Church Spire Research Articles

(3) The pathology and pathogenesis of stucco keratoses

Stucco keratoses are benign acquired acral keratotic papular lesions usually occurring on the distal parts of the lower limbs of elderly men. They are poorly characterized in the literature and their pathogenesis is uncertain. We have studied eight patients with multiple stucco keratoses who presented in the previous 18 months, in an attempt to understand the nature of these lesions. All eight subjects were male, aged from 50 to 72 years. Their lesions had a characteristic stuck-on appearance and were most numerous over the fronts of the lower legs, but were also evident over other areas of the limbs. All patients had a history of prolonged solar exposure. Three of the subjects had concurrent facial solar keratoses (one also had a squamous cell carcinoma) and one had a lentigo maligna affecting the face. However, the stucco keratoses themselves showed no dysplastic change. Histologically, they showed a characteristic ‘church spire’ type retention hyperkeratosis without marked acanthosis. The lack of an obvious marked increase in epidermal cell population size is reflected in the normal in vitro tritiated thymidine autoradiographic labelling indices (7·81 ± 1·67%, normal range 5–9%). Ultrastructurally, there were no viral particles evident (confirmed by immunocytochemical studies) and a normal pattern of differentiation was evident. Two of the patients with myriads of lesions were treated for 2 months with etretinate and showed a dramatic improvement which, however, lasted for 6 months only. In summary, it appears that (i) these lesions are more common than previously believed; (ii) they are in some way the result of solar exposure, although not themselves dysplastic; (iii) they show normal epidermal differentiation, although they have a localized retention hyperkeratosis; and (iv) they respond to etretinate treatment.

Wind loads on an ancient church spire

Wind tunnel tests have been carried out on models of an ancient church spire which had deteriorated. Dynamic pressures on the surface of the octagonal spire were measured on two models, 1:250 scaled full model of the church with turbulent boundary layer simulation, 1:50 scaled spire sectional model exposed to uniform turbulent flow. Total base overturning moment of the spire was also measured by an aerodynamic balance. The results were used for the reinforcement calculations for the church spire during restoration.

Concerning the Origin of the Onion Dome and Onion Spires in Central European Architecture

THE O N I O N SHAPED SPIRES of the country and pilgrimage churches in Southern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and the Dolomite mountain region of Italy are a characteristic part of these landscapes. They are found, to a lesser degree, in Poland and Hungary, and in the parts of Yugoslavia which before 1918 formed part of the Austrian empire. The distinctive design of these spires differs from the more elaborate tower terminations employed by architects on other structures during the i7th and I 8th centuries. No study explores the origin of the design, or the reason for its geographic distribution.1 Passing conjectures about Byzantine or Eastern originsin view of the resemblance to Russian and Greek Orthodox church spires and Islamic structures-are found, but only to note stylistic similarities, which are then not examined. Indeed, precisely this similarity is part of the interest in the subject. If we assume that a foreign stylistic element has been adopted, we would expect to see it made part of the general architectural design portfolio, and not be limited to country churches. Since these churches were constructed to celebrate and uphold the victory of the Catholic church over its Protestant adversaries, architects would not use a form that is the unmistakable hallmark of another deviation from victorious church doctrine, namely the Greek Orthodox. This relationship of architecture and doctrine also speaks against the use, as a model for oniondome structures, of a Western representative of Byzantine architecture, like S. Marco in Venice. Since the onion shape is not found except in the geographical areas mentioned, and there only in limited examples, it is reasonable to seek the origin of the design in a specific place. This approach turned out to be fruitful. Evidence in the form of a dated city view reveals that as early as I56z tower helmets or spires of definite onion shape existed in Prague, employed for both sacred and secular architecture: the small towers placed at the corners of the terminal platform of the main tower of St. Vitus cathedral, the five towers of the no longer extant Rosenberg palace, and a water tower (Fig. i). A later (i6o6) and more skillful rendering of the palace on the south side of Hradschin castle and the water tower of the Old Town confirms the earlier view (Fig. z). The external fabric of Rosenberg castle, completed in 1549,

Urban birth not urban blight

I remember some ten years ago taking my children north across the Woolwich ferry, making for the highest tower block of flats we could see, and taking the lift to the top floor as this was the only way to get a good view into London's docks. Stretched out below were the oblongs of water, holding the ships etched in black and white with vivid bands of colour round their funnels, overhung with the tracery of cranes and derricks. Today there is no need for such complications: one can drive straight through Gate 19 into King George V docks, along the wide empty roads to the waterfront. I saw two ships moored on the north side, “Bunga Orchid”, carrying containers which were handled by the traditional cranes, and “El Flamingo”, carrying timber. Each was some 6,000 tons and each was importing — historically the trade was either import or export at one berth, not both, for congestion precluded the double operation. Today there is no congestion. The great sheds and lines of grey cranes are still there, and with them the small brick block offices of the shipping companies who have long gone. In one such block on the south side, a small firm, Advanced Battery Systems (Pb) Ltd, has taken up residence, having started originally in temporary accommodation at what was once the Medical Centre of the National Dock Labour Board. From the upper floor of the company's new home the skyline of tower blocks, chimneys, cranes and the occasional church spire is bright on a sharp December morning.

Historical Novels 1948-1949

Previous articleNext article No AccessHistorical Novels 1948-1949B. J. WhitingB. J. Whiting Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 25, Number 1Jan., 1950 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2850010 Views: 3Total views on this site Copyright 1950 The Mediaeval Academy of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

THE CHURCH SPIRE

Journal Article THE CHURCH SPIRE Get access Arundell Esdaile Arundell Esdaile Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar English: Journal of the English Association, Volume 6, Issue 36, Autumn 1947, Pages 296-a–296, https://doi.org/10.1093/english/6.36.296-a Published: 01 October 1947

Early Scottish relations with the Royal Society I.- James Gregory, F. R. S. (1635-1675)

James Gregory (or Gregorie as his name was usually I spelt in the seventeenth century), astronomer and geometer, was born in November 1638 at the Manse of Drumoak, on Deeside, near Aberdeen: he died in October 1675 at Edinburgh, of a sudden illness and at the height of his intellectual powers. Among his contemporaries he was held to be second only to Newton, who was four years his junior. Both Gregory and his wife Mary Jamesone, who was his second cousin, came of a family remarkable for extraordinary talent which persisted throughout two centuries and seven generations. James was a grandchild of David Anderson of Aberdeen, a man of considerable sagacity in mechanics, who earned the name ‘ Davie/do/a’/thing,’ whether for constructing a church spire and raising the great bells into position, or for removing a dangerous rock from the harbour mouth by harnessing it to the tide. His brother Alexander was the leading Scottish mathematician at the beginning of the century who had edited and expounded the trigonometry of Vieta, the father of symbolic algebra. Janet, the daughter of David, married the Reverend John Gregory, a descendant of the Highland clan Macgregor of Roro, the younger branch of the Glenlyon family. Something of their wild fighting spirit was inherited by each of their academic descendants. Mary was the daughter of George Jamesone, a distinguished portrait painter, who was a nephew of David and Alexander.

PERRYSBURG—A MECCA FOR HELIOTHERAPY

THE J. N. ADAM Memorial Hospital at Perrysburg, N. Y., has the distinction of being the first municipal hospital in the United States to introduce the Rollier method of heliotherapy. Here hundreds of cases come for treatment every year until Perrysburg has come to be to the United States what Leysin is to Europe. This hospital-where the city of Buffalo cares for its cases of incipient pulmonary and all forms of surgical tuberculosis-is delightfully situated among the Cattaraugus hills about 1,600 feet above sea level. Patients basking in the sun on the pavilion porches have a panoramic view of nearly fifty miles of hills an(l farmlands. On a clear day the foundry towers and church spires of Buffalo and the Canadian shore creep into the vista. The purity of air-free from manufacturing dust and smokeunobstructed sunshine, complete rest and nourishing food give the men, women and children who come to Perrysburg an extended lease on life.

Open-work church spires

Open-work church spires

The Central Europe Earthquake, November 16, 1911

ON the night of November 16, at 10.25, western Germany, eastern France, and Switzerland were rudely shaken by an earthquake of exceptional intensity. At Frankfort-on-Main houses were cracked, in Freiburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Mulhausen, and in other towns, chimneys and roofs were damaged. The valley of the Upper Rhine was shaken throughout its length. At Constance two colossal statues fell from the Post Office upon the pavement. According to reports in the daily papers, walls were split, church spires were wrecked, roofs were shattered, people were “thrown out of their beds,” telephone and telegraph communications were destroyed, and the path of the earthquake was marked by ruin from Magdeburg to Berlin. Everywhere terror-stricken people?” rushed “from their houses, and at Ebingen 500 of its inhabitants gathered round a fire during the night and recounted their weird experiences.

Daylight Meteor, April 12

THE meteor referred to in NATURE of April 23 (p. 581), was seen by me in Glasgow, low down on the S.E. horizon, at 8.5 p.m. The position of its visible path was carefully noted at the time in relation to a church spire, which it just seemed to touch. On April 27, at 10.30 p.m. the centre of the full moon was 2° above this point, its declination was therefore 22° 13′ S., and its R.A. on April 12 at 8.5 p.m. was 10h. 39m. On account of some intervening shrubs the meteor's path was only visible over a distance of 10°, but the declination seemed to remain unchanged.

Leaning towers and crooked church spires

Leaning towers and crooked church spires