of foundation may be filled in with a concrete of hydraulic cement and
sand, and the walls built on them with usual footings, and it is very
durable, suiting the purpose as well as anything we have seen or heard
of.--_Inland Architect_.

* * * * *




LIFT BRIDGE OVER THE OURCQ CANAL.


This bridge, which was inaugurated in 1868, was constructed under the
direction of Mr. Mantion, then engineer-in-chief of the Belt Railway.
Fig. 1 shows the bridge raised.

The solution adopted in this case was the only feasible one that
presented itself, in view of the slight difference between the level
of the railway tracks and the maximum plane of the canal water. This
circumstance did not even permit of a thought of an ordinary revolving
bridge, since this, on a space of 10 inches being reserved between the
level of the water and the bottom of the bridge, and on giving the
latter a minimum thickness of 33 inches up to the level of the rails,
would have required the introduction into the profile of the railroad
of approaches of at least one-quarter inch gradient, that would have
interfered with operations at the station close by.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--LIFT BRIDGE OVER THE OURCQ CANAL.]