646 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



direction we have indicated, by raising the central portion of the 

 building above the roof, in the form of a low, square tower. This 

 served as a lantern for the admission of light. In the eleventh cent- 

 ury, when the Norman period commenced, the upward tendency was 

 much more marked. The buildings generally were more lofty, and 

 the tower especially was heightened. The splaying of windows a 

 device evidently brought about by the desire to obtain the maximum 

 of light through the narrow openings in thick walls now became 

 general. The early Norman buildings retain in general the Roman- 

 esque character of massiveness, but efforts to relieve this are apparent 

 in the rich carving of doorways, the occasional wreathing or other 

 decoration of heavy supporting pillars, and the use of light arcades 

 for mere ornament. The circular section of the pillar is no longer 

 strictly adhered to, but hexagonal and octagonal pillars are freely 

 used, and sometimes four shafts are combined into one pillar, the 

 commencement of the clustered form so conspicuous in later styles. 

 But the most important invention of this period was the buttress, 

 which rendered it possible to raise the height of a wall considerably 

 without the necessity of adding uniformly to its thickness. 



In the twelfth century architecture began to develop in well- 

 defined forms the peculiar character which we distinguish by the 

 term Gothic. With the view, doubtless, of providing more effectually 

 against the inclemency of northern climates, the pitch of the roof 

 had been raised, until, at the time to which we refer, the ancient pedi- 

 ment had grown into the mediaeval gable. Another important change 

 was the introduction of the pointed arch. Of the writers who have 

 put forward their own particular views as to the origin of the pointed 

 arch, it may be said their name is legion. The theory that it was 

 suggested by the interlacing of the branching of trees is a pretty one, 

 but, we fear, must be relegated to the domain of poetic fancy. It 

 would have had more force if it could have been applied to classic 

 architecture, and not to Gothic, as the worship in groves intimately 

 connected with paganism, whereas the Christian religion is associated 

 in its early days with caves and catacombs. The hypothesis that it is 

 an importation from the East, one of the results of the Crusades, has 

 much to be said in its favor. Pointed arches had long been used 

 in Oriental buildings, and they are even found in Assyrian remains. 

 The intersection of arches carried to alternate pillars in ornamental 

 arcades a form frequently met with in Norman buildings produces 

 a perfect pointed arch. But whatever was the immediate cause of 

 the adoption of this form, it is an .expression in a high degree of the 

 principles which governed the development of the art in the middle 

 ages. It marks a distinct advance in the pursuit of light, in all the 

 three senses mentioned above. Not only is the central portion higher 

 than that of a semicircular arch, but the construction is such as to 

 suggest that the support of the pillar is carried upward through the 



