Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-17
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
Doctors Will Differ.


To the Editors Of the Appeal:
| 4 rouster cut nearly in two by knife il
| the hands OF savage mate lay on the fore
castle OF steamer. Two doctors on boarC
differed widely as to what was 10 be done il
the case; finally they appealed to q wise
| looking man who stood byi as to what ht
would suggest. The sage responded: ''If you
sew up the wound the man will bleed tc
| death internally, and if you leave it as it i,
he will bleed TO death externally; and my
opinion is, il you think it worth anything
that you had best give him an emetic." The
unfortunate residents of the Mississippi
river bottoms are just in the fix of this
rouster, while the doctors (the civil en-
gineers) are debating what il best to be done
for their salvation. The fact that the en-
gineers differ widely as to the proper
methods of controlling the floods OF the
Mississippi river is only one of the proofs
that the science of hydraulics is not exact,
or if it is, that it is not by any means uu-
derstood. river which in its course TO
the ocean is confined to mountain gorges
must necessarily accept for itself the dirsc-
ton and the amount of fall which those
gorges permit; but a river which finds its
way TO the sea through alluvial forma-
tions, is law unto itself; in other words,
il will Tut cut such a course and attain that
particular descent to the mile which nature
seems to fix as its proper lawful fall. This
amount, judging from the fall or descent of
such rivers as the Mississippi, Oronoco, Am
szoD, Ganges and other great streams of the
world, is about four inches TO the mile, there:
by giving the water current Of about four
miles PER hour, rather more when the banks
are full and less when the water is low In
round numbers the distance from Cairo, Ill ,
to the Mexican gulf, as the crow flies, is
$50 miles; the perpendicular decent is
about 450+eet. In other words the Missis-
sippi river flows down an inclined plane 45O
miles long, aud which plane has an inclina-
ton or downward grade Of one foot to the
mile. If the course of the river was per-
fectly straight, the current would descend
this plane twelve inches in every mile of its
course, thereby producing torrent the like
of which is not to be seen in this world.
Being contrary TO the Law Of nature that
there should be such torrent, the river pre-
vents the catastrophe Of such cataract by
an irresistible action of its own. Such a
body of water should fall at the rate of four
inches per mile and flow at the rate
of four miles per hour. In or
der to produce this result. the course
must be zigzs gsed, or curved back and forth
until it Is 1850 miles in length, and this is
about what our great river has done for
itself. If human energy could straighten the
bed of the Mississippi from Cairo 10 the gulf
bed for twenty -four hours, but would imme-
diately begin its customary scooping out
bends, first TO the east and then to the west,
until in the course of time, and no distant
time at that, it would have It's old 1850
miles of length, its natural easy, four-inch
fail, and its quiet four-mile current Within
the recollection OF living men various cut
offs have occurred at various points, short
ening the river from Cairo to New Orleans
IL. Il.
miles by the main channel of the river be-
tween those cities to day as it was fifty years
ago. In 1876 the river between Cairo and
Memphis was shortened in one day. by the
cutoff at Devils Elbow, fully twenty miles,
but what the river lost in length at that
point ii has gradually gained at other points,
and 20 it will go on forever. One of the i'm
mediately obvious effects OF a sudden cutoff
is an increase in the velocity of the current
in the neighborhood, as the water falls down
a greater descent in a given distance there
than the law OF hydraulics require. An
other effect is to raise the general level of
the river surface imme diately below the cut
of and to depress it above. This condition,
that il the current being made abnormally
rapid, Is uncomfortable, so to speak, 10 The
river and it begins Immediately to repair |
the damage. When the cutoff at Devils |
Elbow occurred, the general level Of the sur
race OF the river immediately ABOVE was |
lowered about three feet, and the owners Of
the bordering lands made happy; but year
By year this great gain has diminished, and |
now after six short years the river has
nearly regained its old level, fact perfectly |
shown by the overflow. With the course Of !
he river stretched out TO 1850 miles, unfor- |
.unately there is not water enough to afford |
good navigation during the fall months, |
nevertheless there is entirely too much water !
in the spring months. What is TO be done |
about il? II the river is shortened by arti- /
icial cutofs it will increase the oFerHows. |
II you give e certain quantity OF water 1850 |
miles OF course to empty itself through, and |
i cannot get through at times without stop !
ping over its banks, surely if you shorten |
hat course you will but increase the difficult