FOUNDATION, act of founding or fixing the base; the base of an ethfice; original; rise; origin; that part of a building which rests on the ground; the base or groundwork of anything; estab lishment. A donation or legacy to support an institution; an established revenue, particularly for a charity; endowment; settlement; institution.
In architecture, the word foundation may be applied either to the surface or bed on which a building rests, or to the lower part of the building which rests on the natural bed. (1) Foundation as the bed. The best that can be had is solid rock, or any kind of resisting incompres sible stratum, free from water. Where there is no chance of water, sand forms a solid foundation. When the soil is soft, loose, and shifting, a solid bearing can be obtained only by driving piles or long beams of wood sharpened at the end, through the soft soil, till they reach a hard bottom. This is then planked or laid with cross beams, on which the su perstructure is built. The piers of many bridges are formed in this manner. Where the soil is soft, but not shifting, as in the case of made or deposited earth, the method of converting is adopted 4. a large surface is laid with broken
metal or gravel, and run together with hot lime, so as to form a broad, solid, artificial rock, on which the building may rest. (2) Foundation as the base of the building. The broader and larger the lower course of the mason work, the stronger the wall. The stones should, if possible, extend through and through, and project on each side of the wall. The Romans formed solid bearings of concrete as above described. In the dark ages, when there was want of knowledge combined with want of materials and means, many buildings fell from the yielding of the foundations. But knowl edge came with experience, and the foun dations of later buildings, during the 14th and 15th centuries, were built with extreme care, and on the virgin soil; the stones being as finely dressed as those above ground, were necessary to resist a strong thrust.