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tent foreigners have, in later years, been enabled to educate them, or to develope the building resources of the country, would fitly form the subject of a separate paper, which, if agreeable to the Society, I shall have pleasure in placing before it on some future occasion. But I may be allowed to say here, that while I felt it impossible to come to any other conclusion than that, in constructive art, the Japanese are surprisingly behind us, I do not wish it to be understood that I consider this deficiency of knowledge to be due to any want of intelligence on their part. Whatever may have been the causes for the want of attention which has been paid to building, there can be no doubt of the great aptitude and ingenuity of the people, and that, after a few years of well-directed education, they will give good proofs of their ability to master all the intricacies of construction as now understood in all civilized countries.
