1848.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



manner in which graves are dug in England ; and as soon as sufficient of 

 the covering of the tomb is exposed, a man sits down with a heavy hammer 

 (such as is used by masons), and with this a hole is made in the lid or 

 covering to the tomb. A hand is then carefully inserted, and human bones, 

 vases, &c., are generally extracted. The greatest number of vases I found in 

 any one tomb was fourteen, and children's tombs had proportionally small 

 vases. Having in three days collected enough to load one of the small 

 horses of the country, I got them to Corinth, whence they were sent to 

 Athens, and afterwards by sea, via Malta, to London." 



Mr. Birch, of the British Museum, was in attendance, and stated that he 

 v?as unable to give any account of the chemical constituents of the vases, 

 or the particular manner of their fabrication ; still he should be glad to 

 offer a few remarks in reference to the specimens exhibited. It is only 

 of late years (he observed) that the conclusion had been come to that 

 large manufactories of vases existed in Greece ; they had always been sup- 

 posed to be of Etruscan produce. The fictile art had been supposed to be 

 confined almost exclusively to Italy, although numerous excavations had 

 been made at Athens, and a few at Corinth, which had produced spe- 

 cimens similar to those exhibited, and which he divided into classes. The 

 most ancient vases (and which are distinguished from all others by the 

 material of which they are composed) are of a light yellow clay, and have 

 figures and animals painted on them in a maroon colour. Their date is sup- 

 posed to be about 616 years before Christ. About this period the fictile 

 art is reported to have been introduced among the Etruscans by the Greeks. 

 The second class of vases are of a pale red clay, and the figures, instead of 

 being of a maroon colour, are traced in black, in order to show the details 

 more distinctly. This style appears to date from the fifth to the middle of 

 the fourth century before Christ. The third class is one in which the 

 colour was laid on by means of a reed. But perhaps the highest style, and 

 one which is peculiar to the vases found at Athens, is that in which the outline, 

 &c., is traced in white paint, or a sort of carbonate of lime. The vases 

 exhibited he thought peculiarly interesting, as deciding that the vases of 

 Italy may he considered to be the manufacture of Greeks settled in Italy, 

 and not imported from Greece into that countrj-. 



Dr. Harding stated that the tombs at Ilexamili seem to have been 

 scattered in irregular patches; but the cemetery appears to have been very 

 extensive, measuring nearly halfamilein each direction. No inscriptions or 

 marks whatever are visible on the stones of the tombs, nor is there any 

 other apparent difference externally than that of size. The bones in them 

 were tolerably perfect, and the skulls nearly entire. He found but one piece 

 of metal, apparently part of a large bronze needle or bodkin. Generally, the 

 contents of the tombs were in a wonderful state of preservation, considering 

 that they were, in all probability, at least 2,000 years old. 



Jan. 26. — George Moore, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. 

 The Secretary read a letter from Mr. Dwyer, in which he states, as the 

 Society is to meet for the purpose of investigating the forms of Ancient 

 Fottery, he begged to present for its acceptance a series of sketches, believ- 

 ing that they might prove of sorae utility in assisting its researches. He 

 says that having observed that ancient art generally originates through the 

 imitation of natural objects, he was led to infer as highly probable that the 

 beautiful outlines of the Grecian vases emanated from similar sources; and 

 proceeded to point out the exquisite forms of leaves and fruits, suggesting 

 the probable manner in which they had been used to give character and 

 beauty of outline to those manufactures. 



The second communication was from Mr. W. T. Griffiths, and accom- 

 panied a copy of his work " On the Natural System of Architecture." 



The communication alluded to the work as pointing out the geometrical 

 proportions of the temples of Greece, and calling attention to the applica- 

 bility of geometrical design to domestic architecture, and as also affording a 

 ready means of obtaining beautiful patterns for oil cloths, carpets, &c. The 

 author then proceeded to point out the improbability of the ancient Greek 

 vases being constructed on any other than pure geometrical principles, as is 

 proved by analysis ; and concluded by alluding to the mistaken but very 

 prevalent notion that to produce a beautiful building, it is necessary to over- 

 load it with meretricious ornament, — instead of feeling that the more sim- 

 ple is often tbe more beautiful design. 



Mr. Varlev made some remarks in reference to Mr. Dwyer's communi- 

 cation, and stated that although we have many artists of highly-cultivated 

 taste, still they have not the necessary knowledge to enable them to produce 

 good art. In reference to a leaf having given rise to the forms of the Greek 

 vases, he would observe that a leaf in itself is a pendant body, and as such 

 is very beautiful : but no single leaf would stand upright. We might take 

 some pendant fruits, such as the apple, — which might be said to have a 

 base, and some vases might be compared to it ; but he did not think that 

 they gave rise to the forms of the Greek vases, although he must admit that 

 Nature was the first teacher of everything that is beautiful. There are cer- 

 tain rules, Mr. Varley said, which Nature suggests, and which we find the 

 Greeks used ; and he proceeded to point out the following method which 

 might be used for producing agreeable forms, such as the bodies of the vases 

 exhibited — viz., by taking one-quarter of an hyperbola, parabola, or ellipse, 

 according to the outline desired; and by rotating it on its axis at any given 

 angle, it would be made to produce the figure desired. Similar simple 

 methods for obtaining the necks and stands for vases were also described. 



The Secretary made some remarks on the forms of vases, and stated 

 that if beauty consisted in the imitation of Nature, as suggested by Mr. 



Dwyer, a man would have nothing to do but to take the first leaf of a tree 

 as soon as he came to it ; instead of which, discontented with the first fifty 

 leaves, he goes on seeking and seeking, till at last he finds one which pleases 

 him, because it comes up to the ideas in his own mind, and which he had 

 preconceived as the standard of beauty. 



Mr. Wyndham Harding considered that the effect of vases and other 

 domestic utensils, as well as the architecture of everyday life, should pro- 

 duce on the eye an effect equally pleasing with music on the ear ; and that, 

 as in order to obtain harmony in music it is necessary that the cords or 

 wires should each vibrate a proportionate number of times, so should the 

 proportions of one part of a vase bear a given relation to those of another. 

 In relation to architecture, several persons have considered that certain nu- 

 merical simple proportions can be traced as existing in the various members 

 of ancient Greek temples, and Mr. Donaldson had stated that he has revived 

 the means of determining the precise proportion of various parts of all 

 Gothic buildings : and these geometric and harmonic relations must have 

 been known to the Greeks in the formation of their woiks. 



Mr. Smith stated that he did not consider that geometry was used by the 

 ancients to the extent which is generally attributed to them, hut rather that 

 their works were the result of a practised eye and hand, guided by a highly, 

 cultivated taste. 



Feb. 9. — Baron Goldsmid, V.P., in the Chair. 

 The Secretary introduced the business of tbe evening by some remarks on 

 "Fohjgonar Decorations," as follows. 



The discussion on the construction of ancient Greek vases, which had 

 lately occupied the meetings of the Society, had occasioned several treatises 

 to be written and a great amount of attention to be paid to the subject. It 

 is continually alleged as a fault of the art in our day, that instead of boldly 

 creating forms and trusting to our own minds, and carrying out those feel- 

 ings according to what we consider the enlightened principles which we have 

 struck out for ourselves, we are contented to take for granted tliat the an- 

 cients were artists truly unapproachable, and such we can never hope to 

 equal, much less to excel ; and, therefore, the best thing that we can do is 

 to abandon altogether originality, and give ourselves up to tbe study and 

 copying of the antique forms. The Secretary then pointed out the effect of 

 a design upon the mind and senses in the case of polygonar art, and called 

 attention to the effect of such a combination of colours and forms as shall 

 produce upon the mind the effect of a design standing out from the wall or 

 pavement, hut which, if felt by the hand or foot, is perfectly flat. He next 

 proceeded to point out the forms of the tesserse and geometric figures which 

 had hitherto been used in combination to produce design, and pointed out 

 the beauty and variety of design whioh might be obtained by the combina- 

 tion of a form of tessera, which, although not new, had not up to this time 

 been used as the base of a pattern. The figure which was pointed out as 

 most applicable to mosaic decorations was the triangle of Plato, any num- 

 ber of which might be arranged round a point and made to cover an entire 

 surface, forming bands either horizontally, diagonally, or any variety of dia- 

 mond figures, as the fides of the triangle bear a peculiar ratio, namely, 30, 

 60, and 90 degrees ; whereas, where figures of inharmonious ratios are used, 

 the same variety cannot be obtained. 



Having thus pointed out the applicability of geometric figures to the pro- 

 duction of beautiful forms, the Secretary gave several extracts from a paper 

 on the " Beau Ideal Head," by Mr. D. R. Hay ; from Mr. Blashfield's paper 

 on the " Construction of Fictile Vases ;" Dr. Wampen's communication on 

 the " Geometrical Proportions of the Human Figure ;" and Mr. Digby 

 Wyatt's paper on " Ancient Tessera; ;" also a letter from Mr. J. Jopling, as to 

 the improbability of ancient vases having been construoted on any other 

 than purely geometrical principles. 



Dr. Harding made some remarks as to the uses to which the various 

 cups and vases excavated by him had been applied, and gave the following 

 quotation from an ancient Greek play, as illustrating the purpose to which 

 the Lecythe had been applied. The play is one in which a young man is 

 represented as jeering an abandoned old woman, and is saying — 

 "But you old wretcti, I greatly dread your lover." 

 "Who?" 



" Why, that first of artists." 

 " Who is that?" 



" He who for dead men paints the Lecythe." 

 Another quotation as pointing out the use of these vessels, is as follows : — 

 " You left rae like a corpse laid out; ouly uncrowned and with no Lecythi^s on me." 

 After alluding to tbe probable purposes to which the several other specimens 

 of vases were applied, Mr. Harding stated that what had been said by Mr. 

 Birch at a former meeting (as to the manufacture of vases having been in- 

 troduced into Italy by Eueheir and Eugrammus, artists who had fled from 

 Greece), was a myth, and could not be received. Corinth, he observed, has 

 been celebrated at all times, according to Strabo, for its politicians and for 

 the promotion of the useful arts, both graphic and plastic, and for every 

 species of useful application of them ; also for some beautiful, but not nu- 

 merous, specimens of objects connected with sepulchral rites. 



ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS. 

 Jan. 24.— George Buchanan, Esq., F.R.S.E., President, in the Chair. 

 The following communications were made : — 



1. Description of a Marine Hydrometer, adapted for ascertaining the 

 comparative Saltness and Freshness of Sea and River Waters. By George 

 Buchanan, Esq., President. 



13* 



