Society of Architects; which occurred
at London, Ontario, last week. Mr. Durand was young in the profession,
being only thirty-nine years old, but was very widely and favorably
known among architects and the public, both in Canada and elsewhere.
He was a native of London, but after spending a short time in the
office of the city engineer there, he went to Albany, N.Y., where he
was employed by Mr. Thomas Fuller as his chief assistant in the work
on the new capitol, which was then in Mr. Fuller's hands. When Mr.
Fuller was superseded, Mr. Durand left Albany with him, and, after a
year spent in Maine, with a granite company, he returned to his native
city, where he soon found constant and profitable employment, having
for several years built a large part of the most important structures
in Western Ontario. The London _Advertiser_, to which we owe most of
our information as to his works, offers to his relatives and friends
the sincere sympathy of the public which it represents, and we are
sure that the architects of the United States will join with their
brethren in Canada in mourning the loss of one who, at so early an
age, had conquered for himself so conspicuous a place in his laborious
profession.

* * * * *

Some interesting experiments on concrete arches were made recently,
during the construction of the new railway station at Erfurt. Some of
the rooms were to be covered with concrete floors, carried on iron
beams, while others, of smaller size, were intended to be spanned by
arches extending from wall to wall. One of the latter, something over
seven feet in width, was covered with concrete, flat on top, and
forming on the underside a segmental arch, the thickness of the
material at the crown of the arch being four inches, and about eleven
inches at the springing. The concrete was made of "Germania" Portland
cement, mixed dry with gravel, moistened as required, and well rammed
on the centring; and skew-backs were cut in the brick walls at the
springing line, extending two courses higher, so as to give room for
the concrete to take a firm hold on the walls. Fourteen days after
completion, this floor was loaded with bricks and sacks of cement to
the amount of more than six hundred pounds per square foot, without
suffering any injury, although, after the load was on, a workman
hammered with a pick on the concrete, close to the loaded portion, so
as to provoke the cracking of the arch if