1S4 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



I Apbil, 



Mr. Bateman staled the necessity of using hard and tough stones, 

 which would resist disintegration by the friction of the shingle moved by 

 the waves. 



Mr. Murray corroborated the statements of Mr. Bateman, and recom- 

 mended groynes as tlie best means of collecting sand and gravel, to protect 

 exposed coasts, and the foundations of sea-works. 



Mr. Rankisf. replied to some of the remarks which had been made. 

 He referred to Mr. Scott Russell's paper on sea walla, as being partly con- 

 firmed by his observations. He disavowed the intention of laying down 

 universal rules for the construction of breakwaters in deep water, from 

 observations on walls built on a flat beach ; but, to show how the princi- 

 ple of such walls could be applied, he referred to the Cherbourg break- 

 water, where the top of a stone embankment formed an artilicial beach, 

 on which a vertical wall was founded. 



The paper read was descriptive of '• A Metliod of Setting out a Rail- 

 way Junction." By A. Beaulands. 



The object of the paper was to supply a methodical rule for setting out 

 that portion of a branch line of railway included between the rails of the 

 main line. The author observed, that in all ordinary cases the curve of a 

 branch line could nut be set out from the main line, which was supposed 

 to be straight, by the ordinary methods of selling out railway curves, 

 since the junction was required to make an olfset of 4 to 5 inches on the 

 length of the switch-rail, which was much greater than the offset made 

 from the tangent in the same length by a curve of moderate radius, so 

 that it was necessary to make the junction line start abruptly at a finite 

 angle with the main line. He, therefore, considered the Junction-curve, 

 to be determined by its passing through three given points — namely, the 

 two extremities of the switch-rail, and the furthest point of crossing ; and 

 from these data, lie showed how the radius and centre of the circular arc 

 might be found, as well as the positions and angles of the various cross- 

 ings. To render the method more easy of application, the author gave a 

 table, calculated from the principles and formulse laid down in the paper, 

 assuming an ordinary form of the switch, and a series of valves of the 

 lead, a distance of the furthest crossing extending to the greatest limit 

 likely to occur in practice. 



In the course of the discussion which ensued upon this method, as com- 

 pared with the ordinary system of setting out junctions by a comparatively 

 empirical rule, well understood and practised by the platelayers on rail- 

 ways, Mr. Wyld's switch was alluded to, and exhibited. In this switch 

 all notching and inequality in the bearing surfaces of the fixeil rails were 

 shown to be avoided, by the ends of the tongues being housed under such 

 surtaces, instead of being notched into them : the tongues being conse- 

 quently at their points, and for some distance between them, lower than 

 the fixed rails, exercised when they were weakest merely a lateral action 

 against the wheels, without bearing any of the weight of the passing trains. 

 Several engineers who had employed these switches extensively, expressed 

 themselves relative to them in very commendatory terms, and staled that 

 they were not only manufactured in a very superior manner, but that their 

 action was very perfect, and that they tended greatly to the prevention of 

 accidents in railway travelling. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 



Feb. 21— The Earl de Grey, President, in the Chair. 



Mr. G. Cailey, the honorary secretary, read the report of the council re- 

 lative to the medals for the session 184 7-8. 



With reference to the Royal Medal, it w.is stated that, in pursuance of 

 notification in the various publications, English and foreign, — " On the 

 31st of January, 1848, the council met to receive nominations and applica- 

 tions of candidates, when sixteen n.imes (eight Englishmen and eight 

 foreigners) were given in and considered. The meeting being adjourned to 

 the 14th of February, the claims of the several candidates were further con- 

 sidered ; and a ballot being taken, the majority of votes were found to be in 

 favour of Mr. Cockerell ; and it was accordingly — 'Resolved, That the 

 Royal Medal of the Institute be awarded to Charles Robert Cockerell, 

 Esq., R.A., Professor of Architecture in the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 

 Member of the Royal Institute of France, &c!, in testimony of his distin- 

 guished merits as an architect.' 



For the Silver Medal of the Institute, offered for the best essay ■ On the 

 application of sculpture and sculptured ornament to architecture, and the 

 principles which should regulate their introduction into buildings generally, 

 both with regard to beauty of embellishment and propriety of style,'— 

 Three essays have been received, distinguished by the following mottos : 

 No. 1. •Junius ,-'— No. 2. ' Rule ;'—'No. 3. 'Nisi utile'esi quodfaceinusfrustrce 

 eat gloria.^ 



The three essays display much ingenuity and a praiseworthy habit of ob- 

 servation ; they contain many judicious observations on the higher branches 

 of sculpture, but in general the remarks are too indefinite, and are deficient 

 in the illustration derivable from immediate reference to examples. 



The authors appear to have mistaken the immediate aim of the question 

 proposed :— the subject is of a practical and positive nature, in relation to a 

 specific architectural purpose, and was not intended to elicit a disquisition 

 upon the abstract attributes of sculpture. 



Sculptured ornament, a most important section of the programme, appears 



in two of the papers to have totally escaped the attention of the writers, 

 and in the third is only casually alluded to. 



The council, however, are of opinion that the author of the essay headed 

 ' Junius ' h&s, evinced considerable talent, and that he is justly entitled to 

 the medal oft'ered. 



For the Soane Medallion, the subject being ' A design for a building 

 to contain public baths on a comprehensive scale, with all suitable accessories, 

 and combining the magnificence of the ancients with the usages and puposes 

 of modern times,'- — Five designs have been received : — A. Four drawings and 

 MS. description, motto * Quod potui perfeci. No. 1.' — B. Four drawings, 

 motto * Quod potui perfeci.' — C. Six drawings, motto ' Ne nimium er* 

 pedes anuis prudeutiep crescit.' — D. Three drawings marked ' Aquarius* 

 — E. Two drawings and MS. description, marked ' Chrislophorvs.' 



The council cannot refrain from noticing the little attention which appears to 

 have been given by some of the candidates to the printed conditions, and 

 particularly as respects the adaptation of the buildings, ' to the usages and 

 purposes of modern times.' 



Although the several designs are formed on a scale sufficiently compre- 

 hensive to embrace all imaginable as well as suitable accessories, in some no 

 indication is given of provision being made for the varieties of medicated 

 or other baths so much in use at the present day ; nor reservoirs, nor the 

 requisite apparatus for heating the large quantities of water that would be 

 required to supply such extensive warm and tepid baths as are shown in the 

 drawings ; neither are chimneys or shafts provided to carry off the smoke, 

 steam, &c., which it would be impracticable, under any circumstances, to 

 consume. 



The council are of opinion that the design marked ' Chrislophorus ' pos- 

 sesses, on the whole, the greatest degree of merit, notwithstanding the un- 

 favourable manner in which it is represented in the drawings of the eleva- 

 tions and sections, and suflicient to justify the bestowing on it the award 

 offered." 



The author of the essay marked " Juniits," is Mr. Henry Bayly' Gar- 

 ling, associate ; and of the design marked " Cliristophorus," Mr. Jame.s 

 M'Laren, of Edinburgh. 



Mr. Penrose read a paper " On some of the Geometrical Lines and 

 Optical Corrections of the Greek Architects," which will be given next 

 month. 



March G. — C. Fowler, V.P., in the Chair. 



A paper was read, *' On the Ancient Buddhist Architecture of India.'* By 

 J. Fergusson, Esq. 



Mr. Fergusson commenced by showing that the generally assumed prime- 

 val antiquity of Indian buildings was not borne out by facts ; as the oldest 

 monuments in the country, whether cut in the rock or structural, belonged 

 to the Buddhists, and the founder of that religion died only 543 B.C. : and 

 that even that date was too early, as it did not become the religion of the 

 state till after 250 b.c, in the reign of Asoka, — by whom the earliest monu- 

 ments hitherto found in India had been erected. After showing that there 

 was no real similarity between the architectural styles of Egypt and India, 

 he proceeded to point out that the latter country was occupied by two dis- 

 tinct races of people, — the one aboriginal, and occupying the southern por- 

 tion of the Peninsula; while the other, or Indo-Germanic race, came into 

 the country, at a tolerably recent period, as conquerors or colonists, and 

 settled in the valleys of the Indus and Ganges. It was among the latter race 

 that the Buddhist religion arose and flourished for more than a thousand 

 years, or from before 250 b c. till after 750 a.d., — though at the time of 

 the Mohammedan invasion it seems to have been entirely extinct ; and now 

 there was not a Buddhist, or an institution of that religion, in the country 

 of its birth. After alluding to the curious fact of the names of Ptolemy 

 Antiochus, and other Greek kings, being mentioned in the inscription of this 

 Asoka, Mr. Fergusson dwelt for some time on the existence of a purely 

 Greek honeysuckle ornament being found on the pillars set up by this king 

 at Allahabad, and on which one of his inscriptions is engraved. He then 

 proceeded to classify the religious edifices of the Buddhists, — dividuig them 

 into three classes, the first being the Topes, or Dagobas, large domical 

 buildings erected to contain relics, many of which still exist in Afghanistan 

 and Ceylon as well as India. After describing the various parts of a dagoba, 

 Mr. Fergusson showed how the tee, or ornament on the top of them, gra- 

 dually became taller and taller, till it became a three or nine storied tower, 

 not only in India, but in China,— as in the instance of the celebrated Porce- 

 lain Tower at Nankin. The circular inclosure of the topes was next illus- 

 trated, from a curious example at Sanchee, in Bhopal, which still retains its 

 singular gateways. These likewise were shown to be the original of the 

 Pailoos, or what are impropeily called the triumphal arches of the Chinese. 

 The next class of monuments were the Cbaityas,or churches, which in India 

 are known to us only from the caves ; as are also the third class or Viharas, 

 or monasteries, — which served as residences for the priests, and of which 

 two or more are attached to every chaitya in every series of caves in India. 

 .\ftcr pointing out their general plans and arrangements, Mr. Fergusson pro- 

 ceeded to illustrate the beautiful mode in which the chaitya caves were 

 lighted by one large opening or window over the entrance ; and then ex- 

 plained the construction of the roofs, — which, though always circular in 

 form, were never copies of arches (which were not to be found in India till 

 long after the Mohammedan invasion), but of wooden construction ; and in 

 some of the earlier caves the original wood-work still existed, though in the 



