FOUNDATION SACRIFICES 



3274 



FOUNDLING HOSPITAL 



large and covered by water, and ex- 

 cavation will not be deep, the area 

 is enclosed by an artificial water- 

 tight wall, or cofferdam, and dried 

 by pumping, after which work 

 proceeds as on dry land.' In soft 

 ground a cofferdam is usually 

 formed by driving down two 

 parallel rings of sheet piling, a few 

 feet apart, and filling in the space 

 between them with water-tight 

 clay puddle. On rock, steel plates, 

 cut to fit the contour of the sur- 

 face, are used instead of piles, and 

 the joint is made tight by concrete 

 and clay packed outside. A coffer- 

 dam is, as a rule, removed when 

 the work inside has been completed. 

 Use of Caissons 



Deep foundations in water- 

 logged and water-covered ground 

 are put in by means of cylindrical 

 or box caissons (q-v.), which are 

 sunk by excavating the ground 

 inside and remain in their final 

 position as part of the structure. 



If a water-tight joint between 

 caisson and ground be obtained, 

 the interior is pumped dry and 

 hand labour is used to excavate 

 the space inside the caisson, the 

 sides of which are raised as sinking 

 proceeds. When a sufficient depth 

 has been reached, the caisson is 

 filled with masonry or concrete to 

 above high -water level. Should 

 water find its way in, grabs and 

 dredges do the excavating and 

 concrete is lowered through the 

 water to displace it. Open caisson 

 foundations have been carried to 

 depths exceeding 150 feet. 



For deep bridge foundations the 

 closed or pneumatic caisson is gen- 

 erally preferred to the open. Such 

 a caisson has a horizontal air-tight 

 floor seven or eight feet above the 

 cutting edge ; and the working 

 space below the floor is filled with 

 air at a pressure sufficient to ex- 

 clude the water outside. Air-locks 

 and shafts are provided for the pas- 

 sage of men and material. 



Remarkable Feat at St. Louis 



In 1854 the younger Brunei used 

 a pneumatic cylinder for the 

 central pier of the Saltash Bridge, 

 which is founded on rock 88 feet 

 below high water. Twenty years 

 later Eads sank two piers of the St. 

 Louis Bridge to 117 and 119 feet 

 beneath the surface of the Missis- 

 sippi on box caissons, building up 

 the masonry as the caissons sank. 

 This was a remarkable feat, since 

 the air pressure required to keep 

 the water out rose to nearly 50 Ib. 

 per square inch, and the working 

 conditions were extremely exhaust- 

 ing. More recently, the foundations 

 of the Forth Bridge and of the three 

 great suspension bridges of New 

 York were constructed in this way. 



When a pneumatic caisson 



reaches its final level the chamber 

 under the floor is filled with con- 

 crete, the men backing out through 

 the shaft left in the masonry above, 

 and the shaft itself is then closed. 



Cast-iron cylinders, sunk either 

 as open or pneumatic caissons, are 

 commonly used to support the piers 

 of railway bridges. Charing Cross 

 Bridge is an example in point. The 

 cylinders are 14 feet in diameter, 

 and penetrate the bed of the river 

 20-50 feet. Some of the steel 

 " skyscrapers " in New York are 

 built upon cylinders sunk to rock. 

 The Singer building rests on 34 

 caissons carried down 200 feet. In 

 such cases the piers may be re- 

 garded as gigantic piles. See Build- 

 ing ; Caisson ; Shaft-sinking ; con- 

 sult also Practical Treatise on 

 Foundations, W. M. Patton, 1900. 



Foundation Sacrifices. Ritual 

 immolation at the foundation of a 

 building or settlement. Human 

 skeletons are found beneath corner 

 stones in early Palestine, as at 

 Gezer and Megiddo. When Man- 

 dalay was built, 1860, 52 human 

 victims were buried alive. Legends 

 of living burial are recorded of S. 

 Columba's Cathedral, lona; S. 

 Patrick's monastery, Clonmac- 

 noise. Animal bones were un- 

 earthed beneath old S. Paul's and 

 Blackfriars Bridge, London. The 

 Scandinavian kirk-grim was the 

 spirit of the foundation victim. Ani- 

 mal slaughter as a foundation rite 

 survives from W. Africa through 

 Coptic Egypt and Moslem Syria to 

 Borneo. The interment of statues in 

 ancient Rome and effigies in medie- 

 val Europe points to an anterior 

 custom of actual blood-shedding. 



Founder. Disease affecting 

 horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. 

 Known in veterinary science as 

 laminitis, it is a painful inflamma- 

 tion of the laminae, or tissues con- 

 necting the hoof with the bones of 

 the foot. It is caused by bad 

 management and careless feeding, 

 horses that have much corn and 

 little exercise being very apt to de- 

 velop it suddenly. Certain foods, 

 such as Indian corn, beans, peas, 

 and barley, undoubtedly predis- 

 pose to this form of fever. Treat- 

 ment consists in strong purgative 

 medicines and blood-letting, and 

 frequent warm bran poultices. The 

 animal may be slung, in order to 

 take its weight off its feet, and if 

 the pain is very severe cocaine may 

 be administered. 



Founders' Company, THE. 

 London city livery company. 

 It was sometimes called Copper- 

 smiths. Established as a fraternity 

 in the 14th century, and incorpor- 

 ated in 1614, it had power of search 

 over all brass weights and brass and 

 copper wares in the city. The hall 



in Lothbury, 

 E.G., built 1531, 

 burnt 1666, and 

 for a time let as 

 a chapel, is now 

 occupied by the 

 G.P.O. The pres- 

 ent hall, 13, St. 

 Swithin's Lane, 

 E.G., dates from 

 1877. See Annals of the Com- 

 pany of Founders, W. M. Williams, 

 1867. 



Founder's Share. Class of 

 share granted to the originators 

 of a joint stock company, or to 

 others who have rendered services 

 to it. They are usually few in 

 number, and for very small 

 amounts, Is. perhaps ; but some- 

 times they become very valuable 

 because they participate in the 

 profits after a certain fixed amount 

 has been reached. The fact that 

 their total amount is small enables 

 a successful business to pay an 

 enormous percentage on such 

 shares. This class of share is rarely 

 issued now, and in some cases 

 those issued earlier have been 

 bought out and cancelled. See 

 Company Law. 



Foundling Hospital. Institu- 

 tion originally founded to prevent 

 the murder or exposure of newly 

 born children. Such institutions 

 appear to have been coincident 

 with the development of civilized 

 society, and they undertake the 

 education and training of children 

 until the latter reach maturity. 

 The first step towards avoiding the 

 crime of child murder was the ex- 

 posure or abandonment of an in- 

 fant in a public place in the hope 

 that it would be cared for by some- 

 one other than the parents. The 

 earliest recorded case of exposure 

 seems to be that of Moses (Exodus 

 2). Foundlings thus exposed were 

 assigned as property to those who 

 took them under their protection, 

 and provision was made in ancient 

 Greece and Rome for the upbring- 

 ing of unadopted infants at the ex- 

 pense of the State, an example fol- 

 lowed by the French in 1790. 



At Treves Cathedral, in the 6th 

 century, foundlings were received 

 and arrangements made for their 

 care under the supervision of the 

 archbishop. The first foundling 

 hospital of which there is authentic 

 record was that at Milan towards 

 the end of the 8th century. The 

 Order of the Holy Ghost, founded 

 at Montpellier in the 12th century, 

 made the care of foundlings a 

 special duty. The Spedale degli In- 

 nocenti, or Foundling Hospital,-at 

 Florence, dates from 1419-51. 

 The Ospedale di S. Spirito,in Rome, 

 founded by Innocent III. included 

 a foundling institution. In 1536 



