72 



THE CIVIL KNGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[March, 



not mere spirits, mere mlnJs — but, as Goethe has it, botli are the 

 same. It is well known, tliat several of tlie great artists of medisval 

 Italy were great fencers, — cheap at/iktics, indeed, accessible to all 

 means. And then our young men must betake themselves again to 

 the staff of the Grecian wise and good — to the knapsack worn by 

 Cornelius, Overbeck, &c. Even a constitution and mind, somewhat 

 damaged in Chancery-lane, may recover on the hills of Scotland or 

 Wales, or amidst the luxuriant scenery and sunny skies of Soutbero 

 Europe. 



J. L 7. 



[facade of the new buildino.] 



We present our readers with a view of the new facade of the In- 

 l^tution of Civil Engineers, from the design of T. H. Wyatt, Esq. ; as 



will be perceived, it is of the Italian style, and is faced with Caen 

 lone, and forms an admirable specimen of street architecture. For 

 he proportions of the openings of the doors and windows, Mr. Wyatt 



was compelled to be guided by those of the old brick elevation that 



was taken down. The frontage is 30 feet. 



The building of the Institution has undergone, during the late re- 

 cess, a complete metamorphosis ; the theatre has been reconstructed 

 and considerably enlarged, it is now 45 feet by 29 feet. The floor 

 which was formerly nine feet above the ground line, is now 

 reduced to that level ; the seats of the president and council face 

 the entrance, and those of the members are arranged in concentric 

 curves, rising gradually up to the level of the entrance. The area of 

 theatre is increased full one-third, giving accommodation to nearly 

 one hundred persons more than the former room. The height to the 

 ceiling is twenty-two feet. The evening lighting is partly through 

 the inner skylight, by means of a gas ring, and by six gas burners 

 provided with the means of conveying away the products of combus- 

 tion. In the day-time, a skylight over the entrance, and three windows 

 at the north-east end, afford ample light. 



The ventilation is provided for by a shaft rising from the centre of 

 the ceiling to a large cowl on the roof, and an ample supply of warm 

 or cold air can be admitted, through apertures in the skirting, from 

 Price's warm-water apparatus, according to the temperature of the 

 theatre. 



Above the theatre is a well-lighted room, for receiving the models 

 and drawings, and affording accommodation fur taking copies of them. 

 The access to it is by a lateral staircase, from the ante-room, and also 

 across the lead fiatfrom the principal staircase. 



The house department has likewise been considerably altered, and 

 adapted to hold occasional conversazioni. The two rooms on the 

 first 8oor, which form the libraries, have been thrown together, and by 

 fixing a temporary staircase from the back window, a communication 

 will be formed with the theatre, on the ground floor, for public occa- 

 sions ; the false floor for the raised seats will be removed, leaving a 

 level floor the whole extent, and on the same level as the council-room 

 and otiiee, which will form, at those times, refreshment rooms, by this 

 arrangement there will be a suite of rooms on the ground floor, 114 

 feet in length, and 29 feet wide. 



There have been also alterations made in the other parts of the 

 premises, and every attention made to the warming and ventilation, to 

 render the building both convenient to the members, and suitable for 

 the important occasions of the conversazioni. 



The alter .tions have been conducted under the guidance and im- 

 mediate direction of Mr. Manby, the indefatigable secretary, and the 

 works executed by Mr. Grissel, the eminent builder, from the designs 

 of Mr. T. H. Wyatt. 



ON WATER AS FUEL. 



This seemingly strange idea originated in an occasional remark of 

 Sir Humphrey Uavy — lliat ou the problematic exhaustion of cual, meu 

 will have recourse to the hydrogen of water as a means of obtaining hght 

 and calel'action. As the gas used for lighting consists of hydrogen and a 

 btlle carbon — it is only the latter which would have to be aildcd, after the 

 water had been decomposed into its elementary parts. M. Jobard, of 

 Brussels, was the tirst who extracted from water a gas, of twice as great 

 an illumiuiug power as that obtained from coal. This gentleman produces 

 hydrogen gas by the decomposition of vapour, passing tbrougli vertical 

 retorts tilled with cuke, being in a state of white heat. Aud at the mo- 

 ment of Ihn hydrogeu being ihus formed, it is mixed with a little carbonic 

 acid gas, obtained by the distillation of oil, tar, or naphtha, or other coarse 

 substance, hitherto useless in the gas manufactory, lu the BuUelin tin 

 Musie (I'liiduitru; M. Jobard's meibod has been amply detailed. He 

 says that at the expense of one pennyworth of oil, a light may be obtained 

 during twenty hours, eqmlling that of ten tallow caudles. Even conced- 

 ing that M. Jobard's discovery has not quite attained the object of usiug 

 v^ater for light, fuel, 6cc.,— siill, it has duue something towards it.— I'bese 

 ideas lead ii9 to a calculation of Prof. Faraday, that the elrments of a 

 single molecule of water contain 800,001) charges of an electric battery, 

 cunsisting of eight Houghs of two inches in height, and six inches m 

 circumference. At the amount of these slumbering forces, the human 

 mind is siartled ; because if we should ever be able to elicit and make 

 them available, Ihe power of the mightiest steam engines would dwindla 

 to nuthiiig — and thus, ends wuuld be attained by the means of things 

 seemingly iriliiug and worthless, which cannot now be accomplished by 

 any sacrilice or expense. 



J. L V. 



