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HENRY MASTERTON, born on the 12th March, 1843, obtained his engineering training under the late Mr. Alexander Black, of Falkirk, to whom he was articled in 1857. He subsequently remained with that gentleman as an assistant, employed on work in connection with the Dunfermline and Queensferry Railway, the Grangemouth Railway and Docks, and the Falkirk Waterworks. In 1865 he came to Westminster, and entered the office of Mr. W. R. Galbraith. From 1866 to 1871 he was engaged as an assistant surveyor, under Messrs. Glasier and Son, on a large building estate at Hackney, preparing plans, superintending the construction of sewerage works, and laying out land for building purposes. In 1873 Mr. Masterton re-entered the service of Messrs. Galbraith and Church, by whom he was employed in the design of bridges and on various railway work. From September, 1881, to March, 1885, he acted as Resident Engineer, under Mr. Galbraith, on the Surbiton and Guildford and the Leatherhead branches of the London and South Western Railway, and in 1886 he was similarly occupied on the North Cornwall Railway, under Messrs. Galbraith and Church. On the completion of that work he became Resident Engineer on the construction of the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway from Tavistock to Devonport.

In 1890 Mr. Masterton was appointed by the Devon County Council Surveyor for the northern division of that county. In 1897 it was determined to divide the county into only two districts, and Mr. Masterton was appointed one of the two surveyors. Being permitted to undertake work on his own account, he carried out the laying of the water-main across the Tamar to Saltash, the widening of the Taw Vale Parade, and the laying of the impounding sewer at Barnstaple; and he conducted, for the Town Council of the latter place, the negotiations in connection with the construction of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway. He also acted as Engineer to the Sutton Harbour Improvement Company at Plymouth. Mr. Masterton died at his residence, Boutport Street, Barnstaple, on the 18th September, 1898, from the effects of a chill. He was an able engineer, and was held in great respect by all who came in contact with him. He was elected an Associate Member on the 2nd February, 1886.

GEORGE NAPIER, only son of Mr. A. J. Napier, Writer to the Signet, was born at Edinburgh on the 30th May, 1869. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and at the Edinburgh University, after which he went through the three-years course at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill, obtaining the diploma of the College. He then gained practical training with the firm of Messrs. P. and W. MacLellan, of the Clutha Ironworks, Glasgow. During 1894 and 1895 he was one of the staff of Messrs. Galbraith and Church, engaged on the construction of the graving dock at Southampton, and in January, 1896, he was appointed an Assistant Civil Engineer to the Admiralty on the construction of the Keyham Extension of H. M. Dockyard, Devonport, under Mr. Whately Eliot, the Superintending Civil Engineer. Towards the end of 1897, however, his health became so bad that he was compelled to resign that appointment. Early in the following year he went on a seavoyage to the Cape, and on the 11th March, 1898, he died at Cape Town from a sudden attack of pneumonia. Mr. Napier combined practical common sense with an unusually sweet disposition, and his early death was greatly deplored by his colleagues on the Keyham Extension. He was elected an Associate Member on the 3rd March, 1896.

THOMAS CHEVELEY RAYNER, eldest son of the late Mr. Thomas Rayner, of Castle Hedingham, Essex, was born on the 30th October, 1840. After assisting his father, who was an extensive agriculturist in Essex, and being for some time in the office of a land agent and surveyor, he joined in 1861 the staff of the late Mr. William Munro, contractor, and was employed on the Colne Valley Railway and on the Tendring Hundred Railway during construction. In 1863-65 he was in charge of a considerable length of the Athenry and Ennis Junction Railway for the same contractor. He was engaged during 1866-68 on a 25-mile district of the State Railways in Denmark for the contractors, Messrs. Peto, Brassey, & Betts, and in 1869-70 on the East Hungarian Railways, under the late Mr. Charles Walker, for Messrs. Waring Brothers. From 1871 to 1876 he was occupied, partly on his own account, in connection with ironworks, mining, railways, &c., chiefly in South Wales. In 1877 he was again in Ireland as contractors' agent on the works of the Dungannon and Cookstown Railway, and in 1879 he was appointed to take charge

of the Banbridge Extension Railway, and afterwards of the Limavady and Dungiven Railway. On the completion of the latter line the directors retained him in their service as contractor for some extra works.

In 1885-86 Mr. Rayner carried out several contracts on his own account, including some difficult pier works on the Donegal coast for the Board of Public Works, Ireland. Early in 1887 he accepted an engagement as agent for the contractors of the Plymouth, Devonport and South-Western Railway Works, but relinquished that position shortly afterwards on being offered an appointment on the staff of the late Mr. T. A. Walker on the Manchester Ship Canal contract. There he was engaged as District Agent until the end of 1890, when he was appointed by the Belfast and County Down Railway Company Agent and Resident Engineer on the works of the Downpatrick, Killough and Ardglass Railway, which, together with the Newcastle loop line, he completed to the entire satisfaction of the Company. He was engaged on numerous other works in the North of Ireland until September, 1896, when he undertook for the Board of Public Works the supervision of the construction of Killybegs Pier, co. Donegal, which was completed in the following May. Unfortunately his health then began to fail, and, having to undergo a severe internal operation, he was unable to attend to work for nearly a year, but in March, 1898, he was entrusted by the Dublin University Boat Club with the execution of the works in connection with the new rowing course on the River Liffey. These he was able to complete satisfactorily, but, after long struggling against an internal complaint, he succumbed on the 17th November, 1898.

Mr. Rayner was loved and esteemed by all whom he employed. Somewhat reserved in disposition, he was hard to please in his choice of friends, and only selected those who were true and straightforward. He is greatly missed by many who had learned to appreciate his sterling qualities. He was elected an Associate on the 6th May, 1869, and was subsequently placed in the class of Associate Members.

LUCAS THOMASSON, son of Mr. John P. Thomasson, of Messrs. John Thomasson and Son, millowners, Bolton, was born on the 21st February, 1868. After studying at Owens College, Manchester, he was engaged during 1888 and 1889 in his father's [THE INST. C.E. VOL. CXXXV.]

2 B

cotton mills, and in extending, by private reading and tuition, his knowledge of the theory of engineering. In 1890 he took the third year's course in engineering under Professor Unwin at the Central Institution of the City and Guilds of London Institute, and in 1891 he entered the works of Messrs. Yarrow and Company at Poplar. While there his health broke down, and he had to give up work for a time. In 1893 he was able to carry out the refitting and re-organization of the repairing shop at Messrs. Thomasson and Son's factory, and to superintend the introduction of various machinery, but owing to continued ill-health he was from that time not in a position to undertake regular work. He died on the 3rd October, 1898, at Hawkshead House, Hatfield. Mr. Thomasson was elected an Associate Member on the 2nd May, 1893.

The following deaths have also been made known since the 6th October, 1898:

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CUMING, JAMES HENING, F.C.H.; died
November, 1898.

MICHELL, WILLIAM; died 12 January,
1899.

PEACE, ALFRED LINDLEY; died 26 November, 1898.

STOKES, JAMES FOLLIOTT: died 6
January, 1899.

WHITE, JOHN ; died 22 October,
1898.

WIGAN, LEONARD; died 9 December, 1898. WILLIAMS, HUGH; died 9 December, 1898.

Associates.

SWARBRICK, SAMUEL; died 22 January, 1899.

Bayliss, Samuel; died 27 November, 1898.

Information as to the career and characteristics of the above is solicited in aid of the preparation of Obituary Notices.-SEC. INST. C.E., 14 February, 1899.

SECT. III.

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS IN SCIENTIFIC TRANSACTIONS AND PERIODICALS.

The Tensile Strength of Stone-like Bodies. A. Föpple.
(Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1898, pp. 268-274.)

After referring to accounts of his earlier experiments,1 the Author describes the following endeavour to obtain by direct means the true tensile strength of cement.

The test-pieces were of neat cement of the usual double-wedgeshaped form, mixed by weight with 54 parts of water to 200 parts of cement. In the end of each test-piece were embedded two pieces of wire rope 3 millimetres (0.118 inch) in diameter, composed of thirty-six strands; the free ends of the pieces of rope were formed into loops and the embedded ends splayed out like brushes so as to be gripped by the cement. The wires reached on either side to within 1 centimetre (0.39 inch) of the centre of the test-piece.

Five series of twenty test-pieces were broken; half in the usual way by jaws holding the specimen, the rope being cut off short and left slightly projecting; and half, in the same machine, by means of pulls applied by hooks to the rope loops. The following Table gives the results of the experiments in kilograms per square centimetre; and as the figures are only useful in comparison with each other they have not been converted to English measure:

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It is not claimed that by the use of the wire rope inequality of stress on the specimen is eliminated, but only that it is decreased.

W. B.

1 Thonindustriezeitung, 1896, p. 145; Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1897,

p. 6.

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