Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/255

 1868.] Drainage. 211 washes the dirt all out of the joints, and, the sand and mud, rushing in, soon fill the pipes, and stop the drain. It may be repaired in that part, but only to stop up in another, until at last you are com- pelled, at a great expense, to take it all up, and have it laid properly. How vastly important is this system of drainage ! It requires, and should receive from the judicious builder, more care and attention than any other part of the premises, for what a miserable failure would be the most magnificent pile of buildings, without complete and successful drainage ! It is absolutely essential to the health of residents of large cities, that every building should be thoroughly drained ; and the first in- quiry of every purchaser of real estate should be concerning the efficiency of the appliances to attain this important point. Cess-pools accumulate large amounts of filth. Gutters, front and back of dwellings, empty great quantities of fluid offal into the public street, there to decay and emit a pestilential odor, inju- rious to the health of all. These thino-s are mistakes of the past. With ade- quate sewerage throughout our city, dis- charging into the great natural estu- aries on the east and west, now should there be a new dispensation. It ought to be made obligatory upon the owner of every new building to have it drained underground. Let the members of Councils take this matter into earnest consideration, and, with extended views upon the subject, not only welcome all petitions for sewers, but presently pass bills authorizing their construction in every main street throughout the city ; thereby giving citizens facilities for drainage, and cre- ating means to preserve the health of the people, without which all the sanitary measures that could be devised would fail. LIFE AND TIMES OF MICHAEL ANGELO: POET, PAINTER, SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT. By G. W. Richards. THE amateur fondly lingers on the reign of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the golden age of Florence, which — with that of his famous relative, Leo the X. — has been incorporated in our national literature, by the research and industry of the most elegant Italian scholar, that Great Britain has ever pro- duced. The love of the fine arts has been im- planted, in the minds of the Italians, from an extremely early date. Scarcely had security dawned on the infant em- pire, — while she could already count her heroes and sages ; while the divine wis- dom of Seneca enlightened her, the strains of Virgil charmed her, or the thundering eloquence of Cicero inflamed her senate — when the artist, with his rude tools and simple skill, pleased the popular eye ; and cultivated the public taste. As civilization dawned, the arts rapidly progressed ; and at the time of the Christian era, Rome was noted, as the nurse of the fine arts, the patroness of men of letters, and the abode of lux- ury and refinement. After the introduction of Christianity, poetry, painting, sculpture and music declined ; and, for some centuries, re- mained stationary. The heathen tem- ples were ornamented with all the tri- umphs of the arts ; the finest bronzes, the most magnificent marbles, and the rarest carving were devoted to the ser- vice of the Pagan deities.