1586
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENGINEERING.
abacus is sometimes more than \ longer than that width; all these proportions dependingmore upon the height of the column than upon its lower diameter.
Fig. 2975.
Fig. 2976.
Under the abacus is the echinus or ovolo, which is beautifully turned, or cut like the *bell or profile of a flat cup, under which are usually from 3 to 5 annulets. The contour
Fig. 2979. DOIUC CAPITALS.
or profile of the echinus is a portion of a curve formed by the section of a cone. Wherethe capital is placed on the column is another sinking, and sometimes three; and the true anddelicate manner in which these lines are cut gives a charm that more elaborate sculpture failsin attaining.
The architrave of the Parthenon , which extends from the centre of one column to thatof the other, is in three thicknesses, showing two joints on the soffite. The frieze is admirablycontrived not to overload the architrave: the triglyphs are each in a single block, 3 feetwide and 2 feet 3 inches in thickness. On each side is a perpendicular groove inchdeep, into which the sculptured metopes are slipped, the clear width between the triglyphsbeing 4 feet 3Jf 0 inches, and the angular one 3 inches less: at the back of the metopes, andbetween the triglyphs, is a hollow space, from 8 to 14 inches deep. The metope is held tothe back of the frieze by a metal cramp in the form of an H, 2 feet long, and attached oneach side to the adjoining triglyph by others 17 inches in length. The cornice is in onethickness; the angular block covers two mutules, each of the others one space and amutule. For further particulars of the construction of the Parthenon , and for severaldimensions omitted by Stuart, the writer must refer to some notes he added a few yearsafter his return from Athens to his wife’s translation of “ The Lives of celebrated Architect^,ancient and modern, by Francesco Milizia .”
In the Doric Order we may trace a reason for the direction given to the several lines,whether perpendicular or horizontal; and although there is great variety in the form ofthe members, yet when examined in detail, nothing will be found to disturb the unity