In the year 1824 Brunel, undeterred by the two previous failures of Dodd and Trevethick, commenced his great work--the Thames Tunnel. It is said that the original idea occurred to him as applied to the Neva at St. Petersburgh, in order to avoid the inconvenience arising from the floating ice; a plan which he offered to the Emperor Alexander, on the occasion of his visit to this country in 1814. During the above-mentioned year a company was formed for the execution of this work, under the auspices of the Duke of Wellington, who had always entertained a favourable view as to its practicability; and after numerous accidents, and frequent suspensions of the works, this great and novel undertaking was successfully accomplished, and opened to the public in the year 1843. In the prosecution of this undertaking Sir Isambard derived great assistance from his son, the late Mr. I. K. Brunel. The shield, as it was termed, under shelter of which the excavation beneath the bed of the river was carried forward, required very peculiar contrivances to adapt it to its purpose. It was made in sections or compartments contained in a strong square frame, each section or compartment being moved forward by screws, as the men working in them proceeded with the excavation; the entire shield was thus enabled to be moved forward, and the brickwork, consisting of two tunnels, was built up to the extent that it had been advanced. After the completion of the Tunnel, Brunel's health became seriously impaired from the labours he had undergone in its execution, and he was unable to mix in active life; he expired on the 12th of December, 1849, in his eighty-first year, after a long illness. He received the honour of Knighthood in 1841, and the order of the Legion of honour in 1829; he was also a corresponding member of the French Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which he joined in the year 1823.--_Annual Report of the Institution of Civil Engineers._ December 17, 1850.--_Beamish's Life of Brunel._ London, 1862. EDMUND CARTWRIGHT, D.D., F.R.S., &c. Born April 24, 1743. Died October 30, 1823. Dr. Cartwright, whose invention of the power-loom may be considered as one of the valuable elements of our national manufacturing superiority, was born at Marnham in Nottinghamshire, and was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom were remarkable men.[9] He was educated under Dr. Clarke, at the Grammar School of Wakefield, and had he been permitted to follow the bent of his own inclination in the choice of a profession, would have preferred the navy; but two of his brothers being already designed for that service, it was thought advisable that Edmund should enter the Church. Dr. Cartwright began his academical studies at University College, Oxford, where he was entered at fourteen years of age, and during the vacations was placed under the private tuition of Dr. Langhorne, the editor of 'Plutarch's Lives.'