In  order  to  make  the  best  use  of  these  reminders  in  preparing
a  specification,  the  drawings,  after  they  have  been  delivered  to  the
specification  writer,  should  be  most  carefully  studied  so  that  the
whole  scheme  of  design,  arrangement,  use,  construction,  and  decora-
tion may  be  well  in  mind.  Having  obtained  a  general  compre-
hensive impression,  the  general  method  of  obtaining  the  results
desired  is  next  to  be  studied.  A  considerable  time  can  be  spent
in  this  work  to  advantage.  It  is  a  good  plan  after  what  is  considered
to  be  a  sufficient  period  of  study,  to  sit  down,  close  the  eyes,  and
call  up  in  mind  the  different  parts  as  a  whole  and  in  detail.  If  the
scheme  then  appears  clear,  and  can  be  followed  out  understand-


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CONTRACTS  AND  SPECIFICATIONS  79

ingly  in  mind,  without  reference  to  tlie  drawings,  then — and  not
until  then — is  the  writer  fitted  to  begin  the  work.  He  can  then
with  surprising  rapidity  lay  out  his  first  fine  of  main  heads,  and
with  a  similar  rapidity  his  subheads,  which  completed  the  main
part  of  the  work  is  done.  Stress  is  here  again  laid  on  the  importance
of  the  clear  mental  comprehension  of  the  entire  scheme,  as  a  whole
and  in  detail,  before  a  word  is  written.  If  the  writer  fails  in  this
grasp,  his  specification  will  be  neither  clear  nor  complete,  and  is
very  apt  to  degenerate  into  a  series  of  disconnected  sentences  with
little  or  no  affinity  to  those  which  precede  or  follow.
