580 GREEK HORIZONTAL CURVES IN MAISON CARREE AT NIMES. 



Mr. Peunethonie's discovery of the curves at Athens was not iiniiie- 

 diately published by liiin, aside from a ])aiuphh't printed for pii\ate 

 distribution, nor was it published by him for many years. His own 

 publication was delayed until J878, twenty-seven years after the publi- 

 cation of Penrose, and forty-one years after his own diseo\ery. This 

 delay appears to have been owing- to lack of eneouragement in his 

 special studies and to the abandonment for many years of his chosen 

 career. He tells us that he took up the pursuit of a.iiTicuIture soon 

 after his return to England. Most curious ot all, he did not know until 

 18()0 that the curves which he first discovered had been measured by 

 Penrose in 1846. It was not till 1800 that the work of Penrose pub- 

 lished in 1851 came to his knowledge. It was not until 1878 that he 

 announced the curves at Medmet Hnbou, and meantime all the theories 

 so far made known as to the curves of the Parthenon had made their 

 appearance and had beeu adv.anced without this important knowledge. 

 Not only that; when Mv. Pennethorne did publish, it was in a book on 

 The Optics and Geometry of Ancient Architecture, which costs a large 

 sum ($35), and which, being a specialist book devoted to Greek archi- 

 tecture, has apparently so fiir not come to the notice of one single 

 Egyptologist. There is not a single book, guidebook or any book oth- 

 erwise known to me, which relates to Egypt which mentions the curves 

 at Medinet Habou. I have never met an p]gyptologist who knew of 

 their existence, and it appears to have been reserved for me to make 

 the first observations and measurements for curves in three courts — at 

 Luxor, in the great court atKarnak, and in the court at Edfou. 



Mr. Pennethorne tells us in 1878 that he did not, when in Egypt, give 

 the further attention to the subject and attach the importance to it 

 which it deserved, but the temple at Edfou where I have observed the 

 curves was not cleared out till twenty-seven years after Pennethorne 

 was in Egypt. Down to 18(50 this temple was covered by an Egyi)tian 

 village. The courts of Luxor were not cleared out till 1891, the year 

 when I was in Egypt, and no one could have previously made measure- 

 ments there. As for the court of Karnak, it is still buried in rubbish 

 and observations can only be made in an imperfect, but I think 

 convincing, way on the lines of the architrave. 



It is, however, a most significant thing that the curves at Medinet 

 Habou are generally unknown in 18!»5 to the world of science and of 

 travel. They amount on the short side of the court to 8 inches deflec- 

 tion in the architrave in a length of 80 feet inches, and, on the long- 

 side, to 4i inches in a length of 101 feet inches. They can be sighted 

 on the roofs of the portico with the greatest ease and are most posi- 

 tively wholly constructive and not accidental, as already shown by 

 Pennethorne. And yet I am acquainted with at least one very sharp- 

 sighted architectural expert who has been in this court without noting 

 the curves and I am acquainted with many travelers who have not 

 noticed them. Is it not, then, clear that all these persons have dis- 

 counted the effect of the curve ? What this effect is for standpoints 



