122 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



the brewery belonging to Elliot, Watnoy, & Co. above. This 

 building is now carried on a series of girders, but the work had 

 to be (.lone with great care, for the suj)erin(.unibent weight was 

 immense, and the soil lielow pom- and treacherous. Alter linish- 

 ing this jjortion of the line a Iresh dilhculty arose with the King's 

 Scholar's Pond sewer, tlie largest sewer next to that of the lleet 

 in London. This had to be entirely diverted, and reconstructed in 

 an iron lube, 11 feet wide ])y 14 feet liigh. So very limited was 

 the space at command that this sewer had to be built over the up 

 and down line in a deeply arched form, in order to make room for 

 the fimnels of the locomotives. This most dillicult of all the tasks 

 on the line has been admirably exeeuted by ]\lr. T. A. AValker, 

 the resident engineer, who has li;id eharge of the works through- 

 out. A few yards from this point is the station at Victoria, whicli, 

 like all the others on the line, is open, or rather only closed in 

 with light glass and iron roofs. From this point the line passes 

 on to Sloane Square, a wide and lofty station, but the arehitectu- 

 ral effect of which is much marred l)y the Ranelagh sewer being 

 taken in a huge cylinder of cast iron right across its very centre 

 at the springing of the arches. Continuing westward, the next 

 station is near the site of the Exhibition building of 1802, and to 

 this a new road will be made by a continuation of the Exhibition 

 Eoad from Kensington. The last station is at Gloucester Road, 

 West Brompton, wiiere the junction is effected with the Metropol- 

 itan Extension. The District line then branches to the south, and 

 forms a double junction with the West London, by means of 

 which a communication is gained with most of the southern lines. 



EARTHQUAKE-PROOF BUILDINGS. 



The recuiTcnce of earthquake shocks in California has led to a 

 discussion of the methods of building houses in such a manner as 

 to be virtually earth(]uakc-proof. A San Francisco architect, Mr. 

 Saeltzer, has read a paper on this subject before the California 

 Institute of Architecture, in which he contends that llexible ma- 

 terials only should be used in building. Ilis theory is as fol- 

 lows : — 



" By distributing the whole weight of the building on piers of 

 stone, brick, or iron, or on wooden piles, — in fact, isolating the 

 foundation in such a manner that these piers or piles form part of 

 the foundation, — and by connecting them with iron beams screw- 

 bolted together, the building is then well anchored at the proper 

 place; in fact, this style of foundation will form a girding all 

 round the building longitudinally and transversely. 



"This mode of construction will insiu'e, lirst of all, the least 

 contact with the earth; secondly, concentration of the whole mass 

 of tiie building on single points only with strong anchorage; 

 thirdly, more elasticity of the foundation, and consequently more 

 elasticity in the whole mass of the building; fourthly, a combi- 

 nation of heterogeneous materials in one mass, — an anvalgama- 

 tiou, — one of the most important points to be gained; lilthly. 



