190 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL- 



[May, 



and clearly engraved. The first part now before us contains twenty 

 plates, which will be found of great value both by the architect and the 

 engineer. 



The fii'St series relates to London Bridge, constructed by Sir John 

 Rennie ; a work with which we know no other that can stand in com- 

 parison, except perhaps Waterloo Bridge. It is a monument indeed 

 equally interesting from its grandeur, the boldness of the span of the 

 arch, the simplicity of its style, and the durability of its material ; one 

 which must command admiration in future ages to as great a degree as 

 it does now. It is interesting, no less from its own merits, than as a 

 triumph over the obstacles which it had to overcome. The drawings 

 consist of the plan, elevation and section, drawn toasmall scale, and of 

 the cofferdam, section, and centre, of one of the arches, the elevation of 

 the centre arch, and section and plan of an abutment, drawn to a scale 

 of twelve feet to an inch. 



We have next the drawings of Stoneleigh Bridge in Warwickshire, 

 constructed by the late John Rennie, and consisting of one arch, with 

 two land arches in the abutments. The design of this work is beauti- 

 fully balanced. We have also another drawing of a bridge" by John 

 Rennie over the River Earn in Scotland, consisting of three elliptical 

 stone arches. 



Of Bow Bridge, constructed by Messrs. Walker and Burgess, there 

 are two platrs. In our last number we gave the elevation of this 

 bridge ; but of course these engravings exhibit the design far better than 

 our wood-cuts. 



There is a plate of one of the brick arches of 70 feet square, con- 

 structed by Mr. Braithwaite, on the Eastern Counties Radway, for a 

 viaduct over the River Lea. This bridge we have often admired for 

 its symmetry and simplicit}-. and for the excellency of the workman- 

 ship. As a pendant to this is a plate of the Iron Bridge, constructed 

 by Mr. Buck, over Fairfield-street, on the Grand Jimction Railway : 

 it is of 128 feet span, and 35 feet wide, and exhibits much ingenuity 

 and peculiarity in its consuuction. We shall not be content with this 

 single plate, but we expect, in the subsequent part of the week, to see 

 more of the details. A few wood engravings of the iron-work, drawn 

 on a large scale, and interspersed among the text, would exhibit it to 

 advantage, and render it a peculiar object of study and interest. 



We then have one of Perronet's celebrated works, the bridge of 

 Saint-Maxence in France. This consists of three stone arches of 76 

 feet 9 inches span, and only 2 feet 7 inches rise. We are however by 

 no means favourable to this mode of construction ; for the arches are 

 rendered so very flat, that the stone-work may be considered little 

 better than a stone girder. If, loo, the abutment should give way in 

 the slightest degree, the disarrangement of the whole bridge w-ould 

 undoubtedly follow ; nor are we greater admirers of the centering, 

 for the fewer pieces of timber in a center is far better than having 

 them cut up into short lengths and distributed as they are in the 

 design before us. 



Three plates exhibit sections of the naves of Bath Abbey church and 

 of AVells cathedral and of Wells Chapter-house. These exhibit very 

 clearly the construction of the vaulting and the advantages of the 

 buttresses. Mr. Cresy has bestowed considerable pains in obtaining 

 their correct dimensions from admeasurements taken on the spot, 

 and he has endeavoured to show by diagrams the peculiar method 

 adapted by the old architects in constructing the vaulting of our great 

 churches. We regret that we have not time or space to devote to the 

 examination of his portion of the work at present, although it is ap- 

 parently of some value to architects, but we shall on a future occasion 

 take a more extended view of it. 



The present number seems rather to be intended as a sample of 

 the future volume, than as a defined part of the work ; the plates 

 being taken indiscriminately so as to show the intended mode of 

 procedure. As a specimen it excites high expectations, and if the 

 remainder of the work exhibit the same skill it cannot fail to be an 

 important accession to the libraries of both professions. The letter- 

 press we understand will form one thick volume, and we shall look 

 forward to it with some anxiety for the specifications and the de- 

 scriptions of the plates ; for until they are given it is almost impossible 

 for us to enter satisfactorily into a consideration of the several 

 bridges published in this work. 



We have much pleasure in recommending the work to our profes- 

 sional readers, and doubt not that they will derive the same gratification 

 from it, which we have ourselves. We must earnestly recommend to 

 the Editors, as we did in noticing a similar work last montli, the great 

 utility of giving the specifications and full descriptions of the works, 

 interspersed with wood engravings, showing the details at greater 

 extent. Another most important feature, which cannot be neglected 

 •without injury, is, to give a particular description of the difficulties 

 which occurred in the progress of the work, the peculiarities of the 



construction, the nature of the foundations, the velocity of the rivers 

 and the thrust of the arch. Such particulars go far to decide the in- 

 dividual character of each work, are of incalcidable use to the profes- 

 sion, and cannot fail to render the volume doubly valuable. 



Appendix to Railway Practice, containiiii/ a copious Abstract of the 

 ichole of the Evidence given vpon the London and Birmingham and 

 Great Western Raihvai) Bills, when before Parliament, by S. C. 

 Brees, C. E. &c. London : John Williams, 1839. 

 The advance of engineering as a profession, of course increases the 

 extent of its social relations; and it has now, like many others, a body 

 of jurisprudence, exclusively its own. The knowledge of this pro- 

 fessional law is essential to the engineering student much more than 

 to any other class of professional men; for the engineer is necessarily 

 called upon to support, in their progress through parliament, bills 

 forjpublic works; and the manner in which evidence is given, and the effect 

 which it produces, must of course depend upon the witness's acquaint- 

 ance with previous practice. He is engaged too repeatedly in similar 

 pursuits, before the courts of law, at the Quarter Sessions, and the 

 other local tribunals; and has, in fine, much more to do with law 

 than the surgeon, or any profession which has its own peculiar code. 



For one branch of this pursuit the work before us presents us with a 

 preparation, and it is executed with an ability which makes the profession 

 highly indoljted to Mr. Brees. He has here presented us with a condensed 

 abstract of the evidence given on the London and Birmingham, and 

 Great Western Bills, which in the original reports occupy three or four 

 volumes. Mr. Brees has effected this by suppressing the irrelevant 

 nonsense of counsel, and the repetition of the same questions, which it 

 is sickenina: to read, and painfnl to hear. 



Appended to the work is a very useful Glossary, so as to render 

 it equally valuable to the non-professional reader ; and at the end are 

 six plates, r presenting the details of a six-wheel locomotive eiig;ine, 

 constructed by Messrs. Hawthorne, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. These 

 plates are copied from the original drawings, furnished by the inventors, 

 and give a very clear view of the arrangement of the machines. 



Hints 'relative to the Construction of Fire-proof Buildings, and on the 

 Failure toproduce Sound and Estimable Architecture by the means at 

 present usually adopted. By Alfred Bartholomew, Architect. 

 London : John Williams. 

 This is a work written in a terse st3'le, which will doubtless prove 



interesting- to the profession. It contains much valuable matter on 



the present modes of construction, from which we make the following 



extract relative to fire-proof buildings: — 



2. Building;; both public and private as now usually constructed, with their 

 bond-timber, beams, rafters, joists, floorings, and other combustible materialf, 

 are, in fact, hke little else than so many enormous fire-grates with wood and 

 coals laid and prepared in them ready to be ignited by accident or desipn, to 

 spread loss and ruin, and often the cruelcst of deaths ; and if the shells and 

 other parts of buildings be of stone from Portland or from Bath, or of ordinary 

 marble, or from any other of llie calcareous quarries, such buildings form in 

 fact but lime-kilns, ready to be brought into use by the first application of 

 flame ; and in this respect, edifices walled with tlie most beautiful calcareous 

 free-stones and marbles fare the worst. 



3. Sometimes in modern works, a pretence is made of rendering buildings 

 fire-proof, by the adoption of a breast-summer, a girder, or some other small 

 part of their fabrics, of cast-iron ; but these applications, amid conflagration 

 becoming heated by the masses of flaming timber about them, have the same 

 effect as the insertion of an iron in a grate of blazing coals, and indeed increase 

 the heat and danger, and generally by the application of water while hot snap 

 and increase the ruin. 



4. Security in public buildings can alone be obtained by the total abolition 

 from them of combustible substances, except for the most immaterial parts of 

 them : — centuries ago our ancestors having made this discovery, by the cosily 

 and immense loss of most of their sacred fabrics, rebuilt them with scarcely any 

 wood in their composition, except in their roofs ; and to this wisdom of e.Npe- 

 riencc, wc almost owe (he very existence of most of our churches. 



.'). The most poignant feelings of regret must take hold upon us, when ive 

 reflect, that our museums and other national and municipal depositories, are 

 but expensive pyres for the future immolation of Grecian and Italian marbles, 

 of Indian, Egyptian, and iWexican reliques, of Oriental and European manu- 

 scripts beyond price, and of scarce and Irrecoverable literature gleaned from 

 the whole world. 



The timber doors and roofs of the Royal Library, that noble relict of the 

 virtuous George the Third, are fated, notwithstanding the admirable care of the 

 learned officers of the British Museum, pitcously to perform its Suttee, — for 

 fires mostly occur where they are least expected, and ravage most amid deposits 

 the most precious. 



Some persons may fancy, that to erect buildings fire-proof, will of necessity 

 render them uncouth, inconvenient, and uii-architectural :■ — nothing could be 

 more erroneous. 



