466 TRANSACTIONS OT THE 



with him. and trusted his great building to him. The facade on Chamhers: 

 street is good. 



We must so open the eyes of otir people that they will be compelled to- 

 employ none but thoroughly educated architects. Our rich men seem ta 

 dream that God foreordained that they must bHild a house, if it does not 

 stand long enaugh for his child's home. This questio^n is vital to the repu- 

 tation of our great city. I think that there is no material equal to pure; 

 marble. None of our granites bear the polish of some of the Eiiropean I 



The Year Book of Facts, is Tery instructive on this as wall as many 

 other questions — let it be studied. And we have a teacher at home, enti- 

 tled to our fullest respect — Professor Dana, whose knowledge rs mature. 

 I quote him a moment on the solidification of materials by crystallization. 

 He gives minutely the forms of the constituent particles, from the angular 

 to the globular. All sand stones are agglomerations, not crystallizations ; 

 there is not a building in England that can last one thousand years ! Pur© 

 lime stone, entirely free fi'om iron I all carbon ! Unorganized crystal has 

 nothing to wear away ; a building of pure quartz would endure beyond all 

 time. We manure our land with lime, which unites with carbon and really 

 becomes marble in minute particles ! You know that ancient statues of 

 pure marble, made 2000 or 3-000 years- ago, whether covered up by the 

 ruins of the cities they adorn, or exposed to air and light during that series 

 of ages, maintain the very polish first received by them from the statuaries. 

 This is also true of the buildings of pure marble, exposed to the weather as 

 long. Such material is glorious for our transitory corporeal race — ^it per- 

 petuates the powers of his mind when endless generations of their bodies 

 have become dust. 



Within ten years, the lower part of our city has become n^arblc. When 

 I saw the first marble store, I asked the merchant owner about it He re- 

 plied " I built it for a sign.'" Every one sees it, contrasted with the dusky 

 looking houses about it. A better taste than the old one has commenced 

 growing among us. The brown stone quarry, with its moss growing decay- 

 ing character, is not so '•'potential" as it was. I will willingly work on 

 a committee ; we will call on science for help. 



I tried a hard burned brick in water — it gained hardly any weight — it 

 would make a perfectly tight house. The bricks of the late Presbyterian 

 church, on Beekman street, broke, mortar and all alike — one solid body. 

 We must read Professor Dana's excellent essays on molecular structure of 

 bodies. 



Mr. Leonard nominated Prof. Mason as chairman of the committee. 



Mr. Veeder. — Let the Chairman name his associates. 



The Chairman appointed Messrs. Tillman and Dwight, and added Dr. 

 Deck. 



Mr. Dwight. — Nineveh contained no burned bricks. 



Mr. Tillman. — The position of our city is admirably adapted to noble 

 edifices, and I join in the enthusiasm of Prof, Mason in relation to monu- 

 mental building — showing that we did not live in vain. It is recently pro- 



