The Democratic advocate., 1885-04-11

width and height; only 20 feet high, % fee
wide at the base, and Is feet at the top
about one-third of the wall of China is dir
and rubbish, the rest being masonry, ant
it dates back to 220 B. G.
The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon wer
built by Nebuchadnezzar to crafty his wifi;
Amytis. The gardens were over 400 fee
square, built terrace above terrace unit
they were q feet higher than the walls, o
400 feet The top was sustained by a ser
les of arches one above the other, and eacf
terrace was bound by solid wall % fee
thick On the top arches were first laic
fiat stones 16 feet by 4, over these weed
and bitumen; then two rows of cementet
brick covered by sheet lead, upon which
was laid earth sufficiently thick to nourisl
large trees The gardens were filed will
blooming plants and shrubs which were ad
mired by Queen Amytis in her native Me
dia. The different terraces and groves
contained fountains, parterres, seats, anc
banqueting rooms; in fact, all the splendol
and magnifcence of Eastern art seem tc
have been lavished upon these gardens by
King Nebuchadnezzar in order that his
Median bride should be happy in her new
home. Pen cannot picture the grandeur
of che conception or the perfection of the
execution of these gardens, which have been
and are the wonder of all ages The great
est hanging structure now in existence is
the Brooklyn suspension bridge, costing
$15,000,000. The whole length is 3, ,475
feet; and it connects New York and Brook
lyn by clear span of 1895 feet It is
135 feet above low water mark and S5 feet
broad, it has also two platforms, one above
the other The piers are stone masonry,
hollow, and sunk below the surface by
means of caissons. As the details of this
work are formidable, it is sufficient to say
that it is the greatest engineering feat
known. John Roebling was the engineer.
One of the mysteries handed down to us
is the manner in which the ancients manip-
ulated those immense stones. Take the
obelisk of Luxor, which stands sentinel
over the Place de la Coneorde, in Paris, 73
feet in length. Long continued manual
labor could quarry it, but by what means
it was conveyed to Luxor is still hypothet-
ical; and the stones of the Pyramids, not
one of which is less than thirty feet long
by FIVE feet thick, how could they be hoisted
up 478 feet, or, rather, how were they, and
by what means were these great blocks of
granite transported from the quarry at
Syene to the delta of the Nile, a land jour
ney of six hundred or voyage of seven
hundred miles? Egyptologists have sur
missed many ways by which the Pyramids
were built, but none of them seem satisfac-
tory. No representations of derricks or
hosting machines have been bequeathed to
us. Some writers say that the stones were
raised by machines from step to step, others
tell US that skids were used, still others
that the external covering was laid from
the top to the bottom The great Pyramid
Cheops covers at base about 555, 900 square
feet, and rears itself 478 feet. The first
step is nearly four feet eight inches high;
the top one, one foot eight inches. Math-
ematics were known in that day, as its
angle was perfect at all sides, 81 deg. 30
min, also each stone was accurately y fitted
to another. Notwithstanding the difficulty
in finishing granite, the stones of this royal
tomb were finely polished. Chronologists
differ as to the date of the reign of Cheops,
the latest date being 2123 B. G. Herodo-
tus says that he s'was informed by the
priests of Memphis that the great Pyramid
was built by Cheops; that 100000 men
were twenty years in building it, and that
the body of the king was placed in room
in the bottom of the Pyramid" " No king
ever had mausoleum so beautifully mag
niGcent; beautiful in its simplicity, magni6-
cent in It's proportions. The Pyramid of
Cephren is 684 feet square and 456 feet
high. The Pyramid of Mycerinus is $50
feet at base and 174 feet high. There
were many other pyramids built, but to all
of them we can only say, "The eternal
pyramids-the mystery of the past, the
enigma of the present, and the enduring
problem for the future ages of the world. "
One thing the ancients did not attempt;
at least there is no record of their building
self-supporting domes prior to the church
of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, originally
built by Constantine, destroyed by fire, and
rebuilt by Justinian. The dome is 175
feet high. St. Paul's, London, commenced
in 1915 and finished in 1710, has dome
145 feet in diameter and 365 feet from the
ground. ST. Peters has the largest and
highest dome known. This beautiful pile
was commenced in A. D. 1850, and finished
three and one-half centuries after The
dome is 405 feet from the pavement, and
1913 feet in diameter. The domes OF the
churches St. Genevieve and lnvalides,
Paris are self-supporting.
Not even Dinocrates, who built Alexan-
dria and Pharos, also the Temple Of Diana
attempted the difficult engineering feat of
self-supporting domes. Inconstructing the
Pyramids mathematics were known, Conse-
quently it was not ignorance which pre-
vented the ancents from worshipping under
self-supporting vault.
The sewers of Paris are great works of
skill, large enough to float inspection boats,
but they do not surpass very much the
Maxima Cloaca of Rome, thirteen feet
broad and thirteen feet high, built by Tar
quinius Priscus, GIG B. G. Athens had
sewers which drained into the Saronica
Gulf. Babylonian sewers drained its
marshes into the Euphrates. Modern age
has simply copied from the ancient. The
principle is the same now as when the
Alexandrian architect wished to build a
temple to Arsinoe, in which he intended to
suspend her statue by means of loadstone.
The only thing modern sanitation can
claim over the ancient is sewers greater in
length and number, owing to the greater
needs.
OF aqueducts, the Croton of New York
claims the honor of being the finest of our
age. 1t is forty-two miles long, and thirty
three from Croton Lake to Harlem River.
Lisbon aqueduct is twelve miles long the
one which carries the water to Paris, 11O
miles. Ancient Rome had fourteen aque-
ducts. Three of these supply modern
Rome-Aqua Virgo, about eleven and
half miles, built by Agrippa, to supply his
baths, Aqua Claudia, forty-fve miles long;
and Aqua Trajana, twenty-three miles,
built to supply inland basins for spectacu-
lar sea fights. Constantinople had its aque-
duct of Pyrgos, fifteen miles long. The
aqueduct supplying Athens had perpendic-
ular pipes of clay or lead every 24O feet or
IL z..-c,ao. h., chic oon