170 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



which the insulators are attached as in fig. 55. The planks are 

 sometimes sandwiched between double uprights. These fixtures 

 cannot by any stretch of courtesy be termed beautiful ; indeed, 

 the French sense of the artistic has therein signally failed. At 

 Lille the handsome slated dome of the central post and telegraph 

 office has been adapted to telephonic needs by being surrounded 

 by ten circles of wooden arms, bent to the contour of the dome, 

 and supported on brackets attached to its framework. Commencing 



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FIG. 52 FIG. 53 



near the top, the circles described gradually increase in diameter, 

 and space is afforded for a large number of insulators. The arms 

 are stiffened on the outside by angle irons. In the crown of the 

 dome there are eight recesses, each containing the sculptured 

 head of a satyr leaning forward and looking down on the insu- 

 lators and wires beneath, as though engaged in a perpetual watch 

 for contacts. Surmounted by a flagstaff, and of graceful pro- 

 portions, the dome looks well from a distance ; near at hand it 



