ADYANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 131 



habits, art and sentiment of the time in which they are erected. Those of Egypt, 

 Greece and Rome were intended at least in part, without the art of printing, to 

 transmit to posterity an idea of the character of the periods in which they were 

 erected. It was by such monuments that these nations sought to impress an idea 

 of their religious and political sentiment on future ages. 



The Greek architect was untrammelled by any condition of utility. Architect- 

 ure was with him, in reality, a fine art. The temple was formed to gratify the popu- 

 lar deity. The minutest parts were exquisitely finished, since nothing but perfec- 

 tion on all sides, and in the smallest particular, can gratify an all seeing and criti- 

 cal eye. It was intended for external worship, and not internal use. It was with- 

 out windows, and entirely open to the sky, or if closed with a roof the light was 

 merely admitted through a large door. There were no arrangements for heating 

 or ventilation. The uses, therefore, to which, in modern times, buildings of this 

 kind can be applied, are exceedingly few ; and though they were objects of great 

 beauty and fully realised the iutention of the architect when originally constructed, 

 yet they cannot be copied in our days without violating the principles which should 

 govern in architectural adaptation. 



Every vestige of ancient architecture which now remains on the face of the earth 

 should be preserved with religious care ; but to servilely copy those, and to attempt 

 to apply them to the uses of our dny, is as preposterous as to attempt to harmonize 

 the refinement of civilization of the present age with the superstition of the times of 

 the Pharaohs. It is only when a building expresses the dominant sentiment of an 

 age, when a perfect adaptation to its use is joined to harmony of proportions and 

 an outward expression of its character, that it is entitled to our admiration. It has 

 been aptly said that it is one thing to adopt a particular style of architecture, but a 

 very different one to adapt it to the purpose intended. 



Architecture should not only change with the character of the people, and in 

 some cases with the climate, but also with the material to be employed in construc- 

 tion. The introduction of iron and of glass requires an entirely different style from 

 that which sprung from the caves of Egypt, the masses cf marble from which 

 the lintels of the Grecian temples are formed, or the introduction of brick by the 

 Romans. 



The great tenacity, and power of resistance to crushing, of iron as a building ma- 

 terial, should point out for it a far more slender and apparently lighter arrange- 

 ment of parts. An entire building of iron, fashioned in imitation of stone, might 

 be erected at small expense of invention on the part of the architect, but would 

 do little credit to his truthfulness or originality. The same may be said of our 

 modern pasteboard edifices, in which, with their battlements, towers, pinnacles, 

 " fretted roofs and long drawn aisles," cheap and transient magnificence is produc- 

 ed by painted wood or decorated plaster. I must not, however, indulge in re- 

 marks of this kind, but must curb my feelings in regard to this subject, since I 

 speak from peculiar experience. 



But to return to the subject of acoustics as applied to apartments intended for 

 public speaking. "While sound, in connection with its analogies with light, and in 

 its abstract principles, has been investigated within the last fifty years with a rich 

 harvest of results, few attempts have been successfully made to apply these princi- 

 ples to practical purposes. Though we may have a clear idea of the abstract 

 operation of a law of nature, yet when the conditions are varied and the actions 

 multiplied, the results frequently transcend ourpowers of logic, and we are obliged 



