Mr. WALTER R. BROWNE wished to say, before the discussion Mr. Browne. commenced, that the current meter used, and shown in Fig. 2, page 17, was exhibited on the table ; and Mr. Shaw, who had designed it, was present, and would be happy to answer any questions as to its construction, or as to any practical details in carrying out the experiments. Another remark which he desired to make had reference to a passage he had quoted from Mr. Richardson :-"If anyone will look carefully at the different streams in the neighbourhood, he will see little streams with little estuaries, medium streams with middle-sized estuaries, and big streams with large estuaries ; the channel formed being always in proportion to the amount of fresh water." In a valuable note upon his Paper, which had been sent to him from Burmah, Mr. Robert Gordon, M. Inst. C.E. (see p. 69), while in a great measure assenting to Mr. Browne's conclusions, took exception to that passage, and said it was contrary to his own experience, and to the facts with regard to the rivers in the East, aud also on the west coasts of Scotland and Norway. He would not go into the question of the rivers of the East, with which he was not acquainted ; but he was desirous of pointing out that Mr. Richardson's remarks and his deductions from them, only applied to rivers that ran into the sea through flat alluvial lands-the only cases where there was much mud, and where the question of tidal scour came into prominence. I n such cases as those of the glens of Scotland and the fiords of Norway, the outline of an estuary was simply the contour line of a part,icular level in the old valley, which valley had been scooped out by ice, or by sub-aerial waste, or by whatever agent geologists might finally agree upon as that by which valleys were excavated-that level being what happened to be high-water level at the present day, and having no relation to any question of scour. I n fact, in all such cases the waters were perfectly clear both outside and inside the fiord, and there was practically no scour at all. founded upon erroneous premises and imperfect experiments, and, as the conclusion was condemnatory of the whole modern school of engineering, it was revolutionary. The Author's first line of argument was that the silt which tended to choke up tidal channels was almost wholly due to tidal water, and not to the fresh water; and many others wereiof that opinion; but he would state why he Mr. W. SHELFORD was under t.he impression that the Paper was Mr. Shelford.
