The Hidden Mysteries Of Nature And Science.—Part 3.

great altitude and narrow base ; but it is the noble prerogative of man to be able to support his lofty figure with great firmness on a very narrow base , and under constant change of altitude , for

" AVhen all creatures to the earth were prone , Man had an upright form to view the heavens , And was commanded to behold the stars . " Ovid , Metfc . A child does Avell who walks in twelve months , while the young of quadrupeds which have a broad supporting baseare able to stand and even walk almost

, immediately after birth . When a man walks at a moderate pace , his centre of gravity moves alternately over the right and over the left foot . This is the reason Avhy the body advances in a waving line , and why persons walking arm in arm shake each other , unless they make the movements of their feet

correspond , as soldiers do in marching . The action of the knee joint in animals has been copied by mechanists , in what is called , oblique action ; the pressure produced by the forcing dowmvards of the outer extremity of the lower bar ( the upper working against a fixed beam ) , is almost unlimited and so easily and

rapidly done , that it is applied to the printing press , wrought by the hand , instead of screw pressure . The design of the famous iron bridge at Bishops Wearmouth , says Paley , is taken from a neck of mutton . The idea of flour mills obviously arose from the teeth , as may be shown from the Latin words meaning a

mill and teeth . Mola , a mill ; molo , the p lural , millstones ; molaris , the adjective , derived from mola , of or belonging to a mill , the plural molares , the jawteeth , the grinders . The retired under jaw of a pig works in the ground after the protruding snout , hence the plough . When the skylark Avishes to ascend " to the last point of vision and beyond "—

" Sweetly gaining on the sky , Op ' ning with her native lay Nature ' s hymn . " ( Thompson . ) She gives a twist or semi-rotatory motion to the great feathers of her Aving , so that they strike the air with their flat sidebut rise from the stroke slantwise . The

, turning of the oar in rowing , whilst the rower goes forward for a new stroke , is a similar operation to that of the feather , and takes its name from the resemblance . —E . B . W .

Architecture, Its Purpose And Place Amongst The Arts.

ARCHITECTURE , ITS PURPOSE AND PLACE AMONGST THE ARTS .

The last of the present series of lectures at the Architectural Museum Avas delivered on Tuesday eveniug , the IGth , by Mr . T . Gambier Parry . After a few introductory remarks , the lecturer said : Before any subject can be studied Avith success , it is most necessary to begin with understanding what it really means .

Many definitions had been given of it , but he doubted the possibility of a perfectly full definition being given of any Pine Art . One most accomplished writer of the day has said that architecture is nothing more nor less than ornamental or ornamented " construction . " Another most original author has defined it as the art Avhich so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by man for Avhatever uses , that the sight of them may

contribute to his mental health , power , and pleasure . They both are very true . The first is very downrightthe second very aesthetic . But all fine art lies beyond the limit of a definition , because the very idea of a definition implies a limit . Art , in its nature , is illimitable . We love art , because it is like ourselves . We all love and long for sympathy—even the most ungracious

doalthough they would probably scout the idea . That is why all men love nature because it is sympathetic . The clouds which dance and shine about the setting sun , are to one man a perfect picture of happiness and fantastic gaiety ; to another their bri ght forms and changing colours find a counterpart in his mind

of bright and changing futures ; but still he has pleasure in gazing on them , because they are so beautiful , that they soothe Avhile they recall his sorrows . And thus it is Avith art . Its power is not in its representing nature , but that its mission is to seize those elements in the mystery of all Ave callnaturewhich

, , produce Avonderful effects upon us , and thus to interest our thoughts or to engage our affection . We certainly live , lor some reasons , in times of great advantage ; we are mounted so high up on the ladder of time , that our view is only limited by our own individual power of sight ; for the objects are

innumerable and the horizon boundless . Of all the avenues of the past , down Avhich Ave trace the history of our fellow-men , their aspirations and their Aveaknesses , there are few so full of interest as that of

architecture . In that still live thoughts m its ruins— -their concentrated thoughts . In all are marked the clear lines of their progress and decline . Look closer , and in the bold broad features of its monuments you trace the vigour of a rising race , the struggle of its youth , the development of its power ; and , still further , the refinement of its civilisationand then the too sure

, sign and symbol of its decay . All are there traced as with a finger of fire . Look closer still , and you see the individuality of a nation ' s character ; the nobility or the meanness of its social state ; its political worth ; its vigour or depravity . Thus it is that it may be most truly saidthe nations of the past still live in

, their monuments . The inscriptions may be ly inovanities , but in their architecture are records of certain truth . We read them as though of yesterdav , because art is a common language to all mankind . Architecture has had a common origin in all times and countries . He spoke of it entirely as a fine art ,

apart from building , just as thought is from pen and ink . But architecture is entirely a constructive art . Its Avhole beauty depends on its construction . The moment it trangresses good construction , it transgress the laws of good taste . That word " taste " is associated with the vaguest notions of variety . He did not believe that good taste Avas capable of varying .

He believed that its laws Avere capable of being most clearly written . Indeed , its whole code mi ght very clearly be comprised in the Avords " good sense . " These are delicate as well as strong Avords ; and , taken as a motto , they will bear no vulgar interpretation . The idea of architecture lies in the intention rather

than in the act of the builder ; ancl according to the success or priety in expressing that intention we call it good or bad architecture . The first work with a most genuine architectural intention , has been the mere setting up a stone to testify to an event , to record it for ever , and to tell all men the fact . A mere stone , without science in its erection or ornament on its