Note 15 — Chapter III · ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIGHTHOUSE TOWERS.

It is most satisfactory to find that the views expressed above, regarding the eligibility of the conical form, seem to have the sanction of the late Dr Thomas Young, who appears to have connected his preference of this form with its greater efficiency as a source of friction among the parts of a building. In his syllabus of Lectures, under the section “Architecture,” he thus speaks: “For a Lighthouse where a great force of wind and water was to be resisted, Mr Smeaton chose a curve convex to the axis. In such a case, the strength depends more on weight than on cohesion, and also in a considerable degree on the friction which is the effect of that weight. Perhaps a cone would be an eligible form.”