July 5, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



availed himself of all possible authorities, and as the result has 

 prepared a series of dwellings, which, if not authentic in all their 

 details, are still sufficiently correct to be accepted as the best ob- 

 tainable, and which are certainly nearer the originals than has been 

 reached by any previous attempts. In designing these edifices, 

 the idea has been to exhibit the actual dwellings of the masses of 

 the people rather than to represent the palaces of the rich and the 

 powerful ; and the rule has also been laid down, to represent the 

 most ancient form, where there has been any great deviation in 

 styles, because the more modern variations are more familiar, and 

 have been more frequently reproduced. Both these limitations, 

 admirable in themselves, have added to the difficulty of the task 

 M. Garnier laid out for himself ; for the houses of the rich are more 

 frequently described by ancient writers than those of the poor, and 



Gauls, Greeks, and Romans. In 395 A.D. the Roman Empire was 

 divided, and the two parts exhibit distinct features of architectural 

 types. In the West the Roman civilization was overthrown by 

 several invasions, all resulting in distinct architectural types. 

 These were the Huns, the Germans and Franks, and, last in point 

 of date, the Scandinavians. After Europe had passed through the 

 convulsions caused by these inroads, we have the civilizations of 

 the Romanesque period, the middle ages, and the Renaissance. 

 In the East other events were shaping the destinies of humanity. 

 The Roman civilization lasted here some ten centuries ; but it soon 

 lost its earlier characteristics, and developed into the Byzantine. 

 This was further developed in the Byzantine architecture of the 

 Slavs and the Russians, while the Mohammedan invasions of the 

 Arabs and the Turks soon destroyed its distinctive character. All 





the descriptions of the more ancient forms are necessarily less 

 readily interpreted than those near at hand. 



M. Garnier has divided habitations into two great classes, — 

 those of prehistoric time, and those of historic. The former period 

 begins with the appearance of man upon the earth, and comes 

 down to the time when nations, properly so called, were formed, 

 and history begins. The historic period includes two subdivis- 

 ions : the first relating to those peoples who have contributed to 

 the advancement of civilization ; and the second including those 

 who, while leaving characteristic monuments, have stood, as it 

 were, on one side, and not influenced the general growth of cul- 

 ture. The models at Paris are arranged in three great groups un- 

 der these general heads ; but, apart from this classification, there 

 is another, which, while not especially observable in the arrange- 

 ments of the edifices themselves, is of the highest historical im- 

 portance. The historic period includes, first, early or primitive 

 civilizations, including the Egyptian, Assyrian, Phcenician, Hebrew, 

 Pelagic, and Etruscan ; and, second, the civilizations arising from 

 the Aryan invasions, including the Indians, Persians, Germans, 



these developments have been admirably summarized by M. Gar- 

 nier in the " Guide Historique " of M. Ammann, to the exhibition of 

 dwellings. 



The structures begin with a simple breakwind. Then man found 

 that the shelter of the caves was more durable, and finally a rude 

 hut was attempted. Then begins the long series of artificial 

 houses. There is a rude hut supposed to be contemporarj' with 

 the dolmens. A lake-village, modelled after those of Switzerland, 

 is the most elaborate portion of this group, and corresponds to the 

 age of bronze. The age of iron is represented by a hut modelled 

 after a terra-cotta model found at Lake Albino, near Rome. Then 

 come the dwellings of historical times, beginning with an Egyptian 

 house. This is designed in the style the monuments have familiar- 

 ized us with. A corridor opens into apartments on either side : 

 and the building, which is two stories high, is surmounted by an 

 open balcony. ' The dwellings of the Assyrians were built on too 

 great a scale to permit them to be reproduced as a whole, so M. 

 Garnier has contented himself with a portion of one only. Two 

 types are represented, —r one a tent taken from a bas-relief pre- 



