To those who carry on any operations requiring much hammering or pounding, a simple means of deadening the noise of their work is a great relief. Several methods have been suggested, but the best are probably these: 1. Rubber cushions under the legs of the work-bench. _Chambers’s Journal_ describes a factory where the hammering of fifty coppersmiths was scarcely audible in the room below, their benches having under each leg a rubber cushion. 2. Kegs of sand or sawdust applied in the same way. A few inches of sand or sawdust is first poured into each keg; on this is laid a board or block upon which the leg rests, and round the leg and block is poured fine dry sand or sawdust. Not only all noise, but all vibration and shock, is prevented; and an ordinary anvil, so mounted, may be used in a dwelling-house without annoying the inhabitants. To amateurs, whose workshops are almost always located in dwelling-houses, this device affords a cheap and simple relief from a very great annoyance. Echoes are broken up by stretching wires across the room at about 4-5 ft. above the heads of the audience. Often there is strong echo from the windows, which is lessened by the use of curtains, but with some sacrifice of light. Very thin semi-transparent blinds would check echo a good deal, but architects should not have large windows in the same plane; large unbroken surfaces of any kind are very apt to reflect echoes, yet we constantly see rooms intended for public meetings so built as to be spoiled by the confusing echoes.