the filter is of broken stone, surrounded by matting. At some parts it was necessary to form two of these filters within the fallen

portion of the work (Fig. 42), connecting them together and with the outside of the slope by transverse drains. Two superposed counterforts retain the filters.

At the Villiers embankment, on the Paris and Mulhouse railway, the drainage consists of a dry stone wall, which at the same time helps to retain the bank. The fallen slope was restored to its original condition by means of ballast.

FIG. 43.

On the Main-Weser railway some clay embankments slipped and were restored with sand. The result of this was that pockets filled by sand saturated with water were formed, and these could not dry on account of the clay surrounding them. The drainage was effected by making channels, in which pipes were laid, as at A B, Fig. 43. These pipes

Sand

were covered with broken stone to a depth of about 5 feet, to ensure their permanent action, in spite of further settlement.

On the Wissembourg railway the sides of failing embankments were drained by means of transverse trenches, in which were placed

gravel fascines (Fig. 44), afterwards covered with a facing of good earth, combined with the fallen material, and well rammed.

Slopes exposed to the action of water often require a protective stone covering, to prevent erosion. On the railway from Amster

dam to Rotterdam, fascines are employed, combined with rubblework, the whole being well secured.1

The preceding Notes have referred only to special difficulties encountered by engineers in the construction of earthworks for roads and railways, without considering many of the causes of landslips. The Author has recently (September 1874) submitted to the Institution a Memoir on the Action of Torrents, adding to it, as illustrative of his remarks, a notice printed under the auspices of the Canton of Vaud, on the ravages caused in 1873 by the Gryonne, a torrent of the Vaudoise Alps. These earth movements are referred to under the action of torrents and great waters, because such movements are often caused by them, although they appear remote; and it will be easily understood that if from this cause the foot of a hill has been shaken, large areas of cultivation may easily be lost. What is more curious, although belonging to the same cause, is that the works for draining marshes will often, under certain conditions and at a given moment, produce analogous accidents, with favourable resultsthe increase of the value of the land. For example, a short time ago some slips took place on the bank of the lake of Bienne (Switzerland), being the first results of the work of lowering the level of the lake, which is the same thing in effect as laying bare the foot of the slope which it bathes, since it deprives it of an existing counterthrust.

Since these Notes were written the Author has witnessed a disastrous landslip at Lausanne, in 1874, between the station and the town, due to the action of internal water, and at the termination of the construction of a cutting undertaken by the town for widening the railway. These works were conducted with but few precautions, in a soil where the utmost care was necessary, and where narrow headings ought to have been made, and retaining walls constructed. Whatever the cause, two houses of considerable value were destroyed, a large hotel in course of construction was so shaken that it must be taken down, and a new building which, owing to its resting on piles, resisted the shock for a considerable time, is now yielding. It is true that this latter is in the vicinity of a tunnel in course of construction, and it is difficult for the moment to judge either the actual cause or the comparative success that will be attained by the system of subter

Vide Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. iii., p. 179.

ranean galleries now being made to drain the soil, which consists of marl, clay, and sand. It would appear that the galleries have been driven a little too low; but it was supposed that if they were higher the inhabitants of the Rue de Midi would have been alarmed, and it is hoped they have nothing to fear. Careful investigations have been made, but the reports of successive Commissions have not yet been published. No doubt a litigious discussion will take place, on account of the large number of parties interested.

MEMOIRS OF DECEASED MEMBERS.

MR. JOSEPH CUBITT, the only son of the late Sir William Cubită, Past-President Inst. C.E., was born on the 24th of November, 1811, and died on the 7th of December, 1872. His father was the last survivor of that vigorous band of men, who not only raised themselves from a comparatively humble position to one of distinction, but who, in so doing, created a new profession-a profession to which, more than to any other, is generally attributed the credit of the rapid strides of civilisation and social improvement in the present century. With such an introduction to life, it was natural that Joseph Cubitt's attention should be turned to engineering in its various branches; and at the age of nineteen, having determined to follow his father's profession, he was placed with Messrs. Fenton, Murray, and Jackson, of Leeds, where Mr. Benjamin Cubitt, a brother of Sir William's, was then Managing Engineer. A fellow pupil writes of him :-"I well remember how assiduously and diligently Joseph applied himself to his practical education at the vice, the bench, the lathe, and in the drawing office. It was there, and in those departments, that our lamented friend gained the practical knowledge that so distinguished him in all his undertakings in after life."

After a period of two years' service in the workshops at Leeds, Mr. Cubitt returned to assist his father, the most important work in which he took a prominent and responsible part being the South-Eastern railway. On one occasion, being placed in the witness-box in committee on some other point, he was unexpectedly, and through an accidental circumstance, cross-examined on the whole of the estimates which he had assisted his father to prepare. This is a trifling incident; but to go through such a cross-examination well at his age, and with so little previous experience, was highly creditable to a young man.

Mr. Cubitt continued in his father's office as an assistant till the year 1843, when he began his independent career. His most important work was the Great Northern railway, which, with its various branches, constitutes one of the leading lines of the country,

and the works of which are always acknowledged to have been well designed and well carried out.

Mr. Cubitt's other works included the branch of the SouthEastern railway from Ashford to Canterbury, Ramsgate, and Margate; the London, Chatham, and Dover railway, which, commencing with the East Kent in 1853, finally grew into the present extended system of main lines and branches; the drainage of the London Necropolis Company's estate, and the works for their Cemetery at Woking; Yarmouth Pier; the Oswestry and Newtown railway; Rhymney Valley railway; Weymouth Pier; Carmarthen and Cardigan railway, &c. He was consulted upon various other works, such as the Eastern Union railway project; the sea-wall and esplanade at Cove; on matters relative to the Pistoja and Vallée railway; the Direct Portsmouth railway, the project for which was carried on to the deposit of plans in 1846; the Llynvi Valley railway; on matters relating to Purton Pill on the river Severn, in connection with the Forest of Dean railway; and the Weaver Navigation. Mr. Cubitt was also much engaged in opposition to various bills in Parliament, and as arbitrator in disputes connected with engineering works.

His last great work was the new bridge at Blackfriars. It fell to Mr. Cubitt as the Engineer-in-Chief of the London, Chatham, and Dover railway, to carry out the extension of that line into the City of London in 1860. When the design for the railway bridge, to be built within 100 feet of the old Blackfriars Road Bridge, was submitted to the Bridge House Estates Committee, the question arose, as it was necessary that the piers of that structure should coincide with those of the long-talked-of new Road Bridge, whether the time had not arrived to remove old Blackfriars Bridge, long known to be both unstable and inconvenient. It was soon settled that a new bridge must be built, and the Bridge House Estates Committee called for designs from a selected number of eminent Engineers. That sent in by Mr. Cubitt was finally adopted and executed, and opened for public traffic by the Queen in person on the 6th November, 1869. The design was the joint work of Mr. Cubitt and Mr. H. Carr, M. Inst. C.E. Mr. Cubitt was anxious that his colleague's name should appear on the records of the bridge as joint Engineer along with his own; but that wish was overruled by the Bridge House Estates Committee, and Mr. Cubitt's name alone was placed on the official records, Mr. Carr remaining joint Engineer by private arrangement only. There is one point respecting Blackfriars Bridge which, in justice to its designers, should be put on record. No one can examine the