with Reference to Sound. 31 
it has been a mooted question among many, whether the sur- 
face of the walls and ceiling, in a room intended for sound, 
should be plain or broken at intervals by pilasters, panels, and 
ornaments of various kinds. The opinions of the architects be- 
fore the Parliamentary Committee were divided in this particular ; 
but the bulk of general evidence is decidedly in favor of the latter 
Mr. J. Scott Russell advocates the use of pilasters against 
the walls of a room, to interrupt the oblique waves which fall 
along the surface, and constitute reverberation, on his theory.* 
Although our own views, as previously explained, differ, in some 
essential points from those adopted by Mr. Russell as to the 
nature of reverberation, they would seem even more strongly to 
require the provisions he has laid down for the amelioration of it; 
and, as we hinted when treating of the subject of harmonic rela- 
“Tt may be remarked that the ribs with deep mouldings intersecting 
each other on the Norman or Gothic vault, and thus paneling its sur- 
ace, are not to be taken as mere ornamental features. In churches 
It was made an important feature in Dr. Reid’s plan for a 
House of Commons, that the porous floor, while it allowed the 
diffusion to the attempered air, admitted for the purposes of ven- 
tilation, provided also a ready means of escape for the excess of 
* It is a mistake to suppose that Mr. Russell has the merit of having first sug- 
gested the use of pilasters in this connection. They com Jed by Dr. Reid 
many years before, and on much the same grounds as those subsequently adopted 
by Mr. Russell— Vide Report on House of Commons Building, 1835. z 
_ + At the National School the plaster of the ceiling was removed but the ey 
Joists left, by which the excessive noise that formerly prevailed was greatly 
—Reid’s Illustrations. 
hi Norman = 2 sagan bh ribs_ gg ape 
$ room is found to be perfect apted for public speaking, ai 
easant re a rf y on Public Architecture. 
Inman and others in confirmation. : 
