6 4 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



as well the ever-important element of beauty, without which big- 

 ness is vulgarity. Nature is never vulgar. Whether we look upon 

 the roadside violet that wilts under the touch, or whether we stand 

 wondering at Niagara, or strain to see the tiptop rock of the Grand 

 Canon, we may always discern a radiant beauty, which pervades the 





jp 



^- 



Fig. 2. — Completed Arch. 



-f--: 



* 



world to its foundations, and is poured out upon us unmeasured and 

 unpriced. 



So these architectural forms that result from the perennial battle 

 between the dry land and the sea, no matter what their size, are 

 charming in majesty, in proportion, in harmony of color, and in 

 variety and grace of outline. Our imaginations are constantly in 

 search of resemblances, and it is not strange, therefore, that every 

 land presents to human curiosity numerous specimens, though it 

 must be admitted that the mind is sometimes taxed to discover the 

 likeness. On the other hand, some are so evident as to have acquired 

 a world-wide celebrity. The Natural Bridge of Virginia (Fig. 1) is 

 not only a resemblance, it is a reality. In the Rocky Mountain region 

 are numerous other bridges formed thus naturally. In the Canon of 

 Desolation, Green River, Utah, far above the water are many natural 

 arches in the thinner salients of the monster cliffs. These perfora- 

 tions are often two thousand feet above the river, looking like enor- 

 mous windows opening on some other world. In one a pine tree that 

 must have been at least a hundred feet high was growing, and its 

 top was many feet below the crown of the arch. Wherever this par- 

 ticular formation is exposed, these arches or bridges occur in all 

 stages of development. The sandstone of this formation has the 

 peculiarity of fracturing conchoidally, and when the face of a cliff 



