THE subject for consideration this evening is rather of an unusual kind, but I wish it to be thoroughly discussed, and only to be allowed myself to act as one of the speakers.

The old saying, that "it is much easier to find fault than to suggest a remedy," is perfectly true in the present instance. The long-established system connected with the manufacture and use of large bells, is attended with many inconveniences; and an opening for improvement exists in the form, the mode of casting, and the usual method of ringing them. There is scarcely a belltower in the kingdom which is not shaken, and in some cases the ringing is altogether discontinued, for fear of the oscillations bringing down tower, bells, and ringers to the ground in one common ruin.

Mr. Ferrey, who has had frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the subject, has written to me as follows:

"You wish me to state what I have observed in the towers which have come under my professional notice. My remarks apply rather to the bad consequences of the mode of bell hanging hitherto adopted, arising from neglect or ignorance, rather than from the principle upon which bells are hung. Still, if some plan of bell-hanging could be adopted less liable to derangement, much mischief to church towers might be avoided.

"In my examination of ancient churches, I have frequently had to deplore the serious injuries caused to the towers by the action of the bells. However judiciously they may be arranged within the framework, there will be some unequal strains upon parts of it; no sooner do the ringers find a difficulty in raising the bells, owing to the want of a proper bearing on the gudgeons, than they wedge up the framework of the bells from the walls, mullions, or any masonry nearest to the point where the bell

which works heavily is placed; no attempt is made to brace the woodwork, and so remedy the defect. The disastrous effects of this slovenly system are obvious; the vibration arising from the revolution of the bells is at once thrown against the walls, and the damage resulting from it becomes very soon apparent. In some central towers I have observed much injury to the supporting arches and piers, as in the case of the tower of Othery Church, near Bridgewater, the structure was rendered dangerous by the manner in which the tower piers were split and crushed by the action of the bells. In many instances, the belfry chambers are closed against the ringers, and the bells are only permitted to be tolled, owing to the dangerous condition of the towers. Very recently steps have been taken to rebuild the upper part of the spire of Bellbroughton Church, near Stourbridge, the masonry of which was so loosened by the vibration of the bells as to become quite dangerous. Many other instances have come under my notice of the serious results arising from bad bell-hanging, and ignorant attempts to remedy the evil."

I may also call your attention to the following remarks by the Rev. W. C. Lukis, in the Wiltshire Archæological Magazine:

"I have seen in the course of my Wiltshire rambles Church towers which are in so dangerous a state that the bells are forbidden to be rung. This arises from two causes. First, bells formerly were not subject to the same oscillations as now. They were swung to and fro very gently compared with the present wild summersaults of change ringing, an art of comparatively recent date. Consequently, in constructing towers, the architects of those days had not to take into their calculation the great vibration of the walls produced by the violent motion of the bells. In 1810, the spire of St. Nicholas'

Church, Liverpool, fell as the people were assembling for service, and killed twentythree persons. This catastrophe was partly caused by the vibration of the bells. Any one who has stood in the belfry of the lofty and beautiful tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, when a peal is ringing on its ten sweet-toned bells, knows the way in which a tower is made to sway."

That the process of throwing bells up and down is inconvenient as well as dangerous, is proved by the fact, that nearly all large bells are struck on the outside with a hammer.

The most sonorous material for bells is found to be a mixture of copper and tin in certain proportions, generally four parts copper to one of tin. It is an error to suppose that silver enters largely into the composition of some bells, though the recently discovered metal, aluminum, is said to be very sonorous. The greatest care is requisite during fusion not to heat the materials more than absolutely necessary; and when melted and sufficiently hot, to commence casting them with as little delay as possible; for metals in a fluid state may be distilled or sublimed by heat like other liquids; consequently, the tin being melted at a much lower temperature than the copper, will be driven off in a sort of aëriform or vaporous state; therefore, in order to be certain that, when the bell is finished, it shall contain the proper quantities of each metal, great importance must be placed on putting in the tin at a proper time, or, when the cast is completed, its composition will be different in its proportions from what was intended.

It is a practice to pour hot metal into a cold mould, or into a mould that has been warmed on the surface, by pouring a small quantity of the fluid metal into it, and then letting it run out again before it has become solid; this plan will give a momentary warmth to the surface of the mould, or may warm it to the depth of half an inch, but it will not prevent the hot fluid metal when poured in from becoming solid wherever it touches the mould, while the interior of the mass will still remain in a liquid state. Under such circumstances, the cast will be tolerably fine-grained, solid, and compact, where the metal has first cooled, that is, wherever it has come in contact with the mould; but inside, where the fluid metal has not been so immediately cooled, the texture will be coarse-grained, porous, and highly crystalline.

Whatever the general external and internal form of a bell may be, the plainer the surfaces the better will be the sound; all mouldings, inscriptions, dates, and every kind of ornament, whether projecting or indented, should be avoided, as they interrupt

the free vibration of sound in proportion as the relief is high or low.

To produce sound, bells are usually struck by a clapper within, or by a hammer on the outside; such continued battering upon a cast, or crystalline substance must, sooner or later, crack the metal. This may happen soon after the bell is placed in the belfry, or not for several centuries. A number of comparatively insignificant hammerings, or concussions, will produce a very surprising effect, if continued for a long period. The fracture may, at first, be so trifling as to be almost inappreciable by the most refined ear; but every stroke of the clapper will increase the evil, until the vibrations of the metal are so interrupted that, instead of a long-continued harmonious sound, an unpleasant jarring noise is produced, and the bell becomes useless. Mr. W. L. Baker's patent plan, proposed in his paper on bells read here last year, of gradually turning the bell round, is a great improvement.

Various circumstances have led me to consider whether a totally different form from that usually given to bells might not be introduced with advantage.

Solid masses of metal, formed in a particular shape, and suspended in a certain way, when struck with a hammer, will give very melodious sounds. For example, take a sound lump of soft steel, forged in the shape of a spindle, or of two cones of the same diameter, but of unequal heights, and united at their bases-each cone bearing a relative proportion to the other, either in its cubical contents or superficial area-the larger one to be three, four, or five times the size of the smaller; suspend this at the largest diameter, or nodal part, by two pins or trunnions, and strike it with a hammer near the centre of gravity of the whole mass; it will vibrate freely, and give a long-continued musical sound. Or take two pieces of metal, formed precisely of the same shape and dimensions as the last, one of soft steel, the other of bell-metal, and suspend them in a similar manner; if these two be struck at the same instant, either with a hammer or against each other-care being taken that the striking point is near the centre of gravity of each-the sound will be a loud, musical chord, of a very harmonious kind.

Coarse-grained, crystallized substances are not so sonorous as those which are of a closer and more compact texture. Glass is extremely sonorous, and the sweetest tones may be produced from it.

It must be evident that the entire subject of bell-casting should be thoroughly investigated, especially at the present time, when we have a grand building at Westminster nearly completed, with a clock-tower waiting for its bells, one of which is to weigh

14 or 15 tons, and the prime cost of the metal only for this one bell cannot be estimated at less than £1,700. I feel that the credit and character of scientific men is involved in the transaction. For, if they would turn their attention to the subject, it is extremely probable that some plan might be discovered to answer the purpose of ponderous bells, with a considerable saving of metal, and much less difficulty of ringing.

In conclusion, I beg to make the remark, that a long habit of considering an established practice as not wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right. I am, therefore, afraid that popular prejudice will be such a formidable barrier against improvement, that no innovation in bells will be tolerated, except by almost imperceptible gradations.

But surely, in these days of invention, when we live, as it were, in an atmosphere of steam power-when our words are sent, almost as quick as we can utter them, to the further end of a wire hundreds of miles in length-when the portraits of living creatures, or other complicated objects, can be produced in an instant by a flash of lightit cannot be too presumptive to expect that, after a lapse of many hundred years, with the help of philosophic investigation and mechanical science, we should be able to suggest some beneficial modifications in the forms, methods of casting, and ringing large bells. I will, therefore, conclude with the hope that some hints may be taken from my remarks, and that the discussion, which I trust will now follow, may lead to further useful results.

Mr. C. Barry, Fellow, said that the thanks of the meeting were due to Mr. Smith for bringing forward not only the subject of the casting of bells, but also points which were useful to them as architects; and especially the question of the degree of strength necessary for bell-towers. If, as Mr. Smith stated, the mode of ringing bells was different now from that formerly practised, he hoped the subject would elicit much valuable information from gentlemen present who were peculiarly qualified to impart it.

Mr. Cornelius Varley, Visitor, said the subject of bells divided itself into two parts; one, how to obtain the best bell with the least weight of metal; and the other, how to support the bells and obtain the most of their sound with the least injury to the building. If bells were hung in the open air, over the conical roof of a tower or support suitably constructed for such moving weight, the cone below would spread their sound right and left; and if their cover were a large sounding board, we should obtain the most effect from a given weight of metal. He had witnessed the full effect of

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3, 1856

sound and smooth bells on the occasion of Lord Macartney's embassy to China, near the end of the last century, when two splendid musical snuff-boxes were taken as presents to the Emperor. To obtain the utmost perfection, the musical part, and the tuning and fitting the bells, were entrusted to his late uncle, Mr. Samuel Varley; and though the bells were smoothly cast, in that state, they were like bells in dampers when com. pared with the musical sound from the truly turned and polished bells. The inside being made quite true to the outside, caused the entire co-operation of the whole bell to produce the sound. In cast bells, there was not only the rough surface, but inequality of thickness, a cause of discord inimical to the sound, and lessening its duration. This, in large bells, was very difficult to avoid, and in thick castings, the two surfaces cooling first, often left a division within, a still greater cause of bad sound. To illustrate this Mr. Varley exhibited a sectional drawing of a casting in brass for an air-pump plate, ten inches diameter; finding it unsound (by the trial of ringing), he forced air in so violently as to separate the two surfaces three-eighths of an inch, and on cutting a piece out, found the division was eight inches diameter; this defect occurred so often in ordinary castings, that he suspected bells could not always be free from it. In his own experience, he had found that metal cast in a hot mould cooled with a crystalline interior. Lord Rosse, by casting on a cold face, had succeeded in getting a sound mass all through.

The Rev. W. Taylor, Visitor, referred to his statement last year, that the great bell at York had never been rung up to set. That statement had been contradicted by Messrs. Mears, who wrote, that it had been completely raised and fairly rung by sixteen men. He (Mr. Taylor) had, however, sent to York for an official report on the subject, and the report was, that the bell had never been rung up to set. He was himself at York in October last, and found that, in fact, although thirty-six men had tried it, the bell had never been set; indeed, with the present hanging, it never would be. Erfurt, the bell, which weighed 275 centner, was rung up to set by twenty-eight men. That bell was not cut into the stock as at York; the latter method took from the centrifugal force, and made it impossible to get up the bell. The different sounds of different metals was an interesting question, and on that point he would remind the meeting, that at St. Nicholas, Hamburgh, very large tuning-forks of cast-iron were struck

At

Each centner = about 110 lbs. Therefore, 275 centuers 275 x 110 lbs. 30250 lbs. 13·5 tons.