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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



PEOGREaS AT THE NEW HOUSES OF PAKLIAMENT. 



Oar readers will be glad to know what is the actual position of these 

 works; and we are enabled to satisfy them, having recently had occasion 

 to make a hasly survey for ourselves. The linings up of the House of 

 Lords and of the adjacent apartments proceed apace; and the House itself 

 begins to assume its linished appearance. The details are most gorgeous. 

 No works of modern times ran compare with them ; yet the impression is 

 one of subdued magnificence. The wood-work is nearly completed and 

 fixed, and the heraldic painter is busy. He is now chiefly employed in 

 inserting the arms of the Lord ('hancellors, which are in process ot being 

 painted on the upper parts of the paiinels along both sides of the chamber. 

 The blank spaces of the walls, to be hereafter painted in fresco, are tem- 

 porarily hung with crimson drapery, powdered with golden crowns, roses, 

 ice. The reporters' gallery fronts the throne, and is almost as prominent 

 and ornamental an object as her Majesty's seat. The brass railings of the 

 gallery are lilted. This leads into the corridors for Lords and Commons. 

 The many doorways ingeniously form part of the lower panelling of 

 the jambs of the windows. Mr. IJarry seems to haie heated the 

 rooms without Dr. Reid's aid Me found them of a very agreeable tem- 

 perature. No stained glass has yet been permanently iitted. Some has 

 been tried ; — aud the effect is said to have been excellent. It is, we be- 

 lieve, in preparation by Mr. Hardinan of Birmingham. The antechamber 

 of the House of Lords, next the throne end, is almost completed : — so is 

 the public hall at the opposite end. In the first, the style of decoration is 

 almost as elaborate as that of the House of Lords itself. Above a fire- 

 place, we observed a large paunel of sculptured wood-work, representing 

 Queen Philippa pleading for the burgesses of Calais. It did not impress 

 us very favourably, on a rapid glance. The position of Edward III., with 

 his crossed legs, looked graceless. In the public hall, we were struck 

 with the magnificence of the floor; on which Minton's Encaustic Tiles — in 

 colours of red, yellow, and cobalt — are in process of laying down. In the 

 centre is a red and white rose of marble, surrounded by brasswork enam- 

 elled ; and the borders of the tiles are Judiciously marked by lines of black 

 Derbyshire marble. The outer gates of the House of Lords are visible 

 from this hall. 'Ihey are of brass, — and very beautiful is their workman- 

 ship. Here, too, the windows are to be of stained glass — but none is yet 

 fitted. These are the only parts of the building which give an idea of 

 what the whole will be wlien finished. — The House of Commons is very 

 backward — not even roofed in. The central tower is beginning to be seen 

 above the surrounding buildings; and the groining of the arch of theVic- 

 toria Tone.- is turned. — Athenaum. 



REVIEWS. 



T'lTRl Scries of Railiray Practice ; a collection of working pluns and 

 practical delnils of construction in the jmblic works of the jnost celebrated 

 engineers. By S. C. Brees, C.E. Ihird edition, with additional ex- 

 amples. London: Williams &: Co., 1847. 4to, pp. 164. Plates. 



Of the former editions of this work we have already given favourable 

 reviews. The present edition has had its value considerably increased by 

 Dumerous improvements and additions. It is a thick quarto volume, hand- 

 somely printed and illustrated by seventy folio steel plates, which occupy 

 the greater part of its bulk. These illustrations are not merely showy 

 useless specimens of steel engravings, but have been got up with regard to 

 direct practical utility as well as clearness and neatness of execution. 



It might have been of advantage, perhaps, to have made the letter-press 

 explanations more copious. They contain notices of the construction, cost, 

 dimensions, &c., of the different railway structures represented. There 

 are 42 drawings of works on the Birmingham Railway, consisting princi- 

 pally of bridges, retaining walls, and details of tunnel works. Among the 

 subjects of the plates for the Grand Junction Railway, is the aqueduct for 

 the Bridgewaler Canal ; for the South Eastern Railway, the timber pier 

 in Folkestone Harbour, and the reservoirs and tanks atToubridge; for the 

 Greenwich Railway the large 20 feet turuplate at Greenwich with details. 



As another series of illustrations of " Railway Practice " is promised, 

 one or two hints for slight improvements may, perhaps, be allowed, la 

 the present work many of the engravings are insulbciently explained, and 

 of several no explanatiou whatever is given. The specifications for con- 

 tractors, from which copious extracts are made, are not always trustworthy, 

 as alterations in the plan of operations sometimes occur during the progress 

 of the works. At all events, it would always be more satisfactory to .-tate 

 what had been actually carried into efiect, and the difficulties encountered 

 in the undertaking, than to copy out the specification. The latter plan is 

 the easiest, but nut the most useful. Lastly, there ought to be a good 



index, referring not only to the plates, but to the letter-press also. la 

 reality, however, these drawbacks are very slight, for the work is indeed 

 admirably illustrated, and quite worthy of the expense and labour bf slowed 

 upon it. To the practical engineer, so large a colleciion precedents of 

 railway construction must be of great and permanent utility. 



Select Writings of Robert Chambers. Vol. I. Essay I. London : 

 Orr, 1847. 12mo. 



This book does not fall within the scope of our Journal, but from what 

 we can see, seems to contain some well written familiar and humorous 

 essays, by the well-kuown Edinburgh writer, Mr. U. Chambers. The 

 essay on English ingenuity and enterprise, in a new point of view, is par- 

 ticularly good. 



Algebra made Easy. By T. Tate. London : Longmao 6c Co., 1847. 

 12nio. 



This is a small work by the Mathematical Master of the National 

 Society's Training College, Battersea,and is intended to lead the pupil, by 

 an easy transition, from the principles of arithmetic to those of algebra, 

 and is the best adapted fur the purpose intended of any that we hare 

 seen. 



.•In Introduction to the Present Practice of Surveying and Levelling ; 

 with an Appendix. By a Civil Engineer. London: J. Williams & Co., 

 184C. 8vo. 



The author has treated the subject in a clear and simple manner ; his 

 method of keeping the Field book is good. The Appendix might have 

 been left out, as it adds to the bulk of the work, without any adequate 

 advantage. The method of getting up a survey is well explained. The 

 work is illustrated with nine plates. 



NEW CORN EXCHANGE, BIRMINGHAM. 



It has been determined to erect a new Corn Exchange in Birmingham, 

 immediately behind the St. George's Coach OfBce, in High Street, between 

 Carr's lane and Castle-street. 'The plans have been prepared by Mr. S. 

 Hemming, architect; the building will consist of a hall, 110 feet long by 40 

 feet wide, lighted by a semi-circular roof, surmounted by a lantern, extend- 

 ing the whole length of the ball. The room will be 50 feet in height, and 

 will be divided into side compartments by pilasters, between whicli stands 

 aud tables, intended to be let to farmers and dealers, will be placed. It 

 is to have a glass roof of semi-circular shape, as the best suited to admit the 

 greaiest quaniity of light. According to a local paper, this spacious room 

 will have two doors, one leading from a vestibule, with columns and orna- 

 mented ceiling, at the entrance of St. George's-court, in High-street, the 

 other with a still larger vestibule at the Castle-street entrance. A porch, 

 ornamented with pilasters of the Roman Doric order, will form the High- 

 street entrance; that by Castle-street, which will be the principal front, 

 will be enriched w ith eight columns, and ornamental recesses leading to the 

 vestibule and to the floor beneath, which it is proposed shall be appropri- 

 ated to the exhibition of agriciUtural implements. The building is of the 

 Roman Doric order, in cement. 'I he extreme length of the building will 

 be 1C7 feet, the width varying from 37 to 40 feet. The builder is Mr, 

 Briggs, and the cost will be 5,000/. 



MOULDED BRICKS. 



" In a county like ours," says a correspondent of the Bury Herald, 

 " where there are no quarries and so many clay pits, and where conse- 

 quently stone is so dear and scarce, and bricks, both red and white, so 

 common, I rather wonder that brick is not more used for the finer mould- 

 ings, in the place of stone. In former times, and it might be equally so 

 now, mouldings of all kinds were highly ornamented, frames to windows, 

 porches, chimneys, ice, were made of brick. Besides being nun h cheaper, 

 and quite as durable as stone, they had this advantage, — that the most in, 

 tncaie patterns could be made nearly as cheap as tlie plainest; and also- 

 that any colour might be used, if not io the brick itself, yet on the outside 



