33 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 13, 



material than the dark red brick have been used, as its peculiar 

 hue, in the present instance, give^ a very dingy and sombre appear- 

 ance to the exterior. 



The first stone was laid on tlie 20tli of April last, so lliat the present 

 advanced condition of the building sliows the expedition which has 

 been used, and wliich equally wilh the design, does great credit to 

 Mr. Hardwick, its able architect. 



NOTES OF THE WEEK. 



Mnsic has hitherto been more favoured than architecture, with regard to 

 royal and princely professors. We have Prince Albert, Prince George of 

 Hanover, Prince Poniatovvski, and many others, entering themselves as can- 

 didates for musical honours, but they have not yet dabbled with architecture. 

 This, however, is al)out to he remedied, and Berlin is to be decorated with a 

 new cathedral, of which Herr Stieleris charged with the execution from ideas 

 given by the King of Prussia. The contribution of notions is but a preliminary 

 step.stiilwe do not despair to see architecture more royal, if not more popular, 

 occupying the pencils, and claiming the superintendence of the high and 

 mighty after this great example. This building at Berlin is to rival those of 

 King Lewis of Bavaria, and be one of the most magnificent in Germany. It 

 is to be in the style of an Italian basilica, and enriched with all the adorn- 

 ments of painting and sculpture. In the vaults are to be interred the mortal 

 remains of the members of the Prussian royal family, and the tombs of former 

 members now scattered ia different cities are to be removed to the new mau- 

 soleum. The cost of the edifice will not be less than 10,000,000 thalers, 

 or .£1..')00,000. 



The hotel of the minister of the navy at the Hague, has been unfortunately 

 burjied down. 



The celebrated monastery of Saint Jerome, at Grenada, the supposed 

 model of the Escurial, has suffered much from civil war, the recruits quartered 

 in it at different times, recently, having v\antonly destroyed many of the works 

 of art. 



The erection of monuments in France, to men of eminence, is making active 

 progress, particularly in the provinces. Among other places the following 

 are cited as having thus celebrated their illustrious great. Cambrai, Dijon, 

 Meaux, Bordeaux, Perigueux, and Montbard, have monuments to Bossuet, 

 Fenelon, Bulfon, Montesquieu, and Montaigne ; Chateau Thierry, La Fon- 

 taine ; Laferte Milon, Racine; Caen, Malberbe; Clermont, Pascal; Rouen, 

 Corneille ; Paris, Moliere ; Strasburg, Guttenbnrg ; Havre, Bernardin de St. 

 Pierre, and Casimir Delavigne ; Marseille, Belsunce; Lyon, Jacquard ; other 

 cities Cuvier and Dugueselin. This is a great contrast to the state of affairs 

 in England ; while columns and monuments are awarded to generals, admirals, 

 and statesmen, the only pubbc memorials of men of literature ami science, in 

 the places of their birth, are, we believe. Dr. Johnson at Lichfield ; Dr. Dal- 

 ton, at Manchester; Watt and Tennant, at Glasgow; Bell, at Greenock; and 

 Cliatterton, at Bristol. Shakspeare, Milton, and Bacon, and all our great 

 names, which are consigned to oblivion by those cities derive so much glory 

 from their birth. London, with all its pubbc monuments, has none to literary 

 men, while more honour is paid to Shakspeare abroad than here, the king 

 of Saxony having just jdaced a bronze statue of the great bard on the 

 facade of the New Theatre at Dresden, something better than the affair at 

 Drury Lane. 



The Palais de 1' Industrie, for the exposition of 1844, in the Champs Elysees, 

 is getting on with rapitiity. The construction of the canal and basin of La 

 Villette, has greatly increased the prosperity of that quarter of Paris, and at 

 the present moment a church, town-hall, and school, are being built. The 

 French Minister of the Interior has commissioned M. David to execute two 

 colossal figures for the tomb of Napoleon. A magnificent chapel to the Vir- 

 gin, in the Byzantine style, richly decorated, has been completed in the church 

 of St. Gervase, at Paris. The painted windows are by Messrs. Cousin and 

 Pinaigrier, and the decorations and gilding by M. Delorme. A new illus- 

 trated monthly periodical, on a large scale, has been commenced at Paris, 

 callrd the Revue Pittoresque. It contains articles and engravings by the first 

 hands, and is published at the low price of .' s. a year. 



The King of Bavaria, in the new year, has given the cross of the order of 

 the Bavarian Crown to the artists Shnorr, Hess, and Schwanthaler. 



An attempt is being made to bore for water at Calais, under the direction 

 of M. Mulot, and the artesian well has already reached 300 metres, about 

 1000 ft. in depth. This is the extent to which the contractor was bound to 

 go fo' X1440, and a new contract must be made to carry on the works fur- 

 ther, and to save the expense already incurred. It is expected that water 

 will be found at 400 yards, as the chalk, which has been reached, is becoming 

 greyer and greyer, seeming to denote an approaching change to the green 

 sand formation. The boring, down to 72 metres, was in gravel, sand, clay, 

 and flint ; then chalk mixed with flints ; at 263 metres the whiteness of the 

 chalk began to be affected, and at 277 metres it became grey. 



The number of miles of railway open in Germany is about 249 German 

 miles, or about 1160 English miles. 



A fine deposit of asphalte has been discovered at Velder, five miles from 

 Hanover. It is said to be 14 ft. thick, and only a few feet below the surface. 

 It is said to he similar to the asphalte of Seyssel and the Val de Travers. 



An eruption accompanied with flames and ashes, has taken place at Olopad 

 in Sclavouia. 



M. Dufrenoy and Elie de Beaumont, in their remarks accompanying their 

 new geological map of France, make the following calculations as to the 

 supply of coal in the rural countries of Europe. The coal district in this 

 country forms about 5 per cent, of the superficies ; in France only i per cent. ; 

 in Belgium 4 per cent. Italy, Greece and Turkey appear to be very badly 

 off, as also Denmark, Sweden and Norway ; Russia is also very inade- 

 quately supplied. Wurtemburg, Bavaria, Austria Proper, Moravia, the 

 Tyrol, Styria and Illyria are deficient rather than otherwise with regard to 

 coal. Hungary has some mines on the Danube. Bohemia is pretty well 

 provided, as also Saxony and Poland ; but Prussia is best off in its posses- 

 sions in Silesia and at Sarrebruck, Spain and Portugal have some good 

 basins towards the north, and the Asturian ndnes have excited a good deal 

 of attention as affording the means of an export trade towards the south of 

 France. The French basins are generally thin, poor and small; while the 

 Newcastle basin covers 1,200,000 acres, the north basin, the greatest in 

 France, extends over only 125,000 acres. As an instance of the rise of 

 manufacturing towns where an abundant supply of coal is at hand, Decaze- 

 ville in France, is cited, where 20 years ago there was only an old barn, and 

 now there are 4000 people. 



The Vulcan, an English iron vessel of 318 tons, excited much attention at 

 Havre, for although of 318 tons register, and carrying 400 tons of coals, 

 sl-.e draws only 1 15 ft. water, and can pass all the dithcult places of the Seine. 

 She has carried her cargo up to Rouen. The advantages she possesses in 

 her lightness of draught, arising from the material of which she is con- 

 structed, have powerfully impressed scientific and commercial men in France, 

 and the result will be most probably a great extension of the coal export 

 trade, and perhaps the creation of a new branch of trade in the supply of 

 iron vessels. For river service ships of this material seem particularly well 

 adapted, and as they are able to ascend the rivers, they are expected to save 

 the expense and trouble of transhipment from lighters with regard to all 

 bulky cargoes, as coal, corn, timber, &c. 



A new iron steamer is being built at Ulm for the Austrian company, to 

 navigate the Upper Danube, and to be called the Danube. The voyage be- 

 tween Linz and Ratisbon has already been reduced five hours in duration by 

 the competition, and something more is expected. 



The Austrian Lloyd's company have launched at Trieste their fourteenth 

 steamer, the Empress, on the 22nd ultimo. 



The French are now claiming screw propulsion as their invention, and the 

 government have granted to M. Sauvage £100 as an indemnification for the 

 experiments he has made on the subject during some years. 



We are glad to see that a movement is being made at Edinburgh to pro- 

 vide baths for the working classes ; we wish something were done here. 

 London has peculiar advantages in its river, and abundant supply of water, 

 yet neither the city corporation, the commissioners of Woods and Forests, 

 nor any other authorities, have made any provision for establishments so 

 necessary to the health of the population. The tides offer great facilities 

 for easy supply and removal of water, and we hope the subject will not be 

 forgotten in connexion with the proposed embankment of the river. 



The subscription statue of Sir David Wilkie has been placed in the Na- 

 tional Gallery, being the first honour of the kind awarded, though we trust 

 by no means the last. The floor of the National Gallery is so weak that it 

 has had to be secured under the pedestal of the statue, though it would na- 

 turally be supposed that such a building was intended for the reception of 

 works of sculpture. The statue is by Mr. Joseph, and is a good though not 

 a striking likeness of the celebrated painter. 



At Newcastle there are two new banks in progress, and at Seaham Har- 

 bour the north dock is about to be enlarged, for wnich purpose the commis- 

 sioners have advertised for tenders to remove 40,000 cubic yards of lune- 

 stone, the estimated expenditure of which is £10,000. The works are under 

 the superintendence of Lieutenant Usher. R.N., and Mr. Walker as engineer, 

 A branch railway from the Newcastle and North Shields Railway js spidcen 

 of under the auspices of the directors. As to the high level bridges — 

 1st. Mr. Green's is of wood; 2nd. Mr. Grainger's, of cast iron, raised -on the 

 piers of the present stone bridge ; and 3rd. Mr. Dobson's, of cast iron for 

 railway traflic, (the two first only for road traffic,) under the auspices of the 

 Carlisle Railway. Mr. Green's is under the Brandling junction and Mr. 

 Hudson's patronage, who ask the corporation of Newcastle to give the ap- 

 proaches and £5000, or make the footway as well as give the laud for a|)- 

 proaches. The common council reported in favour of the latter. In the 

 plans deposited no details are given, except the height above low. water, and 

 two piers wonld be in the liver; borings are now making on tlie site of 

 Mr. Green's bridge to ascertain the nature of the foundation. 



Mr. Robert Hawthorn, C.E., of Newcastle, has patented a locomotive to 

 work the steam expansively, by cutting it off at any portion of the stroke; 

 it is said to reduce the quantity of coke one half, or half a pound per ton 

 per mile, and to materially reduce the priming and coughing or pufling of 

 the engine. 



The Newcastle papers state that plans and estimates have been prepared 

 with a view to introduce to public notice the utility and practicability of a 

 tunnel under the river Wear, below the present ferry boat landing. They 

 say that parties are willing to contract for the same, to be completed within 

 six months from the coninieiicemeiit, and the ]irojectors are very sanguine as 

 to the undertaking proving one of a remunerating char.icter. 



Six iron vessels, as we stated in last week's number have been contracted 

 for by the Government, of the same class as the Locust and the late Lizard, 

 and are to be employed aa dispatch boats, each to be fitted with engines of 



