44 PARTICULARS OF TtfE CONSTRUCTION 



as well calculated to resist the action of heavy cur- 

 rents of water, if deprived of its branches, as to bear 

 the pressure of the wind upon its extended foliage ; and 

 appearing to offer the smallest resistance to the fluid, 

 in proportion to its own firmness, of any figure that 

 occurred to him. And as it was well suited to the pur- 

 pose in other respects, he determined on adopting it. 



Having decided on the form, the next thing was to 

 ascertain the best method of binding tin- stones toge- 

 ther, and rooting them to the rock, so that the whole 

 should form one piece. 



In this he had also to bear in mind, that time for 

 working on the rock would be e.\tn-m< -ly precarious, at 

 first only at occasional intervals of smooth \\ater. 

 Whilst on shore the men could be steadily employed 

 in any requisite preparations. Cramping, or any 

 similar process, requiring tune on theroek, could there- 

 fore hardly be employed ; and he at length determined 

 on Dovetailing an expedient at that tune rarely 

 adopted in Masonry ; but wherein every stone could 

 be well prepared on shore, and nothing would remain 

 to be done on the rock, but putting them in place. 



In making the foundation he resolved to cut the 

 face of the rock into dovetails, and to leave an exter- 

 nal ledge of a few inches high, to embrace the stones 

 where they should come into immediate contact with 

 the rock: this would be, so to speak, the rout of his 

 building. 



He heard it frequently said, that a stone, lighthouse 

 built on the Eddystone would certainly upset ; whence 

 he kept constantly in mind, so to proportion the res- 

 pective parts to the force they would have to resist, 

 that no man should be able to say at what point it would 

 upset. Thus as the force of the sea would be greatest 

 at bottom, so also would be the base, as well as the 

 superincumbent pressure ; and as beyond a certain 

 point, the force of the sea would be directed nearly 

 upwards, by the curve of the lower part of the build- 

 ing, he could there make it hollow for cellars and 

 dwelling rooms. These things being settled, he made 



