Show THE tue FOUNTAINS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE in some borne respects the most wonderful water works in the he world are those just completed at the crystal palace at sydenham By denham england for the purpose of playing the fountains there bere the water works of versailles are astonishing especially when it is considered how many generations orations Frat erat ions lons ago they were put up ur but they yield in in many particulars even as mechanical contrivances tri vances to those at sydenham the latter however have a merit even higher than that of the hydrostatic ability they display for while hiie hile those at versailles were erected by a de despotic ti e monarch with th the e resources of a whole se kingdom ing at his command these have been constructed by a private company without a cent of aid from the government the fact is to some soine extent intent significant of the progress of civilization less lesy than two centuries ago monarchs only could afford what the people in voluntary associations purchase e and put up for themselves refinement has descended in the direction of the masses mashes and not only refinement but wealth god sped speed its onward ona progress v but to our description of the crystal palace water works the most striking features of these works are the two colossal fountains each throwing a vast jet of water to tile the height of two hundred and eighty feet in order to achieve thi this 8 feat three different dit farent ferent expedients were t tried e da t two 0 of which failed involving an immense loss in money finally a couple of enormous towers were erected on the highest part of the grounds each eacil rising to an elevation of two hundred and seventy nine feet A series of powerful engines pump the water from a well partly artesian five hundred and seventy div feet deep up tip from successive platforms ard finally force a portion of it to the top of each of these towers whence it descends to feed the two gi gigantic antic fountains the lesser fountains belm beim being 11 an fn fed from reserva reservoirs reser volra irb irs on the different platforms some idea of the enormous strength th with which the tower had to be construct constructed es may be derived from the fact that the total weight of each tower when the foun 1 i bains are playing is over three thousand tons viz two thon thousand sand tons of water two hundred and forty tons of wrought iron six hundred an and 1 thirty eight tons of cast iron and two lit iii hundred indred tons oe of glass timber lead ac this does not include the vibratory shock of the water in ascending and arid descending N which required additional str strength etu etL til ali to be given to the towers in all there are eleven thousand seven hun I 1 ired tred and eighty eight jets in the entire series I 1 0 f works total consumption of is I 1 one hundred and nd twenty thousand gallons every tennte tinn rinn te for besides the two iwo colossal fo fann fonn in i taina there are ten or a dozen lesser ones that throw jet jets jelsone sone one hundred feet high bagh P as well as i almost countless smaller fountains in addition i to water temples cascades ac ac ten miles of iron pipes are required ired to conduct the water that feeds these works and through the smallest of these p pipes ipes lpes i a man can crawl yet the space over which the fountains are distributed is comparatively small the sight when they are all in full play is said to be magnificent the spectator sees before him a group of basins arranged on terraces that rise above each other the crystal palace building crowning the st summit and each of these basins seems alive with jets flashing in the sunshine and crossing and re crossing each other while cas ca cades diversify the scenes and arid the tile two colos sal fountains shoot to a dizzy height from the lowest basin of all As a contribution of modern genius to the beautiful aswell as well weil asatri as a triumph 11 hydrostatic of skill the crystal palace fountains deserve to be ranked among the wonders of the world ex |