The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-02 00:00:00

THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

No day could well have been more unfortunate for I
the admission of the members of the Society of Arts
to view the Crystal Palace than Tuesday ; for the
weather was anything but favourable, a rain continu-
ing without intermission during the whole morning,
and the roads in the neghbourhood of the edifice
being one mass of loose, pulpy mud. Notwithstand-
ing these drawbacks, the invitation so liberally ac-
corded by Messrs. Fox and Henderson was gladly
answered, and some hundreds of individuals flocked
into the building about twelve o'clock, to hear the lec-
ture of Professor Cowper, and reconnoitre the works
and workshops.
The lecture was delivered in an enclosure, tem-
porarily hung round with carpets, under the gallery
on the west of the contractors' offices. Professor
Cowper began his discourse precisely at mid-day, in
order to get through the prescribed task as quickly as
possible—that is, during the dinner hour of the men.
Standing on a rostrum on the south side of the ex-
tempore room, and provided with a variety of modtls
and diagrams, he went through a popular description
of the mechanical details of the erection, very
little of which, however, could be heard by the crowd
who surrounded him, for the company the most re-
mote from the speaker was anything but stationary ;
and the echoes of their footsteps and the noises neces-
sarily incidental to a huge unfinished building of this
character either drowned or obscured the voice. The
remarks that the Professor made were delivered with
great hurry and volubility, but they ware to the pur-
pose, although homely, desultory, and brief. After a
few appiopriate observations by way of introduction,
he described the columns and the process by which
they had been fashioned so precisely of that shape the
most conducive to strength throughout; illustrating
by a simple experiment with a group of perpendicular
quills (which he demonstrated could carry a burden of
two hundred weight), that any fears as to their inca-
pacity to bear the weight of such a vast architectural
pile were utterly groundless. While dwelling on the
girders he showed how admirably the strain was dis-
tributed by the bracings, each of which he analysed with
reference to its position and its individual utility—again
affording a simple test of the efficiency of the method,
by building, with moveable pieces of wood, a model
of the girders which supported the roof, an] applying
to it a weight ofinore than one hundred weight;
pointing out also, by similar modes of proof the
sagacity of Messrs. Fox and Henderson in securing
perpendicular preservation of the entire framework
by consulting the points liable to stress, and providing
for the same by a scientific adjustment of iron arms
specifically* calculated to spread and enfeeble thie. pres-
sure. The lecturer then described the hydrae
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f the construction of
the immense arches which. span the transept—the
nature of an arch being critically explained by
leastmischief. interesting