Mr. Thomas Hastings delivered the second of his course of art lectures last evening in the Jefferson Laboratory. There was a large audience. The subject of the lecture was "How and Where to Begin a Design."

Architecture, Mr. Hastings said, is an art rather than a science, and the more skilled the architect is the less need will he have of resorting to science for the formation of his plans, and construction of his buildings.

The first and foremost of the plans for a building is the floor plan, and the architect generally has this formed and finished before he has more than a vague idea of what the elevation is to be. This plan, then, being of the first importance, should be studied in a practical way to meet the ends of the problem in hand. The first thing to be considered is the disposition of the rooms on this main floor, and of hardly less importance is the question of circulation, or the arrangement of halls and corridors so that they may connect the various rooms in the simplest and most convenient manner.

The next matter to be studied in connection with the floor plan is the position and surroundings of the proposed building. It is essential that a piece of architecture should harmonize with its surroundings as well in outline and form as in color. A house should not be placed in the centre of a small, square piece of ground, having an even border on all sides of it, but should be placed nearer the side of the lot, with the larger part on one side of the house. This will give much better light and will add materially to the artistic effect. The result produced by a neglect of this rule may be seen in every town, in the houses belonging to people of moderate means, who are unable to employ good architects.

In the architecture of a city, the plan of the streets, and the positions of the parks and squares, the consideration of good circulation is of the greatest importance. Paris leaves a much pleasanter impression on the mind than London or New York, because the parks, squares and monuments of Paris are placed at the ends of the streets, so that every street leads toward a point of interest.

The lecture was illustrated with many stereopticon views of famous buildings and plans.