NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 177 



ELASTICITY OF IRON. 



At a recent meeting of the London Pharmaceutical Society, Mr. Appokl 

 showed the following interesting experiment, illustrative of the elasticity of 

 iron. A stout iron ring was provided, several inches in diameter, and of 

 such a substance as to apparently prevent the possibility of its form being 

 in the slightest degree affected by the mere muscular force of one man; an 

 iron rod was placed across the interior of the ring, and fitted in with suf- 

 ficient tightness to retain its position without other support. Then, placing 

 the apparatus horizontally on a table, by merely pressing with the fingers 

 upon the outside of the ring, in a direction transverse to that occupied by 

 the rod, the latter dropped through; proving that a certain amount of alter- 

 ation had really been effected in the form of the ring by the slight pressure 

 applied. 



METHODS EMPLOYED BY THE ANCIENTS TO MOVE, HAUL, AND RAISE 

 STONES OF UNUSUAL DIMENSIONS. 



The following article, translated by J. Bennet, C. E., Rondelet's "Art of 

 Building," we find in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, November, 

 18(30 : 



The immense ruins of the ancient edifices of Egypt bear witness to the 

 taste which the Egyptians had for the grand and durable; the blocks used 

 for their construction were of enormous size. Herodotus speaks of an edi- 

 fice which formed a part of the Temple of Latona, at Buto, whose walls 

 were formed of a single rock 52.8 feet long by as much in height. The 

 ceiling or covering of this edince was also a single block with 5.28 feet 

 thickness. 



In another place he says that Amasis ordered to be transported from the 

 Isle of Elephantine to the town of Sais, twenty days' sail distant, a structure 

 formed of a single block of stone; its exterior length was 27.72 feet by 18.48 

 wide, and 10.5(3 feet high. The interior measured 2-1.80 feet in length, by 

 15.84 in breadth, by 6.6 in height. Two thousand men were employed three 

 years in its transportation. The mass of this last structure, deducting 

 the empty space within, was 2,822 cubic feet; and its weight was 458,744 

 pounds, on the supposition that the rock was formed of the same granite as 

 the obelisk. 



As for the other structure, which formed a part of the temple of Latona, at 

 Buto, the Greek text of Herodotus seems to describe the four walls as being 

 formed of a single block hollowed like a trough. In this case, it would have 

 required a block of 147,200 cubic feet, with a weight of 24,260,500 pounds; 

 and supposing it was not transported until after being hollowed, its weight 

 would still have been 9,944,750 pounds. 



The transportation of so heavy a mass and of so great volume would 

 appear as an inconceivable difficulty, even by water, on account of the im- 

 mense size of the vessel or platform required to keep afloat so great a load, 

 which was twenty times that transported by Amasis. The difficulties of 

 unloading and moving upon the ground so great a mass would seem to be 

 insurmountable, as it would not be possible to find machines or rollers strong 

 enough to bear such a weight without crushing. 



The Count of Carbury, who had charge of the transportation of the rock 

 to St. Petersburg whtch constitutes the pedestal of the statue of Peter the 



