Engineering Triumphs

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Engineering Triumphs is an article published in Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle on 22 december 1888.

Report of the lecture The Triumphs of Modern Engineering of the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society held at the Portsmouth Guildhall on 18 december 1888.


Engineering Triumphs

Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle (22 december 1888)

The attendance at the third ordinary meeting of the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society, held in the Guildhall, High-street, Portsmouth, on Tuesday night, was a large one and the paper for the evening's discussion created great interest. — Dr. Axford, President of the Society, occupied the chair, and the company included the following ladies and gentlemen:— Sir George and the Misses Langley, General A. W. Grayson, F.R.A.S., General J. W. Cox, C.B., F.R.G.S., and Miss Cox, General W. Ramsay, Rev. A. Aldwell, Mrs. Aldwell, and friends, Rev. S. Kenah, M.A., R.N., Colonel F. Trevor, Colonel T. Bufson, Colonel and Mrs. Twynam, Captain R. Jackson, R.N., Dr. Ward Cousins (Hon. Sec.) and Miss Cousins, Dr. and Mrs. C. C. Claremont, Dr. and Mrs. F. Way, Dr. A. Conan Doyle (Hon. Sec.), Mrs. Doyle, Dr. Kirker, Dr. C. C. Childe, Dr. J. and Miss Watson, Dr. Bernard J. Guillemard, Dr. J. R. Mould, Mrs. Lousada, Mrs. Wolseley and friends, Mrs. and Miss Tomlinson, Mrs. Jeffery and friends, Mr. George Long, J.P. (Hon. Treasurer), Mr. J. Hay, Mr. Hugh S. Maclauchlan, Miss Rolland and friends, Mr. G. G. Hardingham, Mr. and Mrs. Woolhouse, Mr. W. Inglis, R.N., and Mrs. Inglis, Messrs. J. M. Ollis, R.N., George Fremantle Ollis, A. H. Ford, W. K. Welch, J. R. Constantine, R. East, A. Howell, Mr. H. and Miss Moncreaff, Messrs. W. Read, A. Fisher, T.D.A. Jewers, A. E. Cogswell, B. Carter, W. S. M. McCallum, G. A. Cook, R.N., C. W. Ball, J. W. F. Allnutt, W. Ward, F. A. H. Way, J. Robinson, W. Edwards, S. Simpson, G. F. Bell, &c., &c. The following were elected new members:— Dr. Kirker, Mr. C. W. Ball, Mr. A. E. Gibson, Mr. G. G. Hardingham — Mr. H. Percy Boulnois, Borough Engineer, in a complete and exhaustive, yet withal, highly interesting paper, treated his auditors to some details concerning "The Triumphs of Modern Engineering." The great achievements of the past fifty years in engineering science he could only touch upon by drawing their attention to its inost prominent results, but this he did skilfully and clearly, setting out with some interesting statistics concerning the largest city in the world, London — with its 100,000 paupers and 100 millionaires. The magnitude of railway enterprise there was exemplified in the cost of that portion of the Metropolitan Railway under King William's statue, namely, £300 per foot. London's sewering, gas and water supplies, the difficulties encountered, and the mode in which they were surmounted, were briefly and yet minutely touched upon. That marvellous feat of Mons. Lesseps, the Suez Canal, and the yet unfinished but more marvellous cutting through the Isthmus of Panama came in for a searching exposition. No fewer than 925 engineers and assistants, and 11,000 workmen were engaged on this latest work. The buildings for the hospitals, if placed side by side would, he said, cover five-eighths of a mile, and thirty physicians and fifty apothecaries were there engaged to attend to the sick workmen in such an arduous climate, working against such tremendous physical obstacles. Already £36,000,000 had been spent, and to complete it he hoped the £75,000,000 which it would altogether require, would not be wanting, though he doubted whether its commercial return would justify the expenditure. Eight more years would be required for the work, even if the Company secured the 9,000 more workmen they hoped to obtain. The Manchester Ship Canal, the Amsterdam Canal, and the operations, dangerous and in connection with the blasting of the huge sunken rocks at Hell Gate, New York Harbour, on which one out of every fifty ships came to grief, of the shipping — valued at £1,000,000 yearly — which frequented the harbour, were each in turn vividly placed before the audience. Some interesting details were given of the mode in which the blasting cartridges were placed in position. Tunnelling, and the projected Channel Tunnel were touched upon; and then the lecturer showed the magnitude of the Forth Bridge, bringing it home by comparison of scale diagrams with the railway bridge over Commercial-road. The tallest chimney Mr. Boulnois claimed for Scotland, that at Portadown, Glasgow being 454 feet high, while under one of the arches of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which would be 984 feet in height when completed, the new Portsmouth Town Hall could be placed. In ornamental engineering the great Bartholdi Statue of Liberty, presented to America by the French people, claimed principal attention. Placed on a gigantic pedestal of ninety feet square by fifty feet high, it consisted of beaten copper plates fastened on to a framework of iron and steel girders. The total height of the figure was 111 feet; the head was 13 feet high, the width of the eye 2ft. 4in., the length of the fore-finger 7ft. 11in., and the nose 3ft. 9in. The figure held a torch in which had been displayed an electric light of 48,000 candle-power. In railway engineering, he considered the Manitoba Railway of 545 miles, constructed in 155 days, one of the most marvellous works, and concluded with a brief survey of the results achieved in his own branch of the profession — sanitary engineering. In the discussion which followed, Mr. ARCHIBALD FORD moved, Mr. GEO. OLLIS seconded, and Dr. CONAN DOYLE, Dr. CLAREMONT, and Dr. WARD COUSINS supported a vote of thanks to the lecturer. — Replying, Mr. BOULNOIS retorted upon an observation of Dr. Claremont's, and said the best work of sanitary engineers were buried; but, he added, amid laughter, that it was the worst work of the doctors that was put under the ground.