BETJNEL, Sir MARE ISA:NIB-UM, the celebrated engineer of the Thames tunnel, son of an agriculturist, was born at Hacqueville, near Rouen, in France, April 25, 1769. He early showed an inclination for mechanics, and at school preferred the study of the exact sciences to the classics. In 1786, he became a sailor in the French navy. In the revolu tionary period of 1793, having compromised himself by his political opinions, he escaped from Paris to the States. His career as an engineer began in 1794, when he was appointed to survey for the canal which now connects lake Champlain with the river Iludson at Albany. He afterwards acted as an architect in New York. On his return to Europe in 1799, he married the daughter of William Kingdom, esq., Plymouth, and settled in England. A plan submitted byhim to government for making block-pulleys for ships by machinery was adopted, and he was for many years employed in carrying it into execution in Portsmouth dockyard. He was also successful in the construction of other public works—in Woolwich arsenal and Chatham dockyard, etc. His most remark
able undertaking was the Thames tunnel, formed beneath the bed of the river, and which, commenced in Mar., 1825, was opened to the public in Mar., 1843. Assisted by his son, the subject of the previous article, he for ten years pursued a course of experiments for •employing carbonic acid gas as a motive-power, but the cost of the machinery prevented its introduction as a substitute for steam. Among the less important of B.'s inventions, machines for making wooden boxes; for ruling paper; for shuffling a pack of cards without using the hands; for the manufacture of nails; and for making seamless shoes for the army—the latter, tried for two years, was abandoned from economical motives. Elected a fellow of the royal society in 1814, he was appointed vice-president in 1832. He was knighted in 1841; and died, Dec., 1849, in his 81st year.