That generous spirit of enterprise which characterises the merchants of Greenock has given birth to one of the most remarkable efforts of science and art which have been accomplished in modern times. This is the admiration of every stranger, and well known to the public under the name of Shaw's Water-works. By a singular combination of ingenuity and skill, a small stream of water is made to travel along the faces of mountains, and across ravines, for the space of six miles and a half, till it reaches the brow of a hill about a mile above Greenock, at an elevation of more than five hundred feet above the level of the sea. Here it is received into a small reservoir, and managed in such a manner as to produce, by this stupendous fall, a two-thousand-horse power, greater, says Mr. Brown, than that produced by all the united steam-engines in Glasgow. This splendid scheme was designed and completed under the personal superintendence of Mr. Thom, of Rothesay, to whose scientific and inventive genius it is a noble and lasting monument. The immense power thus provided is rendered more secure and certain than that of steam, because there exists no doubt whatever that a full supply of water commensurate with the power, can be had at all times and seasons. [Illustration: NEW BRIDGE AND BROOMIELAW GLASGOW.] THE BROOMIELAW, GLASGOW. The river Clyde, in a commercial point of view, is of the greatest importance, not only to the city of Glasgow, but to the whole western district of Scotland. Till the beginning of the sixteenth century, however, the channel of this noble river was so incommoded by fords and shoals, as to be hardly navigable even for the small craft of that day. Sensible of this great evil, and aware that it admitted of a remedy, the inhabitants of Glasgow, Renfrew, and Dumbarton entered into an agreement to excavate the channel of the river, and, by working six weeks alternately, succeeded in their enterprise. The principal ford and several others of less importance were removed, so that by the middle of the sixteenth century, flat-bottomed lighters could be floated with ease and safety to the landing-shore at the Broomielaw, which, in the process of time and events, has become the great commercial port of Glasgow.