Architecture, qualities of. There is perhaps no subject on which persons are more apt to differ in their opinions than on the beauty of a building. In architecture the creative power of Nature herself is the model imitated. It is an art which appeals directly to the understanding, and has not the means of flattering the senses in the same way as the sister arts: hence its productions are not universally appreciated. The beautiful models of Nature, however, are the index and guide of the painter and sculptor: a successful imitation of these models, even without an advance on the part of the artist towards those higher intellectual beauties which distinguish the historical painter, is capable of affecting us with very agreeable sensations. The object of an artist's inquiry is not so much to investigate metaphysically the cause of beauty in the productions of his art, as to study the effects that flow from those which by the common consent of ages are esteemed beautiful, and thus shorten his road by an à priori method. It is in this way that he will more readily obtain information on those qualities which act on the understanding and excite our affections by means of the beautiful result they exhibit. These qualities may be classed as follows:

MAGNITUDE AND SOLIDITY, as qualities which affect the eye.

ORDER AND HARMONY, as qualities which affect the understanding.

RICHNESS AND SIMPLICITY, as qualities which excite the affections, in which taste is the principal guide. These qualities answer to the three divisions which those who have written on architecture have usually adopted, namely

CONSTRUCTION, in which the chief requisites are solidity and strength.

DESIGN OR

DISPOSITION, in

which the principal requisites are order and harmony.

DECORATION, whose requisites are richness or simplicity, according to the nature of the composition.

That there are, however, many other circumstances which tend to the production of an agreeable and beautiful result, is sufficiently obvious: one of them should be more particularly noticed, because there can be no doubt of its influence in the excitement of our admiration of the splendid monuments of Grecian art; it is an association with the times and countries which are most hallowed in our imagination. It is difficult for us to see them, even in their modern copies, without feeling them operate upon our minds, as relics of those polished nations where they first arose, and of that great people by whom they were afterwards borrowed.

The business of an architect requires him rather to be a learned judge than a skilful operator; and when he knows how to direct and instruct others with precision, to examine, judge, and value their performances with masterly accuracy, he may truly be said to have acquired all that most men can acquire there are but few instances of such prodigies as Michael Angelo Buonarroti, who was at once the first architect, painter, geometrician, anatomist, and sculptor of his time.

Vitruvius furthermore observes, that an art enriched with such variety of knowledge is only to be learned by long and constant application; and advises his contemporaries never to assume the title of architects till they are perfect masters of their own profession, and of the arts and sciences with which it is connected; a caution that even in the present times may perhaps not be unnecessary. Architecture, Naval, the art of constructing ships and vessels to float

on the waters. Naval architecture has suffered more than most other sciences by the arbitrary systems of those interested in its improvement. Disregarding the fundamental principles of all floating bodies, and too hastily giving up as hopeless the attainment of a theory combining experiment with established scientific principles, they have contented themselves with ingeniously inventing mechanical methods of forming the designs of ships' bodies, which they did not | even pretend to prove had any ! connection with the properties of the machine necessary to insure the qualities conducive to its intended use. For instance, some invented methods of forming ships' bodies of arcs of circles; others, of arcs of ellipses, parabolas, or of whatever curve they might arbitrarily assume. They did not attempt to show that these curves possessed any property which would render a ship a faster sailer, a more weatherly or safer ship, than any other curves which might have been adopted in the construction of the ship's body.

Architholus, a round chamber, the sudatorium of a Roman bath. Architrave, the lower of the three principal members of the entabla. ture of an order, being the chief beam resting immediately on the column.

Architrave cornice, an entablature consisting of an architrave and cornice only, without the interposition of a frieze.

Architrave doors, those which have an architrave on the jambs and over the door. Architrave windows, of timber, are usually an ogee raised out of the solid timber, with a roll over it. Archivolt, a collection of members in the face of an arch, concentric with the intrados, and supported by imposts.

Archivolt of the arch of a bridge, the curve line formed by the upper

Arcus, an arch: a true arch is formed of a series of wedge-like stones or of bricks supporting each other, and all bound together by their mutual pressure.

Arcus-toralis, in medieval architecture, the lattice separating the choir from the nave in a basilica. Arcutio, a machine consisting of hoops.

Ardeme (John) was clerk of the work at the building of the monument in Westminster Abbey Church to King Henry V., who died in 1422.

Arderia, a slate used in Italy for

covering roofs.

Area, in geometry, the superficial

content of any figure. Areas, in computing the superficial content of land, are generally expressed in statute acres, roods, and perches. The acre is equal to 10 square chains of 66 feet, or 22 yards in length. Area drain, a narrow area drain not covered, on the basement floor of a building, to remedy or prevent dampness in the connecting walls. Area wall, the wall which forms the sides of an area.

Arena, the area or floor of an amphitheatre.

Arenarium, an amphitheatre, cemetery, crypt, or sepulchre.

Areometer, an instrument for measuring the density or gravity of fluids. Areopagus, the court in which the Areopagites, or supreme judges of Athens, assembled.

Areostylos, intercolumniations, when their distance from each other is four diameters.

Arerde, reared, built, or raised up. Argand lamp, a lamp with a circular wick, through which a current of air passes. Argyrocopeion, the mint at Athens. Aristotele (G.F.), architect and sculptor, commenced, from the designs of Raffaelle, the Palazzo Pandolfini at Florence; he died in 1530. Ark, a shelter, a place of protection from floods in the time of Moses, a coffer or sort of bark, in shape and appearance like a chest or trunk; also described by Moses as a little wicker basket, in which he was exposed on the Nile. The ancients inform us that the Egyptians used on the Nile barks made of bulrushes.

Ark, a chest used in farm-houses for keeping meal or flour.

Ark (Noah's): "And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits." It is supposed by some authors to have been a mere variation from the ordinary construction of houses for residence, changing its character from that of a house for standing to that of a house for floating. Niebuhr compares it with ordinary houses of the East, the sides of which are constructed of upright supports of timber, plastered over with clay. The application of canes, split and laid across these quarterings, is very like the usage of laths, which are common everywhere. The same may be said of a coating of bitumen,—a substance employed on account of its property of resisting water; and the mode of its application might be similar to our plastering. It is

probable however that Noak's ark resembled the Egyptian boats in form; and if we reckon the Hebrew cubit at 21 inches, the ark of Noah was 512 feet long, 87 wide, and 52 high; and the internal capacity of it was 357,600 cubical cubits. If we suppose the cubit to be only 18 inches, its length was 450 feet, its width 75, and its height 45. Its figure was an oblong square, and the covering had a declivity to carry off water. Its length exIceeded that of most churches in Europe. The wood used for the ark was called gopher-wood, square pieces of cedar or box, or woods that do not quickly perish: by some it has been supposed to have been constructed of cypress-wood. Armarium, a niche or cupboard near the side of an altar. Armenian architecture, the edifices

in Armenia, erected previously to the cultivation of a Græco-Roman architecture, supposed A. D. 260314.

Armilla, an ornament worn by Greek men and women as a bracelet or an armlet.

Armour, a defensive clothing of metal.

Armoury, a storehouse or room in

which armour is preserved. Arnotto (colour), the name of a vegetable substance from the West Indies, of an orange-red colour, soluble in water and spirit of wine, but very fugitive and changeable, and not adapted for painting. It is principally used by the dyer, and in colouring cheese. It is also an ingredient in lacquering. Aronade, embattled, a junction of several lines forming indentations. Arragonite, a remarkable form of carbonate of lime, found in different shapes, from hexagonal prismatic crystals of coralloid masses. Arris, in joinery and masonry, the line of concourse, edge, or meeting of two surfaces.

Arris fillet, a slight piece of timber of a triangular section, used in

raising the slates against chimneyshafts, etc.

Arris gutter, a wooden gutter of the V form, fixed to the eaves of a building. Arris-wise, in bricklaying, tiles laid diagonally.

Arshin, a Russian measure of length, equal to 24 feet English.

Arsenal, a building for naval or military stores.

Arsenic, a metal of a crystalline appearance, and very brittle. It sublimes out of the air unchanged at 360°, but in air it is oxidated, and becomes arsenious acid: it is occasionally found alone, but is generally combined with nickel, cobalt, and other metals.

Artesian wells, so called from a mode | practised at Artois, in France, in boring for water.

Arthur's oven: According to the testimony of Boethius, we had a specimen of one of the Roman temples in Britain, built in the time of Vespasian, remaining in that singular little structure called Arthur's oven, not far from the Wall of Antoninus. He says, according to tradition, ¦ there was an inscription on a stone declaring that the building was erected by Vespasian, in honour of the Emperor Claudius and the Goddess Victory. It had a tessellated pavement. It was 19 feet 6 inches in diameter within, arched towards the top, with a round aperture (like that of the Pantheon at Rome) in the midst of the dome 11 feet 6 inches diameter, and the utmost height to the periphery, or edge of this aperture, from the floor, 22 feet (query, within or without, i. e. the lowest or highest periphery of the aperture?).

At a little distance from the top, beneath the circular opening in the midst of the dome, was a small square window on one side, and round the inside, resting on the floor, were stone seats, and against the wall on the south side an altar; the door of entrance, which had a