818 rUACTICK OF AIICIHTECTUIIE.

15ooK III
wM
SKlSl'
iaiBHiHiMi
'^
I'm. 871. F;^'. 872.
Fig. 873.
Fig. 8?4.
(//7. 872.)
is chiefly used as a crowning moulding, like the cyma recta. In bases and
c.ipitals it is never used. By workmen it is fre<|ueiitly called a cu.sement. 7. Tlie astragal
(./?//.
8~S.) is nothing more than a small torus, and, like it, seems applied for the purpose of
binding and strengthening. The astragal is also known l)y the names of head and baguette.
8. 'Vhe
fillet, listel, or annulet
(fi(j.
874.) is used at all heights and in all situations. Its
chief ofiice is the separation of curved mouldings from one another.
-2.5.32. In Grecian examples, tlie sections of mouldings are obtained by portions of an
ellipse, parabola or hyperbola, all parts of a conic section, so that they give a gre.iter
delicacy of outline than do the Roman examples.
"
These latter," writes J. B. Ripworth,
in his edition (IS26) of the work i)y Sir W. Cliambers on Civil Architecture, "produced
similar quantities of middle tint, light, and shadow
;
the Greeks carefully avoided this
sameness, and judiciously and tastefully made the shadows to prevail distinctly. Hence
in all their works we find tlie result of a superior understanding of the principles and
effects of Ijglit and shade, which are opposed to each other, and relieved with grtat skill;
whereas, in the Roman style, being divided and broken, they are certainly less beautiful
and less capable of affording the cliarms of reflected liglit than the vestiges of Grecian art,
which by their well-
studied proportions
merit respect and imi-
tatioii." Sir William
ob.serves on these dif-
ferent mouldings that their inventors meant to express
someihing by their different figures, and that the
destinations above mentioned may be deduced not
only from their figures, but from the practice of the ancients in their most esteemed
works; the cyma and cavetto are constantly u>ed as finishings, and never ap])lied where
strength is required ; the ovolo and talon are always employed as su|)p<)rters to the
essential members of the composition, such as the modijlions, dentils, and corona; the chief
use of tile torus and astragal is to fortify the tops and bottoms of columns, and sometimes
of pedestals
;
and the scotia is employed only to separate the members of bases, for which
purpose the fillet is likewise used not only in bases but in all kinds of profiles.
2533. The names of the Greek mouldings are the same as those already mentioned; and
there is another
(^fig.
8746
)
called from its appearance a hird's-heak moidding, comprising
the outline of the echinus hollov/ed out below and then brought down with a curve
into the fascia. It is cliiefly used in the capital of an anta or pilaster, as in
fig.
883,
Fig. 867b. is a quirked ogee, having a separation from the fascia above to obtain a depth
of shadow. Fig. 8686. is a quirked ovulo. Fig. S6~a. is used in the cap of tlie Doric
order. Fig. 869a., the cyma recta, used as tiie crowning member of a cornice, was often
elegantly decorate j. Fig. 868c'. is an ogee projecting furiher than the ordinaiy form.
Fig. 874c. is an outline of tlie base of the Choragic iMonument of Lysicrates at Athens,
showmg a combination of mouldings
;
three of tlic mouldings being inverted. Examples