, 188j.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



upon the lower plates, and their weight is always inde- 

 pendent of all that is above and below. 



Exhaustive mathematical calculations were made upon 

 the resisting power of the iron pieces, upon the centre of 

 gravity and upon the action of high winds. The calcu- 

 lations were made by taking as a base the most powerful 

 huJTicanes which have been recorded either in America 

 or in Europe.' In regard to the preservation of the work, 

 since all the elements of its construction are everywhere 

 visible on the inside in all their details, it will be easily- 

 kept in good condition 



To end this account I 

 statistical information, : 

 lished on various occusi' 

 in the celebrated housr 

 Paris. The st;ituc is r.. 

 and a half niillinietivs i 

 mfetres from the basf t. 

 metres fr 



1 the heel to tlie top of the head. 



:lit f<> iuUl to it a few bits of 

 IIIIL.-1I they liave been pub- 

 'I'lii' wlicile work was done 

 (i:iL;ct, (iauthier & Co., of 

 nicted of copper sheets, two 

 liickness. It measures 46-08 

 he top of the torch, 35-50 

 ith to the crown, 34 metres 



Statue of Liberty 



podestal, with New York and 



Brooklyn Bridge in the background. 



The forefinger is 2-45 metres in length, and 1-44 

 metres in circumference at the second joint. The nail 

 measures -35 mfetres by -26 mfetres. The head is 4-40 

 metres in height. The eye is -65 mfetres in width. The 

 nose is 1-12 mWres in length. Alumi f..rf\ j ii-s,,iis «,rr 

 accommodated in the head at iln InivnVal i:x|nslilM„ 

 of 1878. It is possible to as.-rinl Into ll,r Inr.h ;,l,..v,. 

 the hand. It will easily hold t «rl v.- prr,,,i^ Tl,, 1,1.1 

 weight is about 200,000 kilos, ..r ul,i,l mi.im,'i ^v 

 copper and 120,000 iron. It iv|i-.>, ), , : ..{ 



more than a million frMics, iiuliiiliiu n, 



work, and the losses of all thu^c- who -aM ih, u auN-tcJ 

 assistance to the work. 



The colossal statues which have been executed up to 

 tli(! present time are far from the proportions of the 

 Statue of Liberty. I have given above some indications 

 on Ihis point. Yet we must not expect its appearance to 

 be oolo.s,sal when it is in its place. In tl 



picture which will surround it it will appear simply in 

 harmony with the whole, and have the normal aspect of 

 a statue in a public place. It should be thus, because 

 its part is not to appear extraordinary in itself, but to 

 connect itself intimately with an extraordinary whole. 



The statue was born for this place, which inspired its 

 conception. May God be pleased to bless my efforts and 

 my work, and to crown it with the success, the duration, 

 and the moral influence which it ought to have. I shall 

 be happy to have been able to consecrate the best years 

 of mj' life to being the interpreter of the noble hearts 

 whose dream has been the realisation of the monument to 

 the French-American Union. 



ILLUSIOXS OF THE SENSES. 



By Richard A. Proctoe. 



(Continued from page 00.) 



I HAD a singular example recently of the effect of 

 position in forcing an illusory idea on the mind, 

 even when the truth was well and even familiarly 

 known. I was in the streets of Charleston (South 

 Carolina) engaged in conversation, but my eyes directed 

 towards the upper ridge of a projecting balcony. While 

 I talked, I saw what looked like a bird's head rising just 

 beyond the ridge, and in a moEient or two there was 

 the creature, a tiny but very oddly shaped bird appa- 

 rently fluttering above the balcony. It looked no larger 

 than a humming-bird. Now I knew at once that I was not 

 looking at a bird, because I could see that the object had 



I pendent waving tail such i 







could not for 

 sion that thei 



ao bird ever had. I knei 

 lall bird close by, but a 

 CMiisiderable distance, as I knew that 

 raiisc my mind had started with the 

 le object was just above the balcony, I 

 pal seconds shake off the absurd impres- 

 ,s a miniature bird-kite fluttering above 



straight stone ridge where assuredly was no string 

 attached to it. I take it that the deception by which, 

 against my own knowledge, I was for awlile made to 

 imagine the kite much smaller than it reallv \\as, because 

 it seemed niucli nearer than such an object is usually seen, 

 was I'Fi , ii '\ ;o-.':i ! ■ the illusion by which, against our 

 own kii / . l_. , . , I,' led to imagine the moon much 

 eiilai-'j,'! ii/.Mii because it there seems much 



fartlii f a \i :i\ I li; m ::- seen high up towards the zenith. 



The illusion as to the shape of the heavens around us 

 and the sky above us (not the same thing be it noticed) 

 is one which deceives us all the time, — at least, I have 

 never met with anyone who has been able to correct 

 either form of illusion. We conceive the heavenly bodies 

 overhead to be nearer to us than those near the horizon, 

 the heavenly concave being presented as somewhat flat- 

 tened o\crIiead : and on the other hand a cloud-covered 

 sky a[i|(ais arched overhead instead of having a flat 

 liMi-i/jiiiial -nrfaee. Do what we will we cannot force the 

 mind (o fr,! either that the stars overhead are no nearer 

 than those by the horizon, or that the el-uds near the 

 horizon are as much farther awav than ili.se o\ erhead, as 

 they really are. The clouds low cl.Mvn seem somewhat 

 farther away than those above our heads, perhaps four 

 or five times farther : but in reality they are usually 

 twenty or thirty times farther from us. But the mind 

 refuses to present to us the much greater distance of those 

 low-lying clouds. 



It may be said indeed that the mind is unable to con- 

 ceive a spherical surface, either convex or concave, beyond 



