The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-11-19
THE LARGEST STATUES.
Ancient and Modern Statues-Engineerin
Skill of the Old Monument Build
ers-The Bartholdi Statue.

A piece of interesting news comes to
us from Egypt regarding a discovery
recently made in Lower Egypt by Mr..
Flinders Hetrie, of the fragment of
colossal statue of King Rameses H.,
which, calculating the height from
the fragments which remain, must
have stood considerably over one
hundred feet in height. The ma
terial employed is granite; and the
executing of such work in such a
material, and, when completed, rear
ing it into position, must have involved
profound knowledge not only of high
art, but of engineering skill. Is it pos
sible that the statue could have been
cut out whole in one piecep If so,
what lever power did the Egyptians
possess to raise such an enormous
weight into perpendicular positionP
Certain it is that these ancient build
ers knew well how to get over, and did
get over prodigious difficulties, as wit
ness their obelisks, and the enormous
stones which compose the magiiicent
temple of the sun at Baalbec AS there
is no stone quarry near, how these vast
stones could possibly have been con-
veyed thither in the first place, and
then raised to their position, has been
an enigma to all modern architects and
engineers by whom the temple has been
critically examined, and who have free
ly confessed that, with all our modern
science of steam cranes, hydraulic
jacks, and railroads, the transportation
and raising of such immense, cyclopean
masses would have undoubtedly pre-
scented many serious difficulties, if, in
deed, it could be accomplished at all.
Many of our readers will doubtless
remember Mr.. Poynter's grand picture
in the Royal Academy of London,
few years ago, entitled "Israel in
Egypt" 1t represented an enormous
mass of sculpture mounted on a
wheeled truck, dragged along by hun
dreds of the unfortunate captive Israel
ties, who are smarting under the whips
of their cruel drivers. Mr.. Poynter
had good authority for his "motive
power" as shown in his picture. So far
as we can discover from ancient works
or ancient sculpture, the largest stone
masses were transported mainly by
force of human muscles, with few me-
chanical expedients. Levers and roll
ers seem to have been almost, if not al
together, unknown. The mass was
generally placed on a kind of sledge,
the ground over which it was to pass
fabricated with some oily substance,
and the sheer strength of human Shout
ders was then applied.
The most colossal and by far the
most remarkable statue of modern days
is that most elaborate and rather &C.
centric gift of the French nation to the
people Of America. Not only is it re-
markable for its enormous height and
gigantic proportions, but for the very
singular and ingenious manner in
which it has been constructed-so sin
gular, indeed, that at first sight it is
somewhat difficult to comprehend the
manner in which it has been built up,
piece by piece, especially when we
mention that the several pieces of cop
per composing the figure have not been
cast. How, then, have they been
made? This we will try to explain.
The statue is female figure of Lib
erty, having on her head crown, and
holding aloft in her hand torch. The
figure is 50 feet high; but, reckoning
the extreme height to the top of the
torch, the marvellous altitude of 1877
feet inches is reached. The statue is to
be reared on pedestal of solid granite
SO feet high, 50 that the entire work
will rise to the immense height of 220
feet inchesl The artist is NJ Bartholdi
(the family name by-the-bye, of the
great composer best known as Mendels-
sohn).
Having first carefully constructed
model in clay about life size, this was
repeatedly enlarged until the necessary
form and size were obtained. The next
step was to obtain plaster casts from
the clay, and these casts were then re-
produced by clever artists in hard wood.
The wooden blocks were then, in their
turn, placed in the hands of copper
smiths, who, by the hammer alone, it is
stated, gave the copper sheets the exact
form Of the wooden molds or models;
and thus, in this peculiar and laborious
manner, the outside copper "skinn Of
the statute was formed, and, to all out
ward appearance, completed. But as
the copper is only one-eighth of an inch
thick, an inner skin is also provided,
placed about foot behind the first,
while the intermediate space will be
filled in with sand, especially at the
lower extremities, to give the whole a
| steadfast foundation.
The stability of the figure will not,
however, be left to depend solely on
these sheets of copper and loose sand;
and, therefore, the interior, from top
to bottom, will be strengthened by a
framework Of Orders and supports, by
which the whole will be knit together
in one firm, compact, unyielding mass.
As the sheets of copper and the inter-
Tor framework are simply secured In
the ordina y manner by rivets, when it
is desired to remove this metallic noun
tain all that has to be done is to unrivet
the several plates and take down and
pack on board ship for New York.
1t is proposed to place this gigantic
Liberty on Bedloe's island, very
small islet lying about two miles south
OF the Battery and Castle Garden, the
lowest point of the island of Manhat-
tan, on which the city Of New York is