1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



299 



THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Sir — Happening to visit (lie British Museum yesterday, I have set 

 down a few remarks which you will perhaps give in your Journal, as 

 supplementary to the paper on the suhject of that edifice in your last 

 number. 



The old building is, I find, in statu quo as to appearance, for that 

 facade has not yet begun to be taken down, but internally there has 

 been a good deal of work carried on, through which a temporary 

 boarded up passage leads from the hall to the Townley Gallery. 

 Here havoc has begun its work, for one of the tasteful little rotundas 

 in that suite of rooms has been cut nearly in halves, preparatorily to 

 its final demolition. Those rooms were, it must be owned, rather too 

 confined, considering that the Museum is open to a sometimes 

 thronged concourse of persons; still, it is to be regretted that they 

 coidd not be spared, for they are not likely to be replaced by what 

 will be more attractive in point of architectural character. Of the 

 Lycian or Fellowes' marbles, I will only say they are not worth a tenth 

 part of the fuss that has been made about them, most assuredly not 

 worth sending out an expedition to secure more of them. Should 

 the Lycian mania continue, we may expect counterfeit antiques, 

 equally precious, to be manufactured on the continent and imported 

 into this country. But look there! there is the very tiling! a real 

 treasure, and a specimen of art that Sir Robert Smiike ought to go 

 down on his knees to ! Excuse the harum-scarumness of my manner ; 

 I am not quite mad — merely a little flighty or so. "There," said I to 

 myself, " if Sir Robert does not make something of that, he himself 

 ought to be made into a mummy, and sent to keep company with the 

 mummy gentry up stairs." However it is of no use to go on rambling 

 at this rate, for until I explain, you will hardly guess what I am 

 driving at. Of course you are aware of Sir Robert's penchant for 

 columns with Ionic capitals; he has favoured us with a vast many in 

 his time, but with scarcely two good specimens out of the whole 

 number, forgetting that it is possible to have too much even of a really 

 good thing. Invention is, of course, not to be thought of; for were 

 he to give us a fresh idea of his own for any such purpose, good as it 

 might be in itself, it would excite a hubbub against him from all the 

 orthodox, and the classical puritans ; yet he has no occasion to invent, 

 but merely to adopt, for his fayade to the British Museum, what is in 

 the Museum itself, consequently its legitimacy can be proved on the 

 spot. All this, you will say, is sheer rigmarole; true, and here comes 

 the solution of it. What 1 am alluding to is the bold ami rich antique 

 voluted capital, on each of whose four sides or faces is sculptured a 

 mask in full relief — a well imagined composition, and, as it seems to 

 me, one highly appropriate for such a building as a museum, as the 

 display of sculpture in the capitals would serve to indicate that the 

 edifice is partly devoted to the purpose of a public sculpture gallery. 

 Or, shall we say that external character is of no consequence, since 

 "good wine needs no bush." 



In sober seriousness, what are we to have from Sir Robert Smiike 

 on this important occasion? What we may expect from him we too 

 well know ; but surely he will not now be allowed to go on as he has 

 hitherto done — at least, without strong remonstrance on the part of 

 those who, like yourself, have the means of calling attention to the 

 subject. 



I am, &C, 



C. Whyte. 



ENGINEERING IN NORTH AMERICA. 



Sir — I take the liberty of requesting from some of your readers a 

 statement of the great public works which have been executed in 

 Great Britain or Ireland, under the direction of Mr. Hamilton H. 

 Killaly, Chairman of the Board of Works in Canada; also a reference 

 to any reports made by him, or papers on scientific subjects which he 

 may have contributed. 



The late Governor General, in a despatch to Lord Stanley, dated 

 Quebec, 10th July, 1842, speaks of " Engineers of great experience 

 and scientific acquirements, who, being strangers to the country, can 

 have no local bias;" and Mr. Killaly "believes" that "the Governor- 

 General must principally have alluded" to him, (p. 05, and questions 

 383 and 391, p. 40, Ev. Beauharnois Canal, a copy of which you 

 have.) 



The proofs of the "great experience and scientific acquirements" 

 must therefore be sought for across the Atlantic; and though tolerably 

 familiar with, as I supposed, the names of all the eminent British 



engineers, and of many of the residents even, I never met with the 

 name of Hamilton H. Killaly among them; nor did I find an individual 

 more fortunate among; my Canadian friends — including some of the 

 first gentlemen in the province — nor in a numerous professional ac- 

 quaintance here. 



This explanation will, I hope, he sufficient to justify the course I 

 have taken; and I trust there can be no impropriety in my requesting, 

 or in any gentleman giving, the desired information, as to Mr. H. H. 

 Killaly's "great experience and scientific acquirements." 

 I am, Sir, &c, 



W. R. Casey. 



P.S. I take this opportunity to request the insertion of the fol- 

 lowing note. 



Note to article on " Canadian Board of Works," Journal, Feb. 1843. 



The length of the locks on the Welland Canal has been increased 

 to 150 feet, " principally by representations from the merchants and 

 forwarders of Oswego," as officially announced. This is in accord- 

 ance with my view, that the Welland Canal is quite as much a New 

 York as a Canadian work, onus of cost, and risk of income excepted. 



Speaking of the income of the Lachine Canal, a late Montreal 

 paper says, "Downwards the falling off in the transport is most 

 serious, the steamers and most of the barges running the Lachine 

 rapid*, to save canal tolls and towage." The Cornwall Canal, around 

 the Long Sault, was opened for a short time, large steamers using it 

 upwards, but descending the rapids. A serious breach has just oc- 

 curred, and it must be viewed as a very uncertain work for some 

 time. The tolls on the Rideau Canal have been increased, and, in 

 answer to a remonstrance, it was observed that the tolls on that canal 

 should not be so low as to direct all the trade from the St. Lawrence 

 — a novel mode of improving the communication. Lord Stanley's 

 Bill puts the trade, via the St. Lawrence, on a somewhat worse footing 

 than hitherto, about 2s. per quarter of wheat. I omitted to observe 

 in the paper to which this Note refers, that of £320,000 appropriated 

 for common roads, £75,000 only are to be expended in the lower 

 province, containing two-thirds of the population, and the commercial 

 wealth of the country; whilst £ 170,000 are to be expended in or in 

 the immediate vicinity of the district, represented by the Chairman 

 of the Board of Works. 



Time is rapidly and only too fatally confirming the views contained 

 in my communication of February. The present policy, by con- 

 necting in the public mind the engineer with the political jobber, does 

 vast injury to the profession; brings in its train taxation on all classes; 

 odious restrictions on the business of forwarding; and will effectually 

 prevent the settlement of the province, by frightening the emigrant 

 to that part of the "far west" where no public debt exists. 



W. R. C. 



By a typographical error the width of the locks on the Lachine 

 Canal was stated to be "30" instead of "20 feet," the present width. 

 The rate of insurance nn one of the notes) should be " three-eighths 

 of one per cent." 



SCREW PILE LIGHTHOUSE, AT FOOT OF WYRE. 

 Sir,,— It having frequently appeared, not only in the newspapers 

 and other publications of the day, but also in the report of evidence 

 before Committees of the House of Commons, that the Screw Pile 

 Lighthouse at foot of Wyre, was erected by Captain Denham, R.N., 

 F.R.S.E, &c, you wili oblige me by giving insertion to the following 

 letter, addressed to me by that gentleman, inreply to a remonstrance 

 on my part. 



Alex. MrrciiELL. 



Dear Sir— At your request I have pleasure in stating, that I be- 

 lieve the Screw Pile is your own patented invention, and the plan of 

 fixing lighthouses on submarine foundations (sandbanks) by their 

 means, is also your's. 



And I know that the plan, specification, and estimate of the Screw 

 Pile Lighthouse, at the foot of Wvre, was, with the exception of the 

 lantern, wholly prepared by yourself and son, which work you and 

 your son erected by contract at your sole risk, after 1 had determined 

 the site, and furthered the operation, by attending the tidal work in 

 person until all the piles and pillars were planted. This statement is 

 at your service. Remaining, your's truly, 



Fleetwood, July 19, 1843. H. W. Denham. 



Alex. Mitchell, Esq., Belfast. 



