The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-02-19 00:00:00

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

E;r.v•

The Times thus notices the death of M. Thome de Gamond
the distinguished French engineer, whose life for more than
forty years has been devoted to the endeavour to construct
a tunnel beneath the straits of Dover:—
M. de Gamond died on the Ist inst. at his house in
Paris-27, Rue do Tivoli. He was born in October,
1807, and was consequently in his 69th year at the
time of his decease. The descendent of an old family,
he had been qualified for the profession of his choice
by a thorough liberal as well as scientific education,
and was possessed of extensive and varied information
and attainments. He commenced the study of his
great project, the Submarine Tunnel, so far back as
in 1833; and in the course of his investigations made
no less than 1,500 experimental borings in France
and England, to determine the inclination of the
strata, besides diving three times to the bottom of the
Channel, in order to bring up specimens of its bed.
On the last of these occasions he was attacked by
conger eels or dog-fish, and was severely wounded.
He exhibited his plane at the London Exhibition of
1862, and the Paris Exhibition of 1867, and he pub-
lished very complete works upon the subject in 1857
and in 1869. The latter volume was translated into
English, and was made the subject of an extended
review in The Times of the 18th of 'January, 1872, in
which the chief elements of the tunnel question were
discussed. M. de Gamond was an active contributor
to engineering literature, and his works on. the
Nicaragua Cinal, the enlargement of the City of

Lisbon, the reconstruction of the Port of Narbonne,
and others; show a breadth of view not often displayed
in works written with a professional object, and mani-
festly due. to the
_quality and extent of his general
culture. One of hialast works, " Memoire surle Mgi2llC
des Eaux CoUraiithe," in erhich he advocated the
sradual canalization of the French rivcr!t, li.Tith a view
to lessening the cost of transporting heavy goods, to
facilitating irrigation, and to avoiding the recurrence_
ofihe disastrous floods from which large tracts of
country .have recently suffered so. grievously, imight
be studied with much advantage by Bngliali engineers.
M. de GamOnd lived long enough to see' the project
of the Submarine Lis* lai?eied at as a
dream, adopted by eminent engineers in both coun-
' tries and supported by great financial authorities,
and to be sure that an attempt, Saeast, .would be
made to paOy it into effects Wit he did not •live long
enefigh po freati the finit of his persevering labours.
He had Passed tnrough All the Pritatione And anxieties
of the siege of Paris, and through all the hotrots of
the brief dominion of the Commune. These events,
together with harassing private anxieties, did much to
subdue his originally gay and sanguine nature, and
physical decay soon followed. His end was calm and
peaceful, without pain or loss of mental faculties; and
his remains were followed to the grave, from the
Church Of the Trinit6; not only hy numerous private
friends, but also by many members of WA ottn pro-
fession, in which, as well as by all who knew the sim-
plicity and uprightness of his character, he was much
beloved and respected.