ON BUILDINGS IN INDIA. 389 



end of a girder, to give to the girder a broad base or bearing 

 upon the wall. 



2. To tie the wall together lengthwise, in order to prevent 

 its spreading at the top. 



When the foundation is equal, it is evident that bond tim- 

 bers become useless, excepting in the first case. — But it has 

 been customary in England to put them regularly into the walls, 

 from the bottom to the top, at the distance of several feet asun- 

 der; taking care that one piece shall be laid so as to receive the 

 skirting, another the surbase, &c. — A specimen of this practice 

 might have been seen in the north wing of the Capitol, in 

 which the bond timber had a considerable share in the failure 

 of the work, and in the necessity of a thorough rebuilding of 

 the interior. 



Bond timbers do injury by the following means : A piece of 

 timber laid along the wall, takes up in its whole length the place 

 of solid materials. It is laid in wet mortar; and the work above, 

 as the moisture descends, keeps it wet for some time. It swells. 

 It is on three sides inaccessible to the air. At last it dries with the 

 wall and shrinks. If the timber occupies less than half the thick- 

 ness of the wall, the wall will not follow it, the outer part being the 

 heaviest, but the timber occupying less space than before; be- 

 comes loose. In heavy buildings, being moist and excluded 

 from the air for a long time, it will probably be rotten before 

 that time. The plaistering that covers it will crack. In fact, 

 if it ever was useful, it ceases entirely to be so. 



To prevent these timbers from moving outwards as they get 

 loose, they have some times been made thicker within the wall 

 than on their exterior side, sometimes they have been tied in 

 by short cross pieces. But all this does not remove the evil. 



As to the convenience of bond timbers for fastening on the 

 the dressings — the same end may be much better accomplished 

 by driving in very dry oak plugs, after the building is finished 

 and dry. 



If however the foundation be unequal, it is evident that the 

 tendency of one part of the wall to sink into a soft place while 

 the rest is supported by a harder part of the foundation can 

 only be resisted by timber strong enough to hold up the wall 



