Chap. III. MEDLEVAL I'KOPORTION.

1005
the first course of stone 7 inches tliick at the hase of the sph-e, had rusted, in some place,
entirely through, bursting the stone inside and out. The angle pinnacles alone sustained
the spire for many years.
Nearly all the spires of Normandy are said to have been executed in thin slabs of
stone
;
they are all about 7 inches thick at the bottom, and about 4 inches thick at the
top, and are almost all executed in the Creuilly stone. In Caen, especially, that stone
was employtd in the steeples, though it iiad to be brought about 12 or 14 miles. The
joints are (probably) set at right angles to the face of the stone. The spire at Batalha
is about 7 inches thick, independent of the carved work, though almost a fourth part
of its superficies is perforated : its stones are said to he keyed together by means of
dovetailed pieces of pine wood (Murphy). The slender stone ribs of the octagonal
spire of Freiburg Cathedral are girded together at intervals of about 15 feet by means
of doul)le horizontal ribs or bands of limestone
;
in the middle of each of these bands
an iron cramp is inserted, so that one half of the thickness of the metal is fixed in
the under course of the stone-work, and the other half in the upper course, in order to
prevent all thrust. The space between the rib and the horizontal bands is filled up with
perforated tracery, so that the appearance of great lightness, united with great boldness, is
imparted to the whole. Plate XL of Mollers work sliows a careful representation of the
joints, explaining in what manner the stones are connected together, both in the principal
members and the ornamental parts. The spires of Strasburg and Constance Cathedrals,
and that of St. Stephen's Church at Vienna, present other examples of open work spires.
The thickness of the decorated spire to the staircase in the north tower of the west front
of Peterborougli Cathedral, is about 1 1 inches at 2 feet above the wall of the tower,
where the octagon commences, and is about 10 feet diameter (shown in Roljson, Masons'
Guide'). The methods adopted of strengthening Salisbury spire and tower, are related by
Price in his work publislied in 17.50, who states that it is 400 feet iiigh from the pave-
ment to the extreme top, but to tlie top of the capstone or ball only S87 feet as previously
noticed. It is only 9 inches thick at the bottom, diminishing to 7 inches.
The outline of a tower in elevation should i)e a ])arabolic curve, for strength as well as
appearance, as it will not then present a top-heavy appearance. The difficulty in de-
signing a tower and spire in the Roman or Italian style is to prevent a telescopic eHect
;
and in tlie mediaeval style the appearance of an extiiiguislier is too often obtained. The
entasis to the spire, and due diminution of the tower (tliough the former is usually held
not to have existed, some spires being formed of two and even three lines at different
angles), are desirable both for appearance and strength. They are common features in
Essex and Middlesex, and the absence of them may be noticed by any one going from
Essex into SufTolk, the round lowers in wliicli county have tlie entasis, but not those of
later date. The tower of All Saints' Church, Colchester, possesses it, and diminishes
from 21 feet to 19 feet, having internally an offset at each floor and at the roof, so that
no timbers run into the walls.
A mathematical method of setting out the entasis for a spire was furnished by IVIr.
Thomas Turner, of Hampstead, to the Builder for 1848, through the late Pri.fessor
Cockerell, R.A. But as he states tliat the ordinates may be obtained very nearly true
by taking a thin lath and bending it to the extent required, we do not consider it necessary
here to do more than to refer to the paper. In the reconstruction of the spire to St.
Stephen's Church, at \ ienna, an iron framework was introduced to support the liglit stone
ribs, until near to the summit, wiiich was made wholly of iron.
The iron spires at Rouen, Bruxellcs, and Auxerre, are the only three we have noted.
CHAP. ly.
aiKDI^:VAL PKOrOKTION.
Sect. I.
EFFECT Oil i;SE OF NUMBEIiS.
The introduction into this work of the investigation of the principles of proportion, as
propounded by the late E. Cresy, renders it necessary that some preliminary details should
be considered, before the student passes on to those pages. These details will consist of
the result of tlie use of numbers, as given by the late Mr. Gwilt and appended to the ]nc-
vious editions, and of the enquiry by modern investigators into the use of tlie triangle antl
of the Square during the mediieval period. The subject is interesting, and a very enticing