186 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[[June, 



was interrupted by the Cliairman with a request to reserve the remainder of 

 his [oper, which was nearly concluded, for another evening, so that llie dis- 

 cussion luiglit liave a tufficient period allowed to it. Messrs. Donahlson and 

 Titc made some remarks to the same cfl'cct; — and the meeting adjourned to 

 the 21st of May. 



May 7. — This was the annual general meeting, and the following offiee- 

 heareis were elected for the ensuing year : — President : Earl de (irey ; Vice- 

 Presidents: T. Dcllamy, A. Salvin, and S. Smirke ; Honorary Secretaries: 

 T.L.Donaldson and J. J. Scoles; Council: W. J. D.mthoin, H. E. Ken- 

 riall, G. Mair, C. Mayhew, A. Mee, I). Mocatta, C. C. Nelson, C. Parker, 

 V. C. Penrose, and T.'H. Wyatt; Treasurer: Sir \V. R. Farquhar, Hart. 



May 21 — Mr. J. W. Papworth read the concluding portion of his paper 

 commenced as aliove. He dwelt at some length on the progressive develop, 

 nient of the features of the third and fourth classes of his system ; which he 

 illustrated hy dated examples from Karnak.Gliijeh, Beni Hassan, the column 

 in the British Mustum, Luxor, and Elepliantis for one period of art ; and 

 from Phila;, Esneh, Dendera, Omhos, and Edfou ; whence the peculiar and 

 imitative characteristics of the second division were drawn and put into 

 juxtaposition. In summing up uU the above, the author considcreii tha the 

 had made it appear that two great epochs were established with certainty for 

 Egyptian arehitecluie, as well as for its political history,^ — each having its 

 particular style : the first which arose from rock cut constructions, and imi- 

 tatcd also in monuments above ground ; this style flourished in liie old Pha- 

 raonic reigns before the Hyksns invasions, renewed itself probably under the 

 seventeenth, and shows its last efforts under the eighteenth dynasty — under 

 which, and at the commencement of the glorious period of Egyptian supre. 

 macy must be placed that great change which operated probably not only 

 u]ion architecture, but on all the arts and on the entire civilisation of the 

 l)eople. Then was seen a new style of architecture ; which, however, had its 

 birth anteriorly, and by the side of the former style, embracing and develop- 

 ing \\iG principle of vegetation in its colu7nns, imitating in every point orga- 

 nic nature, and decorating them with allegoiic ornaments. 



Mr. Papworth afterwards read a supplemental paper, being a translation of 

 the views of Lepsius " On the Relation of the later Egyptian Order to the 

 Greek Column." 



SOCIETY OF ARTS, LONDON. 



May 9.— W. TooKE, Esq., F.U.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. D. Wyatt, architect, read a paper "On Metal Work and its Artistic 

 Design." — He commenced with some remarks on the absolute necessity of 

 the study of s/wcj/Jc rfespyn, in order to confine the errant imaginations of 

 artists witlun reasonable bounds, and in order fully to take advantage of all 

 tlie natural properties, mechanical capabilities, and recorded experiences pe- 

 ouliarly belonging to all materials, in the elaboration of which it is requisite 

 that an alliance between use and beauty may be effected. The author main- 

 tained that all propriety and perfection in manufacturing design were deriv- 

 able from the result of such studies, and that the more clearly the objective 

 individuality of every ingredient was preserved and enunciated in the finished 

 article, the more satisfactory to both eye and mind would the character of 

 its ornamentation appear. 



The specific design of metal work was described as based on three great 

 studies, a thorough knowledge of which was requisite to all who would either 

 m.Tnufactnre, compose, or criticise in any one of its various ramifications. 

 The first of these was that of the distinctive characteristics and appliances 

 of each metal. The second, its form as modified by all the mcihanical pro- 

 cesses of manufacture. The third, a thorough analytical and critical acquaint- 

 ance with the best models in which reasonable and good proof of art can be 

 traced, and through modifications of which pleasing associations of idea 

 may be commanded at the will of the designer. 



In accordance with his scheme thus laid down, the author proceeded to 

 deduce the correct theory of the iiianufaclure of each metal, from the pro- 

 perties with which it had been endowed by nature. He then described at 

 considerable length the process hy which almost all objects in metal must be 

 produced, dwelling on those best harmonizing with the character of each 

 substance, and the accredited conventionality of its use. Thus he emphasi- 

 i.'A the refining, beating into sheets, wire-drawing, stamping and torsion of 

 gold, the beating in a plate, gilding, dead silvering, parcel gilding, soldering, 

 &c. of silver, the hollow casting of bronze by means of wax and of moulds, 

 and the solid founding of iron in complex forms. Having disposed of the 

 structural processes, the author analysed the decorative or superficial ; enu- 

 ujerating the leading peculiarities of engraving — matting, niello, cooking, 

 liurni-hing; the six chief divisions of enamel, and three or four varieties of 

 damaskeening. Tlie mechanical limits of the art being thus pointed out, the 

 impressions suggested by the history of past chefs d'oeuvre were cursorily 

 csamined. The great antiquity of metal work, and its details, among the 

 .lews, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Etrurians, and Komans, was 

 demonstrated from descriptions furnished hy various authors and by monu- 

 ments of wonderful merit still existing. The speaker passed quickly over 

 the mcdiieval portion of the subject; and concluded by calling attention to 

 tlie beautiful examples by which he was surrounded, and urging a systematic 

 recognition of first principles and practical details to he superadded to the 

 study of Eeauty and fine Art in the abstract. 



May 16. — Mr. F. Whish aw read a paper " On tlie Importance of thorough 

 Ventilation in Collieries" by Mr. Edgington, the latter gentleman ex- 

 plaining, by diagrams on the walls, the various details. 



After alluding to the vast importance of the subject, and the interest 

 which was at the present moment drawn towards it, the writer explained 

 the nature of fire-damp, or carburetted-hydrogen gas, which was continually 

 more or less being given out in coal mines ; and the several details of various 

 analyses which had been taken, all productive of different results, each pro- 

 ducing more or less of the light olefiant gas, hydrocarbon, &e. These 

 analyses were taken after treating the gases with caustic, potash, &c., to 

 free them from caibonic acid, which the writer regretted, as it would have 

 been desirable to ascertain what quantity of carbonic acid fire-damp in its 

 native state contained. The blue flickering flame seen towards the roofs of 

 fiery miiics arose from the presence of the bi-liydrate of carbon. He was 

 aware that some of the first chemists of the age approved of the use of 

 wire gauze as a preventive of the flame coming iu contact with the outer 

 atinos]}here; but he consiilered the safety of such a lamp very questionable, 

 particularly when affected by blowers, and when the interstices or meshes of 

 the wire gauze became clogged with the fine particles of carbonaceous mat- 

 ter floating about in all mines, when it caught fire and formed a conductor 

 to the outer explosive atmosphere, and from these circumstances he did not 

 think it entitled to the proud title of safety lamp. Wliat he meant by per- 

 fect ventilation was not a system aided by air-pumps, fan-blowers, high- 

 pressure steam, or other artificial means ; be wished to see a system hy 

 which a safety-lamp was not required, and the men might work securely by 

 caudles, and he believed it possible to adopt such a system of natural ven- 

 tilation round the face of the workings where the men were at work. 

 Under the present system, when an accumulation of fire-damp took place 

 along an unbroken wall at the back of the goaf, and exploded, the men are 

 thrown towards the open wnik, and their destruction is certain. The changes 

 continually taking place in the atmosphere of a mine are not noticed, as the 

 men, being intent on their work, cannot be always on the watch. 



Mr. Edgington then proceeded to describe his plan of ventilation, for 

 which purpose he referred to several diagrams, and a plan of Haswell Col- 

 liery. It will, of course, be impossible to follow the explanation in the 

 absence of these; but the general plan recommended appeared to be with 

 two shafts, a down-cast and an upcast ; space should be left to ventilate the 

 back roads, and thus all gases set free will be immediately carried from the 

 men. The air is to he so split that one-half should ventilate the goaf and 

 the other half the coal face. There should be as many streams as there 

 were stalls ; and in these, when practical, the air should he returned. Mr. 

 Edgington then further described his new plans of cutting headings from 

 the roads to carry away the gas and air to the up-cast shaft, and connecting 

 all the high levels together to drain the roofs. His system could be carried 

 out in all existing workings, and the expense would be comparatively little 

 or nothing, in proportion to the good eftected, as naked candles might be 

 used, and the collier pursue his work iu perfect safety. He said the greatest 

 evil at present in existence in the northern collieries was the want of any 

 regulated arrangement in the ground works. In the Haswell Colliery (where, 

 in the last explosion, 75 lives were lost), for want of this arrangement, 

 there were no less than twenty. two current or divisions of air passing iu aU 

 directions, and counteracting each other. Under tlie new system, on re- 

 moving the walls, the currents of air should be reversed, and the safety of 

 the mine would be continued. He also explained how, in cases of fallen 

 roof, by cutting the end of the roadway up to a level with the roof or 

 cutting a way diagonally down to the roadway, the current of the air and 

 the gas would be continued uninterruptedly. 



ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS. 



April 9. — George Lees, A.M., V.P., in the Chair. 



The following communications were made: — 



"Account of a Binocular Camera, and of a method of obtaining Drawings 

 of Full Length or Colossal Statues, and of Living Bodies, which can he e.r- 

 hil/ited as solids ly the Stereoscope." By Sir David Brewster, F.R.S. 



In this paper tlie author pointed out the changes which take place in tlie 

 visual representation of bodies of three dimensions, such as statues, build- 

 ings, and living bodies, when they are viewed at difft-rent distances by one 

 or both eyes, or when reduced copies of statues are viewed in a similar man- 

 ner. He showed that full length and colossal statues, as works of art, are 

 not so perfectly seen as reduced copies of them, and that there is ceteris 

 paribus a certain ratio between the distance of the eyes and the magnitude 

 of a body of three dimensions, when its visual form is best developed. The 

 author then described a Binocular Camera, and explained a method of ob- 

 taining by its means such dissimilar drawings on a plane of full length, and 

 cidossal statues and living bodies, as will give the best representations of 

 them in relief when united by the stereoscope. The Binocular Camera 

 described by the author is composed of two semi-lenses, obtained hy 

 bisecting an achromatic lens. These semi-lenses are placed at the distance 

 of the two eyes, or at such multiples of that distance as may be necessary to 

 take dissimilar drawings of full-sized or colossal statues, for the purpose of 

 reproducing the statue in the stereoscope. The author described and ex- 

 plained a method by which statues of all sizes, and living bodies, may be 



