Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Measurement, Political Economy, Engineering, Aesthetics

    Begins by telling Ruskin that he may be right in matters of art and aesthetics, but that his views on political economy are untenable. Argues that political economy 'sums' are so difficult because 'they have to be worked with men's interests, principles, passions, and pockets for factors' and are therefore very different from engineering calculations, which involve the more reliable 'figures and quantities, measures of length, liquid measures, and measures of capacity'. Proceeds to attack Ruskin's recent proposal to prevent the Tiber from flooding—which Ruskin delivered at the Royal Institution. Believes Ruskin's plan for protecting farms from flooding could not control the vast quantities of rain in northern Italy and that Ruskin has vastly underestimated the quantities of water involved.