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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[September, 



sideration. may, per.iaps, be further illustrated by a reductio ad 

 absurdum. Let us suppose that the Greeks had possessed no marble, 

 but had known the art of casting large weights of iron, and had 

 thought proper to use it "with regard to arrangement and design," as 

 it might have been used in their hands ; we will further suppose that 

 the art had been lost ; we should, perhaps, still have looked upon the 

 monuments of antiquity so designed and constructed, in the same vul- 

 gar spirit with which it has been the fashion to contemplate the Par- 

 thenon — as something to be imitated. How would our "genius have 

 been cramped " ! (as the phrase is). How should we have lamented 

 at finding ourselves restricted to the use of stone, or marble, in which 

 we should have sought in vain to reproduce the light forms of antiquity! 

 Instead of striking out original proportions, and combinations adapted 

 to our means, we should sit down perfectly convinced that neither 

 beauty nor character could be created under the disadvantage of such 

 materials, and abandon ourselves in despair to the construction of 

 bare walls, the monotony of which might now and then be relieved by 

 the crash of a public building, though the laudable attempt of some 

 classical genius to support it on Bath stone columns five-and-thirty 

 diameters high. Extravagai.t as this notion may appear, it is not 

 without its parallel, in the neglect of the present generation to seek 

 for the elements of beauty in a material which new wants and new 

 principles of construction are every day rendering more and more 

 inevitable in our constructive architecture. It is not, of course, with 

 the intention of suggesting any new mode of treating cast iron in point 

 of art, that these observations are submitted to the Institute ; but we 

 may fairly infer that neither the ancient nor mediaval architects who 

 have bequeathed to us inventions in art, which (lacking as we do the 

 vivifying spirit of original thought) it cost us something even to 

 imitate with success, would have overlooked the peculiar capabilities 

 of a material holding so important a place in their constructive archi- 

 tecture, as cast iron now does in ours. Material has, in all ages and 

 styles, performed an important part in modifying design ; and it is 

 recognised as one of the most important elements of relative beauty, 

 as exhibited in architecture, that the real and apparent construction 

 should assimilate, and that the soundest architecture, in whatever 

 style, is that in which art has turned to beauty and ornament the 

 forms and proportions dictated by necessity, or by science. Without, 

 therefore, hazarding any new or startling problems on cast iron, or on 

 architecture in general, it may be to the purpose to enter into some 

 inquiry as to the use of metal in the arts, its influence in modifying 

 design, and the purposes to which it might be applied in architec- 

 ture, without losing sight of the precedents afforded by antiquity and 

 the middle ages, to which we seem bound hand and foot. 



1. Let us consider first, how far the proportions of the supports, 

 which is the most obvious eft'ect to be produced by the formation of a 

 genuine style adapted to the use of cast iron, is to be reconciled with 

 any principle derived from the works of antiquity. It will scarcely 

 be disputed, that no proportion of parts, so long as there is a perfect 

 accordance in the different members of any composition, is incon- 

 sistent with beauty. That this was a principle of ancient art, may be 

 inferred from the fact, that among the numerous examples of the 

 Doric order, which have survived from antiquity, no two present the 

 same proportions. Nor can it be argued, that on the ground of pro- 

 portion exclusively, any one is more perfect than the rest, since each 

 must be viewed with reference to the character impressed upon it, 

 whether tending most towards majesty or grace; and its beauty will 

 consist in the perfect accordance between one feature and another. 

 It was a remark of Sir John Soane, that this diversity in the antique 

 orders of architecture, was not the result either of caprice or negli- 

 gence, but of a careful study of the effect intended to be produced. 

 Thus from the temples of Pcestum to that of Cora, the Doric column 

 passes through a variety of proportions, ranging from 4i diameters 

 in height to 9. To what proportions the architects of antiquity 

 might have drawn out their supports, had metal entered into their 

 construction as largely and familiarly as it now does into ours, it 

 would be treading on dangerous ground to offer a conjecture ; but 

 that they conceived, and freely designed, in a style ot architecture 



of extreme tenuity, when they were unembarrassed by solid materials, 

 is evident, from the decorations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and 



Antique Doric Orders. 



Fcestum. Parthenon. Cora. 



other remains of ancient art. Nor is the architecture which the 

 brush has perpetuated on the walls of antiquity, to be regarded as a 

 mere capriccio. Throughout these decorations a great portion of the 

 framework is architectural, and presents an assemblage of member* 

 analogous to those of regular architecture, carried out with a uni- 

 formity and consistency, which entitle these compositions to be con- 

 sidered as an organized style, adapted to the purpose to which we 

 find it devoted. It is not intended by these observations, to propose 

 that we should solidify the decorations of Herculaneum or the Baths 

 of Titus, (though it would be easy to do worse,) but it seems indis- 

 putable, that the ancients saw nothing incompatible with beauty or 

 good taste, in the proportions thus developed. Had it been other- 

 wise, they would surely have avoided the semblance of architecture 

 altogether, instead of elaborating into a regular style these exquisite 

 creations of the fancy. (See the head piece.) 



Although this modification of architecture is confined to painting, 

 yet there are other works of ancient art in which proportion takes as 



Antique Candelabra. 



Bronze. Marble. 



wide a range, and in which the modifications of design are to be di- 

 rectly traced to the nature of the materials employed, and most es- 

 pecially to the use of metal. The cande abra and tripods of anti- 



