architects in societies, and not by Government interference; and, above all, it believes that the public may, and should, be taught to distinguish between good architecture and bad, and to value accordingly those who produce the former, by the more general teaching of the rudiments of architecture in schools. In pursuance of this idea, the Commission investigated all the schools in France and Algeria in which architecture is taught. In a few towns a tolerably complete course is given, but in most architecture is taught as it is in highschools here, by a little history of styles and a little drawing, and hardly anything more. All this is well enough, but much more is needed. Some of the schools give four years to the course, and others three, and the instruction should be made suitable to the importance of the subject, not as a matter of mere accomplishment, but as a serious professional study. As a reward for the successful completion of such a course, a scholastic diploma might, it seems to the Commission, be useful, and, with its aid, and the development of the curriculum leading to it into such a training as a thorough professional school can give, the Commission thinks that the public discrimination in matters of architecture might be greatly improved, and a large number of young men might be properly educated for an honorable profession, from which they are now cut off by the difficulty and expense of a course at the great architectural schools, without invoking the interference of the Government with actual practice. To the same conclusion, we are sure, many people would come from a consideration of the circumstances which exist in this country. As in France, the profession suffers much from the competition of ignorant and incompetent, but impudent pretenders, and, like the French, our architects in many States are now demanding the licensing of all persons who wish to practise the profession after suitable examination. Whether, in any State, the demand will be acceded to is doubtful, but it is worth remembering that the establishment of new centres of architectural education will tend to the result desired, with much incidental advantage in other ways, and State legislatures could easily be persuaded, if a little rivalry should arise among them, to spend money for local schools of architecture, where a proposition to examine and license architects in actual practice would not be entertained for a moment.
A CURIOUS accident took place not long ago at the Shore
ham Hotel, in Washington, a handsome building, owned by Vice-president Morton. The main staircase, which is of so-called “fireproof ” construction, had landings laid with timbers, between iron beams, and the space between the timbers filled with mortar. This is, at best, a doubtful method of building, and, although the structure is only a few years old, the timbers are said to have begun to rot. On the day of the accident, some workmen, who were making repairs in the ceiling over the upper landing, set a trestle on the upper landing, and, according to the newspapers, tried to raise a part of the ceiling with wedges or jack-screws. The landing, which was never intended for such a purpose, gave way, falling upon the one beneath it, and carrying away that also; and so on, until six landings had fallen together to the bottom of the stairway. As no one was on the landings, and the area of the catastrophe was very limited, no person was injured.
THE question of the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Sundays is again under discussion,
and there seems to be some prospect that a way will be found for having it open to the public at least part of the day. It is understood that the Trustees recognize the advantage to the community of providing a place where people who do not care to go to church can improve their minds on their only leisure day, but there is, we believe, a question whether a part of the endowment of the Museum was not given under conditions which presume the closing of the galleries on Sunday; and, if it should be finally decided that they can be opened, there will be a considerable expense for an extra staff of attendants, which some one must pay.
IN Boston, where such a thing has long been greatly needed, an effort, which promises success, is being made to secure a Zoological Garden, on an important scale. The city, which can now dispose of space in a very extensive system of parks, has promised to give the use of the necessary land, if money can be raised for erecting the buildings, and for stock
ing the Garden with animals; and the Natural History Society, which has long maintained a fine collection of stuffed animals, and illustrations of comparative anatomy, in its handsome building on Boylston Street, has set itself at work in earnest to procure subscriptions for the Garden. According to the latest scheme, it is proposed to divide the collections, placing the land animals in one park, and the aquaria in another, some miles away, which borders on the water, and, possibly, another part of the collection in a third. With all deference to the wisdom of those who are directing the affair, it seems to us that it would be a great pity to divide the collections in this way. Although the Marine Park would be conveniently situated for getting a supply of salt water for the aquaria, its exposed location would make it almost inaccessible in winter, or during an easterly storm; and the proportion of visitors whose enthusiasm would sustain them, after wandering through the Franklin Park Garden, in travelling a long distance to the aquaria, is very small. There is no work more fatiguing than sight-seeing, and even the pleasures of a visit to a zoological garden are much enhanced by occasional rest and relief, such as is afforded by sitting down and looking at the sea-anemones, after the excitement of seeing the ferocious beasts fed; or of breathing the fresh air around the seal-pond, after too long a sojourn in the monkey-house. Some years ago, when the project was first talked about, it was proposed that the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the largest and most enthusiastic association of the kind in the United States, should join with the Natural History Society, and erect a building for its exhibitions, which are sadly crowded in its present quarters. It is much to be hoped that this part of the scheme has not been given up. The Franklin Park is large enough to accommodate the whole, and for educational purposes, as well as for economy of administration and brilliancy of effect, to say nothing of the convenience of visitors, it is very desirable to have all the collections, vegetable as well as animal, together. To recall only a few foreign examples, it is hardly too much to say that the London “ Zoo ” owes a large part of its immense popularity to the beautiful gardening with which it is associated, and to the fact that it has no competitor, — the Kew Garden being so far off, and so little known to the public, as hardly to count as a rival. At Frankfort-on-the-Main, there is, at one end of the city, a splendid Zoological Garden, which attracts crowds of visitors, and at the other end the equally splendid and interesting Palm Garden, which attracts other crowds. Separately, each is famous in its way, but each unquestionably loses in reputation through the rivalry of the other; while, if they had been united in the same place, so that visitors could go directly from one to the other, their combined interest would far surpass that of the London “ Zoo. ”
THE work of establishing the line of wire between Frankforton-the-Main and the Falls of Lauffen, which is to carry
three hundred horse-power to a distance of about a hundred miles, by means of a current of twenty thousand volts’ pressure, is going on rapidly. Meanwhile, some experiments with converters and other apparatus of the kinds which it is intended to use are being made at Oerlikon, in Switzerland, where there is an extensive establishment for the manufacture of such apparatus. Not long ago, an experimental line was stretched at Oerlikon, mounted on one hundred insulators of the ordinary sort, and furnished with converters at each end. Through this wire a current varying from thirty to forty thousand volts’ pressure was sent for a considerable time, without any remarkable effects. The electricity showed no tendency to jump off the wire at the insulators, and even when one end of the line was laid on the ground, the loss of current was not serious. The transformation in the converters from about fifty volts to forty thousand, and back again, took place with perfect regularity, and current enough was diverted from the main wire to feed a line of thirty incandescent lamps, which burned quite regularly and evenly. For a further test, a telephone wire was strung very near the main power wire, but no particular disturbance took place in it, even while a current of thirty-six thousand volts was passing near it. Whether the use of such enormous electrical pressures will prove dangerous in some unexpected way remains to be seen; but if they can be safely controlled, they will be of great service in transmitting power as by means of them, a large amount of power can be concentrated and transmitted to a distance over a single small wire, and distributed again, on reaching its destination, among hundreds of consumers.
A CURIOUS accident took place not long ago at the Shore
ham Hotel, in Washington, a handsome building, owned by Vice-president Morton. The main staircase, which is of so-called “fireproof ” construction, had landings laid with timbers, between iron beams, and the space between the timbers filled with mortar. This is, at best, a doubtful method of building, and, although the structure is only a few years old, the timbers are said to have begun to rot. On the day of the accident, some workmen, who were making repairs in the ceiling over the upper landing, set a trestle on the upper landing, and, according to the newspapers, tried to raise a part of the ceiling with wedges or jack-screws. The landing, which was never intended for such a purpose, gave way, falling upon the one beneath it, and carrying away that also; and so on, until six landings had fallen together to the bottom of the stairway. As no one was on the landings, and the area of the catastrophe was very limited, no person was injured.
THE question of the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Sundays is again under discussion,
and there seems to be some prospect that a way will be found for having it open to the public at least part of the day. It is understood that the Trustees recognize the advantage to the community of providing a place where people who do not care to go to church can improve their minds on their only leisure day, but there is, we believe, a question whether a part of the endowment of the Museum was not given under conditions which presume the closing of the galleries on Sunday; and, if it should be finally decided that they can be opened, there will be a considerable expense for an extra staff of attendants, which some one must pay.
IN Boston, where such a thing has long been greatly needed, an effort, which promises success, is being made to secure a Zoological Garden, on an important scale. The city, which can now dispose of space in a very extensive system of parks, has promised to give the use of the necessary land, if money can be raised for erecting the buildings, and for stock
ing the Garden with animals; and the Natural History Society, which has long maintained a fine collection of stuffed animals, and illustrations of comparative anatomy, in its handsome building on Boylston Street, has set itself at work in earnest to procure subscriptions for the Garden. According to the latest scheme, it is proposed to divide the collections, placing the land animals in one park, and the aquaria in another, some miles away, which borders on the water, and, possibly, another part of the collection in a third. With all deference to the wisdom of those who are directing the affair, it seems to us that it would be a great pity to divide the collections in this way. Although the Marine Park would be conveniently situated for getting a supply of salt water for the aquaria, its exposed location would make it almost inaccessible in winter, or during an easterly storm; and the proportion of visitors whose enthusiasm would sustain them, after wandering through the Franklin Park Garden, in travelling a long distance to the aquaria, is very small. There is no work more fatiguing than sight-seeing, and even the pleasures of a visit to a zoological garden are much enhanced by occasional rest and relief, such as is afforded by sitting down and looking at the sea-anemones, after the excitement of seeing the ferocious beasts fed; or of breathing the fresh air around the seal-pond, after too long a sojourn in the monkey-house. Some years ago, when the project was first talked about, it was proposed that the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the largest and most enthusiastic association of the kind in the United States, should join with the Natural History Society, and erect a building for its exhibitions, which are sadly crowded in its present quarters. It is much to be hoped that this part of the scheme has not been given up. The Franklin Park is large enough to accommodate the whole, and for educational purposes, as well as for economy of administration and brilliancy of effect, to say nothing of the convenience of visitors, it is very desirable to have all the collections, vegetable as well as animal, together. To recall only a few foreign examples, it is hardly too much to say that the London “ Zoo ” owes a large part of its immense popularity to the beautiful gardening with which it is associated, and to the fact that it has no competitor, — the Kew Garden being so far off, and so little known to the public, as hardly to count as a rival. At Frankfort-on-the-Main, there is, at one end of the city, a splendid Zoological Garden, which attracts crowds of visitors, and at the other end the equally splendid and interesting Palm Garden, which attracts other crowds. Separately, each is famous in its way, but each unquestionably loses in reputation through the rivalry of the other; while, if they had been united in the same place, so that visitors could go directly from one to the other, their combined interest would far surpass that of the London “ Zoo. ”
THE work of establishing the line of wire between Frankforton-the-Main and the Falls of Lauffen, which is to carry
three hundred horse-power to a distance of about a hundred miles, by means of a current of twenty thousand volts’ pressure, is going on rapidly. Meanwhile, some experiments with converters and other apparatus of the kinds which it is intended to use are being made at Oerlikon, in Switzerland, where there is an extensive establishment for the manufacture of such apparatus. Not long ago, an experimental line was stretched at Oerlikon, mounted on one hundred insulators of the ordinary sort, and furnished with converters at each end. Through this wire a current varying from thirty to forty thousand volts’ pressure was sent for a considerable time, without any remarkable effects. The electricity showed no tendency to jump off the wire at the insulators, and even when one end of the line was laid on the ground, the loss of current was not serious. The transformation in the converters from about fifty volts to forty thousand, and back again, took place with perfect regularity, and current enough was diverted from the main wire to feed a line of thirty incandescent lamps, which burned quite regularly and evenly. For a further test, a telephone wire was strung very near the main power wire, but no particular disturbance took place in it, even while a current of thirty-six thousand volts was passing near it. Whether the use of such enormous electrical pressures will prove dangerous in some unexpected way remains to be seen; but if they can be safely controlled, they will be of great service in transmitting power as by means of them, a large amount of power can be concentrated and transmitted to a distance over a single small wire, and distributed again, on reaching its destination, among hundreds of consumers.