418 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[DECEMBER, 



A few years ago the writer made some observations upon embank- 

 ments formed from excavations, in three different cases, and upon a 

 tolerably large scale, where the accurate cnbic content, both of cut 

 and bank, was known, and the amount of the latter exceeded 39,000 

 cubic yards. 



The details of these experiments, all of which refer to banks formed 

 inlayers by cart and scoop, are to be found in the following statement, 

 of which we may further observe, that one winter intervened between 

 the commencement and completion of each bank. 



By these tabulated observations, we perceive that 43,G4l) cubic yards 

 of earth, transferred from its natural locality into the embankment of 

 a public work, suffered by the operation a diminution, or shrinkage, in 

 bulk, of 4,490 cubic yards, or oiie-ltnlh of its mass. 



Some other observations, upon a smaller scale, indicated that the 

 compression which took place in grardly earth, when used for em- 

 bankment, amounted to about one-tnel/th of its bulk in the cutting. 



Consequently, at least until more ample experiments are made, 

 these results seem sufficient to justify the assumption of the following 

 rates for the compression of earth in bank, viz. 



In light sandy earth, \ of the volume in excavation. 



In yellow clayey earth, -^ " 



In gravelly earth, ^ " 



In computations made for the purpose of equalizing the excavation 

 and embankment upon roads, canals, or railroads, a strict attention to 

 the above considerations is indispensably requisite ; for if they are 

 neglected, it will be found that excavations, which have been laid out 

 as sufficient to furnish the materials for a given embankment, will be 

 deficient in quantit}', and an unexpected resort to side cutting will be- 

 come necessary to complete the bank, as has been witnessed by the 

 writer in more than one instance. 



In tracing out a canal, if the depth of cutting sought by the centre 

 line, as necessary to form the banks from the excavation of the trunk, 

 has been calculated without due allowance for the cotnpression of earth 

 in bank, the trunk of the canal will not supply material enough, and a 

 resort either to catting below' bottom, or to side trenches, will become 

 unavoidable, to make up the amount deficient. 



//. On the Increase of Rock in Bank. 



By careful observations made by the writer, it was found that the 

 excavation of 22,025 cubic yards of hard sand-stone rock, which quar- 

 ried in large fragments, formed 32,395 cubic yards of embankment ; 

 showing that in tills instance the increase of the rock in bank was 

 9,770 cubic yards, or about -^ of its volume measured in the cut. 



In another case, it was noticed that the excavation of 16,982 cubic 

 3'ards of blue slate rock, that broke up into small pieces, formed 27,131 

 cubic yards of embankment; showing that here the increase of the 

 rock in bank amounted to 10,149 cubic yards, or nearly ^ of its mea- 

 sured bulk in the cutting. 



From these observations, made upon the increase of near 40,000 

 cubic yards of rock-cutting carried into bank, it would seem that the 

 augmentation was about one half; but as in lime-stone, and other rocks, 

 it might be found to vary, both with their relative frangibility, and the 

 dimensions of their quarried fragments, more experiments upon this 

 point appear to be necessary to enable correct rules to be framed. 



Philadelphia, September Is/, 1841. 



Sparl- Protector. — The Gciman joumals state that an engineer of Vienna, 

 named Klein, has invented a method of preventing siarks and ashes from the 

 Jircs of the locomotive engines of railroads fnim tailing on the passengers in 

 open wagons, wiiliout, bortevcr, diminishing the current of air necessary for 

 the fire. The o.speriments made on the Vienna railway have been so saiis- 

 faetory that it has been resolved to adopt his apparatus, and to burn wuod 

 instead of coke, — M. Klein has taken out a patent tor his discovery. 



I .• I'jnbankmcnts 1 and 2 v ere yellow clayey soil, and No. 3 light sandy soil. 



fflNTS OX ARCHITECTUR.<U. CRITICISM.— Part 3. 



It may appear quixotic, perhaps, to raise an opposition for the 

 sake of advancing to a poir.t, especially to men, who, from an esti- 

 mate of its worth, love their profession ; still, though it would pain 

 me so to insidt the enl;ghtened perception of many whose genius I 

 revere, I must even assume the attitude of Cervantes' Don, and fight 

 against impediments as they appear to stand betwixt criticism and 

 the truth. It is from a painful conviction that architecture is beset 

 by enemies in the guise of friends, whose opinions mostly discolour 

 what they touch; — it is from the spirit of common disquisition afloat 

 respecting her beautiful figures, that I have been so particidar in es- 

 tablishing her claims, and it is also that I may help to raise her to 

 that pinnacle which is her due, that one more part is devoted to con- 

 firm them. 



Candidus, in his peculiar way, has long since taught us to infer, 

 how that many comment on architecture, who can remark on nothing 

 else, and if I affirm that many assume the airs of architectural con- 

 noisseurship whose coarse minds would famish on the delicacies of 

 poetry, I am not farther from the truth than the gentleman alluded to. 

 Let not then the man of taste question the benefit of any attempt, 

 however humble, which has for its object to inculcate purer notions 

 concerning an art whose monuments, above those of every other art, 

 embody the most extensive combinations, whether of beauty or of 

 grandeur. 



In furthering my idea, then, the questionable character of proportion 

 invites regard, since to this the student of architecture first looks, as 

 he measures to be great. This measurement for beauty, which is 

 now the great feature in early tuition, and which sprang originally 

 from a desire to appreciate more fully what seemed so exquisite iu 

 design, first gave us those ideas of proportion we denominate classic. 

 Whilst, however, we were gaining acquaintance with the treasures of 

 antiquity, an evil was creeping insidiously in upon us, inasmuch as, 

 that beauty herself was becoming from habit systematic, and we our- 

 selves were in danger of ranking as engravers, rather than as artists, 

 whilst we reduced or transferred her objects. In spite of that love of 

 antiquity, which afl^ected us towards the adaptation of Athenian or of 

 Roman architecture, in spite of our admiration of parts for their in- 

 trinsic merit, an idea of proportion became engrafted on the mind, 

 which, as it pursued either one style or other, fixed upon that mind 

 first a prepossession towards certain division of parts, with their ar- 

 rangements, to the prejudice of other division of parts, with their 

 arrangements, until finally, this prepossession settled down into a con- 

 firmed choice for certain proportions, which were soon adhered to 

 inflexibly. The necessities of the art, too, requiring the easiest adap- 

 tation of form, inasmuch as it was (and is) dependent upon very many 

 contingent and urgent wants, led the architect to apply eagerly, as he 

 did with exactness, newly discovered beauties, especially when every 

 one admired, and when it was deemed creditable to his taste so to do. 

 Ideas of proportion were thus formed, so that with a reducing com- 

 pass, or a rule, symmetry was regulated, until amateurs, and would-be 

 amateurs, discovering a key to elegance, learned with very little 

 trouble how to commend or repudiate. Proportion soon became a 

 word narrowed in definition, as habit in practice and criticism applied 

 it ; and when the complacent regard of many for ancient examples, 

 became fanned into a stronger feeling, so as to produce a frown at 

 what was different, then the spirit of originality fled, and proportion 

 became sacrificed to a few favourite forms with rules to shape them, 

 whilst the word itself was a definition only of theii parts, or else ex- 

 planatory of the comparisons made between those parts, and others of 

 a natural figure. The consequence of all this was soon felt, for pro- 

 portion being seen the great concern of an architect — the principle he 

 seemed so to labour with, the spectator laughed to witness the ac- 

 couchement of ideas, ^^ Inch resembled iEsop's mouse in their little- 

 ness. The poverty of the art was next challenged by many ignorant 

 of its luxuriant beauties, and the professor was at last judged by a 

 low standard, when the poetry of design was found so easily contrived ; 

 from all this has sprung that race of pigmy critics, whose buzz is so 

 discreditable to our eloquently moving art. 



It is against these and not against the artist, that I raise a feebie 

 voice, and it is to meet the simple conclusions drawn from their crude 

 notions of jiroportion, that I seek to generalize the word by extending 

 its signification. Proportion as a desideratum in architecture, we 

 say is evident, and we are inclined the more feelingly to assert this, 

 because the ancients, chastening their most beautiful designs into the 

 severity of fixed proportion, left little to the licence of unstudied art, 

 to affix or improve. 



In considering proportion, it would matter little whether, according 

 to Burke, it be a mere negation, unless contrasted with deformity, or 



