se of a couple of
hours' figuring I found that they had worked out among them all the
five solutions of this problem, which in the Middle Ages it took one
or two hundred years to develop. This was very encouraging. At another
time they were given a somewhat minute description of four pilaster
capitals from Blois or Chambord, and they made thumb-nail sketches on
the spot, according to their interpretation of the description. The
next day photographs and drawings of a dozen or twenty other such
capitals were given them, so that they might understand the fashion of
the time, and they were told to draw out their sketches on a larger
scale. The result was fifteen or twenty sets of capitals, all showing
the same four motives, but differing in a most interesting way,
according to the personal differences of taste and skill on the part
of the designers.

On another occasion the First-year class, after their studies in
Egyptian and Assyrian architecture, made a dozen or twenty
restorations of Solomon's Temple, according to the description in the
Book of Kings. The drawings they produced showed considerable
fertility of invention, especially in the designs for Jachin and Boaz,
and the whole series together seemed to be quite as creditable and as
reasonable as most of those which have from time to time been put
forth by the learned.

This practice in historical design we believe to be founded on sound
theoretical principles. To regard a work of art as far as possible
from the point-of-view of the artist is, indeed, the first principle
of fair and intelligent criticism. To foster the individuality and
personal initiative of a pupil by bringing authority to bear upon him
in a way of correction at the end of his task, and guidance and
suggestion at the beginning, rather than control during the course of
the work, is the first principle of intelligent teaching. Moreover,
the results, so far as we have gone, have justified the method. We
have, indeed, employed it hitherto mainly as a matter of experiment
when favorable circumstances have suggested it. But every year we use
it to a greater and greater extent, and it is gradually acquiring a
recognized place as an integral portion of our work.

(_To be continued_.)

Personal.

Of the many fortunate ones who have come back to a winter of work
after a summer abroad are Messrs. Claude F. Bragdon, Charles M.
Sutton, and Howard Hatton, of Rochester. Messrs. Sutton and Hatton ar