92 Mr. E. Eeathcote Statham [Jan. 31, 



the base ; but tbe demand for upward diminution which the eye 

 instinctively makes* in regarding such a feature is, perhaps, partly 

 traceable to an unconscious generalization from the observation of the 

 almost universal tendency to upward diminution in vertical objects in 

 nature, in the trunks of trees and stems of plants, &c. But the line 

 of the diminishing column makes an awkward angle with the hori- 

 zontal face of the abacus, and to join this feature more harmoniously 

 with the neck of the column, we find a rounded member introduced 

 between them (F, Fig. 3, 4), spreading under the abacus and appearing 

 to collect the weight of the superstructure and concentrate it on the 

 neck, or we will rather say the wrist, of the column. This juncture of 

 the rounded moulding (echinus) with the shaft is therefore an important 

 point in the architectural design : it is the transference of the weight 

 of the superstructure to its support ; it is the point where, following 

 upwards from the ground, the vertical tendency of the design ends 

 and its horizontal tendency begins. And we find it duly marked by a 

 series of striations (annulets) cutting across the shaft (G), emphasizing 

 this point in the design, stopping the vertical flutings of the shaft by 

 lines in an opposing direction (just as in a piece of music we stop the 

 progress of the composition at its close by a repetition several times 

 of the chord of the key), and serving to bind together and strengthen 

 the appearance of the whole feature at this point, very much as (to 

 compare the physical with the sesthetic) the annular ligature in the 

 human wrist binds together the muscles of the arm. We have here, 

 then, a feature entirely specialized to represent the capability of 

 carrying vertical weight ; a feature in which all the decorative treat- 

 ment is directly designed in furtherance of that idea, and not the 

 slightest ornament is introduced which does not assist constructive 

 expression. 



The principal lintel (architrave), which rests on the columns and 

 carries the whole of the superstructure, is subjected to the most 

 trying stress to which building material can be subjected, that of 

 " cross-strain " at right angles to the direction of its bearing, a strain 

 which acts with sj^ecial disadvantage upon a granular material with 

 little tensile strength, such as stone or marble. All its substance is 

 therefore required for stability; nothing of it is cut away, and no 

 decoration is introduced in a feature which is doing too much hard 

 work to afford a suitable field for ornament, f Above the architrave 

 we again find vertical su^Dports in the shape of the triglyphs or three- 

 channelled members which carry the cornice, and here again the vertical 

 channelling of these features (H, Fig. 3) has the same function as the 

 flutings of the column, that of assisting the expression of verticality ; 

 while the cornice, which essentially is only the overhanging of the roof 



* That the eye instinctively and unconsciously demands this is obvious, from 

 the unquestionable fact that a column or pilaster with absolutely parallel sides 

 appears larger at the top than at the bottom. 



t In accordance with the principle so admirably summarized by Mr. Ruskin 

 in the single sentence, " Where you can rest, there decorate." 



