Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 56.djvu/708

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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ornamental uses. Moldings are as old as architecture, and vary with schools of architecture.

In the next view (Fig. 5), taken from Mayeux's work, are given the most ordinary Greek moldings with their French names. However necessary it must be for the architect, and however admirable it may be for the art student, to know the names of all moldings by heart and to be able to describe each one accurately, such proficiency is not required at present and is not necessary for the

Fig. 10.

understanding of the present theme. Some moldings have square edges, some round. The curved edges of some are simple, of others complex. Each has its name, and of some the name is descriptive. The term molding would seem to indicate that moldings were made apart and subsequently applied to the main object. Whatever be the origin of moldings, the same rules apply to them which apply to other profiles, with the additional rule that moldings must always be kept subordinate to the principal object. For