Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/227

Rh by the Ballast Board, was to make a chart of the whole coast, which he executed with his usual ability and accuracy. He also compiled a book of sailing directions of St. George's Channel and the Irish coast a work of high utility in a navigation at that time so imperfectly known, and so full of danger. His services in behalf of Ireland did not here terminate; for, during the great dis- tress of that country in 1822, he was appointed engineer of the western district. The experience which he had formerly acquired while surveying the Irish bogs with a view to their cultivation, was now brought into active prac- tical use; and between the year already mentioned, and 1830, he caused £167,000 to be expended in reclaiming waste land, improving what was as yet but partially cultivated, and establishing new settlements, upon which the destitute peasantry were located and employed. The increase of the revenue of that district to the amount of £106,000 per annum, was the result of these labours and provident outlay, independently of the industry and comfort which they created, and the moral improvement of the population.

The labours of Mr. Nimmo as a civil engineer, extending to the year 1832, are thus briefly enumerated in the notices of his professional career. Besides his surveys in Scotland and Ireland, above thirty piers or harbours were built upon the Irish coast under his direction. He also designed the Wellesley bridge and docks at Limerick. He superintended the construction of the harbour at Perth Cawl in South Wales. Latterly, he was engaged in Lancashire, in projecting a railway from Liverpool to Leeds, and also employed upon the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury railway.

These tasks, which occupied a life of no long continuance, left Mr. Nimmo little time to distinguish himself in authorship, notwithstanding his numerous attainments, and ardent love of science in general; and, therefore, his productions in this way were miscellaneous treatises rather than formal volumes. He wrote an occasional paper for the various periodicals, in which he unbent his mind from the more severe studies of his profession. He also published an article in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, showing how the science of geology might be made available in navigation. He was author of the article in Brewster's Cyclopaedia on "Inland Navigation." He wrote, jointly with Mr. Telford, the article on "Bridges;" and with Mr. Nicholson, that on "Carpentry." The evidence he delivered on the trial between the Corporation of Liverpool and the Medway Company, which has been published, was also greatly admired by mathematicians and engineers, as containing a sound and practical elucidation of the scientific principles of their profession.

As Mr. Nimmo's first success in life was owing to his accomplishments as a scholar, his early love of literature continued with him to the close. His acquirements therefore were extensive, so that besides being well acquainted with the classical languages, he was master of French, German, Dutch, and Italian; he was also thoroughly skilled in the sciences of practical astronomy, chemistry, and geology. He died at Dublin, on the 20th of January, 1832, in the forty-ninth year of his age.