J846. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



359 



at considerable angles to abutments greatly beneath the level of the floor 

 of the bridge ;" moreover, the defect, not having, so far as the author is 

 aware, been previously noticed, he deemed it right to call the attention of 

 practical engineers to this important circumstance, in the note, page 7, &c., 

 of the pamphlet; and now finding that a writer in so respectable and in- 

 fluential a periodical as the Cicil Engineer and Arekiteet's Jounml, asserts 

 "that the conclusions at which the author has arrived upon this subject, 

 are merely imaginary," assuming that notwithstanding the inequality of the 

 angles formed by the chains with the piers, '' the pressure imjhe piers is 

 wholly vertical, because it is normal to the surfaces in contact," the author 

 addresses to the editor a proof of the fallacy of the assumption, and trusts 

 that, iu justice to the author, as well as in consideration of the practical 

 importance of the subject, he will not permit his Journal to sanction the 

 repetition of so serious an error. 



NOTES ON FOREIGN WORKS. 



Triumphal Arch at .Vmiicft.— Besides the new portal which is to be 

 erected at the end of the Brienuer Strasse, Ludwig-street also will be 

 adorned by a uew entrance hall, which is already up lo tlie architrave. It 

 is to be called the Sieges P/orte (Arch of Victory), and has been planned 

 after the triumphal arch of Constaotiue, at Kome. Its details are worked 

 out to ail astonishing nicety and beauty by the architect de Giirlner. The 

 material used is a marble of a greenish grey colour, and its fine grain 

 admits of a very careful elaboration. On the atlic of this splendid monu- 

 ment there will be placed a statue of " Bavaria," mounted ou a pedestal, 

 with victories at the four corners. The models for this statuary have been 

 made bv the sculptor de Wagner, at Rome, well known by his large frieze 

 in the \V'alhalIa, and are to be cast in the Government brass foundry of 

 Municli. 



Latest Architectural Publications of Municli.— One o( the most active 

 and deserving authors in the Bavarian capital is G. G. Kalleubach. 

 His work, entitled "Chronology of German Medieval Architecture," in 

 48 oblong folio plates, comprises specimens from the beginning of the Ro- 

 manic stjle, about the year lUOO, to the last fading of the Germanic. It 

 is accompanied by a short test, which, to the great advantage of the stu- 

 dent, is placed beneath the engravings. This work is only the nearer ex- 

 planation of an architectural collection of j\l. Kallenbach, unique in its 

 kind, brought together by the dint of most zealous exertions, during a 

 number of years, comprising about seventy models of mediasval build- 

 ings, eccleastic and private, made on the spot, after an accurate survey 

 of the originals, and finislied in their most minute details. Tliey are made 

 to one scale, which much enhances their value. Another publication by 

 the same artist, entitled "Album of Mediaeval Art,* contains copies of 

 the remains of mediasval sculpture in its relation to architecture and all its 

 subordinate branches; most faithfully copied afterthe originals — and which 

 is intended to dissuade the artisan from a mere repetition of macliiue-made 

 models, and induce him to the study of real art originals. — Professor E. 

 Metzger is the author of a work of great importance for the technical parts 

 of buildings, entitled " Uoclriue of Architectural Construction." It will 

 contain 200 plates of geometrical plans, with a concise, yet comprehensive 

 text, printed beneath the plates (a plan worthy of general imitation). The 

 first part will treat of the ditVerent methods of construction in stone, iron, 

 and wood ; the second, of their practical adaptation to the diflereut styles 

 and forms of buildings, as derived from the study of architectural struc- 

 tures. — The Government architects of Munich continue to publish the 

 ■works, with the execution of which they are intrusted. Amongst them is 

 M. de Gartner's work on the Royal Library and Record Office in Ludwig 

 Street, containing, on the 20 plates hitherto published (some splendidly 

 coloured), the diflerent elevations, ground plans, and longitudinal and 

 transverse sections of this splendid and extensive structure ; and also the 

 detail of the ornaments, and a view of the fine staircase supported by 

 columns, which unites the fronts of the two buildings. — The lirst part of 

 >I. Lange's (the royal building counsellor of Greece) " Works of high 

 Arcliitetture" {hiihercr Baukunnt), contains Ihe plans fur a rojal residence, 

 which was exhibited at the last Munich Art Exhibition. The same work 

 will contain M. Lange's plans for the completion of the Munich Frauen- 

 kirche, which has lo lose its characteristic, though unhandsome, octagonal 

 cupola, instead of which a Gothic spire is to be raised. — Building-inspec- 

 tor Anger has published a work on the remarkable private buildings of the 

 Bavarian capital, and such as serve for public and benevolent purposes. — 

 To crown this, even the pupils of the architectural section of the Munich 

 Academy of Fine Arts, publish the plans, made by them according to the 

 programme of the Academy. 



Academy of Sciences, Paris. — ?if. Person made some experiments for 

 determining the necessary heat for fusing alloys of metals, and thinks that 

 it is possible to determine that point, from the knowledge of the tempera- 

 ture which each of the component metals requires for the same process. 

 The solution of this problem confirms perfectly the results which M. Per- 

 son had drawn from his experiments on fusion — viz., the btw that the 

 latent heat of the fusion is given by the formula (IGO +f) d = /.— M. 

 Walcbuer announced to the Academy a most curious fact, that copper and 

 arsenic were to be met with in all substances and bodies — in every sort of 

 iron, in mineral waters, and even in meteoric stones. M. Flandin said 

 he had analyzed the mineral waters of Passy, but had not found even 

 a trace of copper or arsenic, either in following the procedure of M. 

 ■Walchner or that of Marsh. More important is what M. \\ alchner says 

 oa the copper and arsenic contents of the soil of burial grounds. It has been 



a hitherto unresolved question whether the contents of these substances in 

 the bodies of poisoned persons were entirely ascribable to that cause, or 

 to the natural contents of the soil surrounding them. He had found both 

 substances in the soil of cemeteries, but in very minute proportions, and 

 he has collected a number of specimens of those soils. — JI. Pierre submit- 

 ted to the Society his experiments on Ihe dilitatiou of fluids. The author 

 divides liquids into two categories, and these again into nine groups. The 

 first division comprises the bodies composed of chloride of bromine and 

 one simple element — phosphorus, arsenic, tin, titanium, and silicium. The 

 second category comprises the compositions of chlorine, iodine, or bromine, 

 with any compound element, ethylc or metbyle. The law which results 

 from these experiments is this — two fluids formed by the combination of 

 any common with any isometric element, follow (from the point of their 

 respective temperatures of ebullition) very diflerent degrees of contraction ; 

 or, in other terms, equal volumes of liquids thus constituted, considered at 

 their respective temperatures of ebullition, will not preserve that equality 

 at degrees equidistant from their temperature of ebullition. The dilierence, 

 in most cases, is considerable. — M. Blauquard Evrard has forwarded to 

 the Society two samples of photography on paper, obtained by an especial 

 process. The samples surpass everything hitherto seen, even those of M. 

 Bayard. 



Prague and Dresden Railway. — This huge undertaking occupies alone, in 

 the neighbourhood of the former city, 3,000 workmen, and tfie greatest diffi. 

 culties to be overcome are from the Prague terminus to Kralup, a distance 

 of about 16 miles. The viaduct from the terminus north to Karolinenthal 

 and Bubna will be 580 cubits long, with Si arches, — certainly one of the 

 largest works hitherto accomplished in Austria, '''here are three minor 

 water-courses of the Moldau river, a branch, between two islands, and the 

 main branch, which must be bridged over. A number of bridges are required 

 to pass the numerous water-courses and islands. The bridge over the main 

 arm will be 535 feet long, and consist of 3 arches. The arches of the main 

 bridges will have a span of 7S feet in the clear, and form a segment, the 

 height equal to one-sixth of the span, and are to be built of granite. The 

 quantity of granite and sandstone to be conveyed by land and water is 

 astonishing, some of the blocks weighing between sLx and seven tons. The 

 expenses of this part of the line alone are calculated at IJ million of florins. 

 There will be a small terminus in the Bauingarten (a place of public resort 

 two miles from Prague), which will afford the humbler classes the advantages 

 of country air at a merely nominal price. 



Berlin Bresslau Railway. — This most important undertaking has lately been 

 completed, and is open for trafSc. The distance of i'i-rs German miles 

 (nearly 200 English) is performed in 13 hours, including stoppage for dinner, 

 and thus a journey, which even Frederick the Great could never perform in 

 less than 36 hours, is made in a few hours at a trifling expense. I'he chief 

 works of the line are some very long and costly embankments — for instance, 

 that at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 100 feet high. The great viaduct of Gorlitz, 

 over the Neisse, does not lay on the main, but a branch, line, connecting the 

 lower Silesiau and the Saxon-Silesian. Its length is 1500', the height of the 

 arches 122' above the level of the river, and the foundations of the 

 arches are 40' lower, making a total of 162'. It has cost between 600,000 

 and 700,000 dollars, and Kurope does not yet possess a work of equal mag- 

 nitude. The viaduct over the Bober at Bresslau is an equally imposing 

 structure. It is 1550' long, and has 35 arches of a height of 76' built of 

 blocks of white grit. This is the longest line in the North of Germany, under 

 the same administration. It is the more important, as being laid out afar 

 from the hitherto commercial road, or the valley of the Oder ; it passes a 

 tract of land hitherto little connected with industry and commerce. The 

 renting of this huge line is a matter hitherto uuascertainable, which costs 

 18,000,000 dollars — 400,030 dollars per German mile. .\ great drawback is 

 that this line has only one line of rails, by which much delay and trouble are 

 occasioned, 



Prague, Austria. Sculptures. — Excavations of the Archeological Com- 

 mittee of the Bohemian Jluseum. — M. Veitli, a large proprietor in Bohe- 

 mia, has resolved on the curious, though praiseworthy, plan, of erecting a 

 national Walhalla at his own expense. Professor Schwanthaler is the 

 artist entrusted with the execution of the statues, of which twelve are 

 ready in small models, and six in a size above life. Ready for casting are 

 the statues of Kings Uttakar II. and George of Padiebra (the latter a 

 sort of Bohemian Cromwell), and of Elizabeth, wife of King John of 

 Luxembourg. — M. Wax, the sculptor, is also executing some large marble 

 statues for public establishments. — M. Raphael has made the bust of 

 Mozart for the public library, and of Dr. Krombholz, the great physician, 

 for the University. — Parson M. Krolmus has been successful in his exca- 

 vations of heathen tumuli, hitherto very scarce in that country. He has 

 found in the Scharka, near Prague, two stone sacrificial tables, several 

 well preserved cinereal vases, brunzes, ^;c. Another heathen sepulchral 

 ground has also beeu found on excavating for the Dresden railway, near 

 Prague. 



Australian Mines. — The wages of a good miner in the Borraborra lead- 

 works, in South Australia, are ±.'170, per annum. Even those of other 

 artizans, masons, carpenters, wheelwrights, i:c., are in proportion. 



Winter Garden at Berlin. — The King of Prussia has subscribed 

 £120,000 for the erection of a covered garden in the centre of the 

 city. 



New Pinacotheca. — The King of Bavaria has just laid the first stone of 

 the new Picture Gallery, which will contain paintings of the present cen- 

 tury only. 



