New-York tribune., 1910-07-26
TOWER BUILT To LEAN
Not an Accident, Says Brooklyn
Institute Professor.
PISA CONTROVERSY NOW ON
Declares Conclusion Reached by
Special Commission Seems
Absurd to Him.

Absurd to Him.
News from Florence was published In The
Tribune that the famous leaning tower or
Pisa long a subject of controversy as %
whether the obIiquity OF the tower was due
TO design or accident. was now attracting
the attention OF the authorities
The story ran that local opinion mad
hitherto favored the suggestion that the
tower was designed to stand obliquely, odt
that it now seemed 70 be admitted that 81
was built vertically and has since moved
from that position This was considerso
confirmed by the fact that an increasing
settlement seemed TO be feared
Professor William II. Goodyear. curator
of the Fine Arts Museum of the BROOKLYN
Institute. who returned recently from a
European trip on which he spent five weeks
in Pisa taking measurements and pnoto-
graphs of the tower in his Investigations u
architectural refinements.7 said yesterday
that as the result of many years study OF
the tower ne was convinced that its 90
liquity was due to design and not accident
Tower Under Examination.
When I reached Pisa, about May l,
said Professor Goodyear, Il learned that u
the tower. Il vas intimated by some who
had had occasion 10 be familiar with 1e
activity of the commission that nothing es-
peciaIly important had been learned ~
them.
.sThere was a sufficiently alarming a2-
pea nee at the base OF the tower itself,
which stands in a shallow weu SHAPED
construction OF masonry. Water was com
ing and flowing away in this well shaped
basin. and 1t vas evident that recent ar
rangements had been made for carrying OF
this water This flow was obviously ca
cu1ated TO weaken the soil beneath the foun-
dations and to endanger the stability Of the
tower.
Before leaving Pisa I was taken By an
Italian friend to the grounds OF villa
only 127 PAGES from the tower It IS
known that palace of the Emperor Ha-
drian once stood in this neishoorhood. and
that there were Roman baths near by
There was nothing surprising, therefore
when the remains Of an old Roman aque-
duct in the garden of the villa were shown
to me There was a sort Of cistern nearly
full of water, and the flow in and out was
said to be continuous.
Foundations in Danger.
through an old Roman aqueduct exists in
the immediate neighborhood of the tower,
and II would be quite natural that this
water in it's underground course had taken
a new direction and was endangering the
foundations
NV only present knowledge of the char
scter of the report OF the commission is
derived from an account which appeared
Of TTTIv a
spondent who had gone 10 Pisa especially
70 interview the members Of the cornrn1s-
sion and 70 examine the conditions on the
ground No mention Is made in the report
of the Roman aqueduct and no great stress
seems TO be laid on the water Well1ng up
under the foundations.
TT appears to me that the first measure
to be taken TO preserve the tower would
be 70 dig a. trench at a sufficient distance
across the line running from the garden
mentioned TO the tower to ind the probably
existing underground water course and TO
turn IL another direction
1T may be that the tower is now in dan
ger but as this danger appears 70 come
from recent cause-namely. that or an
underground water course which has taken
a new direction-it does not at all follow
that the present facts have anything 10 do
with the original inclination.
Dsproves Accident Theory.
MY previous measurements were sup
pIemented this spring BY measurements IN
the spiral stairway on each side Of every
step for the entire height Of the tower
These measurements are Of remarkable in
terest as regards sequence and gradation,
and I do not think they are compatible
with the theory of accident. II the tower
has settled slightly in consequence Of
water rising under IL, il would be ex
trenely natural that such a fact would
have no bearing on the question whether
the original lean was constructive or not
One point in the report of the commits
sion on which they appear 10 lay stress s
showing the entire inclination TO be acci-
dental appears TO me to show nothing of
the kind The commission has discovered
for the first time in history that the foun-
dations of the tower are tubular and are
confined to the surface under the tubular
waII-in other words, that there are no
foundations under the central open part of
the tube It seems TO me to have been en-
tirely sensible on the part of the original
builders TO confine their foundations TO the
lines OF direct pressure.
Deduction Called Absurd.
Foundations under the centre Of the
tower where there is no weight evidently
would not have been Of the slightest use
It is claimed that the leaning of the tower
is thus proved 70 be accidental. which
seems TO me absurd.
My observations and measurements of
the spiral stairway were enormously de-
veloped and increased this sprinS, although
was not aware that their evidence would
so soon be in point. Ny original measure
ments in 1891 were taken only at the en-
trance and at the turns of the spiral stair
way, which are at the centre of the side
opposed 10 the exterior lean and al the
centre of the leaning exterior side. These
measurements have now been supplemented
by others which were taken on both sides
of every one OF the 217 steps from top to
bottom Of the stairway To nv mind they
establish beyond debate that the tower was
built TO lean.
The building Of the tower Of Pisa was
begun in 1t70 and the column finished many
years later. II is 17e feet high and 13 feet