of most of the important public libraries in Great Britain, America, and on the Continent, and these chapters, as well as the earlier ones, are well and profusely illustrated with plans and drawings of the buildings and details, which are also described in the text.

To the architect it will be a matter of regret that this most useful series of plans is not rendered even more serviceable and complete by the addition of a scale to each drawing. The plans are evidently reproduced to a variety of scales, and though in many cases the dimensions of the principal rooms are given in the text, this by no means answers the same purpose.

In the case of fittings, however, such as indicators, catalogue-stands, &c., the exact dimensions required are usually figured in the illustrations as well as described in the text.

R. ELSEY SMITH.

Books received for Review.

The Book of Glasgow Cathedral: a History and Description. Edited by George Eyre-Todd, with special chapters written by Archbishop Eyre, D.D., J. F. S. Gordon, D.D., P. M'Adam Muir, D.D., John Honeyman, R.S.A., James Paton, F.L.S., A. H. Millar, F.S.A., Scot., and Stephen Adam. With 118 views, drawings, &c., including full-page photogravures on Japanese vellum, and drawings by David Small, Herbert Railton, J. A. Duncan, and others. Limited to 1,000 copies. 40. Glasgow, 1898. Price 42s. net. [Messrs. Morison Brothers, 52, Renfield Street, Glasgow.]

Architectural Photography: Practical Lessons and Suggestions for Amateurs. By G. A. T. Middleton, A.R.I.B.A., Author of Surveying and Surveying Instruments, Stresses and Thrusts. 8o. Lond. 1898. (Messrs. Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ltd., 1, Creed Lane, Ludgate Hill, E.C.

The Cathedral Church of Hereford: a Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See. By A. Hugh Fisher. Bell's Cathedral Series. 80. Lond. 1898. Price 1s. 6d. Messrs. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden.}

Elementary Architecture, for Schools, Art Students, and General Readers. By Martin A. Buckmaster, Art Examiner to the Department of Science and Art. 80. Oxon., 1898. Price 4s. 6d. [The Clarendon Press, Oxford.]

The Church of St. Martin, Canterbury: an illustrated Account of its History and Fabric. By the Rev. C. F. Routledge, M.A., F.S.A., Hon. Canon of Canterbury. 80. Lond., 1898. Price 1s. 6d. Messrs. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, W.C.]

NOTES, QUERIES, AND REPLIES. The "Chapel of Bones," Great Hospital, Valletta. From ARTHUR S. FLOWER [4.], M.A., F.S.A.

The illustration opposite-one of the series exhibited at the reading of a Paper last November on Renaissance Architecture in Malta-shows the interior of the underground charnel-house, sometimes called the "Chapel of Bones," in

* JOURNAL, Vol. V., 3rd Series, p. 25.

the cemetery of the Great Hospital at Valletta, in Malta. There is nothing remarkable about the actual architecture of this crypt, but its strange decorations, composed of bleached human bones, arranged in a variety of patterns, all set upon a background of dull black, give it a very singular and weird effect. Some thousands of skeletons must have been used up in carrying out this adornment, and every part of the human frame seems to have its place somewhere in the scheme, each particular bone having been carefully sorted out, and employed in a decorative manner suggested by its own special form. It is said that the whole was the work of one man, a chaplain or chantry-priest attached to the place, and that the piles of bones seen in the foreground of the photograph, simply stacked up without ornamental motive, are the remainder of the raw material which the designer did not live long enough to arrange upon the walls or vaults of the building. There are several places, in different parts of Europe, where a vast number of exposed human bones forms a "sight" for the curious; but probably in no other instance has a collection of this kind been treated with such an ingenious appreciation of the purely decorative aspect of anatomy.

Ownership of Drawings.

From R. M. HAMILTON [A.], Christchurch, N.Z.In the Institute JOURNAL for 6th November 1897, under "Notes and Queries," a discussion is raised on the ownership of drawings, several questions being asked by Mr. F. Warren, with replies by Professor Kerr. I do not think the whole question has ever been thoroughly thrashed out from the ethical point of view, and the development of the architect into a specialist traced back in connection with this question. His genesis has largely been lost sight of, which will help to account for the conflict of ideas at present existing.

The question now principally draws round the point of payment for drawings, with the right of possession by the client; and the reply, that they belong to the architect and are his instruments. The point is most generally raised when drawings have been prepared and no building has been erected from them.

It may be asked: "Are drawings a necessity at all? Is not the specification the essential document?" All the architect's instructions could be conveyed by writing in the specification, even to describing the dimensions of every room and the thickness of every wall. The drawings exemplify those instructions, and convey the meaning more readily, showing the builder more clearly and efficiently what is required of him, on the principle of "a ha'p'orth of showing is worth a bushel of telling."

Would a layman ever demand a specification as

his consideration for payment of fees to the architect? Hardly; it is not pretty enough. The drawings are really part of the instructions to the builder, and the architect could just as effectually draw the plan full size on the ground. He prefers to make the builder do it himself, and gives a description of what he wants done by means of a reduced scale drawing. Why, a clause of general conditions stipulates always that the drawings and specification are to be taken and read together. What is the true "inwardness" of that? Now if on payment the documents-drawings more particularly-belong to the client, how would it have fared with a prince in India if he gave an order for a "lordly pleasure-house"? The palace in days gone by would have been built without a drawing.

An ethical change has taken place in the original relative positions of architect and client. which has been lost sight of in the course of ages, though some of the results remain. Originally

At the Business General Meeting of Monday,

in fact, the builder, who has developed into a specialised individual, calling in another man now to erect the building for him from his instructions. Would a patron demand from an artist-decorator his cartoons or coloured sketches by which the workman carried out the internal decorations of his mansion? Hardly. Yet those sketches are similar to the architect's drawings. When a patient who has passed under the hands of a surgeon pays the fee, will he ask for the saws and knives by which he has lost his leg? Hardly. He pays for services rendered." So in the other

cases.

In the mind of the layman the drawings have come to be looked upon as essentials to the undertaking, instead of being a means to an end. A plan might have been a freehand sketch with figured dimensions on a piece of brown paper, though all the necessary thought and arrangement might have been expended thereon. Would a client demand that in exchange for his cheque? No. His house is what he has contracted for with the architect, and paid for. The architect has become a specialised intermediary, who now calls in another man to do the actual building. His fees have become separated from the cost of the contract, but nevertheless they are part of the cost of the house to the owner.

1898-99 were declared to be duly elected as follows:

PRESIDENT.-Professor Aitchison, R.A. VICE-PRESIDENTS.-William Milner Fawcett, M.A.Cantab., F.S.A.; Henry Louis Florence; Ernest George; and Edward Augustus Gruning. HON. SECRETARY.-William Emerson.

MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. John Belcher; Thomas Blashill; James Brooks; John McKean Brydon; William Douglas Caröe, M.A.Cantab., F.S.A.; Campbell Douglas (Glasgow); John Alfred Gotch, F.S.A. (Kettering); Alexander Graham, F.S.A.; Benjamin Ingelow; Edward William Mountford; Beresford Pite; John Slater, B.A.Lond.; Percival Gordon Smith; Richard Phenè Spiers, F.S.A.; Henry Heathcote Statham; Leonard Stokes; Paul Waterhouse, M.A.Oxon.; and Aston Webb, F.S.A.

The drawings therefore, I consider, are a nonessential to the contract between the architect and client, and in relation to any demand by the latter may be considered as non-existent. The client pays for "services rendered," &c., just as the patient does who has been relieved of a limb. When drawings are prepared and nothing further results, the client pays for the architect's time, trouble, and thought, a great deal of which may have been undergone before a pencil had been put to paper.

ASSOCIATE-MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. - Arthur Smyth Flower, M.A.Oxon., F.S.A., and Henry Thomas Hare.

REPRESENTATIVES OF ALLIED SOCIETIES.Robert Isaac Bennett (Manchester Society); William Larkins Bernard (Bristol Society); Albert Nelson Bromley (Nottingham Society); John James Burnet, A.R.S.A. (Glasgow Institute); Thomas Drew, R.H.A. (Royal Institute of Ireland); Charles Busteed Fowler (Cardiff, South Wales, and Monmouthshire Society); James Hine (Devon and Exeter Society); Leslie Ower (Dundee Institute); and Albert Edwin Sawday (Leicester and Leicestershire Society). REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION (London).-George Halford Fellowes Prynne.

THE STANDING COMMITTEES.

At the same Meeting the following Fellows and Associates were declared duly elected to serve on

the respective Standing Committees for the ensuing year of office, viz. :

ART STANDING COMMITTEE. Fellows. John Macvicar Anderson, F.R.S.E.; James Brooks; John McKean Brydon; William Douglas Caröe, M.A.Cantab., F.S.A.; Ernest George; Edward William Mountford; Beresford Pite; Henry Heathcote Statham; Alfred Waterhouse, R.A., LL.D.; and William Young.

Associates.-Robert Shekleton Balfour; Owen Fleming; James Sivewright Gibson; Henry Thomas Hare; George Campbell Sherrin; and John William Simpson.

LITERATURE STANDING COMMITTEE.

Fellows. Henry Louis Florence; Alexander Graham, F.S.A.; Benjamin Ingelow; John Tavenor Perry; William Alfred Pite; Sydney Smirke; Richard Phenè Spiers, F.S.A.; Henry Heathcote Statham; Paul Waterhouse, M.A.Oxon.; and Ralph Selden Wornum.

Associates. Arthur Thomas Bolton; Arthur Smyth Flower, M.A.Oxon., F.S.A.; Andrew Noble

desiring employment is kept in the office, and members of the Institute, Students and Probationers, are charged no fee. It is assistants of some experience for whom there appears to be so much demand..

THE AMENDED BY-LAWS.

The sanction of the Privy Council to the alterations in By-laws 9, 15, 30, and 31 has been confollowing is a copy :veyed to the Institute in a document, of which the

[PRIVY SEAL.]

AT THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, WHITEHALL. The 19th day of May 1898.

By the Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council.

PRESENT:

LORD CHANCELLOR.

LORD PRESIDENT.

LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH.

Waterhouse, M.A.Cantab.; and Percy Scott Worthington, M.A.Oxon.

PRACTICE STANDING COMMITTEE.

Fellows.-Thomas Batterbury; Samuel Flint Clarkson; Thomas Harris; George Hubbard; Alexander Henry Kersey; Joseph Douglass Mathews; Walter Hilton Nash; James Osborne Smith; Charles James Smithem; and Edmund Woodthorpe, M.A.Oxon.

Associates.-William H. Atkin-Berry; Charles Henry Brodie; Francis Thos. Wilberforce Goldsmith; Herbert Hardwicke Langston; Augustus William Tanner; and William Henry White.

SCIENCE STANDING COMMITTEE.

Fellows.-Lewis Angell, M. Inst.C.E.; Hampden William Pratt; John Salmon Quilter; Herbert Duncan Searles-Wood; William Howard Seth-Smith; Percival Gordon Smith; Alfred Saxon Snell; Lewis Solomon; William Charles Street, Assoc.Inst.C.E.; and Benjamin Tabberer.

Associates. Sydney Benjamin Beale; Henry William Burrows; Max Clarke; Bernard John Dicksee; Matthew Garbutt, Assoc.-M.Inst.C.E.; and George Pearson.

The Auditors are Messrs. Zeph. King and Frederick William Marks.

The Institute Register for Assistants. Whether it be a sign or not of the non-overcrowding of the profession, the demand on the part of principals for assistants far exceeds the supply that the Institute can provide. It therefore seems advisable to draw special attention to the facilities for obtaining employment offered to assistants by the Institute. A register of assistants

Board a letter dated the 3rd day of May 1898, from Messrs. Markby, Stewart, & Co., transmitting certain Resolutions varying Bye-Laws Nos. 15, 30, 9, and 31 of the Royal Institute of British Architects, passed at Special General Meetings of the Institute held on the 14th day of June 1897, the 29th day of November 1897, and the 18th day of April 1898, and confirmed at subsequent Special General Meetings held on the 12th day of July 1897, the 13th day of December 1897, and the 2nd day of May 1898.

And whereas by Section 33 of the Supplemental Charter of the Institute it is provided that no Bye-laws made by the Institute shall be of any force or validity whatever unless and until they have been approved by The Lords of the Council.

NOW THEREFORE, Their Lordships, having taken into consideration the said Resolutions, are pleased to approve the amendments of the ByeLaws (copy of which is hereunto annexed). J. H. HARRISON.

BYE-LAW 9.

The following clause to be added :—

Provided always that when the Council of the Institute receive a unanimous recommendation formally submitted by the Council of any Allied Society that a practising member of the profession is eligible and worthy of being elected as a Fellow, the Council shall, during the five years from the date of approval of this provision by the Privy Council, have power to elect him, if in their opinion his work be of sufficient merit. The Council shall also have the power to elect annually to the Fellowship without ballot the President or President-elect of any of the Allied Societies who may be eligible and apply for admission." BYE-LAW 15.

To be added to as follows:

"Provided always that the Council may during their pleasure dispense with the payment of an Entrance Fee in the case of Non-Metropolitan Fellows."

Mr. Gladstone and the Institute. The following letter, just discovered among the Council documents, may be of interest at the present time :

"Hawarden Castle, Chester: 28 Oct. 1874. "SIR,-I am very sensible of the compliment conveyed to me by the request which is contained in your letter of the 22nd.

"Nevertheless, it is my fear that I shall not be able to comply. My time is more than filled with engagements that I cannot set aside, and I could not readily turn to the thorough consideration of any matter such as would be suitable to be laid before the Society of British Architects. If within a reasonable period such a topic as would be manageable should occur to me, I will not scruple again to address you.-I have the honour to be, Sir, your faithful servant,

The Daily Chronicle announces the death of Mr. Sydney Stent [F], M.Inst.C.E., of Cape Town, on the 20th ult. Mr. Stent, who was fiftytwo years of age, had been a Fellow of the Institute since 1880. His architectural education was received in the office of his father, the late Mr. W. J. Stent, of Warminster. In 1868 he started practice in Frome, but left England in the following year for South Africa, where he practised successively in Natal, Cape Colony, and Griqualand West, finally settling at the Cape on his appointment as Resident Architect to the Government in 1878.

His Honour Judge Meadows White, Q.C., F.R.S.,

* Printed in the TRANSACTIONS 1876-77, pp. 197-200.

who died on the 21st ult., had been an Hon. Associate of the Institute since 1883. While a practising barrister Mr. White was standing counsel to the old Metropolitan Board of Works. The Institute TRANSACTIONS of 1888 [Vol. IV. N.S.] contains a Paper, "Recent Legal Decisions affecting Architects," read by the deceased before the Institute in that year.

Commission du Vieux Paris.

At a meeting of the Commission du Vieux Paris, held on the 5th ult. under the presidency of the Prefect of the Seine, a letter was read from Monsieur Ch. Lucas [Hon. Corr. M.], who, summoned as a witness, was unable to attend, referring to the Royal Institute's publications, "Conservation of Ancient Monuments" and "Hints to Workmen engaged on the Repairs and Restoration of Ancient Buildings," of which he submitted copies. The result of M. Lucas's recommendations was a resolution that a short practical guide should be issued for the use of workmen engaged on the demolition or restoration of ancient monuments, and that the two publications of the Royal Institute should serve as a basis for the compilation.

The above is gathered from the report in the Bulletin Municipal Officiel de la Ville de Paris

of the 21st ult.

THE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AS TO THE CHARGES OF ARCHITECTS. SCHEDULE SANCTIONED BY THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS, AND CONFIRMED AT A GENERAL CONFERENCE OF ARCHITECTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1872; REVISED BY THE ROYAL INSTITUTE, 1898.

1. The usual remuneration for an architect's services except as hereinafter mentioned is a commission of 5 per cent. on the total cost of works executed under his directions. Such total cost is to be valued as though executed by a builder with new materials. This commission is for the necessary preliminary conferences and sketches, approximate estimate when required (such, for instance, as may be obtained by cubing out the contents), the necessary general and detailed drawings and specifications, one set of tracings and duplicate specification, general superintendence of works, examining and passing the accounts, exclusive of measuring and making out extras and omissions. The clerk of the works should be appointed by the architect, his salary being paid by the client. 2. This commission does not include the payment for services rendered in connection with negotiations relating to the site, or in surveying it and taking levels, making