152 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



rM 



AY, 



fuel, and drawing tlie maximum load with tlie greatest velocity, combined 

 witli the greatest safety and economy ; — in determining the proper wi<lth 

 of gauge which shall satisfy all the required conditions of safety, economy, 

 and speed ; in determining the most expeditious, safe, and economical 

 means of transferring goods, passengers, and carriages from one line to 

 another, whenever a break of gauge becomes necessary ; — in determining 

 the best and most economical mode of constructing and laying down the 

 permanent way, in such a manner as to enable the trains to travel with 

 safety, at the greatest speed the engines are capable of producing, with 

 the least wear anu tear either to the permanent way or to the engine and 

 carriages; — in determining the resistance of railway trains; in devising 

 means for obviating the leakage by the valve in the atmospheric system ; 

 in discovering a substance for sealing the valve which shall preserve the 

 desired consistency under all degrees of temperature ; and in generally 

 investigating that system of traction, in order to remedy any practical 

 defects which may exist, and to ascertain when it may be applied with 

 the greatest advantage ; — in the improvement and adaptation of machinery 

 to many new objects in the arts and mauufactures, and in the application 

 of chemistry and geology to our operations. 



These, and a variety of other improvements, are to be desired, and are 

 worthy of our particular attention and study. The steam engine itself, 

 improved as it is, and wonderful as have been the results produced by it, 

 is capable of further improvements. Its bulk and weight may be further 

 diminished, botli in the form and construction of the boiler as well as in 

 the engine itself, and thus, in effect its power may be increased ; or it may 

 be reserved to us to discover the means of producing and rendering sub- 

 servient to our purpose some other power which shall surpass steam, or, 

 perhaps, to substitute for it that all-powerful agent electricity, which 

 Jacobi has already attempted to apply to navigation. Obscure and diffi- 

 cult as the subject may appear now, it may still be realised. Our inde- 

 fatigable and enlightened honorary member, Faraday, has pointed out the 

 way, and is still proceeding in his distinguished career with remarkable 

 success, and we must not lose tlie opportunity of profiting by it : in fact, 

 by well-directed and combined exertions, it is impossible to foresee the 

 results %hich may yet be arrived at. 



This Institution, which but a few years ago was scarcely known, has 

 now taken its station amongst the first scientific societies of the kingdom; 

 and as its objects are second to none in importance, whether as regard 

 their public or private utility, so must it continue to flourish and increase 

 in importance if those objects be only legitimately and steadily prosecuted. 

 In order to effect this we must not relax in our exertions, there must be no 

 schism among ourselves; the Institution must be our rallying point; we 

 must all work for the common good. We must contribute to its advance- 

 ment, as well as that of our profession, by every means in our power — • 

 whether by papers, by verbal discussions, by contributions to the model- 

 room or the library, or by the construction of works which shall serve as 

 examples worthy of being followed — in fact, in every practicable maoaer, 

 each according to our several opportunities. 



Let the senior members, both by their precept and example, and their 

 forbearance, courtesy, and assistance towards each other, with liberal and 

 right minded zeal, for the honour of themselves and their profession, point 

 out to the junior members the true road to eminence ; and as they, by the 

 common lot of mortality, must quit this transitory scene, let them be suc- 

 ceeded by others folly competent to fill their places, and to enlarge the 

 boundaries of their profession. 



On the other hand, let the junior members look up to their seniors as 

 friends, and as sure guides to follow, and from whom we may with con- 

 fidence seek for assistance in the hour of need ; and, banishing all 

 jealousies or other ignoble feelings, let them rally round and support their 

 seniors under all circumstances. Let the chair of this Institution be an 

 object of honourable ambition to the youngest graduate, as a goal to which 

 he may look forward as one of the rewards, and that not the least, of his 

 successful exertions in his professional career. 



By thus pursuing steadily, with one vigorous and sure effort, this grand 

 object — the elevation and advancement of the profession — we shall have 

 the proud satisfaction of hading tliat our exertions will be crowned with 

 success ; that the Institution, as well as ourselves, will flourish ; aud, what 

 is a far nobler achievement, we shall hud that by removing, or, at least, 

 diminishing, as far as may be practicable, all physical obstacles by sea 

 and by land to the free communication of nations with each other, aud by 

 the invention of new machinery, or other means, to supply their mutual 

 wants, we shall ultimately understand our true interests. Prejudices aud 

 national jealousies will vanish, and instead of exterminating each other by 

 that greatest curse of mankind — war, we shall become bound to each other 

 by the ties of peace, and united like one great family, striving together for 

 the benefit of the human race, ' 



A dreat Bridge. — The new railroad bridge across the .Susquehanna, at 

 Harrishurg, is an immense structure. It is about 1,000 feet long, built 

 Hpon the improved double-latticed plan. There are 23 spans, averaging 

 173 feet each ; and two arched viaducts, one 53 feet, and the other 81 feet 

 long. The entire cost of this immense structure is short of lOOfiUO dol- 

 lars. — American Paper, 



PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



ROY.\L SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS. 



itfarcA 22. —David Maclagan, M.D., F.K.S.E., President in the Chair. 



The following communications were made : — 



1. " Oil t/ie Prin:ip!es einplnyiil in the Decoration of the Rinmfor the 

 iMeclings of Pro/irietors in the Commercial Hank of Scotland, Edinburgh." 

 By Mr. D. R. Hay. 



Mr. Hay showed that there is a demonstrable truth in ornamental de- 

 sign, winch constitutes its beauty, independently of any fancy or whim ia 

 the in^lividual to whose inspection a work of this kind is presented, and 

 without any reference to what are called the styles of ornamental design ; 

 and that this truth was of a mathematical nature, and so far teachable, as 

 to enable the decorator to produce perfect symmetry of form and harmony 

 of colour in almost iuiiuite variety, williout copying or even imitating the 

 works of others. Thus proving that we might have a style of decorative 

 ornament belonging exclusively to our own country aud our own period. 

 He showed also that the beauty thus produced differed from picturesque 

 beauty, in so far as the former is teachable, while the latter is exclusively 

 the province of genius. In doing this, he referred to the immense quantity 

 of counterfeit high art produced at the present day, and the bad effects of 

 ingrafting this counterfeit upon ornamental design, instead of inculcating 

 the Urst principles of symmetry of form and harmony of colour. He pointed 

 out what he conceived to be the fallacious proceedings of the GovernmeDt 

 Schools of Design in these respects. 



Mr. Hay next referred to the appropriateness of various kinds of orna- 

 mental design, and held up to ridicule the egregious blunder committed by 

 the German decorator, Herr Sang, in the piazza of the Royal Exchange, 

 London, who, instead of following up the architect's idea of massive 

 strength, or referring to the use of the edifice, has bedecked it with a spe- 

 cies of ('or«a;nfK(. 'J at once meaningless, flimsy, and fantastic. He thea 

 proceeded to show that the decorator ought, on all occasions, to endeavour 

 to follow up the original idea of the architect, and impart the same feeling 

 by his colouring, that the latter had imparted to the general construction 

 and architectural decorations, which, although now generally finished in 

 lath-and-plaster work, imitated, in their configuration, either the marble 

 employed originally in the classical styles of architecture, or the wood cm- 

 ployed in those of the middle ages. He then showed that the imitating of 

 marbles and wooils was closely allied to high art, and the prejudice against 

 these species of imitative art arose from its being often employed in churches 

 and other public buildings, which are generally painted at the lowest esti- 

 mate, and consequently exhibit this branch of the decorative art as per- 

 formed by the lowest grade of artists. 



In respect to ihe principles adopted in the style of decoration employed 

 by Mr. Hay on the ceiling and walls of the room appropriated to the meet- 

 ings of the proprietors;of the Commercial Bank of Scotland, he showed that 

 it depended for its beauty simply upon a combination of geometric with 

 chromatic harmony, beiug the practical application of a theory which had 

 met the approval of Sir David Brewster, who had also suggested its appli- 

 cation to the decorative arts. IMr. Hay, in referring to the great hall of 

 the Society of Arts in London, where he had first introduced this new style 

 of decorative painting, said, that its being in that case necessarily confined 

 to the ceiling, did n.it put it fairly to the test; but that the walls as well 

 as the ceiling of the proprietors' room in the Commercial Bank being de- 

 corated in tins way, that apartment might be said to be l\ie first in which 

 this new style had beeu properly exhibited. 



Mr. Hay exhibited two finished specimens of the work, with five e»- 

 planatory drawings. The first specimen was that applied on the ceiling 

 panels, and aiose out of a diagram in which the equilateral triangle aud 

 circle were harmoniously coinoined. The second specimen was tliat of 

 the pattern applied on the walls, winch he showed arose from the combina- 

 tion of elliptic bauds. Both these specimens represented mosaic or inlaid 

 work, composed of iu;)is lazuli, f^o\(l, giallo-antico, aud rosso-antico, while 

 the five explanatory lirawings showed the simplicity of their construction, 

 and the nature of their harmony. Mr. Hay referred to a work upon orna- 

 mental design, which he published some years ago, for more ample details, 

 and concluded his paper by referring to the ornamental decoration of the 

 title-page ami dedication of the Art-Union Journal, as examples of the low 

 state of that art in the metropolis, and how much still remained to be done 

 for it even there. 



2. " Drau:ings of a Patent Atmospheric Railwai/ Valve." By Petkh 

 Fairbairn, Esq. 



This valve seemed to be admitted to be perhaps the most perfect of the 

 kind yet invented. There is no iiinge aud no necessity for grease to fill up 

 the chinks of the valve. The valve itself consists of strata, so to speak, of 

 different substances :— 1st, iron, strong but gently flexible, occupying the 

 lower portion and filling neatly the longitudinal cavity of the exhausting 

 tube; 2ud, vulcauiz'-d india-rubber, a little larger, so as to overlap the iron; 

 3rd, wood, to jiress down upon the india-rubber, but leaving the sides of 

 the latter free ; -Itli, strong leather fitting the top of the flange of Ihe tube, 

 which is ground flat, to receive the sides of the leather, thus giving along 

 with the iudia-rubber a double security to the vacuum; and 5lh, a band of 

 iron again, broader than the leather, and bending down at the edges so as to 



