To aid him in forming his judgment, Mr. Fowler secured the valuable assistance of Mr. (now Sir Frederick) Bramwell and Dr. Letheby. The result was that reports of the most exhaustive character were presented to the Khedive, and formed a valuable guide for all future operators. The Khedive, however, was too sanguine, and the works were established too rapidly and on too extensive a scale. Possibly the climate was also not quite suitable for sugar cultivation. The broad result was a very serious loss of money to the Government.
During the course of the investigation into the conditions of the sugar estates, several interesting facts, worthy of being placed on permanent record, were demonstrated. It was found that the soil of Egypt, which, of course, is entirely Nile deposit, consists of a large amount of fine sand, mixed with an unctuous clay, in the form of minutely divided double silicates of alumina and iron, together with fine oxides of iron, alumina, potash, alkaline silicates, soluble silica, and a fair proportion of carbonates of lime and magnesia. The soil is in such a minute state of subdivision that it readily yields its most important constituents (silica, phosphoric acid, and potash) to the growing crops. For the cultivation of sugar it is necessary to equalise the excess of potash by the application to the land of more phosphoric acid, and to make up for the deficiency of nitrogen by the addition of ammonia. Analyses were also made on another occasion of the Nile water to determine whether it had, when used for irrigation purposes, any manurial value beyond that due to the suspended mud. The samples were taken about the middle of the months of June, July, August, September, and October. It was found that in each case the water contained a considerable quantity of nitrogenous matter in the form of actual ammonia, as well as ammonia derivable from organic matter. The proportion of actual ammonia was largest in July and smallest in August. The organic ammonia was smallest in the August sample and largest in September. Taking the whole of the ammonia derivable from 100,000 parts of water, the quantity ranged from .0114 parts in the August sample to .0271 in the sample collected in June. These are remarkably large proportions when we consider that the Nile does not receive anything in the nature of sewage or ordinary town drainage, for they are largely in excess of the proportions found in the River Thames at Hampton. The properties of soluble saline matters in the Nile water range from 13.443 parts per 100,000 in October to 18.8 parts in June. The chief ingredients in these saline matters are the carbonates and sulphates of lime and magnesia, but there is also a notable quantity of soda and potassa, as well as a trace of phosphoric acid. The sedimentary matters in the several samples taken amounted to 6.915 parts per 100,000 of water in June, and to 149.157 parts in August; and the proportions of organic matter in the deposit ranged from .829 parts to 18.414 parts. The results show that the water of the Nile is remarkably rich in fertilising matters, for not only does the water contain in solution a notable quantity of ammonia, nitrogenous organic matter, and the soluble silicates of potassa and soda, as well as a trace of phosphoric and nitric acids, but it also contains in suspension a large amount of sedimentary matters which are charged with phosphates and alkaline silicates.
The most important Egyptian question submitted to Mr. Fowler was that of irrigation. Upon this depends to a great extent the fertility of Lower Egypt, for although the annual inundations can be depended upon to give the land one thorough watering, there are many crops that need to be watered several times and at different seasons of the year from that at which the flood comes. Immense irrigation works were constructed by Mehemet Ali, with canals running through the delta and the land on either side of it. For a considerable part of the year these canals served their purpose fairly well, but at the period of low Nile many of them became useless because they were at too high a level. This does not arise from any error of the designers, but from the fact that the barrage, which was built to maintain a minimum depth of water in the river, did not prove capable of resisting the required head. Hence it was necessary to allow the river to fall below the proposed level. Under these conditions Mr. Fowler was instructed (1) to prepare alternative plans for placing all the cultivated and cultivable lands of Lower Egypt in a position to be irrigated at any time of the year without pumping; (2) to devise an improved means of introducing flood water several times during high Nile upon any required lands on the left bank of the Nile, and of discharging it at pleasure without interference with other lands; (3) to prepare a scheme for the construction of a ship canal between Alexandria and Cairo. Mr. Fowler proposed as alternative projects under the first head; (1) a high level canal on the right bank of the Nile; (2) a high level canal on the left bank of the canal; (3) the completion of the present barrage or the construction of a new one. None of these proposals were then carried out, but during the past few years, under the superintendence of Colonel Sir Scott Moncrieff, the barrage has been repaired to such an extent that it will hold the water up to 3 metres, instead of 4. 5 metres, as contemplated by Mr. Fowler. The methods employed in the repair of the barrage followed the lines laid down by Mr. Fowler, but were on a less extensive scale, as the pressure to be resisted was less, and there was greater difficulty in obtaining money than during Ismail Pacha's time. The deficiency of head is made good by pumping into the higher canals.
The second undertaking required a canal starting very high up the Nile, and following the course of the Bahr Yousuf, but it presented no features of special engineering interest, and was not attempted. The third, the ship canal, was a subject in which Ismail Pacha took the greatest interest. He found that the effect of the Suez Canal was to divert the traffic from the capital, and to take the stream of passengers through the country without adding anything to its wealth or importance. He, therefore, conceived the idea of making Cairo into a sea-port, with easy access to the Mediterranean. Mr. Fowler worked out a combined irrigation and ship canal from the Mediterranean to the Bed Sea, by way of Cairo. This canal would have been a formidable rival to the Suez Canal, in so much as the dues derivable from the irrigation water would have enabled the tolls on ships to have been reduced to a very low figure. In the negotiations which subsequently took place with the Suez Canal Company, the possibility of the second canal being made, served as a powerful lever in the hands of the English party.
Although so many of Mr. Fowler's Egyptian schemes were not carried out, we must not regard them as wasted effort. For thousands of years Egypt has been the prey of conquerors of many races and creeds. Probably for the first time in her history she is in the hands of a power which has no selfish aims, and thinks solely of the good of the inhabitants. Under such conditions she must prosper, and the time is certain to come when many of the ambitious schemes of her late ruler will become possible of realisation. At that moment the reports and drawings of Mr. Fowler will be turned to as the key of the plans to be adopted.
Space does not permit us to particularise all the great works in Egypt with which Mr. Fowler was concerned, such as the construction of steamers for the Khedive, surveys for a railway to Harrar, and many others. For nine years he made periodical visits to the country, and became greatly interested in its fortunes. The connection was broken, however, when Ismail Pacha was made to abdicate, and a new era of economy was introduced. Egyptian credit was almost exhausted, and what little was left was destroyed by the revolt of Arabi Pacha. A few years later (1885) the Queen, on the recommendation of the Marquis of Salisbury, created Mr. Fowler Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George "for important services and guidance to Her Majesty's Government in connection with Egypt."
A curious example of the way that the engineer may be useful in averting political troubles is found in one of the incidents of Mr. Fowler's career. The Italian premier, M. Minghetti, had disagreed with Garibaldi on the question of the rectification of the Tiber. The popular patriot was powerful at the time in Italy, and wielded an influence which the Government did not care to have exercised against themselves. At the same time they did not feel able to accept his views on the particular question before them. Mr. Fowler was at that time at Cairo on one of his Egyptian visits, and it was decided to submit the matter to him. He was accordingly summoned to Rome, and was fortunately able to reconcile the differences of the two parties, to the great relief of the Government.
We now come to the Forth Bridge, the best known of all the works with which Sir John Fowler has been associated, and one which at the present moment is engaging the attention both of the general public and of engineering experts in all parts of the world. Sir John lays no claim to be the sole author of the design which was the joint outcome of four minds, all bent on discovering the best and cheapest means for carrying a railway over the Firth of Forth. Most people will remember that when the Tay Bridge was destroyed, preparations were being made, and were actually commenced. for bridging the Forth. Sir Thomas Bouch had designed a suspension bridge for the purpose, and an Act of Parliament had been obtained authorising its construction. The failure at the Tay at once threw doubts upon the safety of the most ambitious project, and the works were stopped. Subsequent investigation showed that the proposed bridge could not have been a satisfactory one.
A bridge across the Forth offered so much advantage to the railway companies forming the east coast route to Scotland that, after two years, the idea was revived. On February 18, 1881, the four great railway companies concerned, the Great Northern, the North-Eastern, the Midland, and the North British, wrote to their consulting engineers—Mr. T. Harrison, Mr. W. H. Barlow, and Mr. John Fowler, associated with Mr. B. Baker—propounding two questions for their joint opinions. They were asked to consider the feasibility of building a bridge for railway purposes across the Forth, and, assuming the feasibility to be proved, what description of bridge would be most desirable to adopt. The matter involved so large an expenditure and contained so many novel issues that it needed to be approached with the greatest possible care. It was fairly well known how many types of bridge there were to select from for such a site;—these were (1) Mr. Bouch's original design; (2) a stiffened suspension bridge; (3) a second form of stiffened suspension bridge; (4) a cantilever bridge. Calculations of weight and cost were made for each type of bridge and were discussed by Messrs. Harrison, Barlow, Fowler, and Baker, with the general result that the cantilever type was chosen. A report was made to the railway companies on May 4, 1881, embodying the result of the deliberations, and pointing out that the cantilever principle offered a cheaper and better solution of the problem than any other. The report did not enter into the details of construction; indeed it could not be said to give even the broad features, other than those which are involved in the use of the cantilever. These still remained to be elaborated in council, and it was only by united discussion that the original plan developed into the final design. Although the type of the bridge is very ancient there were many features in it which were open to consideration, and to differences of opinion, and at each meeting of the engineers new ideas were propounded, and novel methods of overcoming difficulties were mooted. After most elaborate investigations and calculations the structure gradually, by a process of evolution or development, assumed its present form.
The design being settled and the execution decided upon by the associated railway companies, the carrying out of the work was entrusted to Mr. Fowler, in conjunction with his partner, Mr. Benjamin Baker.
The Parliamentary fight had been exceedingly stubborn, for great interests were at stake. Hitherto the London and North-Western and the Caledonian companies have enjoyed a great advantage in carrying the Scotch traffic to Perth and the Highlands, in consequence of the east coast traffic having to traverse the circuit from Edinburgh viâ Larbert and Stirling to Perth. But when the bridge is opened this advantage will disappear. A very strong hybrid semi-public committee was appointed, with Lord Stanley, of Preston, the present Governor of Canada, as the chairman. Engineering evidence was brought forward to condemn the structure, and every possible description of hostile evidence for shipping interests was adduced against it, and made the most of by eminent counsel, who both in speeches and cross-examination strove to the utmost to prejudice the undertaking. But at the close of the case the committee were unanimous in favour of the Bill, only stipulating that the Board of Trade should maintain a general inspection of the works during construction. It was finally arranged at the suggestion of Mr. Fowler that the inspectors should report to Parliament every three months as to the progress of the bridge, and the quality of the materials and workman-
