OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 355 



columns are found in the covered hall — commonly called the Palace 

 of Thothmes III. — in the extreme rear of the great temple-enclosure 

 at Karnak.* They are generally known as the columns " with re- 

 versed capitals," although " with reversed shafts and capitals." would 

 be more accurate.f (^ig- 12.) I had the curiosity to follow out this 

 hint, and try the experiment of inverting the capital and shaft of one of 

 these columns, (omitting, however, the section between astragal and 

 capital,) and then comparing the proportions of the reconstructed 

 column with those of ordinary hell columns. The capital proved to be 

 a trifle too small for the top of the shaft, but the various proportions 

 were strikingly accordant with previous results. The plinth is low, 

 but not unprecedented, — .03 of the column-height; and of normal 

 diameter, — 1.43 shaft-diameters. The shaft rises abruptly from the 

 plinth, diminishes gradually, — 1 in 37 ; is rather heavy, — 3.60 diam- 

 eters ; but of excellent relative height, — .74 of the column. The 

 capital-height, referred to the remainder of the column, is quite typical, 



— .20 of the shaft, .15 of the column; but is of unusually small width, 



— 1.14 shaft-diameters ; making its height estimated by its own 

 greatest diameter unusually great, — .64. Whether these curious 

 coincidences touching the proportions of these columns really indicate 

 anything concerning their origin I do not know. 



Returning now to the normal form, the only necessary remark 

 before passing on to the next order relates to the source from which 

 the present order may be supposed to have been derived. The type is 

 most obviously not mechanical, for no papyrus-bell was ever employed 

 as an actual support ; and at all events, whether the connection with the 

 papyrus be accepted or not, such a capital combined with such an 

 abacus is mechanically nonsensical. Hence I think we must again 

 accord to the Egyptians the honor of selecting a natural form remark- 

 able for its grace and importing it bodily into their architecture. 



§ 6. Order III. — Lotus Columns. 



Order III., comprising all columns with open lotus-flowers for capi- 

 tals, differs little from Order II. except in this member. It seems to 

 have been devised only to afford variety in the colonnades of the latter 

 order, since it never occurs elsewhere, so far as we know, and there is 



* See Lepsius, i. 81, d, e ; Description, iii. 30 ; Reber, Gesch. d. Baukunst, 

 fig. 97, p. 157. 



t See Fergusson, Hist, of Arch., i. 107; Wathen, Arts, Antiqs., etc., p. 110; 

 Murray's Hand-book for Egypt, (1873,) p. 442. 



