183D.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



271 



THE NELSON TESTBtONIAL. 



The conmiittee appointed to superintend and to cany out tliis object, as- 

 sembled on Satnrday, 22nd idtinio, at tlie Tliatdied-bouse Tavern, St. 

 James's-street. Amongst the members of that body who were present we 

 observed the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of liansdowne, the Earl of 

 Cadogan, the Eai'l of Minto, "\'iscount Melville, Lord linrghersh, Lord Brid- 

 port, Lord Colborne, Lord Ingestrie, Lord C. Fitzroy, Sir G. Cockbnrn, Sir 

 T. Cochrane, Sir G. Seymour, Sir W. Beatty, Sir J. Shaw, Sir G. Murray, Sir 

 J. Barrow, Sii- \V. Parker, Sir P. Lamie, Admiral Dighy, Colonel Fox, Licu- 

 teuant-General Sir J. Maedonald, Sir G. A. M'estplial, Captain Beaufort, 

 Captain Badcock, Mr. S. Rice, Mr. J. \V. Croker, &c. 



The Duke of Wellington was appointed chairman of the day. His Grace 

 having taken his seat, — 



The noble Chairma.v said, as there appeared not to be any other business 

 to transact, tbcy would go at once to the ballot for the decision with regard 

 to the choice of design. He would, however, take that opportunity of in- 

 qiiiring what amovmt of subscriptions had been received. 



Sir G. CocKBURN said that at present they amounted to about X18,000. 



Mr. CtioKER, on the motion " That the conunittce do now proceed to the 

 liallot," said he could not help thinking that prior to the corameneement of 

 that act it would be most desirable for the connnittee to come to some defi- 

 nife and distinct understanding in regard to the question of whether they 

 were to consider themselves to be bound to carry out eveiy detail of the 

 design which might that day be determined on as being the best calculated 

 to meet the views of the majority of the siibscril)ers. (Hear, hear.) It 

 might so happen that the design chosen was one which was impracticalile in 

 its accomplislunent, either in respect to its details or on account of the want 

 of sufficient funds. (Hear, bear.) He could not help thiiiking, tlierefore, 

 that it would be better for the committee to pass a resolution by \\bich they 

 wovdd have the power, should such a coiu'se be deemed necessary, to ui.iIm^ 

 any alterations or variations in the details which might be considiiril,re(jui- 

 sitc. With that view, then, be begged to move, " That the vote of ^% day' 

 shall decide wliich design is adopted, subject, however, to such variations in 

 the details, and such inquiries, and conditions, and securities, as to the con- 

 struction and cost, as to the committer (or any sub-committee appointed to 

 consider of, or conduct the practical execution of the monmnent) may subse- 

 quently repuire." 



Sir G. CocKBURN seconded the motion: which having been put, was carried 

 unanimously. 



It was asked whether the pow ers vested in the superintending committee 

 were understood to go so far as to enable them to take oft" one of Nelson's 

 anus ? He had put the question, because the committee would recollect that 

 in several of the designs the artists bad drawn the hero with two arms, when, 

 as everybody well knew, one of them had been shot otf. 



There was a general reply in the aftirmative to this query. 



Sir G. Cockburnn and Sir P. Lam'ic having been appointed to act as scru- 

 tineers, the ballot was connnenced. 



Shortly after the close of the ballot, at fovn o'clock, the scrutineers made 

 the following official notitication : — 



" In obedience to the resolution of the committee, we, the undersigned, 

 have examined the votes given for the model or design to be selected for the 

 Nelson memorial, and we declare that .\Ir. Railton has the majority of votes. 



" G. COCKBURN, 1 „ ,. 

 " P. LAURIE, jScrutmeers 



"Thatched House Tavcni, St. James's Street, June 22." 

 Mr. W. Railton's design was No. 63 on the list. 



RAILWAY SOCIETV. 



T'liE first General ftleeting of the Private Members of the Railway Society' 

 was held on Thursday the 20th ultimo, at their rooms, No. 25, Great George- 

 street, for the purpose of electing the members of the council, and of submit 

 ting to the consideration of the meeting the proposed rules of the Society, 

 drawn up by the Members of the Committee of Management and of the 

 House Committee. Those gentlemen who are deputed as the representatives 

 of tlie dift'erent Railway Companies subscribing to tlie Society, were also re- 

 quested to attend the meeting, in order that their opinions' respecting the 

 construction of the former rules of the Society mightmeet with every conside- 

 ration. Several of these gentlemen were present, and rendered very etlicient 

 service in assisting to frame those regulations whicli were afterwards sanctioned 

 bv the members present, 



George Carr Gly'n, Esq., having been called to the chair, proceeded to 

 state, in a neat and concise speech, the objects.of the Society, which are prin- 

 cipally directed towards the protection of the connnon interests and rights of 

 Railway Proprietors, and the establishment of a focus wherein may centre the 

 united experience and talent of those connected with these national undertak- 

 ings, whether as Directors or Engineers. Mr. Glyn concluded by statbig 

 the purpose for which tlie private members and delegates were that day as- 

 sembled,' and informed tlie meeting that he had great hopes of prevailing on 

 one of the most influential personages in the kingdom, and one most deeply 

 interested in the prosperity ofrailw.ays, to become the President of the Council. 



The Secretary then read a report of the proceedings of the committee of 

 management since the fonnation of tlie society, clearly showing that a careful 



watch bad b«en kept upon all proceedings ia Pailiameut at all likely tg effect 



railway interests, and stated that the Right Honourable the President of the 

 Board of Trade had recognised the society as the organ through wliich he 

 should in future seek for any information required on the subject of J?aihvays. 

 Tlie proceedings of the House Committee were afterwards laid before the 

 meeting, together with a very satisfactory account of the expenditure and 

 receipts of the society; after which the^proposed rules of the society were 

 read and considered seriutim. 



Much attention was bestowed upon this very important subject, and several 

 alterations were made, before the final assent of the members present was given 

 to the rules, the principal feature in which is the election of the council from 

 among the private members of the Society for the management of overythino* 

 relating strictly to the private affairs of the Society — as the electioji of 

 members, the house expenditure, &c., and the formation of a committee, 

 composed of the members of the council and the delegates from Railway 

 Companies subscribing to the Society, for the purpose of watching over 

 and protecting the interests of Railway Proprietors, of adopting such mea- 

 sures for their benefit as may^ appear to them expedient, and of receiving 

 and replying to all communications, whether scientific or otherwise, which 

 mav tend to promote the advantages of Railwaygcommunication. 



The private members afterwards nominated from their own body those 

 gentlemen who were deemed most eligible as members of the council, and 

 the meeting" broke up, after having, on the proposition of Henry Bosanqnet, 

 Esq., Chairman of the Eastern Counties* Railway, passed a vote of thanks 

 to IMr. Glyn for the very eilicient manner in wliich he had hitherto filled 

 the place of Chairman of the Committee of Management, and for the in- 

 terest he had al: all times manifested for the welfare of the "Railway 

 Society." 



ON GEOLOGY, APPLIED TO ARCHITECTURE, 



Being part if a Course of Six Lectures, by G. F. llicH.\nDSON, Esc]., 



of the British Museum. 



Lecture the Fourth. Delivered at the Royal Insiitnie of British ArcliUects, 

 Monday, May 2Tth, 1839. Subjects: Igneous Rocks; Volcanic; Eiinnieration 

 of Building-Stones ; Choice of Stone. 



On this occasion, the Lecturer proposed to show the composition of rocks, 

 and their application to architectural purposes. England is particularly 

 favoured in the number and varieties of rocks adapted to architecture, although 

 not in all of those which are most valuable. This of course arises from the 

 great variety of formations wliich are here compressed into the narrow boun- 

 daries of our island, r,mging from the tertiary formations of Hampshire and 

 the great iMetropolis, up to the primary of Cornwall, Wales, and the Nortli of 

 England. 



Proceeding upon the division of rocks into aqueous and igneous, we find 

 that theigneousmay be divided into two great bodies, themodern and the ancient, 

 and these again each into three classes, all possessed by tlie modern, and which 

 a e also in a greatdegree to be found in the ancient. The first class of modern 

 volcanic rocks is of alight white, like felsjiar, and is called tracbite, from trachos, 

 a Greek word, signifying rough. The second is of an iron or ferruginous red, 

 and is called basaltic. The third class partakes of both these qualities, as grey- 

 stone. Tile ancient volcanic rocks are some basaltic or trachitic, and are sometimes 

 resinous or glassy. The productions of volcanoes are often called lavas, from 

 a Swedish word signifying to run. Tufa is formed of ashes aggludinated 

 together; pipeline is supposed to be produced by the action of .showers 

 of rain upon ashes ; and pumice appears to be trachite reduced to a 

 fibrous state. No experiments are of greater interest than those imitating 

 nature, for in them we acquire a certain standard to which to refer the results 

 of our operations. Mr. Gregory Scott, of Edinburgh, has, as is well known, 

 melted basalt, and produced diii'erent bodies, according to the degree of slow- 

 ness with which it was allowed to cool. AV'hen cooled sloivly, it became 

 'i-lassy; more slowly, earthy ; and when most slowly of all, amorphous or 

 shapeless. As the former rocks are called subarean, from their being jn-oduced 

 by volcanoes in the open air, so the trappean rocks are called siib.ique.ous, 

 because they have been projected by volcanoes underwater. G'ranite has 

 been produced by intense heat under pressure, and is not, as supposed, con- 

 lined to the primary series, but is to be found of much later date. Darwin 

 hasfound it piercing the tertiary strata, and it may even be believed that at 

 the base of mountains, and in the bowels of the earth, granite is being formed 

 even at the present period. Primary rocks are supposed to be formfd of the 

 same elementary parts, but deriving their distinct character from the different 

 decrees of heat to which they have been subjected. Thus the schistose rocks 

 have been slightly warmed, gneiss baked, granite melted, and uthors, like 

 obsidian, reduced to glass. Obsidian, I may remark, derives its mime froiu 

 Obsidius, who was its discoverer. The class of schistose or slaty rocks, is 

 supposed to be muddy or sedimentary matter, which hns been altered by the 

 operation of the burning masses underneath, so as to lose its original hori- 

 zontal lines of stratification, and to acquire others. All rocks above tha 

 primary, it will be observed, are deposited by water. 



I'rocpeding to the separate enumeration of* aicbilectural rocks, lli.' lirst or 

 foundation stone is granite. [The Lecturer here referred bis auditors to the 

 map constructed by the veteran jj-eologist Webster, prelixed to liiickland's 

 Geology, to whom also, not only the original plan, but most of the subsequent 

 additions are owing, and he said, so great is the labour displayed in it, that 



the student whg shguW commit only that seclwn to memory, would at apy 



