422 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
ally of a uniform span of thirty-nine feet four inches, with a thickness at the 
crown of fifteen and three-fourths inches. Their construction was carried on 
without interruption through the winter of 1868-69 ^'^^ the following summer, 
and the character of the work was not affected by either extreme of temperature. 
The spandrels were carried up in open work to the level of the crown, and upon 
the arcade thus prepared the aqueduct pipe was moulded of the same material, 
the whole becoming firmly knit together into a perfect monolith. The construc- 
tion of the arches was carried on about two weeks in advance of work on the pipe, 
and the centres struck about a week later. 
The lighthouse at Port Said, in Egypt, is another interesting structure of this- 
material. It is one hundred and eighty feet high, without joints, and rests upon 
a monolithic block of the same material containing nearly four hundred cubic 
yards. 
An entire Gothic Church, with its foundation, walls and steeple in a single 
piece, has been built of this material at Vesinet, near Paris. The steeple is one 
hundred and thirty feet high, and shows no cracks or other evidences of weak- 
ness. M. Pallu, the founder, says that "during the two years consumed by M. 
Coignet in the building of this church, the material in all its stages was exposed 
to rain and frost, and it has perfectly resisted all variations of temperatures." 
But we have upon our own shores a building antedating these structures 
nearly thirty years. This is the residence of the late George A. Ward^ Esq., at 
New Brighton, Staten Island, familiarly known as " the cement house," built in 
1837, and ten times more soUd to-day than the day it was erected. There is no 
more exposed place to test the stability of this material than the north shore of 
Staten Island, where this building stands. We confess to some misgivings as we 
approached it last summer, not having seen it for about thirty years, but we left 
it more than satisfied, and to such of our readers as require the test of Thomas- 
the doubter, we commend a pleasant trip over the Bay of New York, and a per- 
sonal inspection. 
Another building is the residence of Wm. E. Ward,. Esq., at Portchester^ 
N. Y. This is beyond doubt the most expensive private residence of the kind yet 
erected in this country. It is a perfect monolith, from the lowest line of the 
cellar wall to the top course of its towers, and is a monument at once of the en- 
terprise, taste, and munificence of its proprietor, a monument, too, which is likely 
to endure when some other monuments have crumbled in decay. A full descrip- 
tion of this building was given in the American Architect oi August 17, 1877, and 
a further description was read before the American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers, at their recent meeting in the city of Cleveland. Perhaps the severest tests 
to which the material has ever been subjected were in the great Chicago fire of 
187 1. While granite was chipped and sphntered into fragments, while limestone 
was reduced to powder, while sandstone was disintegrated, and iron twisted into 
fantastic shapes, artificial stone alone remained intact, and was in shape to be 
immediately relaid. Several instances could be given, conspicuous among which^ 
however, 'is the front of the store 114 Monroe Street, which, although thrown. 
