Part 13 (1/2)

CONDITION OF THE WORK.

1. _Preparation of foundation._--This consisted in placing a ma.s.s of Portland cement concrete beneath the existing foundation, extending downwards 13 feet; underneath and within the outer edge of the old foundation 18 feet; and without this edge 23 feet; then, of taking out the old foundation from beneath the shaft, for a sufficient distance back to obtain a good bearing upon the new masonry which is built out upon the slab first mentioned.

This work is so far advanced that it will be entirely completed by the 15th of June.

2. _Preparation for the shaft._--The other operations have consisted in the erection of the interior frame-work for the staircases and elevator within the shaft, which frame-work will be used in the construction of the masonry; the collection of granite and marble for continuing the shaft; and the preparation of the machinery for raising the stones to the top of the shaft, and setting them in place on the walls.

APPROPRIATIONS.

The only appropriation for this work as yet made by Congress is two hundred thousand dollars, contained in the act of August 2, 1876, which sum will be exhausted by the end of August, 1880.

The estimate for completing this work is $667,000, and the time required will be four working seasons.

Very respectfully, your ob't servant, THOS. LINCOLN CASEY, _Lieutenant-Colonel Engineers, U.S.A., Engineer in Charge._

UNITED STATES SENATE CHAMBER, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D. C., _March 31, 1879_.

DEAR SIR: I inclose, as possibly of interest, extracts from a letter I have just received from Hon. George P. Marsh, our Minister at Rome.

These extracts refer to the Was.h.i.+ngton Monument question. Mr. Marsh is among the most learned and accomplished of those in any country who have given the subject of architecture and monumental art attention.

Very truly yours, GEO. F. EDMUNDS.

Gen. T. L. CASEY, _Corps of Engineers_.

[Extracts.]

ROME, _February 9, 1879_.

DEAR MR. EDMUNDS: By a letter from the sculptor Mead to Mrs. Marsh, I understand that the main feature of the Was.h.i.+ngton Monument is to be an obelisk of great height, surmounted by a colossal statue, and with _bas-reliefs_ at a suitable height from the base. I believe I have not only seen but sketched every existing genuine--that is, Egyptian--obelisk, for no other can fairly said to be genuine. The obelisk is not an arbitrary structure which every one is free to erect with such form and proportions as suit his taste and convenience, but its objects, form, and proportions were fixed by the usage of thousands of years; they satisfy every cultivated eye, and I hold it an esthetical crime to depart from them.

In its objects the obelisk is monumental, its inscriptions having reference to and indicating what or whom it commemorates. I do of think _bas-reliefs_ too great a departure from the primitive character the inscriptions, because we can come no nearer an alphabet answering the purpose.

The most important point is the form and proportions of the structure, as to which the modern builder of obelisks transgresses greatly. The Egyptian obelisks do not, indeed, all conform with mathematical exactness to their own normal proportions, but (probably from defects in the stone) frequently vary somewhat from them. When truly fas.h.i.+oned, however, they are more pleasing to the eye than when deviating from the regular shape.

The obelisk consists: First, of a naked shaft, with or without inscription, the height of which is ten times the width of its base, so that if the base of the shaft is fifty feet square, then the height of the shaft must be five hundred feet. For optical reasons (which cannot be considered in the Was.h.i.+ngton Monument, it being too late) the faces of the shaft are slightly convex.

The dimensions of the shaft are reduced as it rises, and in this point the ancient obelisks vary more than any other, the top of the shaft varying from two-thirds to three-quarters of the linear measurement of the base. Hence, if the base of the shaft (I do mot mean of the pedestal or plinth, if there is one) is fifty feet square, its summit may be anywhere between thirty-three and one-third and thirty-seven and one-half feet square. The obelisks much reduced are the most graceful, but in this case the great height will of itself reduce the apparent measurement, so that perhaps thirty-five would not be too much. But the shaft has already gone up so far as to have settled those questions of form irrevocably. Second, of a pyramidion or apex, the form and proportions of which are constant. The base of the pyramidion is of exactly the same dimensions as the summit of the shaft, and unites with it directly without any break (except, of course, one angle), and with no ledge, molding, or other disfigurement. The height of the pyramidion is equal to the length of a side of the base of the shaft, and therefore greater than the side of its own base.

There are cases where the hyeroglyphics run up one or more faces of the pyramidion, but in general these faces are perfectly plain.

The Egyptians often covered the whole pyramidion with a closely fitted gilt bronze cap, the effect of which most have been magnificent.

It has been said that it was sometimes surmounted by a gilt star, but I doubt this, for the casing of the pyramidion would of itself have much the same effect.

The notion of spitting an the sharp point of the pyramidion is supremely absurd. Not less so is the subst.i.tution of a low hipped roof for am acute pyramidion, or the making of a window in the face of the pyramidion or of the shaft, both which atrocities were committed in the Bunker Hill Monument. There will no doubt be people who will be foolish enough to insist on a peep-hole somewhere; and if they must be gratified the window should be of the exact form and size of one of the stones,and provided with a close-fitting shutter colored exactly like the stone, so that when shut it would be nearly or quite imperceptible from below.