A 



J O U R N, A ]L 



OF 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



DECEMBER, I807. 



ARTICLE I. 



Remarks on the Struchire of covered Ways, independent of 

 the Principle of the Arch in Equilibrium , and on the best 

 Forms for Arches in Buildings. From a .Correspondent 

 (Apsophus). 



To Mr. NICHOLSOK. 

 SIR, 



HE subterraneous passages or tunnels of the Babylo- Ancient sub- 

 nians, and perhaps the cloacae of the Romans, were <^o*^" arch'^^^^'^* ^ 

 structed, according to the opinion of the best informed 

 antiquaries, by simply causing the bricks or stones of each 



, of the side walls to project more and more as they rose 

 higher, till they finally met in the summit. The most an- 

 cient remains of the Grecian buildings, for example, the 



^treasury of Atreus at Mycetiae, and other ruins in the Pe- 

 loponnesus, ^exhibit in general over their doors, according to 

 the reports of modern travellers, a triangular aperture, 

 formed by large stones ; the base of the triangle coinciding 

 with the lintel of the door ; and the pointed arches of the 



, Gothic buildings aVe by no means universally so ar, .nged, 

 as to derive their stability from the proportion of therf cur- 

 vature in every part, to the pressure which would be pro- 

 duced, according to the commonly received theory, by the 

 Vol. X VIII— Dec. I8O7. R height 



