BRIDGE. 



BRIDGE. 



315 



the Ponte della Trinita, also of Florence ; the Pont Neuf, of Paris ; the 

 bridges of Salutes, Maestricht, and dcs Tuileries. About the commence- 



Ponte della Trinita. 



ment of the 18th century, however, the greatest movement in the art 

 of construction, as applied to the means of intercommunication, seems 

 to have taken place ; and the establishment of the corps of the Fonts 



et Chausse'es in France, about 1720, must be considered to have given 

 a more scientific and organised direction to the study of the engineering 

 profession, especially in that country to which all Europe then looked 

 for instruction and example. The bridges of Blois, Orleans, Tours, 

 Mohlins, and Saumur, were amongst the first works produced by the 

 above-named body of engineers ; and they were followed in rapid suc- 

 cession by the very beautiful structures erected by Peyronnet at Neuilly, 

 St. Maxence, and the Pont de la Concorde, at Paris. Our own country- 

 men were not far behind their neighbours in the erection of these 

 useful structures ; and the bridges of Blenheim, Westminster, Black- 

 friars, Perth, Coldstream, Hexham, Kelso, &c., may fairly be compared 

 with any similar works of France, or of any other country. But the 



Neuilly. 



Coldstream. 



introduction of cast iron amongst the ordinary building-materials of 

 bridges, by Mr. Pritchard of Shrewsbury, about the year 1775, in the 

 erection of the Coalbrookdale Bridge, laid the foundation of a new and 

 singularly valuable style of construction. The example set by Mr. 

 Pritchard was followed by Thomas Wilson, at Sunderland, in 1795 ; 

 and shortly afterwards cast-iron was largely applied, both in bridges 

 and in aqueducts, by Telford and his contemporaries in England. The 

 German and Swiss engineers of the 18th century executed some re- 

 markable specimens of carpentry, and some stone bridges of consider- 

 able dimensions. Amongst the former may be mentioned the Schaff- 

 hausen Bridge, erected in 1770, by Grubenmann; amongst the latter, 

 the Dresden, Nossen, and Niirnberg bridges ; attention will be called 

 hereafter to some of these works. 

 Subsequently to the commencement of the present century, the 



wonderful progress of civilisation (promoted by the improvements 

 effected in the means of locomotion; firstly, by the introduction of 

 carriage-springs, by the development of the canal system, by the appli- 

 cation of steam to navigation, and finally by the execution of the 

 railways which now intersect every part of Europe) has caused the art 

 of bridge-building to advance with a rapidity hitherto unexampled. 

 In proportion also with the improvement of the art itself, it would 

 appear that the requirements of public authorities have increased ; and 

 thus the genius and skill of the engineers (as the members of the 

 architectural profession who especially directed their attention to the 

 construction of bridges and analogous works began to style themselves, 

 by way of distinction) were taxed to the utmost. It was to these 

 facilities for local communications that we owe the introduction of the 

 suspension or chain-bridges; later still, the wrought-iron girder and 



Fribourg. 



Newcastle High Level. 



tubular bridges ; and the lattice bridges, whether of wood or of iron, I Dean's Bridge Viaduct, Lune Aqueduct, Llangollen and Pont-y-Cysylte 

 have also been invented to satisfy the constantly increasing requirements I Aqueducts, London and Waterloo stone bridges, Southwark iron bridge, 



of the age. Many of the bridges erected in the course of this century 

 are an remarkable as works of art as they are as works of construction ; 

 and it may suffice here to mention, in our own country, the Gloucester, 



Menai, Hammersmith, Hungerford, and Pimlico suspension bridges, the 

 High-Level Bridge, the Britannia, Conway, and Saltish tubular bridges, 

 to illustrate the progress of the art. Amongst our neighbours, also, a 



