EULOGY ON THE LATE GENEEAL JOSEPH G. TOTTEN. 277 



already been observed tbat, as soon as tbe original board of engineers had 

 sufficiently matured the general system of defence, and completed plans for the 

 works first required, its members applied themselves to the duty of construc- 

 tion. In 1828 General (then Colonel) Totten took charge of the construction 

 of Fort Adams, Newport harbor, and continued on this duty, making his resi- 

 dence in the town of Newport, until December, 183S, the date of his appoint- 

 ment as chief of the corps of engineers. This work, the second in magnitude 

 of the fortifications of the United States, is one of the best monuments of his 

 genius as a military engineer. From its peculiar relations "to the land defence, 

 it called for the application of most of those rules of the art and many of those 

 special arrangements which form the themes of treatises upon " fortification," 

 and which, generally, have but a very limited application to works of harbor 

 defence. In these respects it has no parallel with us; and in the treatment of 

 the case and happy adaptation of means to the end, Colonel Totten exhibited a 

 mastery of all the details of the art, which proves his technical skill and minute 

 knowledge to be fully equal to the power of broad generalization I have already 

 endeavored to illustrate. But Colonel Totten found here yet another field for 

 professional usefulness — another track to explore. The art of the civil engi- 

 neer (I use the phrase in its application to mere construction, whether it be of a 

 military or civil work) was yet in its infancy in this country. Our resources 

 in building materials were almost unknown, their qualities and adaptabilities to 

 different purposes of construction undeveloped. Thus far the matter had ex- 

 cited little attention ; the building material, whether brick or stone, lime or tim- 

 ber, nearest at hand was indiscriminately used, and its aggregation left much to 

 the skill of the mechanic In commencing constructions on so great a scale, it 

 was of the first importance that the work should be both durable and econom- 

 ical — a result only to be attained by the most careful selection of materials, and. 

 the most skilful manipulation. Besides, our forts called for arrangements 

 unknown in other branches of building — arrangements for which the execution 

 and the most suitable materials had to be studied out ab initio, since on many of 

 these points there were neither experience nor extant rules to guide. 



In the years 1830 and 1831 a series of experiments was instituted by Colo- 

 nel Totten at Fort Adams, on the expansion and contraction of building stone 

 by natural changes of temperature, and the effects of these variations on the 

 cements employed to secure the joints of stone copings. An account of them 

 was prepared under his direction by Lieutenant (now Professor) W. H. C. Bart- 

 lett, a member of this Academy, and published in the American Journal of 

 Science for July, 1832. The methods employed were at once simple and inge- 

 nious, and the result was such as to leave no doubt that in this climate the 

 joints of copings formed of stone of four or five feet in length will always be 

 insecure, no matter what description of cement may be employed to close them. 



This result is one of great practical importance. Previously to the experimen- 

 tal examination of the subject by Colonel Totten, the walls of our most expen- 

 sive works of masonry were protected by copings cemented at their joints ; and 

 while the failure of the cement was constantly noticed, the cause of the failure 

 was not understood. The experiments showed that the changes of longitudinal 

 dimensions of granite coping-stones, five feet only in length, under the extreme 

 temperatures to which they were exposed at Newport, would be sufficient to pul- 

 verize the hardest cement between them, or to leave cracks in it thicker than com- 

 mon pasteboard. With marble as a material, these destructive effects are con- 

 siderably increased, and with sandstone, nearly doubled. 



About the same time Colonel Totten caused some experiments to be made to 

 ascertain the relative stiffness and strength of the following kinds of timber, 

 viz: White pine, (Pinus stiobus,) Spruce, (Abies nigra,) and southern pine, 

 C Pinus australus), also called long-leaved pine. 



