Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/135

 1868.] The Character of an Architect. 107 " to make it fall on the ears of the " audience in a clear and agreeable man- ner. Since in brazen or horn wind " instruments, by a regulation of the " genus, their tones are rendered as "clear as those of stringed instruments, " so by the application of the laws of " harmony, the ancients discovered a " method of increasing the power of the " voice in a theatre." His reference here is to all public interiors arranged on a circular or semi-circular plan, whose section would be the longitudinal one of an obtuse cone inverted, the speaker's position being at the lowest point and the seats gradually rising one above another, as in medical lecture- rooms, or some round churches. This is but partly applicable to the auditorium of a theatre or opera house at present, still the hint might be useful. Law, so far as relates to contracts, to business and domestic life in connection with party walls, " ancient windows," the right of way, and the " rights of things," the competent professional man should certainly know. But as archi- tects, now-a-days, are not held to manu- facture the clocks put up in their own towers, we do not see how " astronomy" can greatly assist him ; and the other points under this head are not germane, owing to the modern division of labor. Vitruvius in referring to grammar must be considered to have also included rhetoric. These too are equally com- mon and equally desirable to all cultured men. The best ideas in the universe avail a man little, without idiomatic dic- tion, and purity and beauty of expres- sion, but with these, the inattentive or unwilling world is first, induced to listen ; directly, obliged to weigh; and at last, constrained to applaud. Vitruvius, inferentially, makes the science of medicine one of the branches not unprofitable for an architect ; but does not enlarge upon it, unless we are to consider his 4th chapter, " On the Choice of Healthy Situations," as an enlargement. Yet as the medical knowl- edge of an architect cannot change the endemic influences of any region, we do not see, that this accomplishment would have any scope, beyond securing the water-proofing, ventilation and drainage of any supposed pile or block. When, however, Vitruvius controverts the position of Pythius, " one of the an- cients," that "an architect should have " that knowledge of each art and science, " which is not even acquired by the pro- " fessors of any one in particular, who " have had every opportunity of improv- " ing themselves in it" — we feel, that he was a man of circumspection, as well as penetration ; and that we can implicitly trust him in any thing he adduces, of his own knowledge, concerning architecture, either in its theoretical, or in its practi- cal aspect — whether as a science, or as an art. ARCHITECTURE AND The Education of an Architect.- Architecture is a science arising out of many other sciences, and adorned with much and varied learning, by the help of which a judgment is formed of those works which are the result of other arts. Practice and theory are its parents. Practice is the frequent and continued contemplation of the mode of executing any given work, or of the mere opera- tion of the hands, for the conversion of the material in the best and readiest way. Theory is the result of that reasoning which demonstrates and explains that the material wrought has been so con- verted as to answer the end proposed. Wherefore, the mere practical archi- tect is not able to assign sufficient reasons for the forms he adopts, and the theoretic ai'chitect also fails ; grasp- ing the shadow instead of the substance. He who is theoretic, as well as prac- tical, is therefore doubly armed ; able not only to prove the propriety of his design, but equally so to carry it into execution. In architecture, as in other arts, two