THE "LEANING TOWER" OVERDOING IT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10592, 22 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE "LEANING TOWER" OVERDOING IT.

The awo/d-swallowor, the 1 lion-tamer, and other daring performers who finally come to grief by carrying their special'-: ties too far, seem likely to be joined span by Pisa's leaning, tower, which has lately shown a tendency' to. lean nyjro; than ever. Frightened Pier. \tc.n appointed -a commission to look into this alarming inclination, and the cornmission reports th?t a new foundation r.rast go under it if it is to'stand any longer. Obhe.'wiso, after serving to :1h::ti'ato tho stability of inclined structures to generations of schoolboys, it v.'( iild doubtless give ono final.sad demonstration of what happens to such ,'tri;cii:n\s when the centre of gravity fails outside the : base line. Says a writer in Oosn.os (Paris): "Tho leaning tower of Pisa, renowned : throughout all the world, is leaning more- and more and is causing anxiety, it has even been necessary to stop ringing its bells. At tho opening of the nineteenth century its inclination was S.G per cent, of its height; today it has reached 9.2 per cent., and what is stiM more disquieting is tho fact that, this increase'" of departure frmn the vertical has taken place almost all at' once.

"A" commission has been appointed to study the situation,' and its report is most pessimistic. It states that the foundations, instead of consisting..of a largo, massive .base, as has been; believed since the studies of Grassi m 1P.31 and those of Pohaull, do Floury' in 1859, are formed only of a. ..ring exactly the size of the walls, and go down only about ten feet below. t)i» ground—a depth absolutely insufficient for a. monument of this importance.. "The examination has made it possible to clear up the familiar questionwas the tower built 'intentionally with its present inclination, or is this duo to nettling? Both hypotheses have, elements "of truth in them. " "Tho .construction was begun in 1170 ard was riot completed until 200 years later. It was to have been carried up

lLicvi}, but tin \ oik vii mteri t d aftoi »oin( turn and not begun until 129S It was then soon that the pait thot had Wn built had takon a certain slant. To preserve tho cxiLtniL' 'tiretmo t'.i woik was roBumcd U modit\in,j; I'if node of buildin - Tlio 'mo rl I lrlpiaiaon was fol- , lowed, buL the ho.i,ontal level of tho • tones \\i* kipt l>\ fi dnall> increasing the ho/hl ol t'< an lies on the lovei side r llns ntihie, odd though it appeals tin , , i..'t honoi to tho aichitectP who ducd to apph it to so impoitani a tiwUuc Besides being ven bold* it f-»i to the edihoo an aspect all its o\ n, much surpassing in pictnresquencss and liarmoriy that of a logular tower, simply inclined. "The sinking is attributed to undermining liv water and also to human impiudence,~ which opened diains, and o\uu excavated a cistern at tho foot oi the tower 1 "Happilj, the modern engineers art [furnishes the moans, if not of retrieving the fault, at least of ai resting its development It is well known that in Amcnca a substiucture was built under the celebiated Washington monument, a stuicturo whore importance is due to an entnely diffcicnt reason " A shghth difFeiont veisioli is given b\ Mi A Battelli m Natiiie (London, August 4) Aftoi d"sciibing the investigations of the Co.. mission, ho concludes as follows , "In spite of these seuous conclusions, tho Commission is nevertheless unarimousb of opinion t'i + the famous tow oi of Pisa still k tosses good stability and that tho picscnt condition of the same lb not such as to give 'iso to excessive apprehension for the futuie "