334 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



I. Columns with bulging capitals, — capitals which swell suddenly 

 just above their base aud then gradually taper upwards to the abacus. 

 These columns invariably represent with greater or less distinctness 

 a fascicle of water-plants. Hence we shall term this the Bundle 

 Order.* 



II. Columns with bell-shaped or crater-form capitals, — capitals 

 which rise in a compound curve, first convex, then concave, to a 

 sharp, flaring edge. These columns seem to symbolize single plants. 

 They constitute the Papyrus Order. 



III. Columns with hemispherical capitals, — capitals which expand 

 from below in a simple convex curve to an abrupt termination at the 

 top. This we shall call the Lotus Order. 



IV. Columns with capitals apparently formed of palm-leaves. This 

 is the Palm Order. 



V. Columns with human heads instead of capitals. As these col- 

 umns usually bear the head of the goddess Hathor or Isis, they may 

 be known as the Isis Order. 



In comparing this scheme with Wilkinson's, it will be observed that 

 groups 1, 2, 8, and part of 6 (supposing that it includes square and 

 polygonal shafts decorated with Isis-heads) are not included here. 

 These are laid aside to constitute a separate group, — Piers, sim- 

 ple, modified, or decorated,f — which I shall not attempt to discuss. 

 Groups 3 and 5 are so obviously natural that they are retained as 

 Orders I. and IV. Similarly, 4 and part of 7 are combined into 

 Order II., — Papyrus Columns, capitals simple, modified, or decorated. 

 The remaiuders of 6 and 7 then become Orders V. and III. respect- 

 ively. 



That the proposed classification is of practical utility I am couvinced 

 from a somewhat extended use of it in studying Egyptian architecture. 

 That it is simple and natural is obvious ; the types successively recog- 

 nized being the stalk-bundle, the papyrus, the lotus, the palm, and the 

 symbolic shaft with the head of a divinity. That it is comprehensive 

 will appear, I hope, from an examination of the extant remains. $ 



* I have ventured to employ the word " Order " in this essay, not in the 

 technical sense given it in Greek and Roman architecture, hut in the sense in 

 which it is used in natural history. See definition of the word in Penrose, 

 "Principles of Athenian Architecture," (London, 1851,) p. 96. 



t This exclusion is based on the theory advanced in Essay I., that the dis- 

 tinction between columns and piers should be insisted on. 



J I have noticed but one irreconcilable form. This is described in § 5. 



