Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/657

 1869.] Chimneys. 533 inches, and of any desired shape, for angles, curves, &c, and plain, straight, with register openings, or pipe-holes. The superiority of these flue-pipes can- not for a moment be disputed. They are easily built in the wall, being capable of starting from any portion of the building, with all clue efficacy and durability, and indestructible, when once set ; and the slight additional original cosL is so trifling, that it cannot be weighed, against numerous compen- sating qualities. We have deferred unto the last, a few remarks upon the applicability of Terra Cotta to architectural purposes, such as for caryatides and mouldings, cornices, vases, and delicate ornaments. That it is well suited for such purposes, there can be no reasonable doubt, from the test, of upwards of half a Century, of many specimens, which are to be seen — for instance — in St. Pancras Church, London, Greenwich Hospital, Somerset House, and St. George's Chapel, Wind- sor. To show its durability, as com- pared with stone, we may point to the statue of Britannia, on the Nelson Monument at Yarmouth, where actually the stone, of which the pedestal is formed, is rapidly yielding to the ef- fects of the exposure, while the Terra Cotta statue remains intact, as clearly defined, as it was when it came out of the kiln. There is no question, there- fore, as to its quality of durability. Its strength, also, has been tested, and proved to lie very great, indeed. By the hydraulic machine, that raised the tubes of the Britannia bridge, over the Menai Straits, in England, it was found that a cubic foot of Terra Cotta stood a pressure of four hundred and sixty -four tons. It also possesses another recommend- ation — and one which is an all-import- ant one on many occasions, viz : the great economy, both of time and money, which can be effected by the use of Terra Cotta for many purposes, such as bas- reliefs, enriched and moulded work, now executed in marble and stone, at a much greater cost. We think we have said enough, to draw the attention of our professional men, more to a subject, which has not, as yet, we venture to think, here met with that consideration which it deserves in the United States, while in Europe it has not been over- looked. CHIMNEYS. TO those who have examined the ancient castles and dwellings of Europe, it must have been apparent that the architecture of the days in which they were erected did not seem to comprehend chimneys ; an omission which, in our day, would be considered very serious, and which, in that day, must have arisen from total ignorance of their use. In those castles and man- sions, even in the royal palaces, the fire- place — that region of domestic comfort now — was a terra incognita then. The brazier, in which charcoal was burned, answered the purpose of heating. The earliest allusion to the subjecf is to be found in the Scriptures. Jere- miah, (xxxvi. 22,) speaking of the gather- ing of the princes, at the desire of the king of Judah, on a particular occasion, he says that he, the king, sat in his win- ter house, and that there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. The generally received translation of this word hearth, is a place for the fire, which might mean a movable burner, as well as a stationary hearth in connection with a flue. It is more than probable that a brazier, containing coals, was meant, for it is evident that no chimney was used. This was six hundred and five years before Christ. In those puz- zles to antiquaries and historians, the Round Towers of Ireland, erected, more than probably, for the preservation of the sacred fires of Druidic worship, over