1919.] 



The civil engineer and architect's journal. 



2S5 



(erction. Let us for a moment consider the mighty influence for good on all 

 the technic and sesthetic Arts — those Arts that either occupy or captivate 

 half mankind — which our Ars regina, guided by this Institute, exercist-s 

 over not only her graphic sisters of Painting and Sculpture, but those of 

 Manufacture also, throughout this tuighty empire and her colonies, and 

 Indeed over every civilised country in the woild." 



Jnly 16. — Earl De Gret, President, in the Chair. 



Closirtff General Meeting of the Session. — Among the donations were 

 portraits of the Earl of Burlington and Sir Christopher Wren, by Sir God- 

 frey Kncller, — of Palladio, by Fradelle, after Biglioschi, — and of Cramante, 

 by the same, after Aless. d'Este. These were contributed by Mr. J. W. 

 Papworth. 



The President distributed the medals and premiums awarded during the 

 session. In handing to Mr. Donaldson the royal gold medal to be forwarded 

 to the Chevalier Canina, his lordship mentioned that when the award of the 

 Council had been submitted for the approbation of Her Majesty, Prince 

 Albert had expressed his satisfaction at this evident mark of the impartiality 

 of the Institute, awarding to a foreigner so high a mark of distinction as 

 that of the royal gold medal. By encouraging merit abroad as well as at 

 home they showed their anxiety to do all in their power to advance their 

 art wherever it was practised. Mr. W. Papworth received he silver medal 

 of the Institute, for his Essay on 'The Peculiar Characteristics of the Pal- 

 ladian School of Architecture,' — and Mr. T. Hill, student, the annual premium 

 in books for the best series of Monthly Sketches. 



The Hon. Secretary read a communication from Sir. G. Wilkinson, "On 

 the History and Origin of the Pointed Arch." After reccurring to his dis- 

 covery at Thebes of round arches built of crude bricks and lined with stucco, 

 proving their use as far back as the thirteenth century before our era, Sir 

 G. Wilkinson showed that in all probability the pointed arch was also 

 familiar to the ancient Egyptian. There is, however, no positive evidence of 

 this being the case. The pointed arch was commonly used by the Saracens 

 at a very early period. In the Mosque of Ahm ebn e'Tooluon, built a.d. 879, 

 all the arches are of that form. Other early examples also exist. The 

 author of the paper considers, however, that the Saracens did not invent 

 this form, hut copied it from the Christians; and in support of his theory 

 he mentions many instances of the pointed arch being used by the Christians 

 before the Arab Conquest. They were, however, of small span ; showing a 

 mistrust in the strength of that form, which was doubtless more fully 

 developed in countries ^^here the architecture is less interfered with by the 

 Arab conquests. The transition from the semicircular to the oval and 

 finally pointed form of arch in those early ages was shown by numerous 

 sketches of arches still existing — in some of which the round arch has been 

 changed into one of oval form by means of bricks and stucco. It is not im- 

 possible that the Christians of the Thebiiid, in their attempts to form a 

 pointed arch, may have imitated those of the same form which they saw in 

 the ancient monuments ; for although those were not constructed on the 

 real principle of the arch, but cut into horizontal courses of stones, still, 

 from their size being about the same as that of the arches at Thebes, there 

 is reason to believe that in them originated the idea of the pointed form as 

 found in the houses of the early Christians, — where it certainly first became 

 generally adopted, subsequently giving rise to a particular style of architec- 

 ture in the hands of the Saracens, and passing at the period of the Crusades 

 into the churches of Western Europe. 



Earl De Grey read some account of the excavations now proceeding 

 under his direction at Fountains Abbey. The remains lately discovered are 

 situated towards the east front of the monastery, which until now has gene- 

 rally been considered the principal one. The building now brought to light 

 was doubtless the abbot's house, situated at the rear of the monastery, and 

 communicating with it by a passage or vestibule 15 feet in width, richly de- 

 corated on the north wall in the same style as the sides of the choir and the 

 Lady Chapel in the abbey itself. The whole of the house is built on arches 

 over the river, its level being about 6 feet above that of the cloister garden. 

 The passage leading from the monastery to the house had probably apart- 

 ments over it, for a fragment of the original wall still standing to a height 

 of 16 feet above the turf contains at the height of 11 feet a portion of a 

 fire-place. The foundations of the great hall are clearly to be made out, 

 extending through the whole building from north to south; and its size may 

 serve to shov? what importance must have been attached to the rank of 

 abbot. Its total length was 167 feet, and width 69 feet, — being divided into 

 three aisles by rows of columns. The private oratory, — the refectory placed 

 obliquely with regard to the grand hall, — the abbot's kitchen, &c., are all to 

 be easily traced among these remains. Among the most curious portions of 

 the ruins is a large stone grating, if so it may be called, which appears in the 

 top of one of the arches supporting the kitchen ; — the size of the aperture 

 (6 ft. 6 in. by 8 ft. 5 in.) precludes the supposition of its having been used for 

 any purpose of drainage. — A plan of the buildings, showing all the recent 

 discoveries, was exhibited in illustration, as well as plans of some of the 

 principal monastic ruins ; and attention was drawn to the similarity which 

 existed between most of them in the arrangement of the several parts, more 

 especially as regards those at Fountains and Durham. 



NOTES OF THE IVIONTH. 



A Large Tubular Iron Girder-Bridge has been constructed to cross the 

 Trent at Gainsborough on the line of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lin- 

 colnshire Railway. It consists of two principal hollow girders which form 

 the parapets of the bridge, and the roadway is supported by transverse 

 wrought-iron hollow beams, or tubes, rectangular in section, suspended to 

 the side tubes. This bridge was designed lpy Mr. Fowler, and the tubes 

 have been constructed by Mr. Faiihairn, of Manchester. The stone-work 

 consists of a centre pier, and two elliptical arches of 50 feet span each, ter- 

 minated by the usual land abutments. The iron-work consists of two spans, 

 together 308 feet, which gives a total length to the bridge of 460 feet. The 

 principal girders are each 336 feet long, 12 feet high, and 3 ft. 1 in. wide, 

 having their tops formed of cells 18 inches wide, and 12 inches deep, to 

 resist compression, and the bottom of double riveted plates, to withstand 

 tension. They are fixed securely on the middle pier, thus covering both 

 spans ; and their ends are supported on the land abutments upon rollers, 

 resting on cast-iron plates embedded in the masonry, thus admitting of ex- 

 pansion and contraction. On the outside of the girders two curved lines of 

 angle-iron are riveted, which gives it the form of two arches, and adds much 

 to the symmetry of the structure. The two principal girders weigh 300 

 tons ; transverse beams, 4 feet asunder, 82 tons; cast iron 10 tons — making 

 a total of 392 tons. The girders were constructed on one of the embank- 

 ments, and hauled across into their positions on rollers — a feat of some dif. 

 ficulty, as one end of the girder would have no support for nearly half its 

 length before it reaches the asssistant resting-place of the centre pier. 



On the Zincing of Iron. — There are, it is well known, two different me- 

 thods of coating metals with zinc; — one by immersing in the molten zinc 

 the articles required to be coated, and another by precipitating the zinc from 

 a solution by means of galvanism. The solution most commonly used for this 

 latter process is, a weak solution of oxide of zinc in potash ley. Numerous 

 experimfnts have been recenlly made by M. Kiepe, at the laboratory of the 

 Society of Encouragement, at Berlin, on the solution best adapted for this 

 purpose. The following is a summary of the results obtained ; — The com- 

 pounds of zinc employed by M. Riepe were — a solution of sulphate of zinc; a 

 solution of cyanide of zinc in cyanide of potassium ; a solution of the double 

 salt of chloride of zinc and sal ammonia (salt for welding) ; and a solution 

 of hyposulphate of oxide of zinc. The operation appeared to be most suc- 

 cessful with the solution of sulphate of zinc, and with the double salt, 

 above-mentioned ; but, to ensure success, the solution must he weak, and a 

 weak galvanic current must be employed, otherwise the zinc precipitated 

 will again separate from the iron in the form of thin scales ; if proper pre- 

 cautions be taken, the operation will succeed perfectly well, and the zinc 

 may, by that means, be laid on as thick as a sheet of paper. It is scarcely 

 necessary to remark, that the article to he coated must be well cleansed pre- 

 vious to performing the operation. With regard to the preparation of the 

 salts, the following remarks will be found requisite: — The sulphate of oxide 

 of zinc is prepared by dissolving in water saturated with sulphurous gas, as 

 much hydrate of carbonate of zinc, recently precipitated, as will completely ^ 

 saturate the water. With respect to the ammoniacal chloride of oxide of 

 zinc, proceed as follows ; — Dissolve one part of zinc in hydrochloric acid, 

 and, to this solution, add one part of sal ammoniac; evaporate the liquor 

 and crystallise. The crystals are colourless six-sided prisms, translucid, 

 easily soluble in water, and very easily deliquescent. — M. le Docteur Eisner. 



Reduction of Chloride of Silver. — M. Level gives the following simple 

 method of reducing chloride of silver. It is placed in a solution of caustic 

 potash, in which some sugar is dissolved, and the whole boiled. The silver is 

 quickly reduced by the sugar, carbonic acid gas being evolved. It is easily 

 washed, and obtained pure, and in the state of powder. 



Restoration of Illegible Manuscript. — Mr. Murray gives the following 

 process for restoring illegible manuscript, which he tried with success on 

 some illegible fragments on vellum from the Record Ofiice. He succeeded 

 in restoring the manuscript by first steeping the vellum in a solution of 

 chlorate of potassa, and, when subsequently dried, immersing the fragments 

 in tincture of galls, or hydrocyatrate of potassa. The restored characters 

 were black in the former, and blue in the latter case. 



Gntta Percha Tubing for Water Services. — A series of interesting ex- 

 periments has just been concluded at the Birmingham Waterworks, rela- 

 tive to the strength of gutta percha tubing, with a view to its applicability 

 for the conveyance of water. The experiments were made, under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. H. Rofe, engineer, upon tubes of J-inch diameter, and J-inch 

 thick of gutta percha. These were attached to the iron main, and subjected 

 for two mouths to a pressure of 200 feet head of water, without being in 

 the slightest degree deteriorated. In order to ascertain, if possible, the 

 maximum strength of the tubes, they were connected with the water com- 

 pany's hydraulic proofing pump, the regular load of which is 250 lb. on the 

 square inch. At this point they were unaft'ected, and the pump was worked 

 up to 337 lb. but, to the astonishment of every one, the tubes still remained 

 perfect. It was then proposed to work the pump up to 500 ; hut it was 

 found that the lever of the valve would bear no more weight. The utmost 

 power of the hydraulic pump could not burst the tubes. The gutta percha 

 being slightly elastic, allowed the tubes to become a little expanded hy the 

 extraordinary pressure which was applied, but on its witfadiawal they as- 

 suiued thtir former size. 



