INSTITUTE NOTES. 47 



handsome design. How this surface was ever made is not 

 clear, as the pavement was apparently laid in one solid piece, 

 as far as could be observed. Mr. Newbold took a number of 

 photographs of the ruins, which he has also presented to the 

 Museum. 



Another recent acquisition to the Museum is a historical 

 relic from the old " Covered Bridge " on the Baltimore Pike, 

 over Ridley Creek, just west of Media, donated through the 

 kindness of Mr. Warren A. Baker, of Media, Pa. During 

 the present Summer, 191 5, this old bridge was torn down to 

 make way for a modern concrete bridge. Mr. Baker, who 

 was engaged as inspector on the new bridge, was much inter- 

 ested in examining the timber from the old bridge and noting 

 how well it had stood the ravages of the weather during its 

 fifty or sixty years of existence. 



In looking over this old timber he came upon some pieces 

 containing pairs of peculiar wooden plugs, apparently serving 

 no purpose. These plugs were some five or six inches long, 

 one piece of each pair being more or less round and the other 

 rectangular in cross section, the two pairs of plugs being 

 located probably a foot apart. Not knowing what they were 

 he made inquiries, and from an old raftsman found out that 

 they were the plugs and the ends of the bows used in lashing 

 the logs together when they were floated down the Susque- 

 hanna or some other river. The method of operation was to 

 bore two holes in the ends of an occasional log, a foot or so 

 apart, insert in these the ends of a bow of wood and fasten 

 the ends of the bow into the log by driving in wedge shaped 

 plugs. Cross logs were then passed through the bows of these 

 logs interspersed throughout the raft, thus binding the whole 

 mass of logs together. Later when the wood was finished up 

 for building, the bow and plugs were sawed off flush with the 

 surface and left in place. Mr. Baker was good enough to cut 

 out a couple of these plugs, together with the corresponding 

 ends of the bow and present them to the Institute. 



