Archimedes Russell, Architect, Syracuse, N. Y.

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The site now known as University Hill was secured, plans made by the well known architect, H. N. White, were adopted, and July 19, 1871, the contract for building the Hall of Languages was let for the sum of $136,000, and Syracuse University became an assured fact. The corner stone of the Hall of Languages was laid on August 31, with impressive ceremonies, and the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts was inaugurated. On September 1 the college opened in the Myers block, which had been secured for the use of the university, and here the sessions were held until May 1, 1873, when the Hall of Languages being completed, it was on that date occupied for the first time. During the year 1871 the plan for a medical college in connection with the university was adopted, and its first commencement exercises were held February 12, 1873. When the Hall of Languages was erected, other buildings were contemplated at such time as the finances of the university should admit of their realization. The institution has struggled along, sometimes meeting with reverses, but now and then being fortified and strengthened by the reception of substantial encouragement from some of its many and devoted friends. Now at last the wheel of fortune has suddenly turned in its favor, and it finds itself at the flood tide of prosperity, with the prospect before it of a long and honorable course of usefulness and well deserved success. University Hill commands a magnificent view of the belt of hills which girdle the city, with Onondaga Lake set like a sparkling gem in the distance. Upon the west hill an observatory has just been erected, and near the Hall of Languages a suitable building is in process of erection, for the accommodation of the fine and valuable library which has been generously bestowed upon it by one of its friends. Syracusans are proud of the University, and they, in common with its hosts of warm friends throughout all parts of the country, rejoice in the evidence of its well merited prosperity.

The alumni of Syracuse University have members not only in almost every State in the Union, but count among their number graduates from Canada, England, Mexico, San Domingo, Brazil, China, India, and Japan.—Architectural Era.

How a Marble Statue is Made.

Mr. John A. P. Macbride, sculptor, who was introduced to a large audience, chiefly of workingmen, by Sir James Picton, recently gave a practical lecture on the above subject, at the Rotunda lecture hall, Liverpool. After giving a sketch of the art and its great antiquity, the lecturer drew a profile in chalk on the blackboard, which he filled in with clay, and proceeded to demonstrate the building up and modeling of a portrait bust of soft clay. He stated that there was a general and erroneous opinion that in taking a portrait bust it was necessary to take a cast of the face. This was a mistake, for the head lost all the spirit and go by such a mechanical process that should distinguish an artist’s work. The truth was not always that which appeared to be true, and the sculptor had to convey some idea of the character as well as of the mind of the sitter; and a man who knew his work ought to be able to do so with his fingers. Carving was a secondary consideration. The lecturer then explained the process of pointing a marble statue. In this process, the model and the block of marble were each fixed on a base called a scale stone, to which a standard vertical rod could be attached at corresponding centers, having at its upper end a sliding needle, so adapted by a movable joint as to be set at any angle and fastened by a screw when set. The sculptor having marked the governing points with a pencil on the model, the instrument was applied to these, and the measure taken. The standard being then transferred to the block base, the pointer, guided by this measure, cuts away the marble, taking care to leave it rather larger than the model, so that the general proportions were kept, and the more important work then left for the sculptor’s hand.—Building News.

About 5,500 buildings have been rebuilt and improved in Charleston, S. C., in the year since the earthquake, and 270 new buildings have been erected. This has been a busy year with mechanics and builders at Charleston, and about $3,500,000 has been expended in this work.