1847.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECPS JOURNAL. 



83- 



occasion of a competition for so high a distinctiou as the Royal Aleclal, aud 

 the more so, since the design marked " Quanto rectius hie qui nil inolitur 

 inepte," possesses a high degree of merit, and displays much taste and 

 artistic talent. 



The Soane Medallion for the year 1840, was offered for 

 the best design for an ertidce, suitable to tlie congregational worship of the Church of 

 EoRland, and capable of accommodating 1,000 persons, without galleries. 



The desino to be Roman or Italian, expressive of its purpo<e both internally and ex- 

 ternally presenting as little obstruction to sight as possible. The chancel to be properly 

 marked in plan and decoration, with reference to i(s Protestant uses. All the windows 

 to be charged with stained glass. ,,j,,.t,-- ..v ., 



There must be a conspicuous belfry, but the body of the church is not to be surmounted 



The drawings of the elevations and two sections, to be to a scale of one-quarter of an 

 incTi tc a foot,— the plan? ant> perspective view to one-eighth of an inch to a foot, and 

 tinted with India ink or sepia only. ,.,,.■.. a .t. n -i 



The competitiOD is not conhn*'d to the members of the Institute, and the Council 

 will not consider themselves called upon to adjudge a premium, unless the drawings be 

 of sufficient merit to deserve that distinction,— 



and for which, two Designs have been received. The Council most 

 relnrlantly observe that they do not consider either of them as deserv- 

 ing of the reward offered. 



Three Essavs have been received " on the adaptation and modification of 

 the orders of the Greeks by the Romans and moderns." 



The Council are of opinion that the Essay marked by the motto " Hoe 

 tibi erunt artes," is distinguished by considerable research and knowledge 

 of the subject— the style is clear and unaffected, and the reasoning good. 

 The Council consider that the treatment of the subject is somewhat too 

 historical, and that not sufficient attention has been paid to the various 

 social causes which operated in effecting the modilicalions of the orders. 

 The Council are of opinion that this Essay stands first in the order of 

 merit, and is well de-serving theMedal of the Institute. 



The Essay marked 0, evinces considerable study and able treatment of 

 the subject, the Council therefore recommend that a iMedal of Merit be 

 awarded to this production. 



For the medal offered by the Institute for the best Essay on Drainage, 

 viz. : — 



On the best system to be adopted with regard to the arrangements for the thorough 

 drainage of a town house, and of a nobleman's mansion and oflSces in the country, re- 

 spectiv^ely. Comprising the general arrangement for carrying off the waters and sewage, 

 the sizes and most convenient forms for the drains or condui's. the requisite tall, the de- 

 scription of material to be employed, and the several precautions fur the prevention of 

 damp, smell, and passage of vermin;— to be accompanied by block plans aud details,— 



one Essay only, accompanied by two plans marked " Hygeia," has been 

 received. 



On a sareful perusal of the Essay, it appears that the author has not 

 treated the subject in the terms of the programme ; that he has neglected 

 the main subject proposed, and altogether omitted ihose details to which 

 his attention was directed by the published particulars. The writer has 

 shown much diligence, and some knowledge of the matter on wliich he has 

 treated, but this also is in too general a manner, and upon points not pro- 

 perly within the scope proposed by the Institute. 



Under these circumstances the Council cannot recommend the medal 

 to be awarded to this production. 



The sealed papers being opened, the chairman declared the names of 

 the successful candidates: for the Silver Medal, W. John Wo^dy Hap- 

 worth, of 10, Caroline-street, Bedford-square, Fellow ; fur the Jledal of 

 Merit, Mr. James Bell, Associate. 



The Essay which gained the Medal of the Institute was then read by 

 the author; it commenced by arguing that Hellenic Art, when introduced 

 by Cossutius at Rome, was corrupted by the influence of a previous style, 

 in the same manner that the architecture of Alberti was degraded, through 

 a Gothic feeling, into the Elizabethan, the Renaissance, aud tlieTedeschi 

 variations. Treating of the remains of t!ie Etruscans in art, he repudiated 

 the testimony of their vases, and held that they exercised little mlluence 

 on the early style of the Romans, which he considered to be Alban or 

 Latin ; he used that term to denote the simplest order of ('lassie Archi- 

 tecture, which was gradually superseded in Rome by the Ionic and tri- 

 glyphed Doric. In justification of an original table which dictated the em- 

 ployment of Corinthian columns only when in height exceeding fifty feet, 

 and gave average heights to each order, ending with only eleven feet 

 allowed to the Latin Tuscan, the author appealed to several tables of cal 

 culatioiis, which showed that according to his formula, passages of equal 

 widths between pairs of columns, of each order, of one diameter, demanded 

 lengths of architraves not exceeding the powers of the simplest mechanical 

 construction; and greatest when capping the highest columns: whereas 

 the usual acceptation of the directions ofVilruvius absurdly tended to 

 show that the greatest lengths of architraves wouki seem most consistent 

 with the lowest columns, although the ancients always expected narrow- 

 ness of intercolumniation and slimness of pillar to accompany each other. 



The most important modifications made by the Romans, while retaining 

 the scientific conventionalities of the Greeks, and adopting the Eustyle 

 intercolumniation, and the pseudodipteral and hypaethral arrangements, 

 consisted in the proportions of their plans and in the positions of their 

 columns ; in the proportions of their enlablatures, and in the contour of 

 the mouldings ; in the use of square columns, ofieu allowed to be pre- 

 dominant, and in debasing the circular pillar to a mere pilaster, and to the 

 practice of supercolumuialioo. 



Reference was made to a drawing eichibiting a moiely of the same 

 building in each style, entering into a comparison of the different results 

 accompanying various coincidences, and stress was laid upon the senti- 

 ment of a rectangular and statuesque simplicity risible in nearly all Greek 

 edifices, in opposition to that of curved and picturesque grouping ia the 

 enlarged sphere of action of the Roman imperial artists. 



The author defended the revivalists for establishing a standard for each 

 order, on the ground that they were justified in suspecting all the antiques 

 (of which they really saw very little) to be barbarous, and in trying to 

 bring them to a correspsndence with Vitruvius, — each publishing his owa 

 idea of perfection, in which ti.e great masters were wonderfully agreed : 

 and exposed the fault of making their illustrations forniuUe— to be applied 

 without change on any occasion, at any height, in any situation, for any 

 purpose. He examined the practice of the great masters and the pupds 

 in the several modern schools, and mcmioued, in a list of tlieir additions 

 to the store of the architect, the use of the niche, of pedestals, of balus- 

 trades, of sculpture (of all sorts) as mere ilecoration, of the ar^osystyle 

 disposition, of the basement and attic stories as features, of spires and 

 steeples and bell towers, aud of an extraordinary luxury of internal aud 

 external architecture. 



The paper closed with the observations that, with Chambers, Mylne, 

 Dance, Holland, and Soane, expired the race of architects in one style 

 only — but in a style of which they were masters ; their successors being 

 condemned, by exposure to the caprice of patronage for a command, to 

 summon up the resources of any style — to clothe even an impracticable 

 idea; and that the current of taste was undeniably tending towards an art 

 altogether different from that of Greece in its construction, or else to that 

 of Palladio and Chambers. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



Feb. 2. — Sir John Rennie, President, in the Chair. 



The Institution met for the first time in the new theatre, and a paper by 

 Mr. W. E. Newton was read, giving a description of the method em- 

 ployed by Mr. Herron "for the conslntction of the permanent way of the 

 Philadelphia and Reading, and other railways in the United States." The 

 me'hod was a deviation both from the systems of the longitudinal and the 

 transverse sleepers, crossing each other and spiked together at the inter- 

 sections with wooden trenails or iron pins, acording to circumstances, 

 forming an extended platform, upon which their longitunal bearers were 

 laid, supporting bridge-shaped rails with wrought iron chairs. The paper 

 gave an account of several deviations from the general system, such as 

 making the tiellis-work of iron laid in bitumen. Sac, and also a detail of 

 the amount of traffic conveyed along the railway ; whence it appeared, 

 that within one year and five days from its being opened for general use, 

 1,400,000 tons of goods had been conveyed along it, without any prejudi- 

 cial effect, and, ia fact, with less wear and tear than was usual npon rail- 

 ways in the States. The cost of a single line of permanent way was 

 about £S50 per mile. From the discussion that ensued, it appeared to 

 be the opinion, that although the system might succeed in a country where 

 timber abounded, it was inapplicable for English railroads; and exceptions 

 were taken to the gener.il features of the construction for high speed, as 

 the rails, which weighed only forty-four pounds per yard, and which were 

 of a bridge form, could not resist the impact of the wheels at great velo- 

 city : the junction of the diagonally laid sleepers would become loosened, 

 and there would be too much deflection between the bearing points. 



Feb. 9. — Sir John Rennie in the Chair. 



A paper was read on the " Helder or Great Surth Holland Canal," by 

 .Mr. G- B. W. Jackson, Associate. This canal was constructed by the 

 late Mr. J. Blanken, engineer, during the six years between 1819 and 

 182.1, for the passage of frigates and first-class merchantmen, and extends 

 from .Amsterdam to Nieuwediep in the Texel. The state of the navigation 

 through the Zuyder Sea, in Uie early part of the 17th century, having be- 

 come so defective, in consequence of accumulated sand-banks and shoals, 

 that camels were necessarily made use of to lift the vessel over the shal- 

 lows at Pampas, thereby incurring both extreme loss of time and inconve- 

 nience, the Dutch Government deemed it necessary to consult Mr. Blanken 

 on the possibility of remedying the evil. That engineer accordingly pro- 

 jected the above canal, which has three divisions, ihe summit level being 

 onlv 3 feet 8 inches above the outlets. Its length is fifty-one miles. It is 

 123 feet 7 inches broad at top, 30 feet 10 inches at bottom, and 20 feet 6 

 inches deep. The pile-driving and boring experiment undertaken by him 

 to ascertain the probability of success, show that the original sea shore, 

 being the only really hard ground in the north of Holland, is to be met with 

 at 43 feet under the present surface of the ground ; aud as the foundations 

 of the locks were laid nearly at that depth, the result of the experiment 

 was considered to afl'ord sufficient guarantee for the stability of the works. 

 The character of the soil in that part of Holland is exceedingly treacher- 

 ous, and it reflects great credit on our foreign neighbours that they were 

 able to overcome the various difficulties with which they had to contend. 



The constructions generally consist of floating and swingbridges, tide- 

 locks, passage-locks, &c. The floating bridges are peculiar on account of 

 their flexibility, consisting of two platforms, one fixed to each shore ou 

 piles, the end of each of which is worked by sets of double levers and rest- 



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