This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ...and simplest expedient for supporting a structure; it is supposed to have originated from the big stone placed over a doorway in the days before the idea of the true arch was developed. Other engineers, for instance, Mr. Carlos Van Law, are of the opinion that the flat arch was a development from the ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ...and simplest expedient for supporting a structure; it is supposed to have originated from the big stone placed over a doorway in the days before the idea of the true arch was developed. Other engineers, for instance, Mr. Carlos Van Law, are of the opinion that the flat arch was a development from the true arch, and that, in form and principle, it is the real origin of our modern 'invention' of fire-proof floor construction with its so-called arch-tiles. gestion of brown walls; on the onlooking slopes there is a decrease in the density of building and an increase of verdure, until the top of the ridges is reached, where there are no dwellings, but only the dark red earth of the cornfields, defined by hedges of organ cactus. Surrounding the town and overlooking it, are golden brown hills, with contours deeply eroded and steep ravines, the culminating point being the cone of Cubilete. The broken sky-line is carved in diabase, and the nearer slopes are eroded in the conglomerate that lies on the flanks of the main ridge. In front, beyond the huddled habitations of man and the brown hills, crossed by the traveling shadows of clouds that fleck the vivid blue of the sky, stretches the purple interval that marks the Bajio, a great valley along which runs the Mexican Central--an unromantic railroad, with slow trains, sloppy Chinese cooking, and a most distressing service. Beyond it, like the good things promised on the other side of this vale of tears, is the blue line of the Cordilleras, throbbing with soft enchantment and pulsating with the romance of mining that shall not die. When luncheon was over we left the mirador, and in doing so passed through the remains of a pretty garden. It seemed strange to see the old-fashioned gilly-flower, rose...
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