Chap. IV.

PRINCIPLES
OF
PROPORTION.
1025
at Salisbury. Tin; masonry of the arches is adtni-
r.il)ly coijstructud, and the joints all radiate to a com-
mon centre.
'I'he total width of this cathetlral from face to face
of the buttress is 86 feet 5 inches, and that of
tlie nave 31 feet 10 inches, instead of 28 feet
9^
inciies, as it would have been if a third had been
adoptetl; the side aisles are also diminished in conse-
quence, being only 13 feet
7{
inches in the clear;
they are, however, equal to the buttress, outer
wall, ajid main pillar added together, the first pro-
jecting 2 feet 8 inches, the second or outer wall
being 6 feet in thickness, and the piers 5 feet diame-
ter
;
whilst the width of the side aisle measures
13
feet
7|
inches, an approximation sufficiently near
to
suppose that the proportions of thirds was still
adopted
in practice. The nave has been increased at
flie
expense of the side aisles, and its height is 68 feet
9
inches to the top of the vaulting from the
pave-
ment.
Fig. 1273. TRIFORIUM, INSIDE.
Chapter House at
Wells, erected between
the years 1293 and
1302, is an octangular
Vuilding of great
beauty. A section
through the but-
tresses shows that
two equilateral tri-
angles crossing each
other have determined
the mass and void,
which are in the pro-
portion of one to two,
or the thickness of the
two walls is equal to
one-third the entire
diameter : the base
line of the triangle,
on which the supports
of tlie cry])t are placed,
clearly
indicates this
arrangement.
Of the
twelve
equilateral tri-
Riigles comprised in the
parallelogram
funned
by uniting
the
bases
of the two larger,
each
outer wall and
buttress
occupy
two, or the
two walls
and their
buttresses
four of the
twelve
divisions,
leaving
eiglu for the
ipace
between them.
DIVISION OF WELLS CAl'HEDRAl.
^vvi-mNmvAmmmm-m\\^^^^^^^^^^
Fig 127S. CIIVI'I
r-.li-llUl!sn AT WELLS.
3 U