THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[July, 



23S 



number; b.U as its object is to vindicate a body of gentlenien as I 

 think unjustly ^ittackc-d, I trust ycu may be able to find space for it. 

 I am, Sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



251, 0.rford-ilrecl. Frkdekick Fkaxcij. 



P^ I have said notbinsr about Ibe possibility or Prudence of 

 ,tteraptinatobuilda|!0o^ cburch to bold 1-200 persons for iSOOO : 

 that is another question, irrelevant to the present correspondence. 



rWe have also received a letter from Messrs. Starkey and Cuffley, 

 of Manchester, on the same subject, who were competitors. 1 liey 

 likewise confirm the impartial decision of the Committee.— t^lTOR.J 



ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION. 



SlR-Under an impression that any incident, however trifling, con- 

 nected vvith the publicity of architectural works may be usefu to 

 Lme of your read'ers, and not uninteresting to any, I offer for insertion 

 in vour next Journal the following facts. , , . . i,:„i. 



At tbe usual time for sending in pictures and drawings from which 

 to select for the public Exhibition of this year, a perspective view ot 

 In e -teL ve vilU^vhich has recently been erected and universally 

 adni^dforits picturesque effect, was forwarded by ^^^^^^ 

 from a distant county , and in due time reported to be admitted During 

 the season the architect himself, being in London, searched in.ain 

 or tWs drawing in the Exhibition room; and in "P'y « a 0--^^-/ 

 iDQuirv into the cause of its omission, was led to a back staircase, 

 whe efamong manv others, he recognised h\sadvuUeddrawn,g quietly 

 Tenosin-^n a'corner, and having on its frame the marks of the cramps 

 bv wl icli ictures are usuallv athxed to the walls, proving, of course, 

 tLrluiad' actually been hung np. The only -P -^l^.l^'that " in 

 be obtained of this mystery was contained in V'"'"',. '^'^w^i ad bee" 

 conseauenee of the unusually great number of works that bad been 



eTu^" inio^siblefor the- Lmmittee "f Arrangement with ever^ 

 wish to do justice to tbe author's talents, to find a place for his 

 Sure"" H certainlv is neither a miniature nor a portrait, any more 

 tllanNo. ^m, Pickjord's IVautwuses .' which I suppose is mcani for 



an architectural subject! 



I am, sir, 

 Your obedient servant, 

 ]6M Jn„c, 1H42. The Architect. 



and Mr. Siblev, which, were modelled by J. E. Jones, in which ^lowever , 

 so much talent was displaved, that he has little cause to be d,st 

 ;essed t any comparison, especially as we learn that he has hitherto 

 aboured witi; amat'eur love of the art of "-'''^''•"£■^6 P,^ ^^^^J 

 allv a Civil Engineer. The principal model room wash illiantU iigUtea 

 bv Faraday's light, the same as that which illuminated the Jhrone-room 

 a the Queen'sfat; fete. Defries exhibited his >"g,^"!7^,'^T g- ™ete 

 in the same room, and the other rooms we,e ''S'-'^'i^^by WiUuns s 

 dioptric lamps, and Cross and Blackwell's improvement upon Palmer s 



''The'aTendance of the Council and Members of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers, and also the Architects, was very numerous ; there was 

 also a viry large number of visitors, many of theni of high rank and 

 disanction. The Duke of Wellington, we observed, made a complete 

 circuit of the rooms, and examined every |,l-^g -'^ rtt C'uis 

 Among the distinguished visitors we noticed P='^'''^"''^^'[']'>V3r 

 of Northampton, the Earl of Devon, Lords Bexley, Lowtber, 

 Mounteagle, Blaney, Baron Rolfe, &c. 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, 



Mr Walker, the President of the Institution of C.vil Engineers, 

 eave his annua conversazione, on Saturday evening 4th ultimo, and 

 fs usual in addition to a most hospitable reception and pod ^ire 

 suppUed ample food for curiosity by a remarkably well selected 

 coUection of works of art, and models of machinery, all of which ou 

 iTmits will not permit us to particularize. The Admiralty, with 

 brcomig liberally, sent several of their beautiful models of men-of- 

 war si "ling ihesnperwnly of the mode of construction introduced 

 by Sir William Symonds, and his talented assistant Mr. Edye ; nea 

 these were appropriately placed a coUection of models of improved 

 marTne engine^s, by Maailays and Field, Miller Seaward and Fair- 

 buri From among the multitude of other models may be selected 

 Dockrav's self-acting signal for Railways ; mallets for raising ships ; 

 fhe Sn Ligl bo^use.V Messrs. Walker and Burgess, bridges by 

 Gravatt^Roe's%rrangements for cleansing sewers; Captain Reid s 

 wa?er.wlieel,01dham's machine for numbenngbank notes. Cheverton's 



rechanicat carvings in ivory, and Braithwaite's pressed carvings in 



wo d exhibited ti close alliance existing between the fine and 



mechanical arts. Dent's astronomical clock, made for the Emperor 



S- Russia, and that with Professor Airy's new escapemen , attrac ed 



Ich UtenUon, as did also the models of Wilton Churc^i, and the 



Sambrdge Courts by Salter, from the designs of Wyatt and Brandon ; 



■«d that of Railton's, Nelson Memorial Column, with he simple and 



niechancally contrived scaffolding, with wliich GrisscU and Peto are 



"ow erecting it. A bugle horn covered with platinum by >"eans of 



M Ruolz's eLtro-galvanic process, showed a very successful substitu- 



tion of a chemical for a mechanical process. First among the 



specimens of the fine arts, must be P'-«^d ^'^ "f Sed sket'ch"; 



tiful engraving of Miss Power. Some portfolios of spirited sketches 



by Nixfn, and bv Oliver and Tathams, Bailey's busts of Fusel. ; and 



Stoddart and his model group of charity of course were ad,n.rable and 



it was scarcely fair to place so near them the busts of the President 



ON THE SUPPLY OF WATER FROM THE CHALK BASIN. 

 This question has assumed such a decided character of P'tizanship that 

 we cannot allow it to remain any longer unnoticed, particulailv af ei the 

 Accent exhibition of misstatements, garbled reports, and ^"PPrf'Sed fact^ 

 AVe hall h^ month confine ourselves to the publication of the valuable 

 report be ngtirsecond, bv Mr. llobert Stephenson to the D"^'^'"^ » *« 

 prrposedCo'uipany for Supplying the metropolis with tlie pure acrt^u on- 

 taminated snrine water from the chalk basm ; and m our next number we 

 :hrenter't^";^into an examination of this -Por^-t qu-t,on. and expose 

 the fallacious representations that have been issued to the public. 

 Mr. Stephenson's Second Report. 

 In ,av former report (see Jounial, Vol. IV, p. 1,) I endeavoured at some 

 leiWh to expkin the views which presented themselves to me, durmg an 

 ■xamination of he experiments made near Watford, for the purpose of ascer- 

 "nh gt "l°at xtenl the metropolis might be supplied with -ter froni tha^ 

 ei.hbourbood, bv means of sinking shafts into the chalk formation below 

 Ihe eve of the v'alley of the Colue. In addition to a mere statement of the 

 resu deemed it neeessarv to point out some peculiar ties which 1 con- 



Sved the chS forniation to possess, and which rendered it, in my opinion, 

 vvell calculated for yielding: a steady and .abundant supply- _- 



Since the publication of these views, I have lost no opportunitj of care uuy 

 studvinV he remarks which have been made, and the objections which have 

 been ur^ed against the positions I then established as the basis of my opunons. 

 Some°of tire replii to mv report have assumed the form of pamplets, 

 which separately I 1 ave not time, even if I had the inchnatiou, to .answer; 

 hut in now hv UK before you the results of the further inquiries, which at 

 th re°:f r^ fas. repor\ 1 suggested should he undertaken to confi.cn or 

 refute mv opinions, I am necessarily led to notice such of the statements as 

 annear^alculated, eitlier by the authority from which they emanate or the 

 pEilS with which they are adduced, to atfect the views I had taken, or 

 the conclusions which I had drawn from tliera. „^^,„^. „.:.„, . ^^^ 



Amongst the assailants of my opinions, are some a"°">"f*V.I e vi'ntase 

 though I feel that such a mode of attack places opponents on the vantage 

 Iround inasmuch as thev possess the privilege of makui? statements totally 

 fn™p;table tMhe matter'at issue, or calculated to lead to f^l^-^n.^oucln^ 

 sion without subjecting themselves to any responsibilit> ; "^^rtherless in 

 he nVrsent report I am bound to overlook the motives by which it may be 

 suDDOsed" ome of mv opponents are actuated, and wldle I acquiesce in such 

 of thefr objections al appear well founded, to repel those which are either 

 fnapScabl^ or contradicted by circumstances vvhich have come under my 



°The"prmplfre't which claims mv first attention is from the pen of Mr. 

 Web^ erTnd Igi'e H this preference for two reasons ; the first, because Mr. 

 Web te 's name is one of repute in the scientific world, and whose researches 

 during the early advances of geology in this country, greatly extended the 

 knowledge of the cent formations of our Island; and the second, because 

 H strikes at the very root of the opinions I endeavoured tc. expound u my 

 firm r report. Both his name, therefore, and t;,e wide and essential differ 

 encTin our views, suggest the propriety of selecting 1"^ Pamphkt to f^ee 

 and unreserved discussion; for if his statement be consistent with exismg 

 Lets, the opinions which I have advanced must be erroneous, and farther 

 consideration of your project entirely useless. j„,,;„„ ,i,p stratum 



Mr. Webster denies, emphatically, that the chalk .r''^:'" '"Li Juce th^ 

 of London clay is tbe '• great water-bearing stratum, ^"<' ;°" "^^^^^'^^Xs 

 inference, that 1 had mistaken the true source of ^I'PPjy '° ^'^^.^ i e 

 Artesian wells which are sunk in the metropolis and its ""S ';~i,rly on 

 seems to arrive at this conclusion, from my not l>«""g/^^^" ["'Xtk ^^^^ 

 the " sand and plastic clay stratum," which reposes betv. en he chalk and 

 London clav ; whereas I consider the stratum to which he alludes not tne 

 n^grcat watc;-beariug stratum," but merely a subordinate member of that 

 which mav be so called. 



