J 839.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT S JOURNAL. 



2S.> 



displacing all the water from the air vessel to which it belonged; and 

 then escaping, without displacing any water from the other air vessel. 

 It was then necessary to shut the regulating cock of the buoyant air 

 vessel, and expel the water from the other ; but before much of it was 

 displaced, the ship came up in a deranged state, having turned over 

 in the ascent. It then occurred to me that the liability of turning over 

 in the ascent would be avoided, if the ship was first raised on her 

 stem, and afterwards in a slanting direction. To effect this the air 

 vessels were altered, in place of having the apertures, for tire exit of 

 the water, open the whole length of the air vessels, as described in 

 the original plan, to which this description is an appendix, they were 

 placed at the ends only, transversely on the under surface, and the 

 flexible tubes for conveying the compressed air to them, were brought 

 nearer the opposite ends on the top of the air vessels. With this new 

 arrangement the apparatus was sunk as before, but instead of pumping 

 the compressed air to the air vessels, as in the former instance, with 

 both regulating cocks open; G strokes of the air pump were first ap- 

 plied to one of them, then as many to the other ; the regulating cocks 

 being open and shut for that purpose. When this quantity of com- 

 pressed air had been forced into the air vessels, the head of the ship 

 began to move, and with every additional stroke of the air pump, it 

 kept rising, until the whole ponderosity was overcome, and the ship 

 then came up head foremost. The ])row only coming a little above 

 water in the first instance, and then stopping, owing to a quantity of 

 water still remaining in the lower ends of the air vessels ; but on this 

 being expelled from them, the ship and the air vessels righted them- 

 selves into a horizontal jjosition as they came above water. 



By the application of the above principle to raising sunken vessels, 

 several important advantages are obtained. First, the air vessels 

 being made of iron, are sutiiciently durable to last for a great length 

 of time. Secondly, from the nature of their construction, they may be 

 towed by steam-boats from one point of the coast to another. Thirdly, 

 the principle operating independently of the tides, the work of re- 

 covering the wreck may be proceeded with at all times, when the 

 weather will admit of it. And fourthly, by the plan of gradually 

 raising the head of the vessel iirst, the immense superincumbent pres- 

 sure of the water is greatly avoided. It will readily be understood 

 how much easier a plank of wood can be raised from an adhesive bed, 

 when one end of it is raised by degrees, than would be the case if the 

 same power were applied at once to overcome its whole weight and 

 adhesion. 



When the ship has been raised upon her stern, it will still be ne- 

 cessary to overcome the remaining adhesion of this portion of the 

 vessel, and to effect so much by the same buoyant power that raised 

 the head, supposing it to be sufficient for that purpose, the velocity 

 of the ascent would be so great, that there would be danger in dis- 

 turbing the fastenings which secure the ship to the air vessels. It 

 will therefore be necessary to fix an air vessel by the stern, and no 

 deeper in the water than might be suthcient to clear the ship from all 

 adhesion. When this has been effected, the further expulsion of the 

 water from the former air vessels may be proceeded with, and it is 

 presumed, the ship would be recovered as described with respect to 

 the model. 



Lambeth, July, 1S39. 



James White. 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE OUTFALLS OF THE RIVERS OUZE, 



NENE, WELL.\ND, AND WITIIAM. 

 Sir John Rennie, who was for some time employed by a general meeting of 

 parties interested iu the drainage of the Rivers Ouze and Lynn, and Boston 

 Deeps, has just finished and presented his reports. We understand that Sir 

 John states that an additional fall of nearly six feet may be gained in the 

 low-water mark of the river Onze, and that by uniting the Ouze, the Nene, 

 the Wellaud, and the Witliani, and earning them by one improved outfall 

 into the centre of the great -wash, not only will the drainage and navigation 

 of the whole of that immense, fertile, and valuable district of land-draining 

 by those rivers, called the Bedford Level, South Holland, and other districts, 

 amounting to about a niilhon of acres, he greatly improved, and conse- 

 quently increased in value, but also there would, in all ])robabihty, in the comse 

 of a few years, he gained 130,000 acres of new and valuable land ; this alone, 

 taken at the value of .-t'40 per acre, although a great deal of the land which 

 has already been acquired from the sea in that neighlronrliood is now worth 

 considerably more, would amount to .-€0,000.000, and when it is considered 

 that the whole county of Rutland only contains Orj.OOO acres, and the Isle of 

 Wight about 100,000 acres, the great niagnituile and importance of the un- 

 dertaking, which is estimated at a:1,«00,000, may be readily conceived. Sir 

 John Rennie's rei>ort has not yet been published, which we understand, how- 

 ever, wdl shortly lie the case, when we shall not fail to recur to it again, and 

 make such remarks as chcumstances may require. 



RAMBLES BY PHILOMUS.EUS, No. I. 



THE VASE ROOM IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM,, 



The arrangement of this valuable collection adjoining the Egyptian 

 de]5artment, seems after several abortive attemjits to have connnenced 

 in reality. The endeavour to arrange them according to fonn and 

 colour is very meritorious, but the plan is far from systematic. 



For a long time this collection was left in a state of barbarous con- • 

 fusion, and then it was arranged somewhat in the chimney ornament 

 style, by a fanciful groiqdng of tall vases alternating with those which 

 were shorter. No attention seemed to have been paid to anything 

 like a useful classification, and the whole disposition was so chaotic 

 as to leave little hope of amendment. 



The classification should be either antiquarian or artistical, and 

 wonld resolve itself into the several modes of origin, age, form, 

 colour and design. The more useful method is certainly that which 

 can be available to artists, and the disposition adopted seems to unite 

 several of the features of what would have been distinct classification. 

 The vases are arranged according to form, and the subdivisions of 

 these according to colour, so that this double purpose is answered, 

 and it happens in most cases that the same classes of design are also 

 thrown together. 



A case with one elliptical form is however interposed between 

 those which are spherical, and no regular gradation is preserved in the 

 general disposition of the several classes of forms. The proper coursi; 

 would be to commence with the cylindrical form, then proceed to the 

 spherical, thence to the upright ellipse, the flat ellipse, the egg and 

 the egg reversed. The various modifications of these again should be 

 further distinguished according to the several parts of the vase. The 

 essential parts of the vase are the neck or capital, the shaft, and th'^ 

 base, and the accessaries are the handles, &c. 



Many of these vases are exceedingly beautiful both in form antl 

 colour, and one series with black designs exf[uisitely rich. The de- 

 signs are frecpiently interesting, and consist of allegorical representa- 

 tions, the exploits of Hercules, warlike exercises, domestic occupa- 

 tions, and caricatures. Some of the horses are drawn with a quaint 

 freedom which is very striking, and the ease of the flying genii cannot 

 sometimes be too much admired. The illustrations of domestic man- 

 ners are very numerous, and include ladies reading, women drawing 

 water at a fountain, sacrifices, musical performances, &c. A vase in 

 the form of the head of a negro is an accurate representation of the 

 existing members of that race, and an excellent proof of the preserva- 

 tion of the type, as also of the non-negroism of the Egyptians. 



In the Egyptian department are many very elegiuit vases, and in 

 the lower room is a tazza, which is well deserving of attention from 

 the purity and severity of its outline. In the vestibule of the Elgin 

 collection is a fine tazza recently presented by Lord Western, and iu 

 the Townley rooms are two or three well known marble vases. 



MR. grace's STUDIO. 



That a new era for the extension of the arts has commenced is ap- 

 parent; its progress indeed strikes us at every step. One of the 

 most interesting features of this march of taste is the studio recently 

 fitted up by Mr. Grace, at his establishment in Wigmore-street. It is 

 such a work as in Paris would excite the admiration of the profes- 

 sional press, and be hailed as an accession to the architectm-al riches 

 of the age. 



We enter a small shop of a plain and subdued character, with a few 

 decorative patterns lying about, and then proceed tfirough a ]>assage 

 into the studio. This consists of three compartments thrown into one 

 suite, and is fitted up with all the richness of a nobleman's library. 

 The first portion is in the style ofjamesl. or later Elizabethan, the 

 central in the Gothic, and the last in that of the R,enaissance. The 

 accessaries are equally in character ; tables and chairs, imitative armour 

 of carton de pierre, papier mache ornaments, and patterns for decora- 

 tion being distributed about. The windows are filled with painted 

 glass, and the whole has an air of tasteful richness, which would do 

 as much honour to a nobleman to possess, as it does to the artist to 

 have executed. Although it is only a collection of specimens, yet 

 they are so united, and the character of the whole so well preserved, 

 that they communicate the idea rather of a private apartment than a 

 pattern room. With these attractions spread out before them, noble- 

 men will be as little able to restrain their purse-strings, as their ladies 

 are at the mercer's or the milliner's. 



