A view is given of the Aqueduct of Spoleto, in Italy. The bridge supporting this Aqueduct is remarkable for the slender form of the piers and their great height; being only ten and a half feet thick and two hundred and fifty feet
high to the base of the arches. This Aqueduct was built by the Goths, a people who gave a model for Church Architecture which is much admired at the present day. It
is said that they borrowed the idea of the form of their arch from the opening beneath an arbor of trees.
The plan of the bridge for the Croton Aqueduct at
Harlem River has been criticised on account of the small thickness of the piers as compared with their height, and because they were not made piers of equilibrium ; that is to
say, having their bases broader, so as to include the line
of thrust of the arches, so that if a portion of the bridge were removed, the remainder of the arches and piers would maintain their By the present plan the permaposition.
nency of any one individual arch may be considered to depend upon that of the whole structure.*
The Aqueduct of Spoleto, has been standing about eleven hundred years and is still in a perfect state of preservation.
With proper care in preparing the foundations of the bridge at Harlem River, there is no good reason to fear that it will be less durable than that of Spoleto.
Aqueducts op Ancient Rome.