192 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



Jvvst 



sidered the engine ont of order, he woald not express an; opioion upon 

 the value of the invention. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 



Mat/ 1 7. — Earl de Grey, President, in the Chair. 



The President presented to J. W. Papworth, Fellow, the Medal of the In- 



ititute for his Essay " On the Adaptation and Modification of the Orders of 



the Greeks hy the Romans and Moderns;" and to James Bel!, the Medal of 



Merit for his Essay on the same subject. 



The Rev. Prof. Willis read a paper " On the Successive Construction and 

 History of the Church of the llolij Sepulchre at Jerusalem, from Cons/antine 

 downieards." After alluding generally to the holy places visited hy the pil- 

 grims and grouped together within the walls of the church, and the buildings 

 immediately connected with it, he then proceeded to give a brief history of 

 the church. Constantine raised structures to preserve the memory of three 

 spots, — the birth-place of the Saviour, the scene of the resurrection, and that 

 of the ascension. The second, or church in question, remained till the inva- 

 sion of the Persians in 614, when it was destroyed. It was re-erected by 

 Modestus, soon after, but was much injured, though not destroyed, in 637, 

 by the Mohammedans. The crusaders made considerable additions to it, 

 and so it continued till 1808, when it was burnt down, and afterward rebuilt 

 in such a manner as to disguise its real character. 



The problem was, to discover what Constantine's architects did ; and to 

 obtain knowledge of this it was necessary to go to documentary evidence. 

 The writings of the pilgrims, one as early as 333, were of the utmost im- 

 portance, and had been carefully examined by him. A minute plan of the 

 present church, made by Mr. Scoles, be had found of great service. First 

 describing the church as left by the crusaders, he said he considered the tomb 

 not to be a built structure, as often supposed, but a genuine rock sepulchre, 

 pared down and decorated externally ; and he showed the probability of this, 

 by tracing the line of portions of the rock yet remaining at the west end of 

 the circular building. About this the round church was built in the late 

 Greek style, like the church of St. Sophia, and others. The appendage to- 

 Tvards the east, added by the crusaders, was Romanesque, resembling many 

 early buildings in Europe, and similar to those we call Norman. It bad a 

 semi-circular apse at the east end, with an aisle round it, and radiating 

 chapels. 



The original building, according to the professor's views, consisted of an 

 enclosure of columns, with an apsidal termination towards the west (afford- 

 ing the foundation for half the circular building afterwards erected), having 

 at the opposite extremity a basilica, similar in plan to those of St. Peter and 

 St. Paul. To learn what the crusaders added and altered, it was only neces- 

 sary to look to William of Tyre, who is very clear, and shows how the round 

 church and court towards the east, with other sacred spots, such as the site 

 where the wood of the cross was discovered, were converted by them into a 

 mediseval church of tkeir own fashion. In doing this they exhibited much 

 cleverness. It should be remembered, he said, that the Knights Hospitallers 

 had the custody of the sepulchre, not the Templars ; the latter bad charge of 

 the site of Solomon's Temple. 



For an account of the church raised by Constantine, he of course went to 

 Eusebius, and gave a translation of some passages in that author, who was 

 more an encomiast than an architectural critic, and must, therefore, he lis- 

 tened to sceptically. When Constantine proposed to commence a house of 

 prayer on this site, he found there a Temple of Venus ; and on pulling this 

 down, discovered the cave. Eusebius says, that the walls of the basihca were 

 coated with marbles, the roof covered with lead, and the inner ceiling gilded. 

 He describes a propyleum to the east ; and the lecturer said a Roman gate 

 had recently been discovered there, which he had little doubt was the very 

 propyleum so referred to. In this basilica the apse was at the west end, — it 

 was not till afterwards that the altar was placed at the east end of sacred build- 

 ings. The cave then stood in the open air, surrounded by porticoes, as we 

 have already said ; and a passage in a sermon by St. Cyril, preached in this 

 church, bears out this opinion. The professor concluded by soliciting in- 

 formation from any who might visit the spot. 



Mail 3.— W. TiTE, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



The annual general meeting of the Institute was held this evening, to 

 receive the report of the Council on the state of the propertj and affairs of 

 the Institute, and to elect officers for the ensuing year. 



The report showed that the finances were in a very satisfactory condi- 

 tion. Relative to Mr. Weale's proposal to publish annually a volume il- 

 lustrative of the works of the members, the Council staled, that, as the 

 plan required them to guarantee a supply of matter for the volume by the 

 members, which they had not power to compel, it was necessarily de- 

 clined. 



The Chairman alluded to the difficulty with which becoming papers for 

 the evening were obtained by the secretaries, and called on the members to 

 alTord them that assistance which they ought to expect. 



The following gentlemen were elected Officers for the ensuing year : 

 President, Earl de Grey ; Vice-presidents, Messrs. S. Angell, A. Povnter, 

 and C. I'owler; Council, Messrs. G.Alexander, H. Ashton, C. IJarry, 

 D. Brandon, R. D. Chantrell, T. L. Donaldson, J. B. Gardiner, E. I'An- 

 son, G. Povvnall, and John Woolley ; hon sees. Messrs. Bailey and Schoies; 

 foreign sec, Mr. Uoualdson. 



ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS. 

 April 2C.— George Tait, Esq. V.P., in the Chair. 

 The following communications were made : — 



1. Description of "a Nif^ht Telegraph by Coloured Lights," to be used 

 on Railways, Ferries, and in Military operations, kc. By J. Stewart 

 Hkimiurn, Esq. 



This telegraph consists io the employment of various combinations of 

 the only two colours, red and xchite, which are distinctly visible at con- 

 siderable distances. This is ell'ected by the use of a lamp, inclosed in a 

 hexagonal screen, which revolves horizontally on pivots; four of the com- 

 partments being opaque, and two furnished with lenses, one red, the other 

 colourless. By the turning of the screen the light can either be masked 

 or shown of a red or white colour as the particular combination may 

 require. Three such lamps are hung on pivots on an arm or beam 15 or 

 20 feet in length, turning vertically on its centie on an upright post, and 

 made to assume four definite positions, horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, 

 rising from the left or falling from the left. The dili'erent positions of this 

 arm, together with the varieties in colour and order given to the lights by 

 this construction of the lamps, afford at least fifty distinct combiuations, to 

 which numbers, or the letters of the alphabet, and arbitrary significations 

 adapted to the particular uses of the telegraph, may be assigned, 



2. Description of " a new method of overcoming an Incline of 1 foot it 

 12, with a new Locomotiie Reversing Steam Engine." By Mr. Daniel 

 Erskine. 



In addition to the small wheels keyed on the axle outside of the osual 

 large wheels of locomotives, and connected by coonecting rods, Mr. Ers- 

 kine has a toothed pinion on each side of the engine, dropping down be* 

 twixt the flange of the small wheels and the large wheels, which, on the 

 locomotive coming to a steep incline, say 1 foot in 12, works into strong 

 pins or bolts, fixed on the inside of the raised rail. The engine and car- 

 riages all the while running on the small wheels, by which their whole 

 weight is borne, and the large wheels acting as fly-wheels, leaving the 

 toothed pinions nothing to do but to work in gear with the pins or bolts, 

 thereby eifectually preventing slipping. It was shown, by a beautiful 

 working locomotive of about 9 lb. weight, made by Mr. Erskine, and fitted 

 with his reversing pivot valve, that by this means it easily ascended an 

 incline of 1 foot in 10; and ou an incline of 1 in 16, the small wheels 

 themselves, without the toothed pinion, easily accomplished the ascent ; 

 whereas the engine could not attempt the ascent with its ordinary larger 

 wheels. It was stated that this is not the first time a rack and pinion has 

 been proposed on the inclines of railways, but that it has never been pro- 

 posed in the way now done by Mr. Erskine, by whose method the power 

 is so vastly increased by being brought to act so near to the centre of the 

 wheel. 



3. Description of a proposed " Plan for arresting the progress qf Firt 

 in Dwelling-Houses, Factories, and other Buildings, by means of Fire- 

 Shields." By Mr. Alfred Canning, of London. 



The invention consists in the adaptation of sheet-iron, copper, or other 

 metallic cases, filled with water, and interposed between a fire and sur- 

 rounding objects, in order not only to prevent such objects, however in- 

 flammable, from ignition, but also to shut out draughts of air from feeding 

 a fire. For general purposes, Mr. Canning proposes the use, principally, 

 of three modified forms of cases or shields, viz., Nos. 1, 2, and 3. No. 1, 

 a 'sheet-iron, copper, or other metal, case or shutter, about feet long, 

 3 feet wide, and 2 inches thick, opeu at one end, intended to be placed, 

 with the open end upwards, against the door or window of a room on fire, 

 or a succession of such shields might be set up against partitions inside of 

 adjoining rooms, and then filled with water by buckets, ixc, or by direct- 

 ing the nozzle of a fire-engine hose over the open ends of the shields. 

 Such shields may be secured by proper means to doors and elevated win- 

 dows of buildings opposite to and contiguous to a fire. Shields Nos. 2 

 and 3 are cases of similar dimensions to No. 1, but adapted either to pro- 

 tect firemen and engines in approaching a fire, or to be laid flat over the 

 floors of rooms immediately above those ou fire, to prevent the fire from 

 communicating with the upper parts of a building. 



SOCIETY OF ARTS, LONDON. 

 April 28.— AV. H. Bodkin, M.P., V.P., in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. By Mr. T. Drayton, " On his patent process for Silvering G/ass with 

 Pure Silver."—" The table used by me (observes Mr. Drayton) in silvering 

 is of a similar description to that ordiuarily used, the glass to be silvered 

 being fixed horizontally upon it by means of machinery. It is necessary 

 that the piece of glass sliould be perfectly level, so that the liquor poured 

 on shall act equally on all parts of (he surface. The material used con- 

 sists of nitrate of silver, to which is added ammonia, water, spirits of 

 wine, and thirty or forty drops of oil of cassica ; iu this state, the liquor 

 can be kept for a long lime without deteriorating. When it is required 

 for silvering, oil of cloves is to be added to it ; and in proportion to the 

 quantity of oil of cloves added, is the length of time required to perfect 

 the deposit. The deposit takes place equally well whether the surface is 



