1818.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



57 



weight of matter v\liich renilers tliem practically fireprnnf, in addition to I'te 

 moving weights to which the floors of buildings are necessarily exposed to 

 use." 



Among Mr. Hosking's ohjeotions is tliat to the use of concrete 

 as a mere footing for walls, from the notion that a foundation is 

 thus rendered strong by depth ; whereas he advocates the use of a 

 thinner layer of concrete over the whole foundation, so as to gain 

 strength by an increase of base. 



Another objection he entertains is to the wooden skirting-board, 

 which causes filth, discomfort, and danger, as it is often too close 

 to the chimney flue. He also considers that tlie deep boxings for 

 window sluitters gratuitously make a house more inflammable, and 

 he reconnnends metal roller-blinds instead. 



We do not think yir. Hosking dwells too much upon the pre- 

 cautions to be taken against fire ; and if any of our readers do, we 

 recommend to them the following justification : — 



" It appears from an estimate appended to a Report liy Mr. Fairhaim on the 

 Conslruclion of Fireproof Buildings, with Introductory Remarks hv Mr. 

 Samuel Holmes, pulilished at Liverpool in ISJ-I, that the insuranre-offires 

 paid for losses by fire in Liverpool alone, in the ten years ending December, 

 18-12, the suna of 1,121,427?. This sum does not, of course, include the 

 losses of, and other injuries to, the poor who do not insure, hut who are 

 always great sufferers in cases of fire ; and some of the fires which occasioned 

 the losses were extensive conflagrations, in which lives were lost in the 

 attempts made to subdue the fire; nor does it include a probably large 

 amount of property not sufficiently insured to cover tlie losses. 



Urged by successive calamities by fire, and by the high rates of premium 

 which tlie insurance offices were compelled to exact to enalde them to meet 

 the losses, the people of Liverpool applied to Parliament at length, and ob- 

 tained, in lS-13, an Act to compel themselves to abide by certain wholesome 

 regulations, as it regarded the security of buildings from fire. The effect of 

 this Act, 6 & 7 Vict. c. 109, and the provision of a supply of water available 

 in case of fire, has been to reduce the rates of insurance considerably; but 

 the protective measures are estimated to have cost from 200, OUO/. to 300 000/., 

 which being added to the losses above stated, with a tnfiing addition for the 

 hisses not included in the estimate, will show an annihilation of property in 

 one town alone, and within ten short years, to the enormous amount of a 

 million and a half of money." 



The author is not quite clear upon the subject of ventilation — 

 but then it is in its infancy : still his remarks are well worthy of 

 perusal. 



In conclusion, we may observe that Mr. Hosking has rendered a 

 great service to the profession by the publication of this book, as 

 a useful work of reference, and as a vindication of tlie practical 

 claims of the architectural profession to their proper share in 

 structural arrangements. 



Rnihmti Practice. By S. C. Brf.es, C.E. London : AV^illiams 

 and C'o., 184.7. Third and Fourth Series. 



These are two large volumes with a profusion of plates, forming 

 the third and fourth of the series of railway practice. They are 

 translations from the Portefenille ck.s Clicmbt.s- de Fci\ by Messrs. 

 Perdonnet and Poltinceau, but derived from English materials. It 

 is a curious thing that we should be indebted to the French for the 

 description of our own railway works, and that there should be a 

 want either of enterprise or zeal to publish an original account. 

 So it is however that we are particularly deficient in accounts of 

 our great engineering works, and this from three causes : that our 

 great engineers ha\e no time to write, that our young engineers 

 have no ability to write, and that engineers generally do not buy 

 nor read works when published. Thus we are often served at 

 second-hand with accounts of our own works by Frenchmen, Ameri- 

 cans, Germans, or Russians, and after the experiment lias been 

 made abroad, we get confidence enough to make a trial here. We 

 are, perhaps, the more indebted under such circumstances to tliose 

 who, like Mr. Brees, take the trouble and the risk of making us 

 acquainted with our own works. In tlie present instance, we have 

 from Mr. Broes two volumes, irhich will be found invaluable as re- 

 cords of the best practical examples of railway engineering. If 

 we have any fault to find it is that he has not suiKciently reduced 

 the French measurements, a labour which if ])erformed by him or 

 his assistants would have saved that of his readers. 



The third volume is devoted to earthworks, permanent way, 

 blocks and sleeper.s, rails and chairs, with turn-tables, sidings, and 

 switdies. The fourth \olume describes stations, carriages, trucks, 

 water cranes, and station plant. 



When we say that there are more plates than te.xt, we think we 

 offer a very strong recommendation of the work to the practical 

 man. These ])lates too are filled with details, so that nothing is 

 wanted to give a correct idea of everything described. 



Among the plates are :— The forms of every kind of rail in use 

 in England and elsewhere ; machinery used for making rails; na- 

 vigators and platelayers' tools ; .sw'itches on various plans by 

 Robert Stephens<in and others; turntables of the London and 

 North M'estern, Midland and Great Western railways; locomotive 

 turntable ; weigh-hridge ; level crossings and gates ; double and 

 single hoist bridges ; crossings for temporary works ; eartliwagons 

 of the Lmidon and North \\'estern and Great 'Western; Mr. Jee's 

 Garton station on the Manchester and Sheffield ; bridges over the 

 Wear, Clyde, and Meuse; viaducts on the Manchester and Sheffield, 

 and Manchester and Leeds ; culverts on the London and North 

 Western. Among the carriages are those of the London and North 

 Western, Birmingham and Gloster, Great \restern, of French, 

 German, and Belgian railways, with details of the w'heels, axles' 

 frames, buffer-springs, and breaks. These plates of carriages in- 

 clude passenger and mail carriages, horse-boxes, trucks and goods 

 wagons. This part is of particular value at a time when the in- 

 fluence of the carrying stock on the structure and working of a 

 line is the point which most affects the engineer. As the plant in- 

 creases, and tlie necessity for economy in the working becomes 

 greater, tlie attention of the engineer is well bestowed on a know- 

 ledge of the best construction of carriages, and the most efficient 

 means of improving them. Hitherto \ery much attention has 

 been given to the locomotive, and to systems of atmospheric trac- 

 tion, but a more immediate reference to the load to be carried is 

 the point to which the engineer will for some time have most to 

 direct himself. The establishment of lighter engines and smaller 

 trains will call for a great deal of ingenuity to provide plant suit- 

 able for such a different system of traction. 



Mr. Brees gives many examples of large stations and their de- 

 tails. Among them are the South M'estern at Nine Elms, the 

 Euston-square terminus, tlie Birmingham terminus, the Nordbahn 

 station at Vienna, the Brunn station on the latter line, stations at 

 Versailles and Pecq, the terminus of the A'ersailles line at Paris, 

 the Dublin and Kingstown terminus, and the Leeds statimi. Be- 

 sides these leading termini and stations, plans are given of inter- 

 mediate stations, as Tring, A\'atford, ^Volverhampton, Newton, and 

 Coventry, on the London and North AVestern ; Thames Ditton, on 

 the South Western ; Reiiding and Slough, on the Great \\'estern. 

 and numerous places on foreign lines. Many of these stations, 

 as those on the Paris and Rouen, are the work ofEnglish engineers, 

 and it is gratifying to perceive that many details introduced by 

 them have served as an example to their' foreign brethren. The 

 study of the foreign plans by English engineers will enable them 

 to return the compliment, because the experience and ingenuity of 

 the many men of ability employed abroad cannot fail to be pro- 

 ductive of many valuable improvements. 



In conclusion, we can only repeat what we have said in the be- 

 ginning, that Air. Brees's work will be found most useful to the 

 engineer. It is a rejiertory of every practical detail connected 

 with railway works, and it lias the advantage of presenting copious 

 examples under every head of reference. With these words we 

 commit the work to the hands of our readers, being fully satisfied 

 that it is well worthy of their support. 



Designs for Schools and School-Houses, Parochial and National. 

 By H. E. Kendall, jun.. Architect. London : AVilliams and Co., 

 1847. Folio. 



Next to churches, schools are perhaps the class of buildings 

 most in request, owing to the necessity that is felt for pi-oviding 

 education for the poorer and humbler ranks of society. Numer- 

 ous buildings of the kind have accordingly been founded and 

 erected of late years, yet very few are so satisfactory in point of 

 design as they might have been rendered, at the same, or very 

 nearly the same cost, merely by the application of a little study 

 and judicious taste. Or if it be deemed of no moment of what 

 kind the taste shown in such structures be, it is safer as well as 

 more economic to attempt nothing more than what utility abso- 

 lutely demands. Wo agree with Air. Kendall when he says, 

 "although some of the national schools lately erected are very 

 creditable to their respective architects, the general i-esult of the 

 great movement apparent in the building of churches, schools, &c., 

 redounds rather to the honour of resuscitated zeal than to that of 

 architectural talent. So great is the tameness, and so apparent 

 the mediocrity of conception, both in arrangement and style, in 

 many of them, that were it not for the good they effect, we should 

 regret their very existence." As regards the utter tastelessness 

 frequently shown in things of the kind, blame rests as much with 

 the employers as with the employed, since it is the ignorance of 



