CORRESPONDENCE.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXV, Issue 7171, 11 March 1892, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

Witliiu rcasonnblo limits and rnuiet rccoenhcri rules oar columns aro open to everybody; but we wish it to be distinctly understood tlmt in no way tlolwo identify ourselves with the opinions of correspondents, or with their Methods % forms of expression. THOSE COLUMNS: THE REASON WHY. (fo ihi Editor.) Snt.-One lesson in physics tlmt I received when a boy, wan to the effect that a piece of wbeuleu straw cut perfectly true in capable of sustaining n proe&uro equal In one lon. . Whether this is a fact or -not I am unable lo Bay, but this is certain, tint when I have hud to determine upon the uapacily of timber to wiet pressuro when placed in b perpendicular position with reference to the grain, somehow or oilier the piece of whoalen eiraw has acted as a 7' factor in solving the difficulty. Anyono accustomod to ihe uie of props in mioing will understand uiy meaning; I admit thai most of my work of this kind bae been done . by rale of thumb, hence lam not bo dogmstio as to contend that science is unable to work on truer lines, especially when applied to - architecture, ihie concession to ecienco has been ex'orled from rao through noiing tho additions bbing m«de to the Govemraont buildings, My organ of wonder has been oxciled in nooidinatfy degree at themar» velloue combinalioQ of mneaivenoes and fliineioess displayed. Aeeumiue tho rule re'a'ing to the straw to be sound, and an indication that sonio degree of proporlion should bp observed, we might conclude that the maseive totara uolumne are in'endcd lo . sustain a 00-ordiuate weiglit ; bulhorewo are at fault, for iho woight of the superimposod maiorial they aro apparently designed-10 carry may be reckoned at it fnw pounds inattiid nf hundreds of ion?. The conlrout is ludioroue, and I overheard u critic pay tlmt il is as disp'oponionate as using a thirty ton ateam hammer to crush n ilea. A hsppy suggestion lms ihrus , i Bolt upon my mind which may offer a Holntiun of the puzzlo, A certain Scoich duke iiiaile liis memory famous by erecing posls for a piriicular purposo in various parts of Scotland, and it seeme to Bin more than probable tiiat the Minis'er of Public Works., with that benevolent intuition which clmrßcterisea biro, is treading a >, pimilar load lo postliuroouedislioc ion, and "God bIoBR good Kichard" will in iho years to cunie mark the appreciation with which l{: g memory in ue'.uemml by « grateful gnlo,. . Qutar.