id="pgepubid00003">XLI to XLVII.

PANELS FROM THE CHOIR STALLS, CHURCH OF S. PIETRO, PERUGIA, ITALY.

The principles governing the design of these panels so well explained in the foregoing quotation can all be seen exemplified in the plates. They are all built upon a central axis, and the proportion and distribution of the various motives most carefully studied and beautifully carried out. Although all are shorter than the usual pilaster, the design is exactly similar to that usually employed for this purpose. Even the horizontal panels in plates XLVI and XLVII follow precisely the same rules of design.

XLVIII. Panel from the Chamber of Commerce, Perugia, Italy.

XLVIII.

PANEL FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PERUGIA, ITALY.

This panel, although from a different building, is so similar in treatment to the ones in the Church of S. Pietro that it can be classed with them, and all that has been said of them applies as well to this.

Architectural Schools.

It is not many years since there was but one school in America to which a young man could go with the expectation of getting instruction in architecture, or at least where a special course of training was laid out for this purpose. At present there are six well-equipped architectural schools connected with as many colleges, each with its own corps of instructors and each presenting special advantages to students. In addition to these principal institutions there are a number of others in which instruction in architecture is given, either independently or in connection with other courses. To a young man intending to take up the study of architecture this array of opportunities may not appear in exactly the light of an embarrassment of riches, but it furnishes a wide field from which to choose, and it may not be an easy matter to determine which under the special circumstances connected with each case presents the greatest advantages. For this reason a general statement of the main features and practical equipment of the principal schools may be of service in enabling intending students to choose intelligently among them.

MASS. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

The oldest, the most thoroughly appointed, and largest architectural school in the country is the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. It is in charge of Professor Francis W. Chandler, with a corps of ten professors, assistants, and special lecturers. The regular course consists of four years' study. Special students are admitted after satisfying the faculty by examination or otherwise that they are proficient in the preparatory studies required and are qualified to pursue to advantage the special work chosen.

The instruction in this department comprises the study of construction and materials, the study of building processes, and of professional practice, as well as that of composition and design, and of the history of architecture. It is arranged to meet the wants both of those who commence their professional studies at the beginning, and to some extent of experienced draughtsmen who desire to make up deficiencies in their training, or to qualify themselves for undertaking the responsibilities of practice.

The more strictly professional work begins with the study of the five orders and their applications, and of architectural history. During each year there is regular instruction in freehand drawing, the last year being from life. There is