GLOSSARY.

1215
AsAROTUM. In ancient architecture, a species of painted pavement used by the Roman?
before the invention of Mosaic work.
Ashlar or Ashler. (Ital. Asciare, to cliip.) Common or free-stones as brought from the
quarry of diiferent lengths and thicknesses.
Also the facing given to squared stones on the front of a building. When the work is
Bmootlied or rubbed so as to take out the marks of the tools by which the stones were
cut, it is called ^j/rtm ashlar. Tooled ashlar is understood to be that of which the surface
IS -wrought in a regular manner, like parallel flutes, and placed perpendicularly in the
.
building. But when the surfaces of tiie stones are cut with a broad tool without care
or regularity, the -work is said to be random-tooled. When wrought with a narrow tool,
it is Said to be chiselled or boasted, and when the surface is cut with a very narrow tool,
the ashlar is said to he pointed. When the stones project from the joints, the ashlar is
said to be rusticked, in -which the faces may have a smooth or broken surface. In
superior work, neither pointed, chiselh-d, nor random-tooled work are employed. In
some parts of the country herring-bone ashlar and herring-bone random-tooled ashlar
are used.
.AsHLARiNG. In carpentry, the short upright quartering fixed in garrets about two feet
six inches or three feet high from the floor, being between the rafters and the floor, in
order to cut off the acute angle formed by the rafters. The upright quarterings seen in
some open timber roofs between the inner wall plate and the rafters, is also so called.
Aspect. (Lat. Aspicio.) The quarter of the heavens which the front of a building
faces. Thus a front to the north is said to have a north aspect.
AsPHALTE. A bituminous substance found in various places. AVhen used for floors or
roadways, it is either poured on in a liquid state, forming when set a hard substance,
impervious to damp
;
or it is placed on the ground in powder, in a hot state, and pressed
down by hot iron rammers.
Assemulags. The joining or uniting several pieces together, or the union of them when
so joined. Carpenters and joiners have many modes of accomplishing this, as by
framing, mortise and tenon, dovetailing, &c.
Assemblage of the Orders. The placing of columns upon one another in the several
ranges.
Assyrian Architecture. Little more is known of the buildings of Assyria and Baby-
lonia than the thick walls forming halls and chambers lined w^ith carvings, and liaving
carved stone pavements. The roofing is supposed to have been formed with wood
pillars supporting the framework of the roof, the spaces between the pillars allowing
the entry of light and of fresh air.
Astragal. (Gr. A.(TTpaya\os,a, die or huckle bone.) A small moulding of a semicircular
profile. Some have said that the Freucli call it talon, and the Italians tondino
;
but
this a mistake, for the term is properly applied only to the ring separating the capital
from the column. The astragal is occasionally cut into representations of beads and
berries. A similar sort of moulding, though not developed in its profile as is the
astragal, is used to separate the faces of the architrave.
Astylar. a design made without the introduction of columns or pilasters is termed an
astyiar composition.
Atkinson's Cement. A quick-setting cement similar to Parker's or Roman cement,
formerly obt;iined from nodules found near Whitby in Yorkshire.
Atlantes or Atlantides. Figures of males used instead of columns for the support of
an entablature. In some modern -works figures resembling Persians have been intro-
duced, and hence that name has been applied to them. Caryatides.
Atril'm. In ancient Roman architecture, a court surrounded by porticoes in the interior
part of Roman houses. According to Scaliger it is derived from the Greek aWpios
exposed to the air. By some it has been considered the same apartment as tlie vestibule,
and Aulus Gellius intimates that in his time the two words -were confounded.
Attic, or Attic Order. It is employed to decorate the faqade of a story of small hcipiht,
terminating the upper part of a building; and it doubtless derives its name from lis
resemblance in proportional height and concealed roof to some of the buildings of
Greece. Pliny thus describes it after speaking of the other orders: "Prseter has sunt
quae voeantur Atticse columnse quaternis angulis pari laterum intervallo." We, ho-\v-
evei-, find no examples of square pillars in the remains of ancient art, though almost
all the triumphal arches exhibit specimens of pilastral attics, having no capitals save
the cornice breaking round them. In modern architecture the proportions of the attic
order have never been subject to fixed rules, and their good effect is entirely dependent
on the taste and feeling of the architect. The attic is usually decorated witii antie
or small pilasters.
Attic Base. The base of a column consisting of an upper and lower torus, a scotia and
fillets between them. It is thus described by Vitruvius,
"
It must be so subdivided that
the
upper part be one-third of the thickness of the column, and tiuit tiic remainder be