OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 353 



compound ones.* Third, however grouped, their height is so gradu- 

 ated that they practically divide the lower half of the capital into 

 narrow horizontal zones.f 



Although it is noticeable that the general form of the Corinthian 

 capital is quite similar to this, yet the decorations of the two are almost 

 entirely different. On the whole, it seems improbable to me that the 

 latter was the derivative of the former. 



The height of the capital, referred to the height of the shaft, varies from .15 

 to .25, with an average of .20 or .22 ; the same, referred to the height of the 

 whole column, varies from .11 to .18, with an average of .15. Each of these 

 ratios is less than in the papyrus columns of Order L 



The height of the capital in terms of its greatest diameter is .45 at Karnak 

 ( Hypos tyle Hall), and in later times between .55 and .59 The ratio of height 

 to breadth is here quite different from that in Order I.; there it was about 1 : 1, 

 here about 1 : 2. 



The greatest diameter of the capital, measured by the greatest shaft-diame- 

 ter, varies from 1.05 to 1.99 (Karnak). This is of course much greater than in 

 Order I. 



Abacus. — The abacus of all these columns is peculiar, because it 

 touches so little of the top of the capital. It is merely an offshoot of 

 the architrave, apparently commissioned mainly to keep the capital and 

 architrave apart. Its usual form is cubical or nearly so, but in a few 

 instances its height is very much exaggerated.! Its sides are often 

 occupied by faces or even by whole figures. The subjects are either 

 Isis-heads, such as compose the capitals of Order V.,§ or figures of 

 Typhon, the Egyptian spirit of evil.|| 



The height of the abacus, referred to the height of the column, is usually from 

 .045 to .068 ; when extended, .18 to .26. 



It may be interesting to call attention to an abnormal form of this 

 order that is found in Tomb 81 at Gizeh, and is figured in the accom- 

 panying cut.H Its dimensions are so extraordinary that I venture to 

 group them here by themselves. The plinth, if correctly given iu 

 Lepsius's plate, is rather high, — .043 of the column; very broad, — 

 2.14 shaft-diameters ; and is strongly bevelled. The shaft is cylin- 

 drical, not cut in at the base ; extraordinarily high, — .83 of the 



* Simple capitals, — Description, i. 8, figs. 14, 15; Lepsius, i. 81, a; an excep- 

 tion in De'ser., i. 42. Compound capitals, — Ibid., i. 8, figs. 6, 7, 9, 13. 

 t Ibid., i. 75, fig. 1. The same remark applies to Corinthian capitals. 

 t E. g., Ibid., i. 62. 

 § E. g., Ibid., i. 21. 



|| E. g.. Ibid., i. 62, — the so-called Typhonium of Edfou. 

 t See Lepsius, i. 27 ; Reber, Gesch. d. Baukunst, fig. 91, p. 149. 

 vol. xv. (n. s. vii.) 23 



