THE CmL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



41 



and the comers at right angles, we must consider the effect on each of 

 the four sides thus ; — 



Bail. 



Good. 



First, the aspect due north is apt to be gloomy, because no sun 

 shine ever cheers a room so placed. 



Secondly, the aspect due east is not much better, because there the 

 sun only shines while we are in bed. 



Tliir.ily, tlie aspect due west is intolerable, from the excess of sun 

 dazzling the eye through the greatest part of the day. 



From hence we may conclude that a scjuare house, placed with its 

 fronts duly opposite to the cardinal points, will have one good and 

 three bad aspects. 



Let us now consider the effect of turning the principal front 

 towai'ds the south-cast, then the opposite front \vill be to the north- 

 west ; an aspect far better than either due north or due west; be- 

 cause some sunshine may be preserved, when its beams are less 

 potent than in the west, and the scene will be illuminated by those 

 catching lights so much studied by painters; especially where, as in 

 the present instance, the landscape consists of large masses of 

 forest trees, and thickets richly hanging down the side of an opposite 

 hill. An aspect open to the north-east would be objectionable 

 daring the cold winds of spring ; but in this instance it is effectually 

 sheltered by an impervious screen of trees and large hollies, not 

 drawn across the landscape, but perspectively receding in a deep 

 bay, and forming an admirable defence against the north-east winds : 

 while the rielnifss and variety of this amphitheatre of evergreens 

 will render the prospect as perfect as the aspect. This warmly 

 sheltered corner will in\'ite the i-attle from every other part of the 

 grounds, to enliven the home view near the windows. 



It now remains only to mention the side towards the south-west; 

 and having stated the objection to this aspect, we may consider it 

 fortunate that the prospect in this direction is such as requires to be 

 hid rather than displayed ; and consequently the detached offices 

 and plantations, to connect the gardens with the house, will defend 

 the latter from the driving storms of the south-west, and give that 

 sheltered and shady co;ino:;ioii betv>ixt the house, offices, and gar- 

 dens, which constitute one of the most delightful agreiiieiis of a 

 country residence. 



While speaking of the three difierent aspects, I have .slightly ad- 

 verted to their respective views or landscapes, but I will speak fur- 

 ther on that towards the south-east, to which all the others may be 

 considered as subordinate, although not sacrificed. 



It is very common for admirers of landscape or natural scenery to 

 overlook the dilference betwixt a tree and a pole, or betwixt a grove 

 of old trees and a plantation of young ones. We fancy that time will 

 reconcile the diflerence ; but, alas! we grow old as fast as the trees, 

 and while we dot and clump a few starving saplings on an open lawn, 

 we indulge hopes of seeing trees, when in fact we only live to see 

 the clumsy fences by which for many years they ra\ist be protected. 

 Happy, therefore, is that pioprietorof the soil whobecomes possessed 

 of large trees already growing on the land he purchases, since no 

 ))rice can buy the effect of years, or create a full-grown wood ; and 

 without that we may possess a garden, or a shrubbery, but not a land- 

 scape. This consideration alone is suiHeient to attach u.s to the 

 vicinity of that venerable avenue, which it would be a sort of sacrilege 

 to desert, and whose age and beauty will give an immediate degree 

 of importance to the house, which could never be expected in any 

 more open pai't of the estate. 



The view towards the south-east will consist of a glade into 

 the forest, where distant woods of Wanstead are seen betwixt the 

 stems of large trees in the foreground, producing a purple tone of 



colouring so much studied by painters and admirers of picturesque 

 elfect. To this may be added the cheerful moving scene of a public 

 road, not too near to be offensive ; for however some may affect to 

 prize the solitude and seclusion of ;i forest, shut out from all the 

 busy haunts of men, yet within six miles of the capital few places 

 can boast such privacy as Wallwood House commands within its 

 forty acres, surrounded by a lores! . ^\'ho then would regret to see 

 occasionally, and at a proper disttnicc, the enlivening mixture of man 

 witli animal life, and vegetation in its most interestinrr forms? 



From its situation williin so few miles of the metropolis, this place 

 ought to combine all the pleasures of the counlrv witli the conve- 

 niences of a town residence. 



REMARKS ON THE REPORTS OF THE GREAT WESTERN 

 RAILWAY. 



BV AX OLD ENGINEEK. 



Sir, — The report of Mr. Wood to the directors of the Great Western 

 Railway, upon the principle of construction adopted by Mr. Brunei, 

 its advantages and disadvantages, iVc, and the contrasted results 

 obtained by experimenl upon other lines, having largely engaged the 

 attention of the public for some days past, and as I do not coincide 

 in opinion with ]\Ir. Wood and Dr. Lardner, as to the mode in which 

 some of the experiments were coiulucted, and the inferences deduced 

 from them, yon will perhaps oblige me by laying my strictures upon 

 the report in (juestion before your readers. 



Before entering upon the subject, I cannot refrain expressing my 

 admiration of the honourable and conscientious feelings evinced by 

 Mr. Wood at the very threshold of the enquiry, that he was deter- 

 mined to constitute himself the mere chronicler of experiment, and in 

 the spirit of a real philosopher, to go no farther than justified by its 

 evidence. This temper contrasts beautifully, with the reckless, empty, 

 report of Mr. Hawkshaw; and I am happy to record my respect in 

 favour of Mr. Wood here, in tlie hope that his distinguished conduct 

 may have its due inlluence with my professional brethren, to induce 

 them more frequently, in like eases, to do likewise. 



The experiments made to ascertain the tractive power and per- 

 formance of the engines, and the tabulated arrangement by which 

 the results are exhibited, meet my fullest concurrence ; but I object 

 to the statement " that the average weight of coke reqvtired to convert 

 a cubic foot of water into steam, is not greater than what is required 

 by the best constructed stationary engines, and less than Mr. Watt's 

 standard, viz., 8 lbs. of coal to each cubic foot of water." Mr. Watt 

 found that, to produce equal heat, coke is to coals, as 0.375 to 1, so 

 that 8 lbs. of coke is equal to 30 lbs. of coal ; thus, the locomotive 

 in question consumes, comparatively, nearly four times as much as 

 a fixed condensing engine. 



The experiments to which I would particularly direct your atten- 

 tion are those made upon the inclined planes, with the view of as- 

 certaining the atmospheric resistance, and the experiment was only 

 varied in two ways, viz., by impelling a train of empty carriages down 

 the plane, and then the same carriages loaded, and noting at what 

 point the speed became uniform. The manner of conducting the ex- 

 periment I consider [by no means the best, and the results deduced 

 from it exceeding fallacious. The first thing I should have done, 

 would have been, to ascertain the velocity which the plane, or angle 

 of inclination, was capable of generating; and I should have 

 done this, by a skeleton carriage, alternately empty and loaded, 

 exposing the least possible frontage or surface to tlie wind ; tlie 

 result would then have shown a certain point at which the 

 velocity would not increase, a point at which gravity was 

 counteracted by friction, &e. ; this ascertained, then, the car- 

 riages, loaded "and unloaded, might have been subjected to a 

 like experiment, and the difference of the two velocities would have 

 been then justly due to the enlarged frontal area. But even this 

 method, if the subject sought had been merely the determination of 

 the resistance due to the atmosphere, is not that which is most con- 

 clusive, if the frontal area alone be considered ; for, had a surface 

 like a kite been exposed against the wind, and the string con- 

 nected with a spring balance or weighing-machine, the resistance 

 of the surface at varying velocities, could then have been read off 

 by the weights indicated upon the limb of the instrument. This 

 would have been the true way of determiuhig the matter, and would 

 have been best made upon a level, and in an open couutiy ; but in 

 whatever wav the experiment had been made, it ought to have been 

 when the wind was still, because, driving against the wind and 

 with it are very different matters, and in the experiments, thiscircum- 

 stance ought to have been noted. 



A body freely descending an inclined plane of 1 in 9t>, will be 96 

 times as long descending, a-s a body falling through the vertical height 



