J 845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



19 



tlie more iiromincnt paiis are sliglilly rclieveil with carving, llie i-dVct is 

 greatly enliance<l. 



The intricacy i.f llie pattern in old workb of tliis kind exhibits a wonderful 

 play of fancy in the artists of the lime, reminding us in some degree of the 

 light and graceful araljcs'iues of the Kast ; Imt occasionally, in socking for 

 new combinations, their scroll-work hecamc stiff and heavy, teeming with 

 abrupt turns and sudden transitions, and producing a feeling of « onder rather 

 than pleasure. It is lure Ihit judgment is most reijuircd on the part of the 

 imitator, leading him to adopt the beautiful and avoid the absurd ; for there 

 is no style, not even the Louis Quatome, that afi'ords a more fatal facility 

 than the Elizabethan for the exercise of bad taste. 



The knobs and bosses and the imitative jewels vihich abound in the orna- 

 mental work of the age may also be used with good efliici, and the introduc- 

 tion of emblaxuned letters and armorial Ijenrings will give a richness to a 

 piece of furniture eminently characteristic of the style. 



The carved enrichments so abundant in old houses have been much sought 

 by our modern adapters. We cannot but observe with p:iin the gross absurd- 

 ities into which they have been led, sometimes by their want of taste, but 

 more often, it is be feared, by want of principle. The immense quantities of 

 rubbish imported of late years from the cimtinent is really amazing. Eng- 

 land seems to have been regarded by foreigners in these respects much in the 

 way savages were estimated by our early navigators, in whose eyes a worth- 

 less button or a glass bead was equivalent to the most valuable article. Ship, 

 loads of brackets and panellings, r.iils and staircases, the refuseof old Flemish 

 houses, disfigured, instead of ornamented, with the most barbarous carving, 

 have been brought over by speculating individuals, and worked up, without 

 the least regard to propriety of design, into articles for modern use. To the 

 disgiace of the national taste, these wretched combinations, oll'ered under the 

 name of Klizakethan, have met a ready sale, and realized a good profit to the 

 mercenary speculators. The sight of some of our old curiosity-shops is 

 sickening to the eye of taste. It is possible there may be a few valuable arti- 

 cles concealed among the heaps of rubbish, but they are like Gratiano's two 

 grains of w heat hid in two bushels of chaff. 



Many of the points of the Elizabethan style, in thsmselves beauties, cease 

 to be so, if introduced out of place, or too often repeated in the same room 

 or the same set of furniture. Spiral pillars, for instance, are in themselves 

 elegant and very characteristic of the style, but the excessive use of them can- 

 not be too much deprecated. We see them often repeated perpendicularly^ 

 horizontally, diagonally, till the eye becomes absolutely fatigued. The per- 

 pendicular position may be safely recommended as the only one warranted 

 by correct taste. Handsome as they are, however, there is one manner in 

 which they are introduced in old houses and articles of furniture, that had 

 batter be avoided in modern use : — it is when a large spiral column is sup- 

 ported by two, three, or four smaller ones, in defiance of the ordinary prin- 

 ciples of almost every order of architecture. 



In adapting this style to modern articles, it is not enough, as if often done, 

 to introduce a few Elizabethan features in the detail, leaving the form and 

 mouldings framed after the Grecian. \Ve must all have often observed with 

 pain the exhibition of pieces of furniture professedly executed in this style, 

 the only genuine feature of which is perhaps a clumsy shield-like panel, or a 

 couple of distorted brackets, the rest being a barbarous mixture of Grecian 

 foliage and French scroll-work. Such combinations are most ofl'ensive to the 

 eye of taste. The whole form and outline should be changed, and assimilated, 

 as much as modern convenience will allow, to its Elizabethan model. But in 

 imitating old chairs, sofas, settees, &c., we should not olavishly follow them ; 

 for their high backs and shallow seats are scarcely compatible with modern 

 ideas of comfort ; the necessary alterations in these cases must be left to the 

 judgment of the adapter. We may observe that pinnacles, crockets, and 

 sharp points should Ik avoided, as being likely to prove destructive of female 

 apparel. 



Care also should be taken to avoid introducing the ecclesiastical style into 

 household furniture. Hunt, in his valuable work, observes that " church and 

 house architecture were not so dissimilar in character as church and house 

 furniture. Making, therefore, dining room seals diminuli\e.s of cathedral 

 stalls, crenellating footstools and machicolaling bedsteads, as has been the 

 practice, are still more glaring incongruities than mingling ecclesiastical with 

 domestic features in the construction of one edifice." 



The.sc remarks of Hunt's should not be disregarded, although they refer 

 more to the (iothic than the Elizabethan, for the principle is the same in 

 loth ; but we may take this opportunity of recommemliug that in the follow- 

 ing-out of the Elizabethan, so as to give it a distinctive character, care should 

 be taken to lean ntther to the Italian than the Gothic. 



The state beds of the age of Elizaljcth are ill many respects worthy of ad- 

 miration, and afford good examples for imitation, with some exceptions. The 

 supporting pillars are often outrageously heavy in the design, and the carving 

 both of them and ihe headboards is sometimes overdone. The sameremarks 

 will apply to the supporting I'lames and standards of Ihe tables, &c. 



In concluding this imperlea essay it may be advisable once more to remind 

 the modern imitator of this style of the necessity of exercising a careful judg- 



ment in the selection of his models, with a view of adopting only the more 

 excellent features ; for as this style has a very magnificent cHect when pro- 

 perly treated, so there is none more ridiculously oltensive when imitated 

 without taste or discrimination. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



TIIK ROYA I. SCOTTISH SOCll';rV OF ARTS. 



The following communications were made:— 1. Description of the Climbing 

 Machine, used in examining a Rent in the great Chimney at St. Rollox. By 

 Professor Gordon, University of (ilasgow, and Lawrenre Hill, Kscj., civil engi- 

 neers. Communicated by David Stevenson, Esq., Vice President. A model 

 and draw ings w ere exhibited. '1 he great chimney built by Messrs. Tcnnant, at 

 St. iiollo.x, for carrying olT the noxious gases from the works, and dispersing 

 them at such an elevation that ihey may bediluted before descending to the sur- 

 rounding houses, measures 440 feet in height from the surface of llie ground 

 The foundation courses are l.'i feet in depth, so that the whole height of the 

 building is 4,5.') feet ; it is 40 feet in diameter at the ba.sc and 13 at the top. 

 There are lij millions of bricks in it, and the whole work was completed in six 

 months, without accident. It was finished in June 1812, and in May 1844, a 

 rent was discovered in it on one side about 3G feet long, and extending from 

 a point 100 feet from the top downwards. It gradually increased during June 

 and July, and then a similar one was discovered on the opposite side. This 

 created some anxiety, and it was considered advisable to examine them, but 

 a difficulty occurred in reaching this point, 280 feet from the ground. Scaf- 

 folding was first thought of, but the expense of this would have been great; a 

 balloon was proposed, but that also, for obvious reasons, was not carried out. 

 Professor Gordon and Mr. Hill have solved the difficulty by the invention of 

 their climbing machine. By this sim|ile apparatus, a working model of which 

 was exhibited to the Society, two men worked themselves up at the rate of 30 

 feet a-day, gaining the desired elevation in nine days. The machine consists 

 of a cradle, which was lioisted up through different stages of five feet in 

 height, by means of two ropes, one on either side of the cradle, these ropes 

 were attached by hooks to lew ises driven into the building, in advance of the 

 cradle as it travelled upwards, and passing round pulleys fixed to the cradle, 

 it was worked up by means of an ingenious apparatus. The height of the 

 lewises being' gained, safety chains were made fast to them, and the ropes 

 being unwound were hooked to other tw o lewises fixed in the wall five teet 

 above the cage or cradle, and it was again hoisted tluougli another stage, 

 and so on to the height of 270 feet. The cracks were examined, and supposed 

 to be produced by heat ; they were plastered up, and another ascent is to be 

 made soon to ascertain if they are continuing to increase, when means will 

 be taken to secure them. The succeeding ascents will be rendered compara- 

 tively easy, as the precaution was taken to fix a pulley in the chimney, at the 

 site of the cracks, through which a rope passes communicating with the ground 

 A process has been discovered by which the gases evolved in the progress of 

 the works can be disposed of without passing them up this chimney ; but 

 120 tons of coal are consumed in the St. Rollox works daily, the whole pro- 

 ducts of which pass up the great chimney, drawn in some cases through Hues 

 400 yards long. 



2. Verbal Description of a Self-Registering Barometer, invented by Robert 

 Eryson, Esq., F. R.S. E. The instrument was explained and exhibited in 

 action by Alexander Bryson, Esq. This barometer has been in action since 22il 

 June, 1843, and has registered at every hour, day and night, the height of the 

 column of mercury. Since its commencement it has registered upwards of 

 12,000 observations which have been tabulated, and were exhibited to the 

 Society. Mr. A. Bryson stated that he would givi' a written description of 

 the instrument when he gives the second portion of his communication, viz., 

 the results of the observations, wilh the light tiirown by means of them on 

 barometic diurnal variation. Thanks voted and referred to a committee. 



3. Sir George S. Mackenzie, Bart., exhibiied another si^cimen of Mr. Clie- 

 verton's Sculpture in Ivory, being a bust of the late Professor Playfair. It 

 was much admired on account of the accuracy of the likeness, and great delu 

 cacy of the sculpture. Thanks voted. 



4. Account of the Prussiatype, a new Photographic Process. By Mr. R. K. 

 Smith, Blackford, Auchterarder. Specimens were exhibited. In reference to 

 this new process, it was observed by a member that it promised to be a very 

 useful and simple method, inasmucli as by it positive pictures are at once pro- 

 duced without the necessity of first having a negative one ; and that thus the 

 pictures were likely lobe sharper than where negative pictures are first used, 

 providing it shall turn out on trial that the photographic paper prepared in 

 this way is sullicierilly sensi tiyc, 



3* 



