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January 28th, 1887, those excavations at the bottom of which were to rest the four feet of the tower which had never been out of my thoughts for the last two years. I felt, moreover, in spite of the violent attacks to which my project had been exposed, that public opinion was on my side, and that a crowd of unknown friends were ready to honor this bold enterprise as soon as it took form. The imagination of men was struck by the colossal dimensions of the edifice, especially in the matter of height.

The towers of Notre Dame de Paris reach a height of 217 feet; the Pantheon 260 feet; the dome of the Invalides, which is the highest monument in Paris, 344 feet; Strasburg Cathedral is 466 feet; the Great Pyramid of Egypt 479 feet; the Cathedral of Rouen rises 492 feet from the ground, and is only surpassed by Cologne Cathedral, which, lately completed, attains to 522 feet; but the Americans, again, outdid this by erecting at Washington an immense obelisk in masonry, which reaches a height of 555 feet, and was constructed with immense difficulty.

Experience has shown, however, that masonry is not suitable for a construction of the kind. With iron, on the contrary, -of which the properties are so remarkable, since it may be as readily worked in tension as in compression, and can be put together perfectly by rivetting-the execution presented no insurmountable difficul ties. Moreover, metal constructions can now be planned with such accuracy as to sanction the boldness which results from full knowledge.

Lastly, without any desire to flatter our national vanity, I may be allowed to say that French industry has held, and still holds, a high place in Europe in the art of building in iron.

Hence the material of which the tower was to be built was determined not only by the fact that it rendered construction possible, but also because it would supply a brilliant example of a modern industry in which France has been more especially distinguished since its introduction.

The base of the tower consists of four great piers, which bear the names of the four cardinal points. The first matter which offered itself for consideration was the question of the solidity of the foundation of these four piers. A series of bor. ings showed that the subsoil in the Champ

de Mars was composed of a deep stratum of clay, capable of supporting a weight of between 45 pounds and 55 pounds to the square inch, surmounted by a layer of sand and gravel of varying depth, admirably calculated to receive the foundations. The actual position of the tower was determined by considerations relative to the depth of this stratum, since it was impossible to rest the piers directly on the clav. The foundation of each pier is now separated from the clay by a sufficient thickness of gravel.

Each of the main supports of the tower rests on blocks of masonry, and the masonry rests on beds of concrete which cover an area of 60 square metres. In the centre of each pile of stonework are two great iron bars 25 feet 6 inches in length, and 4 inches in diameter, which, by means of iron cramps, unite almost all parts of the masonry. This anchorage, which is not necessary to the stability of the tower— sufficiently assured by its own weight— gives, nevertheless, additional security, and has, moreover, been useful in the construction of the ironwork.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the foundations are established under conditions of great security, and that in the choice of materials and in the dimensions ample margin has been allowed, so as to leave no room for doubt with regard to their solidity.

Nevertheless, to render perfectly certain that the feet of the tower should remain absolutely level in any event, we have made room, at the angles of the piers where they rest on the masonry, for hydraulic presses of 800 tons. By means of these presses each pier can be displaced, and raised as much as is necessary by inserting steel wedges beneath it.

The raising into place of the ironwork which forms the upper part of the tower was accomplished by derricks and windlasses. As soon as the piers reached a height of 100 feet their inclination rendered scaffolding necessary to carry on the construction to a height of 169 feet, at which point are established the horizontal beams uniting the four piers and forming the skeleton of the first story. The solid construction of the first platform was a great step toward the success of the work.

The raising of the pillars between the first and second platforms was rapidly accomplished by the same method as that

employed between the ground and the first story-i.e., the pieces of iron were raised by four cranes attached to the beams of the lift placed in each pier.

The work went forward so rapidly that in July, 1888, the four pillars were united by the beams of the second story, at a height of 387 feet, and by the 14th of the month the second platform was fixed, on which fireworks were displayed at the Fête

Nationale.

The erection of that part of the tower comprised between the second platform and the summit was carried out by means of the same cranes as had served for the lower part; but these no longer worked on an inclined plane, but were raised along an upright, formed by the central guide of the higher lifts.

The total weight of the ironwork in the tower is rather more than 7,000 tons, without counting that in the caissons, which form a portion of the foundations, or that in the machinery of the lifts.

The different parts of the tower are reached by staircases and lifts. There are easy stairs in the east and west piers, which give access to the first story, and it is calculated that by using one for ascent and one for descent they will allow more than 2,000 persons to go up and come down in the hour. From the first platform to the second there are four winding staircases, one in each pier, and from the second platform to the summit there is a single winding staircase, which, however, unlike the others, is not intended for the use of visitors, but for officials only.

On the first platform is a covered gallery, with arcades, whence visitors can enjoy a view of Paris and its environs, as well as of the Exhibition, with four refreshment rooms in the centre-AngloAmerican, Flemish, Russian, and French. On the second story is a second covered gallery; and in the centre is the station where passengers change from the lifts which move on an inclined plane of the lower half of the tower, to the vertical lifts of the upper portion.

On the third story is a great saloon more than 50 feet square, shut in by glass on all sides, and whence, sheltered from wind and weather. the spectator can contemplate the magnificent panorama, 45 leagues in extent, which is displayed beneath him. Above this room are labora

tories and observatories for scientific purposes, and in the centre the winding stair leading to the lighthouse whence the electric light shines over the whole of Paris.

The lifts are on three different systems, and all are provided with breaks, and otherwise insured against the possibility of serious accident. They are all worked by hydraulic power, and together are capable of conveying 2,350 persons in an hour to the first and second stories, and 750 to the summit, the whole ascent being effected in seven minutes. If we include the staircases it will be possible for 5,000 persons to visit the tower in the space of an hour.

The tower is now known to the whole world; it has struck the imagination of every nation, and inspired the most remote with the desire of visiting the Exhi bition. The Press of all countries confirms this statement, and I have myself received continual proofs of the universal curiosity and interest excited by the monument.

The visitors who go to the top of the tower have beneath their eyes a magnificent panorama. At their feet they see the great city, with its innumerable mon uments, its avenues, its towers, and its domes; the Seine which winds through it like a long ribbon of steel; farther off, the green circle of the hills which surround Paris; and beyond these, again, the wide horizon stretching 112 miles from north to south. At night the spectacle is no less beautiful. Paris with all its lights is like fairyland, but in this aspect it has hitherto been known only to aeronauts, on whom its beauty has always made a strong impression. The construction of the tower will enable thousands to contemplate a spectacle of new and incomparable loveli

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The tower is itself at such a distance from the fortifications that it is absolutely out of reach of the enemy's batteries.

It will be, moreover, a wonderful meteorological observatory, whence the direction and the force of atmospheric currents can be usefully studied, from the point of view of science and hygiene, as well as the condition and the chemical composition of the atmosphere, the amount of electricity and moisture it contains, the variations of temperature at different heights, atmospherical polarization, etc. It is specially adapted for an astronomical observatory; for the purity of the air at this great height above the low lying mists, which so often cloud the horizon of Paris, will allow of a number of observations often impossible in our climate.

I will not weary my readers with the enumeration of all the experiments to be made on the tower, of which a programme has been already drawn up by our scientific men, and which include the study of the fall of bodies through the air, the resistance of the air to varying velocities, certain laws of elasticity, the study of the compression of gases or vapors under the pressure of an immense mercury manometer of 400 atmospheres, a new realization on a great scale of Foucault's penduJum, demonstrating the rotation of the earth, the deviation toward the East of a failing body, etc., etc.; lastly, a series of physiological experiments of the deepest

interest.

I may even go so far as to say that there are few scientific men who do not hope at this moment to carry out, by the help of the tower, some experiment connected more especially with their own investigations.

Thus it will be an observatory and laboratory such as was never until now at the disposal of science; and from the first all our scientific men have encouraged me with their warmest sympathy. On my side, and in order to express in a striking manner that the monument which I have raised is dedicated to science, I decided to inscribe in letters of gold on the great frieze of the first platform, and in the place of honor, the names of the greatest men of science who have honored France from 1789 down to our own day.

Besides all these uses, which I might have explained in greater detail, but which, even in this rapid summary, will serve to show that we have not erected an object of barren wonder, the tower possesses in my eyes a usefulness of a totally different order, which is the true source of the ardor which has inspired ine in my work.

The public at large understood this, and it is also the reason of the very general and warm sympathy which has been displayed toward ine.

My object was to show to the whole world that France is a great country, and that she is still capable of success where others have failed.

The Scientific American said, in 1874, with reference to the tower of Philadelphia, destined to celebrate the centenary of the national independence :—

The character of the project is closely connected with the purpose of its erection; the hundredth anniversary of our national existence ought not to be allowed to pass without a permanent memorial, which an exhibition lasting a few months cannot furnish.

"It is evident that in the space of two years no monument of imposing aspect and original in conception can be constructed with other material than iron; from every point of view we could not choose a more national construc

tion. We will celebrate our centenary by the most colossal iron construction that the world has seen."

Can we not apply to ourselves these words which, remaining a dead letter in America in 1874, have become for us in France a living reality?

May I be allowed to recall here a few words which I pronounced in inaugurating the first stage of the tower, and which sum up my ideas on the subject :

“The beginning was difficult, and criticism as passionate as it was premature was adcould, thanks to the constant support of M. dressed to me. I faced the storm as best I Lockroy, then Minister of Commerce and Industry, and I strove by the steady progress of the work to conciliate, if not the opinion of artists, at least that of engineers and scientific sonal insignificance, that France continued to men. I desired to show, in spite of my perhold a foremost place in the art of iron construction, in which from the earliest days her engineers have been more particularly distinguished, and by means of which they have talent. Doubtless you are not ignorant that covered Europe with the creations of their almost all the great engineering works of this nature, in Austria, Russia, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, are due to French engineers, and the through foreign countries, the traces of their traveller discovers with pride, as he passes activity and their science.

"The tower, 1,000 feet high,is, before everything, a striking manifestation of our national genius in one of its most modern developments; and this is one of the principal reasons for its existence.

"If I may judge by the interest which it inspires, abroad as well as at home, I have reason to believe that my efforts have not been unavailing, and that we may make known to the world that France continues to lead the world, that she is the first of the nations to realize an enterprise often attempted or

dreamed of: for man has always sought to build high towers to manifest his power, but he soon recognized that the laws of gravity hampered him seriously, and that his means

were very limited. It is owing to the progress of science, of the engineer's art, and of the iron industry, that we are enabled to surpass in this line the generations which have gone before us by the construction of this tower, which will be one of the characteristic feats of modern industry."

So it is that I have wished to raise to the glory of modern science, and for the more especial honor of French industry, a triumphal arch as striking as those which earlier generations have raised to honor conquerors.—New Review.

MR. BROWNING IN A PASSION.

BY PROFESSOR ROBERT YELVERTON TYRRELL.

Ir will be interesting to watch what the Browning societies will say or whether they will say anything--about their idol's last manifestation of himself in print. "Can heavenly minds such dire resentment show?" will be asked by the unbelievers. Yes, the societies may answer; since frenzy put into the hands of Archilochus his own iambus, poets have been allowed to enjoy a privilege denied, or accorded with condemnation, to the heathen, and to rage furiously, if only they can rage poetically; and many poets have forgotten the superior dignity of saying with Leonato

"My griefs cry louder than advertisement."

But has ever resentment, just or unjust, dribbled itself away in such feeble and ungrammatical abuse as that which the Athenæum of July 13 presented to us with the signature of Robert Browning?

"I chanced upon a new book yesterday: I opened it, and where my finger lay "Twixt page and uncut page these words I read

Some six or seven at most-and learned thereby

That you, Fitzgerald, whom by ear and eye She never knew, Thanked God my wife was dead.'

Ay, dead! and were yourself alive, good

Fitz,

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Now, even if "good Fitz" had thanked God that Mrs. Browning was dead (he never did, but only thanked God that we should have no more Aurora Leighs), is it not marvellous that any sane English gentleman-that any one except an Italian from Leicester Square under the influence of absinthe-should think of seeking redress for an insult, real or imaginary, in kicking and spitting? But still more marvellous is the impotence of the expression throughout. Mr. Browning's words distinctly complain that Fitzgerald thanked God that his (Fitzgerald's) wife was dead. It is only extra-grammatical considerations. which lead us to apprehend what the charge is which the poet means to bring.

Again, the phrase "Good Fitz"-a jocular and friendly mode of addresswould show that the writer is not at all so angry as he pretends to be, if words were any index to his thoughts. But they plainly are not. When he writes

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The spitting, then, is a fait accompli, for glorifies can no more take the place of would glorify than it could take the place of would not glorify. Be it noticed, too, that to spit there does not mean to spit on the curs. The pronoun there (= on it or on them) does not stand for the noun curs which precedes it, but for the noun face which follows it. I hope if I venture to say that this kind of English seems to me below the standard which would secure a pass at Civil Service examinations Mr. Browning will not make arrangements for kicking or spitting at me, for I have no experience in the proper methods of meeting that form of attack, and I own that I am unable to feel that past connubialities on the part of Mrs. Browning would convert such " greeting," however " appropriate," into an honor and distinction conferred on me.

But it may be urged that the Latin poets kicked and spat and said very unmentionable things, and that anger does

not choose its words. Agreed: all might be forgiven if we had in the verses even the rudiments of a fine thought or a fine expression. I have no doubt that Lord Tennyson regrets his fierce rejoinder to Bulwer Lytton's attack, but we cannot regret the existence of a poem which has such phrases as "shook a mane en papillotes," and such lines as

or

"To have the great poetic heart

Is more than all the poet's fame ;"

"We knew him out of Shakespeare's art And those fine curses which he spoke ; The Old Timon with the indignant heart, Which deeply loathing greatly broke."

Even the much weaker— "It is here, it is here, the end of the year, And with it a spiteful litter,"

is redeemed by the fine expression

"I hear the roll of the ages."

When Swinburne is furious he wields, if not thunderbolts, at least not brickbats. There is no inarticulateness in

"As, thank the secret sire picked out to cram With spurious spawn thy misconceiving dam,

Thou, like a worm from a town's common tomb,

Didst creep from forth the kennel of her womb;"

or in

"Iscariot, thou gray-grown beast of blood;"

or

"Chief nerve of Hell's pained heart eternally."

than to 'Tilda Squeers, and we cannot say as much for Mr. Browning's protest.

This is, at all events, nearer to Catullus

So

What will the worshippers say? The unbelievers will wag the head, and shoot out the lip, and say, "There, there! would we have it." The incapacity to express a feeling of resentment which seems to be genuine, however unfounded, will lend support to the heresy that we have in Mr. Browning a man of high intelligence, great psychological insight and wide culture, but one who labors under an abnormal inaptitude to exercise the mechanical part (at least) of the poet's art. -Fortnightly Review.

WANTED--A GOSPEL FOR THE CENTURY.

BY REV. FATHER BARRY.

THERE have been times when the handwriting on the wall of history was hard to read. But such is not the time in which we live. No Daniel need come forth, in his prophet's garment, to tell us that the Belshazzar's feast glorified by some under the name of "modern civilization," and by others loathed as a combination of lux. ury and sacrilege, cannot last. "Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' has been written against it in characters of flame and fire. It is judged and found wanting.

The whole European system that has grown up since the French Revolution has the air of an interregnum. It seems to be founded on no principle, to fulfil no aspiration. It inspires confidence neither in the Jew money-lender, nor in the paralyzed and bewildered Liberal, nor in the mocking Conservative who uses and despises it; neither in the English Churchman, who knows it will not prevent his disestablishment, nor in the Irish landlord, whom it has sent-it unwilling, him un

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