THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1682, 11 July 1879, Page 4

THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.

The Eddystono Lightnoiso is doomed, and lha erection oE another will soon bo commenced. The esplanatL n of Uia premature failure of Smoaton'a gieat structure is a curious one. The tower was, it seems, too securely jointed and cemented together, so that it has been acting, in every storm that has passed over it, like an immense lever or crowbar in disintegrating the rock on which it stands. A lighter and more elastic structure would have been more permanent. If this be the true explanation, the lesson will not be lost. It is not unlikely that the same kind of action led to, or hastened, the downfall of Cleopatra’s Needle from its original oase, and if so the engineer who has raised it on the banks of the Thames would do well to go over his calculations again, with sufficient allowance for the newly discovered weak point of similar erections. It has been stated, moreover, that the Eddystono rock is something like a round table supported on a single leg, and everybody knows how ricketty such an article of furniture is opt to become unless it be very tenderly dealt with. It should therefore become a question for consideration whether the work of disintegration should not be helped. It is a matter for the consideration of those who know most about it whether it may not be possible to blast and quarry the Eddyatone out of existence. The work would be expensive, bat so is the erection and maintenance of a lighthouse. The rock is gneiss, and not likely_ to be easily dealt with ; but the engineering experts who are supposed to know all about it would confer a favor by publishing their views on the matter. None others have a right to hold any opinion at all in reference to it.