SUGGESTIVE minds, so rare in

every age and country, cannot be torn from the body of a nation without leaving deep and painful wounds which require years to heal. England will long mourn in Brunel the loss of a bold, enlightened, and comprehensive genius; one which has been snatched but too early from the foremost rank of those great pioneers of mechanical and commercial progress, who have exalted our country to the elevated position which it has attained, and at a period of life when the inspirations of genius are rendered all the more valuable as they become tempered by the deliberations of judgment.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on the 9th April, 1806, at Portsea. From his father, Sir Isambard Brunel, he inherited those mental qualities which so eminently distinguished his eventful career. In that son the natural powers of observation, conception, judgment, and action were united in a degree seldom found. It is recorded of him that when at school at Brighton, about his twelfth year, he foretold one evening the fall, within ten hours, of some buildings in the progress of erection just opposite to the school-house, and that a wager was laid upon the event. In the morning young Brunel claimed his wager-the buildings had fallen. The engineer in embryo had watched the negligent manner in which the work was being done, and he had observed in the evening in question, the clouds gathering, and all the prognostics of a coming storm, and

he inferred that the work was not prepared to resist its violence.

From Brighton Brunel was sent to Paris and placed under the care of M. Massin, where he was compelled, much against his inclination, to devote a large portion of his time to the study of the classics. From thence he entered the Lycée, or the College of Charlemagne, where he remained two years engaged in studies more congenial to his nature-in which he made rapid progress, and where he ultimately carried away the first prizes in mathematics, French, history, and geography, the second in drawing, and where he exhibited powers which were soon to be brought to the test of an early experience. In 1822 he returned home to enter his father's office, and be practically fitted for the profession which he may now be said to have adopted. In that office he possessed advantages which can never again fall to the lot of any engineering student.

Amongst numerous designs for works of a novel character, those for the splendid chain bridges at that time about to be erected on the Isle of Bourbon, together with the no less remarkable works for Chatham, were constantly before him. Nor was he slow to take advantage of his position, for in 1824 we find him assistant to his father in the Thames Tunnel, to which he soon became resident engineer, and where many of those great qualities which marked his more advanced career were called forth.

In 1828, the works of the Tunnel being stopped, Brunel was free to

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turn his thoughts to other projects; nor was it long before he found a large and exciting field. The proposal for uniting the Gloucestershire and Somersetshire shores of the Avon below Bristol by a suspension bridge had been made, and a premium for the best design had been offered. Amongst the competitors the name of Brunel appeared. Mr. Telford, then at the height of his fame, was selected as referee. The history of the competition will form a curious and interesting chapter in the struggles of genius with prescriptive right; and in the history of Brunel it must occupy a prominent position from the fact, that to his success in achieving at the early age of twentythree a conquest over men already known to the world as masters in that special branch of engineering, including the illustrious referee himself, must be dated the commencement of his subsequent unprecedented career; and though the Clifton bridge was never completed owing to want of funds, yet the Chain bridge across the Thames from Hungerford Market, in London, affords, in its construction, ample proof of the competency of the engineer. The enlargement of the docks at Bristol quickly followed the bridge contest, with all those appliances for dredging which confirmed the opinion already formed of Brunel's industry, originality, and power of organization. To the friends whom his talents secured to him at Bristol was he indebted for his introduction to railway engineering, which had already begun to agitate the commercial world.

Brunel startled his contemporaries by a departure from a system which had been originally adopted for the convenience of the collier, and which had subsequently been transferred from the tramroad to the locomotive, without very much consideration being given to the altered circumstances of the two systems. The necessity of providing for increased speed, involving greater lateral steadiness in the carriages and engine, with a diminution of friction by the use of wheels of large diameter, induced Brunel to suggest a gauge of 7 feet in place of the one of 4 feet 8 inches then in use this, with the adoption

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of longitudinal timbers upon which to fix the rails, that a more equable bearing might be secured, formed the leading features of Brunel's improvements. Without stopping to discuss the vexed question of the gauges, it will here suffice to say that Brunel's suggestions were adopted, and the Great Western, with the several branches to Brentford, Hungerford, Oxford, &c.the Gloucester and Bristol - the Bristol and Exeter- the Bristol and South Wales-the Cheltenham and Great Western- -the South Devon-the East and West Somerset-the Dartmouth and Torbay— the Bucks and Hants-the Oxford and Rugby-the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton-the South Wales and Forest of Dean, with the branches to Ross and Herefordthe Wilts and Somerset-the Oxford and Birmingham, and the Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley Railways, show the extent to which those enlarged ideas prevailed, and attest the correctness of the mechanical anticipations of the engineer.

If to these works, extending over 1100 miles, be added the Dublin and Wexford, the Cork and Waterford in Ireland, with the Florence and Pistoja, and Genoa and Pavia in Italy, through the valleys and main chain of the Apennines, the Eastern Bengal in India, the waterworks at Clifton and Chippenham, the docks at Sunderland, Bristol, Plymouth, Neath, Birkenhead, Sutton Pool, Gloster and Dean Forest and Brentford, and the design for a portable hospital in the Crimea, which was considered the most perfect of the kind ever constructed, and which, had not the war been brought prematurely to a close, would have had its value more fully recognised, we have, as far as mere statistics can avail, suggested an amount of mental and physical labour most of which was performed within the limited period of seventeen years, sufficient to stimulate, if not to exhaust, the most powerful organization. It would be impossible to enumerate the onehundredth part of the incidental projections of stone, brick, wood, and iron involved in these under-. takings, and we shall here only

allude to the Box Tunnel, which was at the time of its construction the longest work of the kind in England, and to the Maidenhead, Windsor, Chepstow, and Saltash bridges, which from their novelty, magnitude, and cheapness, will long remain noble monuments of Brunel's genius. We may add that one of the distinguishing features of all Brunel's constructions was, the small quantity of material used to accomplish the end in view, exhibiting thereby an amount of thought not always bestowed on such details.

In the enumeration of Brunel's projects connected with the railway system, his sagacity and skill were not always triumphant. The success of the atmospheric principle upon a short line near Dublin seemed to indicate the propriety of rendering it more generally available. Rapidity, comfort, safety, and economy were its supposed recommendations. In 1844 reports

were made by Committees of the House of Commons and Board of Trade in favour of this system, and a powerful effort was made to introduce it on the Newcastle coast line in 1845, but it was defeated by the Stephensons and the locomotive interest, old George declaring, with his characteristic sagacity, 'It won't do; it is only the fixed engines and ropes over again in another form, and I don't think this rope of wind will do as well as the rope of wire did.' That his prognostication was correct the Croydon and South Devon lines subsequently proved. Brunel did not, however, stand alone in the hopes he had entertained or the opinion he had formed of the applicability of this motive power to the requirements of the age. Dr. Robinson of Armagh, and Mr. Cubitt-men of high authority in theoretical and practical sciencebacked by a large party in the Legislature, the Prime Minister of the period at its head, were equally sanguine of success.

But it was not as a civil engineer only that Brunel's genius found its full development. His connexion

with the more recent improvements in gunnery, was, we have reason to believe, far greater than the public are aware; and as the

originator of a great maritime revolution, his name will be handed down to the latest posterity. So long ago as 1841, Brunel recommended the adoption of the screw, which had been invented by Mr. F. P. Smith, to the serious consideration of the Government, and is believed to have lent his powerful aid in perfecting the invention. Certain it is, that to Brunel must be conceded the practical applica tion of this valuable instrument of propulsion to vessels of great burden. Of the fate of the Rattler we shall only here say that it will form another curious episode in the history of the Circumlocution office.

The construction of steam vessels upon a scale far larger than had heretofore been considered possible, long engaged Brunel's attention. His connexion with Bristol favoured his views, and two vessels were successively built under his immediate direction-the Great Western of 1350 tons, and the Great Britain of 3500 tons. As an illustration of the superiority which size and power confer on steam-vessels, we may recall an early trial of the Great Western with the Sirius of 700 tons. The former took her departure from Bristol eight days after the latter left Cork, and arrived at New York only seven hours after the Sirius, having still fire days' coal (125 tons) remaining on board, while the Sirius had not only exhausted all hers, but had consumed her spare spars and furniture also the last portion of fuel thrown into the fire being a child's doll.

The success of the Great Western determined three important elements of commercial success-expedition, certainty, and profit, and naturally led to a far more extended view of maritime intercommunication than had ever before been suggested. When it is called to mind that no example of an iron steamship of sufficient size existed, on which to found any calculation of the thickness of the iron to be employed in the construction, or of the disposition of the material in order to obtain the greatest relative degree of strength, we are filled with astonishment at the boldness and sagacity of the mind which could encounter all the difficulties

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of the position, and take upon itself the responsibility of recommending the construction of a vessel of nearly 3500 tons burden, to be fitted with a screw propeller. The machinery, however, which was required seemed so vast, that no contractor could be found to supply it, and the company were compelled to execute it themselves, under the immediate management of one of their directors, Mr. Guppy.

This vessel made her first trial trip in January, 1845. Many months had not, however, elapsed before her strength was tested in a manner little contemplated by her projector. She was stranded at Dundrum Bay, and during the whole winter of 1846-7 was exposed to unusually heavy storms from the south and south-east, and yet, with the exception of large holes in her bottom, no injury was done to her lines. The manner in which she was protected so long in her perilous position, reflects the highest credit on the ingenuity of the engineer, and the energy, devotion, and practical skill of Captain Claxton, to whom the arduous labour of superintendence was confided.

The experience obtained in the construction of the Great Britain, and the success which attended her performance, ultimately led to the formation of the Great Eastern Company and the appointment of Brunel, in 1852, as the engineer, and thus afforded him the opportunity of realizing views with which his highest professional aspirations had long been bound up.

The

problem to be solved was, the construction of a vessel which should comprise the elements of high speed and safety, with capacity sufficient to perform the voyage to Calcutta and home every two months, without stopping to coal by the way. That the mechanical conditions have been faithfully fulfilled there can now be no doubt; but at a sacrifice of health, strength, and life, the penalty of that inevitable law which ever claims the most devoted spirit; for never yet was a great victory won that those who took possession of the conquest did not pass over the bodies of the noblest slain. That the idea of extending the bounds of commerce by increasing the dimen

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sions of vessels, together with the mode in which such increase could be best effected, had its origin with Brunel, we have the best evidence in a communication from Mr. William Patterson, of Bristol, the most celebrated of our large ship-builders, to Captain Claxton, dated September 26th. After expressing his regret that any doubt should have been felt upon the subject, he adds, I recollect very well, at the time the Great Britain was commenced, that Mr. Brunel spoke then of building a ship 1000 feet long, and at the same time stating his dislike to the old-fashioned way of framing ships; and, farther, said that he would have all the frame in the direction in which the diagonal ribbon lines are in the framing of a wood ship and this plan of framing he has carried out in the great ship; and he has almost everything then proposed now carried out, and I am quite sure that all the credit for all the arrangements in that ship is due to Mr. Brunel.'

The difficulties, vexations, and disappointments which beset the completion of this last and greatest of Brunel's undertakings are fresh in the public mind. Operating upon a frame already enfeebled by long-continued suffering, they produced the natural but dreaded result, and on the 15th of September he resigned his spirit to the God who gave it.

Whatever different estimates may be formed of the value of some of Brunel's projections, but one opinion can be entertained of his moral worth. With an intellect and a constitution singularly powerfulcapable of the largest conceptions, yet schooled to the minutest detail, gifted with a high moral sense, which was sometimes overborne by a hopefulness and confidence in his own resources which tempted him too readily to transgress those simple physiological laws that require the just alternation of rest and labour, he struggled on through life, constantly deferring the pleasure of repose, until, as responsibilities increased, and health declined, it became impossible. Simple in his habits, unostentatious in his charities, a lover and liberal patron of high art, generous to others,