OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 303 



sistra, mirrors, vases, door-posts, abaci, and walls,* an emblem of even 

 greater frequency than the cross in modern times. And just as the 

 true significance of the cross is to be determined by the student of re- 

 ligion rather than of art, so the significance of this emblem belongs to 

 the history of religion rather than to the history of art. Hence I shall 

 be content with a very cursory examination of it, laying all emphasis 

 upon its characteristics as an architectural member. 



The essential part of the capital is the sensuous, Oriental face of the 

 goddess, with its double chin, elongated eyes and nose, voluptuous 

 mouth, and unhuman ears. Around this is curved the conventional 

 head-dress, wrapped by several ornamented bands and held in place 

 by being passed behind the ears. Upon the head is placed first an 

 ordinary Egyptian cornice, and upon this a pylon crowned with a second 

 cornice. Through the door of the pylon is seen the asp so frequently 

 recurrent in Egyptian ornamentation. On either side of the pylon is 

 an upright, scroll-like member. All these features are conventional in 

 the highest degree, as any one may convince himself by glancing 

 through the engravings of Lepsius, Champollion, and Rosellini. 



Touching the form of the capital as such, the following remarks 

 suggest themselves. First, there is no connection between shaft and 

 capital, but the latter is abruptly cut off at the bottom, as though the 

 artist were unable to invent a satisfactory joint. Secondly, the capital 

 falls into two quite distinct parts, the lower principal, the upper orna- 

 mental and accessory. Third, although, in consequence of the projec- 

 tion of the two side-faces, the capital appears on the whole wider at the 

 bottom than at the top, yet in reality each separate face regarded from 

 in front is considerably narrower below than above. 



The effective width of the lower edge of the capital, i. e. looked at from di- 

 rectly in front of one of the faces, is 2.54 m. ; of the widest part (at the point 

 of the nose), 3.04 m. ; of the first cornice, 2.74 m. ; of the second, 2.57 m. ; or, in 

 terms of the greatest shaft-diameter, 1.08, 1.20, 1.17, and 1.08 respectively. 



The width of each face or front taken hy itself increases steadily from 1.02 m. 

 (.82 diameters) at the bottom, and 2.06 m. (.88 diameters) at the first cornice, 

 to 2.22 m. (.04 diameters) at the second. 



The height of the whole capital is comparatively very great, — .57 of the 

 shaft-height, .33 of the column. The two sections of the capital occupy .57 

 and .43 of its height, .33 and .24 of the shaft-height, .10 and .14 of the column. 



The height of the whole capital, measured by its different widths, is, by the 

 lowest, 1.87 ; by the greatest, 1.56 ; by that of the first cornice, 1.73. 



* See Lepsius, i. 88, 100, 108 ; iii. 80, 82, 102 ; iv. 26, 40, 53 ; Description, i. 

 21 ; Champollion, i. 7 ; Rosellini, iii. 4 ; Wilkinson, Anc. Egs., ii. 350, etc., etc. 



