Chat. I. WALLS AND PIERS.

409
Li tlic cluiroh of St. Mery, the piers of the tower are loaded with upwards of 27 tons to
tlie superHcial foot. With such a discrepancy, it is ditRcull to say, wiihout a inost per-
fect knowledge of tlie st^ine employed, what should he the exact weiffht per font. The
dome of the Hospital of the Invalids seems to exliihit a maximum of pier in relation to
the wcijjht, and that of the Pantt'eon at Paris a minimum. The weakest sand^tcnes
(used in huilding) will l>ear a coni]iression of 120 tons per foot, while onlinary building
stones lange from 140 to 500 tons per square foot
;
granites and trsps 700 or 800 tor.s
per square foot (
Building Constn/ctio/t, 1 87 9,
part
8, p. 8). Stones in some form of arclus,
letalTiing walls, &c., are more liable to he crushed by reason of the pressure be'ng con-
centrated upon certain points; and walls wherein difTerint qualities of stone are used
lire suhjected to strains by reason of inferior stones decaying, leaving their duty to be
taken by others of better quality. Settlements in a wall bring on strains not expected.
Ratio of the Points of Support in a Building to its total Superficies.
1583. In the pages immediately preceding, we have, with Ilondelet for our guitie,
explained the principles whereon depend the stabilities of walls and points of su]iport, with
their application to different sorts of buildings. Not any point relating to construction is
of more importance to the architect Without a knowledge of it. and the mode of
even generating new styles from it, he is nothing more than a pleasing draughtsman
at the best, whose elevations and sections may be very captivating, but who must be con-
tent to take rank in about the same degree as the portrait painter does in comparison with
liiui wiio paints history. We subjoin a table of great instruction, showing the ratio of the
points of support to the total superticies covered in some of tiie principal buildings of
Europe. It exhibits also the com])arative sizes of the different Ijuildings named in it.
Table showing the ratio of the Walls and Points of SuproiiT of the principal
Edifices of Eukote to the total Area which they occupy.
Names of Ediiiccs.
Total Area
of the Biiiki-
ing in ICnglish
supprCicial
feet.
Total Area
of the Points
of Support
in Eii^'iish
superficial
Ratio in
Thousanilths
of the P<.ints
of Support to
tlie total
feet. Area.
'
The Pantheon at Rome - . _ 34,328 7,954 0-232
Temiile of Peace at Rome
...
67,123 8,571 0-127
Great temple at Passtuin
...
1 5,353 2,649 0-172
Ancient temple, Galuzzo, at Rome 9,206 2,167 0-235
Temple of Concord, Girgenti, Sicily 6,849 1,330 0-194
Teni]de of Juno Lucina, Sicily 6,821 1,110 0-163
Central building of the baths of Caracalla 275,503 48,91
1
0-176
Central building of the baths of Diocletian 351,636 58,797
0-167
Temple of Claudius at Rome, now church of
S. Stefano
.....
36,726 2,051 0-056
Mos(pie of S. Sophia at Constantinople 103,200 22,567 0-217
Basilica of S. Paolo fuore le inura (Rome),
1816
.....
106,513 12,655 0-118
Duomo of S. Maria del fiore at Florence 84,802 1 7,030 0-201
Diiomo of S. Maria del fiore at Milan 125,853 21,635 0-169
St. Peter's at Rome, as executed 227,069 59,.308 0-261
St. Peter's at Rome, as jjrojected by Bramante 213,610 46,879 0-219
Church of S. Vitale at Ravenna 7,276 1,142 0-157
Church of S. Pietro a \ incola, Rome
.
21,520 3,353 0-155
C'barch of S. Sabino destroyed 15,139 1,543 0-100
Church of S. Domenico, Palermo 34,144 4,988 0-146
Church of S. Giusepjie, Palermo 26,046 3,611 0-139
Church of S. Filipjio Neri, Naples 22,826 2,944 0-129
Church of St. Paid's, London 84,025 14,311 0-170
Church of Notre Dame, Paris 67,343 8,784 0-140
Hotel of the Invalids, Paris
...
29,003 7,790 0-268
Cluirch of S. Sulpice, Paris - - _ 60,760 9,127 0-151
Chuich of S. Genevieve, Paris 60,287 9,269 0-154
1583a. It will be manifest, that as these jioints of support are diminished in area, in
resjject of the mass, so is a greater degree of skill exhibited in the work. From the fol-
lowing table, it will be seen that, in seventeen celebrated medi:cval edilices, tiie ratio of
their points of support to their whole areas varies from "116
to -238, nearly double. It is
curious to observe the high rank borne in this table by Henry VII.'.s chapel
;
generally;
skill seems to have increased with greater experience :