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Article LANDMARKS OF FREEMASONRY* ← Page 2 of 2 Article THE BENDING OF WOOD. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Landmarks Of Freemasonry*
progress , are to be levelled in detail , if expediency suggests the necessity of their removal . And so they might disappear , aud become obsolete one by one , till the fraternity of another generation would forget that they ever existed . ! General laws , as I havo already had occasion to observe , are inviolable , and reputed in theory to constitute
impervious Landmarks , because they enforce the observance of some moral virtue , while particular and local laws admit of alteration and revision when necessary ; but if in carrying out these principles , any Grand Loclge for the sake of expediency does actually proceed to the Mima thule of removing one Landmark and altering another at its own will and pleasure , why retain a prohibition on
ihe Masonic Statute Book , which may thus be violated with impunity whenever a majority shall so ordain ? A great deal might be said on this subject if ifc were necessary , but I have some doubts as to the propriety of entering on a field of argument when the object of these lectures is simply to make a plain statement of facts as they are connected with the existing system of practice .
It is a general opinion amongst the Craft that in the present state of Masonic progress , ifc ought not to be impeded by hypothetical obstructions ; and many worthy brethren contend that the Order would be benefitted by a free ancl ample discussion of first principles , unshackled by imaginai-y precedence in any possible form . " ' Let it once be understoad what are Landmarks and what are
not , " they say , " and all objections will be for ever silenced . But until some such general agreemenfc amongst the several Grand Lodges of the world be accomplished , we are grovelling in darkness , and all our ¦ boasted accessions of light are no better than the glimmerings of reason compared with the full blaze of divine revelation . "
If there be anomalies , these brethren urge , let them be swept away ; but to persist , with such pertinacity , from ago to age , in the fiction that Landmai * ks are unalterable , with certain irrefragable facts before us to repudiate the assertion , is unworthy of a great institution . We live in an age of reform , and if there be anything in Freemasonry that needs excision , the sooner
the Grand Lodgo take the bull by the horns the better . Malus usus cdiolcndus est . H . R . H . the late Graud Master , whose authority on this subjoefc will scarcely be questioned by any living Mason , contended that " obedience , however vigorously observed , does not prevent us from investigating the inconvenience of laws which at the time they were framed have been prudentand
may , even necessary : but now , from a total change of circumstances ancl events , may have become unjust , oppressive , and useless . Justinian declares that he violates the law who , confining ; himself to the letter , acts contrary to the spirit of it . " If the above reasoning be sound , these conclusions
will be clearly deduoible from it . Freemasonry is evidently in a state of transition . If what are usually esteemed Landmarks offer an obstacle to its onward progress ; if they clog and imperil tho institution , or apply solely to another phase of society , there is no valid reason , in the opinion of the late Grand Master , why they should not give way when the interests of the
Oraffc require ifc . And ifc is evident that the Fraternity in the last century entertained a somewhat similar opinion . Ifc will not do to be continually tinkering ; stopping one hole and making two . A comprehensive scheme of reform is of more value than a thousand pieces of patchwork . Let the question be settled at once and for ever . Either wholldraw aside tlie veil or let
y it not be touched . Name tbe Landmarks that are unalterable , and make it penal to violate them ; ancl then it may be truly said , that " it is not in the power of any man or body of men to make any alteration or innovation in . the body of Masonry . " In such case we may have some chance of avoiding litigation , for our own time at least .
The Bending Of Wood.
THE BENDING OF WOOD .
The applicability of bent wood for an increasing variet y of purposes is both surprising and instructive . Here in this great lumber country , ancl many others , it is used in . all departments of business and pursuits of life wherever man and his products are known . It is as ancient as history , and is found among the artifices employed iu the rudest state of barbarism . Little is known of the most
ancient devices for bending wood , but the oldest patented in England lias now been practised for nearly a century , and is yet used there for some purposes . In 1813 , at Woolwich Navy Yard , England , floor-timbers , 16 inches square , for a inan-of-war , were bent over an arc of a circle with a radius of 4 feet . All these devices , as well as almost all others subsequently used , restrained , in some
degree , that tendency found in wood to elongate its outer curve when under the operation of bending , the same as is now claimed to be done in apparatus brought as near the state of perfection as the nature of wood and the change of position tbe particles undergo will admit . The organic structure of all woods of the endogenous or internal growthsancl the exogenous or external growths
, , are similar , and possess the qualities of cohesiveness and compressibility , more or less , differing most in the degree or quantity of these two qualities , which make and determine the amount or degree of flexibility or elasticity in any wood . These qualities , with a structure that will admit any fluid agency to thoroughly penetrate and soften its tissue , indicate a wood that may be made to assume
any curvilinear shape required for practical use . { The only ordinary skill and judgment would be required to operate on goodwood—bending successfully , without any loss occurring from breakage of the wood under the operation of bending ; but where the wood has not been seasoned , a trifling loss will occur from breakage , caused by the shrinkage that all woods are subject to in the process of seasoning . And in the case of unseasoned
bent wood , this shrinkage acts upon the fibre of the outer curve , which is always at the point of tension , il not in an actual state of severe tension , for the reason that in deflecting any substance , but particularly wood , either with or without partial restraint , to oppose tension , the wood is acted upon by two forces- —the one a crushing force that foreshortens and contracts the lesser or inner
curve , with a tendency to rupture it laterally , the other a tensile force that stretches and elongates the greater or outer curve , wifch a tendency to fracture it transversely and lift the fibre , which is the most hurtful , and of the more frequent occurrence . These two forces are divided by a neutral line , more or less moved from either curve . When nearest the inner curve the best result is obtained
, because all tension , however little , is injurious to tbe structure of the wood , arising from separating and drawing out the fibre , which can never be made to unite again , as in ductile and . malleable substances , and because the crushing or compressing force improves the wood by forcing the interstices or cells , and by interlacing and interlocking the fibre , the product is obtained nearly
resembling the'knot or knurl , which is difficult to split or cut , even when rupture is indicated . In order to get the best result from bent wood , it is recommended that tbe crashing force alone be used . And this can be , if the fibre of the wood be left free to move into a new position in more than one direction from the point of bending , by beginning the curve in the middle
of it when the wood is made to assume a long curve first , before taking the shorter curve of the mould , which , long curvature starts the fibres throughout , and makes more , if not every jjarticle of the wood , accessible to the influence of the softening agent already in it , and consequently more yielding to the action of the crushing force . This force should be produced aud governed by fixed immovable restraint that should not compress the wood while in its straight form . It should also prevent end expansion , and preserve the exact lengfch on the other curve .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Landmarks Of Freemasonry*
progress , are to be levelled in detail , if expediency suggests the necessity of their removal . And so they might disappear , aud become obsolete one by one , till the fraternity of another generation would forget that they ever existed . ! General laws , as I havo already had occasion to observe , are inviolable , and reputed in theory to constitute
impervious Landmarks , because they enforce the observance of some moral virtue , while particular and local laws admit of alteration and revision when necessary ; but if in carrying out these principles , any Grand Loclge for the sake of expediency does actually proceed to the Mima thule of removing one Landmark and altering another at its own will and pleasure , why retain a prohibition on
ihe Masonic Statute Book , which may thus be violated with impunity whenever a majority shall so ordain ? A great deal might be said on this subject if ifc were necessary , but I have some doubts as to the propriety of entering on a field of argument when the object of these lectures is simply to make a plain statement of facts as they are connected with the existing system of practice .
It is a general opinion amongst the Craft that in the present state of Masonic progress , ifc ought not to be impeded by hypothetical obstructions ; and many worthy brethren contend that the Order would be benefitted by a free ancl ample discussion of first principles , unshackled by imaginai-y precedence in any possible form . " ' Let it once be understoad what are Landmarks and what are
not , " they say , " and all objections will be for ever silenced . But until some such general agreemenfc amongst the several Grand Lodges of the world be accomplished , we are grovelling in darkness , and all our ¦ boasted accessions of light are no better than the glimmerings of reason compared with the full blaze of divine revelation . "
If there be anomalies , these brethren urge , let them be swept away ; but to persist , with such pertinacity , from ago to age , in the fiction that Landmai * ks are unalterable , with certain irrefragable facts before us to repudiate the assertion , is unworthy of a great institution . We live in an age of reform , and if there be anything in Freemasonry that needs excision , the sooner
the Grand Lodgo take the bull by the horns the better . Malus usus cdiolcndus est . H . R . H . the late Graud Master , whose authority on this subjoefc will scarcely be questioned by any living Mason , contended that " obedience , however vigorously observed , does not prevent us from investigating the inconvenience of laws which at the time they were framed have been prudentand
may , even necessary : but now , from a total change of circumstances ancl events , may have become unjust , oppressive , and useless . Justinian declares that he violates the law who , confining ; himself to the letter , acts contrary to the spirit of it . " If the above reasoning be sound , these conclusions
will be clearly deduoible from it . Freemasonry is evidently in a state of transition . If what are usually esteemed Landmarks offer an obstacle to its onward progress ; if they clog and imperil tho institution , or apply solely to another phase of society , there is no valid reason , in the opinion of the late Grand Master , why they should not give way when the interests of the
Oraffc require ifc . And ifc is evident that the Fraternity in the last century entertained a somewhat similar opinion . Ifc will not do to be continually tinkering ; stopping one hole and making two . A comprehensive scheme of reform is of more value than a thousand pieces of patchwork . Let the question be settled at once and for ever . Either wholldraw aside tlie veil or let
y it not be touched . Name tbe Landmarks that are unalterable , and make it penal to violate them ; ancl then it may be truly said , that " it is not in the power of any man or body of men to make any alteration or innovation in . the body of Masonry . " In such case we may have some chance of avoiding litigation , for our own time at least .
The Bending Of Wood.
THE BENDING OF WOOD .
The applicability of bent wood for an increasing variet y of purposes is both surprising and instructive . Here in this great lumber country , ancl many others , it is used in . all departments of business and pursuits of life wherever man and his products are known . It is as ancient as history , and is found among the artifices employed iu the rudest state of barbarism . Little is known of the most
ancient devices for bending wood , but the oldest patented in England lias now been practised for nearly a century , and is yet used there for some purposes . In 1813 , at Woolwich Navy Yard , England , floor-timbers , 16 inches square , for a inan-of-war , were bent over an arc of a circle with a radius of 4 feet . All these devices , as well as almost all others subsequently used , restrained , in some
degree , that tendency found in wood to elongate its outer curve when under the operation of bending , the same as is now claimed to be done in apparatus brought as near the state of perfection as the nature of wood and the change of position tbe particles undergo will admit . The organic structure of all woods of the endogenous or internal growthsancl the exogenous or external growths
, , are similar , and possess the qualities of cohesiveness and compressibility , more or less , differing most in the degree or quantity of these two qualities , which make and determine the amount or degree of flexibility or elasticity in any wood . These qualities , with a structure that will admit any fluid agency to thoroughly penetrate and soften its tissue , indicate a wood that may be made to assume
any curvilinear shape required for practical use . { The only ordinary skill and judgment would be required to operate on goodwood—bending successfully , without any loss occurring from breakage of the wood under the operation of bending ; but where the wood has not been seasoned , a trifling loss will occur from breakage , caused by the shrinkage that all woods are subject to in the process of seasoning . And in the case of unseasoned
bent wood , this shrinkage acts upon the fibre of the outer curve , which is always at the point of tension , il not in an actual state of severe tension , for the reason that in deflecting any substance , but particularly wood , either with or without partial restraint , to oppose tension , the wood is acted upon by two forces- —the one a crushing force that foreshortens and contracts the lesser or inner
curve , with a tendency to rupture it laterally , the other a tensile force that stretches and elongates the greater or outer curve , wifch a tendency to fracture it transversely and lift the fibre , which is the most hurtful , and of the more frequent occurrence . These two forces are divided by a neutral line , more or less moved from either curve . When nearest the inner curve the best result is obtained
, because all tension , however little , is injurious to tbe structure of the wood , arising from separating and drawing out the fibre , which can never be made to unite again , as in ductile and . malleable substances , and because the crushing or compressing force improves the wood by forcing the interstices or cells , and by interlacing and interlocking the fibre , the product is obtained nearly
resembling the'knot or knurl , which is difficult to split or cut , even when rupture is indicated . In order to get the best result from bent wood , it is recommended that tbe crashing force alone be used . And this can be , if the fibre of the wood be left free to move into a new position in more than one direction from the point of bending , by beginning the curve in the middle
of it when the wood is made to assume a long curve first , before taking the shorter curve of the mould , which , long curvature starts the fibres throughout , and makes more , if not every jjarticle of the wood , accessible to the influence of the softening agent already in it , and consequently more yielding to the action of the crushing force . This force should be produced aud governed by fixed immovable restraint that should not compress the wood while in its straight form . It should also prevent end expansion , and preserve the exact lengfch on the other curve .