expressed very strongly, both publicly and privately, my doubts of the advantage of such an enquiry, and my fears of its being, on the contrary, productive of much mischief, both to science and to the profession, it would expose me to a charge of weakness and of inconsistency if I were now to refrain from expressing those opinions, which otherwise I had no idea of intruding upon the Commissioners; and, indeed, I had hoped that, by making those opinions known to some of the members, I might have been passed over, and not invited to assist in the proceedings.
I shall be most happy to communicate, as I am at all times most anxious to do, any knowledge which I may obtain in the course of my practice, and such intercommunication of ideas and of experience amongst engineers I believe to be most useful; but the attempt to collect and re-issue as facts, with the stamp of authority, all that may be offered gratuitously to a Commission in the shape of evidence or opinions, to stamp with the same mark of value statements and facts, hasty opinions and well-considered and matured convictions, the good and the bad, the metal and the dross (and simple courtesy to the donors must prevent the Commissioners from attempting to draw distinctions which might appear invidious)—this, I believe, always has rendered, and always will render, such collections of miscalled evidence injurious instead of advantageous to science; and the facts or statements and opinions so collected will form generally, I believe, a lower average of information than that which is already in the possession, or at least within the reach, of those who have occasion to study the subject: for it is remarkable that in this particular enquiry the Commissioners can have no peculiar means of obtaining, and, as I believe, cannot hope to get better or more extended information than that possessed by any one of the principal engineers of the day; while they will be compelled to receive and to publish much that a prudent man, acting on his own responsibility, would either not have attended to, or would silently have rejected. This, however, is perhaps a negative evil, or, at most, one which cannot much affect the proceedings of the well-informed in our profession; but the mischief which I anticipate is much more dangerous to the progress of science.
If the Commission is to enquire into the conditions ‘to be observed,’ it is to be presumed that they will give the result of their enquiries; or, in other words, that they will lay down, or at least suggest, ‘rules’ and ‘conditions to be (hereafter) observed’ in the construction of bridges, or, in other words, embarrass and shackle the progress of improvement to-morrow by recording and registering as law the prejudices or errors of to-day.
Nothing, I believe, has tended more to distinguish advantageously the profession of engineering in England and in America, nothing has conduced more to the great advance made in our profession and to our pre-eminence in the real practical application of the science, than the absence of all règles de l’art—a term which I fear is now going to be translated into English by the words ‘conditions to be observed.’ No man, however bold or however high he may stand in his profession, can resist the benumbing effect of rules laid down by authority. Occupied as leading men are, they could not afford the time, or trouble, or responsibility of constantly fighting against them—they would be compelled to abandon all idea of improving upon them; while incompetent men might commit the grossest blunder provided they followed the rules. For, in the simplest branch of construction, rules may be followed literally without any security as to the result. There is hardly a branch of engineering that could have been selected which in its present state is less capable of being made the subject of fixed laws or instructions than the application of iron to railway structures, and certainly there is no branch in which there is more room for improvement, or which offers so many different channels or directions for that improvement.
In the quality of the material, the workmanship, or the mode of manufacture, and in the application of it, there is every imaginable variety, there is room for almost any imaginable degree or nature of improvement; and unless the Commissioners are endowed with prophetic powers, it is impossible that they can now foresee what may be the result of changes in any one of these conditions.[192] ...
What rules or ‘conditions to be observed’ could be drawn up now that would not become, not merely worthless, but totally erroneous and misleading, under such improved circumstances? But above all, I fear—nay, I feel convinced—that any attempt to establish any rules, any publication of opinions which may create or guide public prejudice, any suggestions coming from authority, must close the door to improvement in any direction but that pointed out by the Commissioners, and must tend to lead and direct, and therefore to control and to limit, the number of the roads now open for advance.
I believe that nothing could tend more to arrest improvement than such assistance, and that any attempt to fix now, or at any given period, the conditions to be thereafter observed in the mode of construction of any specific work of art, and thus to dictate for the present and for the future the theory which is to be adopted as the correct one in any branch of engineering, is contrary to all sound philosophy, and will be productive of great mischief, in tending to check and to control the extent and direction of all improvements, and preventing that rapid advance in the useful application of science to mechanics which has resulted from the free exercise of engineering skill in this country, subjected as it ever is, under the present system, to the severe and unerring control and test of competing skill and of public opinion. Devoted as I am to my profession, I see with fear and regret that this tendency to legislate and to rule, which is the fashion of the day, is flowing in our direction.
I must repeat my regret that circumstances should have forced me to intrude these my opinions upon the Commissioners; but, for the reasons I have before given, the application to me, after the part I have taken, left me no alternative; but having expressed my opinions, and respectfully protested against the objects and proceedings of the Commissioners, I shall feel it my duty to attend to their summons, and afford any information in my power.