438 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ArxCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[December,' 



arcliitcct and llic artists lo be employed may work not only in conjunction 

 with, Ij'it in aid of, each other. 



The committee are not. in the present stapre of the inquiry, prepared to 

 suggest llie details of a plan, but they think iliat a commission mifiht most 

 useiuily Ijc appointed to assist, liotli wiili information ,inil advice, some de- 

 parimcnt of tlic fiovernment, uliich, after mr.lure consideration, should be 

 solely reponsible for the execution of the plan best calculated to realize the 

 objects of the committee. 



Whether, hoivever, a commission be appointed or not, the committee think 

 that it is most desirab'e that the advice and assistance of persrins should be 

 sought »ho are competent, from their knowledge of art, .md their accjuainl- 

 ance v.ith fn'cat public works, lio'h at home and abroad, to propose, in con- 

 junction with the architect, the most eflectual means of attaining the chief 

 object aimed at by the appointment of the committee, viz.. the encouragement 

 of the fine arts of this country. By taking this course, the arcliitect and the 

 other artists will be enabled to understand and assist each ollier's views : and 

 thus Ihe abi/ities of both would be e.xertcd for the decoration of so eminently 

 national a building, and, at the same time, encouragement, beyond the means 

 of private patronage, would be afforded, not only to ihe higher walks, Lut to 

 all branches of art. 



The committee state that their attention has been called to one branch of 

 the fine arts hardly known in this country— namely, fresco painting, which 

 has lately been revived on the continent, and employed in the decoration of 

 public biiildinga. especially at Munich. The space which it demands for its 

 free development, and the subjects «hich it is peculiarlv fitted to illustra'e, 

 combine to point out national buildings as almost the only proper sphere for 

 the di.splr.y of Us peculiar cliaracteristics — grandeur, breadth, and simplicity. 

 The committee, aiier a careful consideration of the evidence, are disposed to 

 lecimmrnd tliat this style or mode of painting should be adopted. They 

 fully concur in the opinion of Mr. Eastlake, that England possesses artis-.s 

 equal to.the occasion, whose genius only wants that exercise and encourage' 

 ment which this great opportunity maybe made to afibrd. But the commit 

 tee suggest, that if fresco painting should be employed in the decoration of 



certain portions of the new buildings, it would be a safe, and judicious plan to 

 give the artists an opportunity ol making some experimental cffc 

 iirst instance. 



sperimental efforts in the 



The committee then quote a passage from a valuable paper on fresco paint- 

 ing written by Mr. Eastlake, given in the Journal of last month. 



\Vilh reference to another branch of the inquiry — the cost incident to an 

 extensive and well-devised plan for the public patronage and encouragement 

 of art — the committee, notwithstanding that tliey are aware that objections 

 are entertained by many to a large expenditure of the public money tor such 

 a purpose, are of opinion, independently of the beneficial and elevating in- 

 fluence of the fine arts upon a people, and every pecuniary outlay, either for 

 the purpose of forming or extending collections of works of art in this coun- 

 try, has been dirfctly instrumental in creating new objects of industry and 

 of enjoyment, and therefore in adding at the same time to the wealth of the 

 country. 



The "commit tee state, that the collection of vases made by Sir W, Hamilton 

 led to the introduction of a new branch of manufacture in this country by 

 Mr. Wedgwood, which not only emjiloyed artists and artizars,but tended to 

 improve every branch of a great staple tra'e, and in its results elicited from 

 the hands ot comparatively ordinary workmen works almost rivalling their 

 origin als in texture, form, and beauty. The committee further remark, that 

 the colli ction of .Sir M', Hamilton's ancient Greek vases (for the purchase of 

 which a sum of £8.400 was granted by Parliament) was a great acquisition 

 to (he ct'Unlry, and ought to have opened the eyes of the Government to the 

 utility aiising from similar acquisitions. " The discovery of these vases (the 

 committee observe), and their communication to the public by engravings, 

 coinciding »ilh the discoveries of Hercu'aneum and Pompeii, may be con- 

 sidered an essentia] epoch in the history of the arts, and which contributed 

 greatly to their revival." 



The Cfmmittee observe that the beneficial intluenceof artupon the charac- 

 ter of the people m'ly, it is hoped, be inferred Jrom the gradually increasing 

 numbers, of late years, who take an interest in the national collections. 

 Tliis act has been fully proved by the report of the select committee on 

 " national monumfnts and works of art,'' of w hich we, some time ago. laid 

 an abstract before our readers. •' The habit," says Reynolds, " of contem- 

 plating and brooding over the ideas of great geniuses till you find yourself 

 warmed by the contrast, is the true metnod of forming an artist-like mind. 

 It is im)Jossib!e, in he jiresence of those great men, to think or to invent in 

 a mer^n manner ; a state of mind is acquired that receives ideas only which 

 relish of grandeur and simplicity." 



As then tlie collection ami exhibition of works ol art have not only tended 

 to Ihe moral elevation of the people, but have also given a fresh stimulus 

 and direction to their in.'ustry, so the committee is of opinion that a direct 

 encouragement of the higher branches of art on this occasion will have a 

 similar eliect in a still higher degree. 



The committee then reter at some length to the evidence given by ilr. T. 

 Wyse. the late M.P. for the city of AVaterford, and one of the Lords of the 

 Treasury. W'c regret that our space will not allow us to enter into a detail 

 of it ; tfie evidence of Mr. Wyse goes to show the ell'ect produced upon a 

 nation and its industry by the pubhc patronage of the fine arts, which he 

 illusiiated by tlie example ot Bavaria. k:c. 



The committee, after referring to the evidence of Mr. Dyce, thus conclude 

 their report : — 



•• Your committee, from the abrupt termination of the session, and conse- 

 quently of their inquiry, have not had the opportunity to form any fa-r esti- 

 mate of the expense of carrying out the views here stated ; but they are, 

 however, of opinion, thtit judging from the manner in which great works 

 have been eflected on the continent, and by the adoption in the outset of a 

 well-considered plan for the employment of artists, and the application of 

 the arts, a moderate annual expenditure would accomplish very important 

 reailts, if not all that can le desired. They think that the very fact of a 



determination by the house to take this opportunity of encouraging the arts, 

 and of associating them with our public anhitecture, our legislation, our 

 commerce, and our history, would aiOne stimulate and raise their character 

 and quality, and extend their beneficial iiiMuence over a still wider circle. 

 " I consider it." says Sir M. A. .Shee, "a most favourable opportunity for 

 calling forth the genius of our country, and promoting the fine arts to the 

 utmost extent of which they are capable; it is the only opportunity that has 

 occurred for many years, and if it b;' suffered to piss unheeded. I should say 

 that there is no hope i.i th s country for artists in the higher dejiartments of 

 the arts.'' 



" Whilst your commillee, in conclusion, regret that they could not investi- 

 gate the whole subject so fully as they desired, and as its importance de- 

 manded, they unanimously rccominen<l the evidence herewith presented to 

 the house to its favourable consider iti. n. with a view to its receiving the im- 

 meliate attention of the Government, and in Uie hope that our new Houses 

 of Parliament may hand down to jiosterity a memorial, as well as the genius 

 of our artists, as of the importance attached by the country to the nobler 

 productions of an ; and that the subjtcts embodied in such representa'ions, 

 whether by painting or sculpture, may serve to perpetrate lh^ events of the 

 past lustoiy, and the persons of our public benefactors, in the grateful re- 

 membrance of the people.'' 



U'liiteliall, Xoivmher 22. 1S41. — The Queen has been pleased to appoint His 

 P.oyal Highness Prince Albert, K.(;.. the Right Honour,. ble Lord Lyndhurst, 

 hisGrace the Duke of .Sutherland, KG., the most Honourable the Marquess 

 of Lansdowne. K.G.. the Right Honourables the Rarl oi I.,incoln. the Earl of 

 ShtewsLury. the Earl of Aberdeen. K.T., Lord John Kussell. Lord Francis 

 Egerton, Viscount Palmerston, G.C'.B., Viscount Melbourne. Lord Ashburton, 

 Lord Colborne, Charles Shaw Lefevre, Sir Robert Peel, Barf., Sir James 

 Robert GcLige Grabtim, Bart.; Sir Robert Harry Tnglis, Bart., Henry Gaily 

 Knight, Esq', Benj imin Hawes, jun., Esq.. Henry Hallam. Esq., Samuel 

 Rogers, Esq., George Vivian, Esq , and Thomas AVyse. Esq., Her Majesty's 

 Commissioners for inquiring into the best mode of promoting the Fine Arts 

 in the United Kingdom. 



ON INCREASING THE EVAPORATING POM'ER OF BOIIJEES. 



At the general monthly meeting of the Polytechnic Society, Liverpool 

 Mr. AVilliams read a paper on increasing the evaporating power of boilers 

 who was provided with a number of working models wherewith to illustrate 

 his viev, s, addressed the meeting in a very clear and scientific manner on 

 this important subject, developing a most interesting discovery of his own, 

 which (already practically tested) will be extremely valuable as effecting a 

 more rapid generation of steam, without increasing the size of the vessel, or 

 the requirement of addi'ional fuel. The question, he said, involved the im- 

 provement of our boilers by a very simple contrivance, wdiether as applied to 

 land engines, or to the a'lvancement of steam navigation. There were tivo 

 leading'considerations in the application of fuel, which were, unhappily, con- 

 founded : one the generation of heat ; and the other, its application. The 

 first appertained more pciuliarly to chemical science ; and the second, to me- 

 chanical appliance. The ubject in view was, to transmit the greatest possible 

 amount of heat for the generation of steam, with a given quantity of fuel. 

 Heat was imparted by two distinct media, namely, radiation and conduction. 

 By radiation, heat was conveyed to bodies not placed in contact, as was 

 evinced by placing the hand pretty close to the flame of a candle. 13y con- 

 duction, heat was conveyed by metal or other substances not consumable. 

 In the heating of boilers, both modes were necessarily operative. In radia- 

 tion, the evolved proceeded in direct lines, or radii, from the combustion to 

 the boiler or other tody exposed to it. If a thermometer were placed with 

 the ball near the candle, the mercury would rise by radiation : but if placed 

 immediately over the tlame. the heat would be greater, but diflerent in the 

 mode; for. in this case, it was not fairly radiation, but a compound medium, 

 radiation and the heated and ascending gas being combined. The speaker 

 then exhibited the model of a boiler, with its tortuous lUies. through which 

 the several gases parsed ; and exfiressed his conviction, that nine-tenths of 

 the heat in marine and land engine boilers was immediately received frfm 

 the furnace and flame-bed, and not from the gases, which might be made 

 available to the same end by an improved construction of boder. The general 

 opinion of parlies working steam engines was. that to increase the size of the 

 furnace would add to the heating of the whole boiler ; but this, lie considered, 

 was treating the boiler with great neglect, for the object could be accom- 

 plished without such increase of the furnace. The means of conducting heat 

 to water in boilers had been much neglected, reliance being almost solely 

 placed on increasiut; the length of the flues. His plan was to insert a number 

 of iron pins through the plates of the boiler, one end of them projecting into 

 the flue and the other intu the water in the boiler. These pins, exposed at 

 one end to the lieat in the flue, acted as powerful conductors, through the 

 boiler-plates, of the heat into the water. Hitherto, the auestion of the mere 

 surface of plate exjiosed to the flues had been alone considered; and the only 

 remedy for defective generation of steam was conceived to be an increase of 

 that surface. The conducting pins, however, were found to arrest the heat- 

 ing gases in their progress along the plates of the boiler, and greatly to has- 

 ten the generation of steam. A pin of half-an-inch in diameter projecting 

 three inches into the flue, gave a heating surface of U inches, and by its 

 cunducting power and interior projection (as we understood the speaker) that 

 half-inch gave as rr^ich heat as yj inches on the outer surface of the plate. 

 Air was a good conveyor, but a bad conductor of heat ; for it carried most of 



