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In this case the weight borne is supposed to increase as the abacus widens; the illustration would have been clearer if I had assumed the breadth of abacus to be constant, and that of the shaft to vary.
We assume, in B, that the width of abacus e f is twice as great as that of the shaft, b c, and on these conditions we assume the capital to be safe. But b c is allowed to be variable.
One day, after an absence of two weeks, young Withers returned to his Tientsin office, which wore a somewhat deserted air. The shroff was clicking on his abacus, and left off snicking the beads up and down to remark casually that the compradore had gone.
This is the chief reason of the ugliness of the form; and the spurs in b are now no mere pledges of apparent stability, but have very serious practical use in supporting the angle of the abacus. If, even with the added spur, the support seems insufficient, we may fill up the crannies between the spurs and the bell, and we have the form c.
Our next idea would be to put a conical shaped stone beneath this abacus, to support its outer edge, as at b. This is the bell. § VI. Now the entire treatment of the capital depends simply on the manner in which this bell-stone is prepared for fitting the shaft below and the abacus above.
For higher columns the other proportions will be the same, but the length and breadth of the abacus will be the thickness of the lower diameter of a column plus one ninth part thereof; thus, just as the higher the column the less the diminution, so the projection of its capital is proportionately increased and its breadth is correspondingly enlarged.
It is rather over-restored and looks quite new. The ciborium has cipollino columns, antique caps, pointed arches, and Venetian dentil enrichments with marble inlays. The nave arcade, of nine columns, has slightly pointed arches, unmoulded except for a simple hood-mould and a kind of engrailed crown above the abacus.
The Abacus of the Romans is entirely different; still more so is the Chinese Swanpan; if any person will take the trouble to look into the Encyclopaedia Britannica, they will see the difference at once, although I never heard of either until they were mentioned in the pamphlet referred to.
Of the same height should be the stalks, out of which grow leaves projected so as to support the volutes which proceed from the stalks, and run out to the utmost corners of the abacus; the smaller spirals between them should be carved just under the flower which is on the abacus. The flowers on the four sides are to be made as large as the height of the abacus.
The outer arch of the porch has been rebuilt since the earthquake, but the original door remains inside, with a carved hood-mould, rich abacus, and four orders of mouldings enriched with small balls in their hollows. The eight plain shafts stand on unusually high pedestals and have rather long capitals, some carved with flat acanthus leaves and some with small figures of men and animals.
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