ARCHITECTURE. 



nion over those whom they conquered ; 

 and for this purpose also it may be em- 

 ployed in modern structures, to celebrate 

 the achievements of conquerors and vir- 

 tues of legislators. 



PRINCIPLES OF BUILDING, 



Are those parts of geometry, mechanics, 

 mensuration, and chemistry, which shew 

 how to design and construct the parts of 

 a building 1 , so as to be the most durable, 

 the destination, situation, and other fixed 

 data of the intended structure, being 

 known. These parts of the sciences are 

 the foundation of the art of construction. 



Construction may in general be divided 

 into two parts, the science of masonry, 

 and that of carpentry ; though there are 

 other branches, as slatery, plumbery, &c. 

 sometimes also employed as constituent 

 parts ; but these may be considered as ra- 

 ther adventitious. 



The science of masonry shews how to 

 construct walls and vaults. A wall should 

 be built so as to resist a given force, either 

 acting uniformly over the whole, or par- 

 tially upon the surface : such as to resist 

 the pressure of vaults or roofs unrestrain- 

 ed from the want of tie beams, acting 

 along one continued butment, as in plain 

 vaulting; or to resist different forces, 

 acting at intermitted points, as in groin 

 vaulting ; or to resist the force of the 

 wind, acting uniformly over the whole 

 surface. An arch should be so construct- 

 ed as to balance itself equally on all parts 

 of the intrados, whether it be of uniform 

 thickness, or to support a given load. 



The science of carpentry comprehends 

 the sizing, cutting, disposition, and join- 

 ing of timbers. By chemistry we are en- 

 abled to judge of the quality of materials, 

 such as stone, mortar, wood, iron, slate, 

 lead, &c. 



Taste. Taste consists in introducing 

 such forms in the construction and em- 

 bellishments, as appear agreeable to the 

 eye of the beholder. The arrangement 

 of the plan, figure of rooms, and contour 

 of the whole building, and character, as 

 to its destined purpose, depend much on 

 taste. 



Invention. Invention is the art of com- 

 bining or arranging the various apart- 

 ments in the most convenient order. 



JJasements. A basement is the lower 

 story of a building on which an order is 

 placed ; its height will therefore be varia- 

 ble, according as it is the cellar story or 

 the ground story ; or, when it is the 

 ground story, according as there are prin- 

 cipal rooms in both stories, or only in one 



of them. It is proper, however, to make 

 the basement no higher than the order of 

 the next story ; for this would be making 

 the base more principal in the composi- 

 tion than the body to be supported. If 

 the cellar story is the basement, and if 

 the height does not exceed five or six 

 feet at the most, it may be plain, or with 

 rustics, or formed into a continued pedes- 

 tal ; but if the basement is on the ground 

 story, the usual manner of decorating it is 

 with rustics supported on a base, and sur- 

 mounted with a crowning string-course : 

 the base may be either a plinth alone, or 

 with mouldings over it: in like manner 

 the string-course may either be a plat- 

 band, or with mouldings under it; or it 

 mayform a cornice. The rustics are either 

 made of a rectangular or triangular sec- 

 tion, by imagining one of the sides of 

 these sections to be a line extending 

 across the front of the joint. The joints 

 of the rustics may be from an eighth to a 

 tenth part of their height. The depth of 

 the joint of the triangular rustic may be 

 half of its breadth, that is, making the two 

 planes by which it is formed a right an- 

 gle, and the depth of the rectangular sec- 

 tioned rustics from one-fourth to one- 

 third of their breadth. The ancients al- 

 ways marked both directions of the joints 

 the rustics; whereas the moderns not 

 only employ the ancient manner, but they 

 sometimes make them with horizontal 

 joints alone. Those with horizontal joints 

 represent rather a boarded surface than 

 that of a stone wall, which must have two 

 directions of joints. The height of the 

 string-course should not exceed the 

 height of a rustic with its joint : the 

 plinth, or zocholo, ought not to be less 

 than the height of the string-course. 

 When the basement is perforated with 

 arcades, the imposts of the arches maybe 

 a platband, which may be equal to the 

 height of a rustic, exclusive of the joint. 

 When the string-course is a cornice, the 

 base may be moulded, and the projection 

 of the cornice may be two-thirds of its 

 height, so as to be less prominent than 

 that which finishes the building". The 

 height of the cornice may be about one- 

 eighteenth part of the height of the base- 

 ment, and that of the base about twice as 

 much, divided into six parts, of which 

 the lower five-sixths form the plinth, and 

 the upper sixth the mouldings. 



Pedestals. A pedestal is a part of some 

 buildings, with a base, surmounted with 

 a rectangular prismatic solid, called the 

 die, and this die again crowned with a 

 cornice, for supporting a colonade, or 

 pilastrade, or sometimes for supporting* 



