roU'.MKLLA 



COLr.MN 



371 



in. -i. t.-il SpanUh work by Ancnnio, puhlixlH'd at Barcelona 



in 1 *'.'!, in virwof tin- 4<Mth aiinivcriuiry <>f tin- ilineovery 



. iHTini liy ColumhuH, which wan celebrated with 



enthusiasm at Huelva, Genoa, Madrid, uinl New York in 



un. 



4 oliimHIa. I'- .Jrxn s M ui KI( ATCS, the most 

 learned of Kom.-m \\iitn-on practical agriculture, 

 w;i- lioni ut (lades, iii Spain, and flourished in the 

 earlier part of the first century of the Christian 

 era. For some time he resided in Syria, but 

 lived chiefly at Koine, and died most probably at 

 Tarentum. His great work, De Re Jtuatica, in 

 12 books the tenth upon gardening, written in 



dactylic hexameters 

 is addressed to one 

 Publius Silvinus, 

 and treats of arable 

 and pasture lands, 

 culture of vines, 

 olives, &c., care of 

 domestic animals, 

 &c. , respectiveduties 

 of masters and ser- 

 vants, &c. A sup- 

 plementary treatise 

 relates to trees. 

 This ancient ' Book 

 of the Farm' is 

 written in good 

 Latin, and the infor- 

 mation is copious, 

 though not precise, 

 and in some points 

 of questionable 

 accuracy. The best 

 edition is that by 

 Schneider in the 

 Scriptores Rei Rus- 

 ticce (4 vols. Leip. 

 1794-97). 



Column* a round 

 pillar, usually pro- 

 vided -with a base and 

 capital, employed 



Fig. 1. Tuscan Column. 



in architecture for the support of an Entaolature 

 (q.v.) or other superstructure. Fig. 1 shows in 

 detail the names of the different parts of a column. 

 Columns are doubtless derived from the primitive 

 use of stems of trees in a similar position. Thus 

 the early Egyptian columns are evident imitations 

 of bundles or reeds bound together, or of the stems 

 wf palm-trees (figs. 2 and 3). A flat stone laid 

 beneath to prevent the 

 column from sinking, and 

 another on the top to 

 receive the lintel, would 

 naturally suggest the base 

 and capital. In the Classic 

 'orders' the column played 

 an important part, the 

 proportions of all the 

 different members being 

 regulated by the diameter 

 of the column. In Greek 

 Doric the height of the 

 column varied from 5 to 

 8 diameters, and the other 

 orders from 8 to 10 dia- 

 meters. Columns invari- 

 Fig. 2. Fig. 3. ably taper from base to 



cap, with a slight swelling 



In the centre called the entasis, and they were fre- 

 quently carved with flutings or channels (see FLUT- 

 ING). The most conspicuous distinction was the 

 capital. The characteristics of the three Grecian 

 orders, with the plain Doric capital, the Ionic 

 volutes, the Corintiiian leafage, will be seen from 

 the accompanying cuts (figs. 4, 5, 6), and will be 



further dealt with in CISWIAX AHcillTEcrrBK; the 

 TiiHcan column is also shown in fig. 1. The com- 

 posite column retained the general proportion- of 

 t he Ionic, with tin* < 'orinthian capital. For a Byzan- 

 tine capital, see BVZANTINK Auciinmn I:K. In 

 Gothic, columns are also much used, but their 

 variety is infinite, and not regulated by any fixed 



Fig. 4. Doric Fig. 5. Ionia Fig. 6. Corinthian. 



proportions like the Classic columns. The articles 

 on the various styles of architecture show many 

 forms of columns. A single column was sometimes 

 erected to commemorate some remarkable event or 

 great personage, such as Trajan's Column in Rome. 



Column is a military formation several ranks 

 in depth, and of any length of front, adopted for 

 convenience of movement ; line formation being 

 only two ranks deep and suited for actual fighting 

 in consequence of the wide front of fire that can be 

 developed. Previous to the introduction of the 

 breechloading rifle, and the consequent increase in 

 the advantages of a wide front of fire, most Euro- 

 pean nations fought in column, and especially the 

 French, who, under the first Napoleon, sometimes 

 formed very heavy columns of infantry by ranging 

 many battalions in line, one behind tne other. 

 British infantry always fought in line. A thin 

 single rank formation is now universal for the 

 leading troops in battle ; but the supports move in 

 column until obliged, by hostile fire, to deploy into 

 line. 



A British battalion in column has its companies 

 each two deep, one behind the other, at distances 

 equal to the front of one company, so that on 

 wheeling into line to either flank, no gaps are left. 

 In half-column these distances are halved, and in 

 quarter-column they are reduced to six paces. 



Cavalry may be formed in columns of four squad- 

 rons, or eight troops ; or each squadron may be 

 formed into a column of two troops, the wheeling 

 distance in each case being preserved or reduced as 

 for infantry. Artillery form in columns of batteries, 

 half-batteries, or divisions i.e. with a front of six, 

 three, or two guns at wheeling distances, which are 

 reduced to four yards in quarter-column. 



Column of fours is the formation adopted for 

 marching along a road and for manu-uvres. Infantry 

 are then four abreast, cavalry eight i.e. each rank 

 is four horses abreast. In column of sections ( the 

 cavalry route formation ) the rear rank fours follow 

 behind those of the front rank, instead of march- 

 ing in line with them. Column of route for artillery 

 and transport is one gun or wagon followed by 

 another at four yards' distance, and so on. 



In the Unitd*States, besides the column of fours, 

 there is a double column of fours. Other columns 



