REPORT Of the Committee on Trinity Church Organ. We, the undersigned, committee appointed to inspect the new or gan erected in Trinity Church, by Mr. H. Erben, of the city of NewYork, beg to report: The duty of the committee has been a most agreeable one, and they have to congratulate the inhabitants of New-York on possessing such a splendid specimen of the mechanical arts, and an instrument of such purity of tone. The great organ stops are individually of great beauty and excellence, the quality of the diapasons in particular, (which are the most difficult stops to voice in the whole instrument,) are equal to any European organ that your committee are acquainted with, and superior to any in this country that has yet come under our notice. But a want of judgment is evident, in the amount of mixture stops, viz: in the preponderance of the four rank furniture stops, which gives a screaming effect to the full organ, which, was it not for the power of tone of the diapasons, would be entirely spoiled. This, a fault not belonging in particular to this instrument, but existing more or less in most modern organs, and your committee cannot leave this subject without recommending that great care ought to be taken not to destroy the beauty of the pure tone for the sake of a mere noise. The choir organ is in all respects most excellent, every note clear, beautifully voiced, and the clarionet and bassoon, without exception, the best we have ever heard. The swell is in every way admirable, each stop individually excellent, and the effect of the full swell, grand and imposing in the extreme, and the double dulciana bass balances the light stops well. Your committee cannot too highly praise the double diapason in the swell, which gives grandeur and force to the entire organ 1ighly effective, and at the same time recommending the adoption of this noble stop in all organs of any considerable size. The pedal stops are most excellent, firm and sonorous in quality, but your commitee must decidedly object to the thin brass wire pedals which are unpleasant to the foot, and umanageable in every respect, having no quality to recommend them, but their novelty; being an innovation of no possible benefit but of great detriment to a good pedal player. The fact of the notes extending to double C is of inestimable benefit, and your committee hope that for the future the abortive termination at G G pedals, will be exploded. The coupler stops might with great benefit to the organ, be diminished at least one half, they being of no real value, beyond a certain extent; the octave coupler being decidedly detrimental, the touch being thereby much deterioarated, and the increase of useless expense being great. Though the mechanical execution of this most difficult portion of the organ, reflects unbounded credit both on the skill and invention of the maker, yet we cannot consider any advantage to be derived from such a forest of couples to compensate for the increased expense and trouble; we also most decidedly disapprove of the arrangement of the draw stops, as being calculated to confuse the player by their complicated position, which is entirely at variance with the approved practice of the best makers. The workmanship of the bellows is excellent; the adoption of percussion valves being of great benefit to the steady pressure of wind. In conclusion, your committee cannot help expressing their high gratification at the general workmanship of the entire instrument; nothing has been neglected that a liberal policy and exercise of skill could produce. The organ may fairly be considered an ornament to the industrial arts of America, and though many instruments may excel in the mere number of stops (so called,) yet when the great cubical extent of pipe (the open diapasons on the manuals being throughout of metal, and the pedals to 32 feet C,) is taken into consideration, the organ may with truth deserve the appellation of grand. The reed stops reflect great credit on the maker, and your committee trust, that for the future, the idea of importing reed stops from Europe may be abandoned; the maker of this instrument having proved that in this most arduous branch of his art, we can safely submit to a comparison with any European manufactory. Mr. Henry Erben is deserving the highest honor that you or any similar institution can confer on him. (Signed,) GEORGE LODER, Organist of Grace Church. 66 H. W. GREATOREX, " WILLIAM A. KING, of the Church of the Messiah. of St. Paul's Church. 66 St. Peter's Church. U. C. HILL, President of the Philharmonic Society. NOTE. Dr. Hodges, the organist of Trinity Church, was, by the contract of the church with Mr. Erben, to plan the instrument; and the several payments by instal ments to Mr. Erben, were not to be paid unless by the approbation of Dr. Hodges, as the building of the organ progressed. REPORT Of he committee on Roads and Bridges. On Bishop's Railroad Bridge. Of Mr. Bishop's Railroad Bridge, the committee are of opinion that Mr. Bishop has introduced a principle in a great degree new in its application to bridges, and which will be attended with economy and other advantages; and they therefore consider his bridge entitled to a favorable notice on the part of the Institute. On Rider's Iron Railroad Bridge. Of Mr. Rider's Iron Railroad Bridge, the committee would say, that in their opinion it is of great importance that railroad bridges should be constructed of a less destructible material than wood, and that every effort to obtain that result, is entitled to encouragement. Mr. Rider, in his plan has aimed to effect this object, by a combination of wrought and cast iron, whereby with a limited amount of material the adequate strength is to be obtained. The committee think favorably of the combination, and that for bridges of not too large span, believe that his plan will be found useful; and they therefore recommend a favorable notice on the part of the Institute. The Russ Pavement. On the Russ Pavement, the committee are of the opinion that the public are under great obligations to Mr. Horace P. Russ, for the great attention which he has given to the subject of pavements, and for the enterprise and care with which he has brought into use his pavement in our great thoroughfare, Broadway, to a sufficient extent to enable the public to appreciate its value, and for trial to test its durability. As that trial is now going on, and as the effect of a winter and spring can soon be appealed to, the committee deem unnecessary an expression of opinion as to its durability; but they [Assembly, No. 151.] 13 would be pleased if the Institute would express in a more suitable way, its sense of the service rendered the public by Mr. Russ, in what he has done towards an improvement in the pavement of our Mode of Constructing the Russ Pavement. When the subsoil is graded and ready, a quantity of granite or other mason or quarry chips, each from four to six or eight inches in diameter, and about half that thickness, are to be laid with the flattest side upwards, and rammed down flush with the grading, so as to form an open heading or partial pavement foundation for the next part of the work. This is to be proceeded in as follows: The positions of the sewers, pipes and branches are defined, and metal or wood frames, thicker at the bottom than the top, laid so as to circumscribe a space or spaces, forming a panel or panels over each sewer pipe and branch beneath, and may be made of sound wood, though common cast iron, or iron-stone pottery, burnt earth, or any other fit material may be used for the frame pieces. Then a proper set of open wooden, shallow vats are to be prepared, for mixing in them what is now well known by the technical name of “concrete,” namely, a mixture of masons' chips, bro en stones, hydraulic cement, clean sand, (not salt beach sand,) and fresh water, in such proportions as the quality of the cement will require to form a sound foundation above the subsoil, that will in a short time become an artificial flag or slab of rock about eight inches thick, to bear the pavements above; but before the mixture is placed into the panels or sections formed by the frames; those panels that may hereafter have to be lifted out for access to the parts beneath, are to have bars of iron laid into them, forming crosses with the holes in them, through which they are to be united by an eye bolt with a ring in the head of each bolt, and in the larger panels two or more of these sets of bars, bolts and rings may be used, while on the smaller panels one will be sufficient. The bolts employed for these purposes may be of a small extra length that will find a place in the subsoil, and a countersink in the face of the concrete is to receive the ring. In this way, on applying power to raise the pane!, the ring will lift clear of the face without breakage or injury to the concrete. Then the concrete |