210 REPORTS FROM THE SECTIONS. 
frequently resolves into one of pure ornamentation. He has 
to study less the actual form of the table than of the ornament to 
required, would prove of assistance. He had to prepare a table, 
If too thick it would appear dwarfish and heavy ; if too thin it 
would be deficient in stability. The use of the ornament and curved 
lines would be necessarily limited, especially the former. Yet, 
with all these restrictions, the Greek workman could produce a 
table which, without the slightest particle of ornamentation, would 
_ possess an elegance of form as to immediately please the eye, the 
very simplicity of the design and exactness of the proportions con- 
stituting the secret of the charm. The modern untrained work- 
totally irrespective of the intended design. As specimens of the 
turner’s art they may be admirable, yet when forming portions of 
_is here that the modern system of division of labour, however 
economical in its industrial and commercial results, has so fre- 
men, as at present. In the manufacture of what is termed “art 
furniture” this is done, but it should be the rule and not the 
exception. The principles on which a table is constructed are almost 
lines may be either curved. If the former, they m 
differ in one respect from the columnar support of the roof of @ 
building, namely, in its base being smaller than the capital. 
allowed than in architecture. For ce, a} 
may be curved to an extent which would be a positive deformity 
d 
