not be determined arbitrarily, but by its end, and its relation to the
whole. The column is the simplest form of support, determined simply by
its end: the twisted column is tasteless; the four-cornered pillar is in
fact not so simple as the round column, though it happens that it is
easier to make it. The forms also of frieze, rafter, roof, and dome are
entirely determined by their immediate end, and explain themselves from
it. The decoration of capitals, &c., belongs to sculpture, not to
architecture, which admits it merely as extraneous ornament, and could
dispense with it. According to what has been said, it is absolutely
necessary, in order to understand the æsthetic satisfaction afforded by a
work of architecture, to have immediate knowledge through perception of
its matter as regards its weight, rigidity, and cohesion, and our pleasure
in such a work would suddenly be very much diminished by the discovery
that the material used was pumice-stone; for then it would appear to us as
a kind of sham building. We would be affected in almost the same way if we
were told that it was made of wood, when we had supposed it to be of
stone, just because this alters and destroys the relation between rigidity
and gravity, and consequently the significance and necessity of all the
parts, for these natural forces reveal themselves in a far weaker degree
in a wooden building. Therefore no real work of architecture as a fine art
can be made of wood, although it assumes all forms so easily; this can
only be explained by our theory. If we were distinctly told that a
building, the sight of which gave us pleasure, was made of different kinds
of material of very unequal weight and consistency, but not
distinguishable to the eye, the whole building would become as utterly
incapable of affording us pleasure as a poem in an unknown language. All
this proves that architecture does not affect us mathematically, but also
dynamically, and that what speaks to us through it, is not mere form and
symmetry, but rather those fundamental forces of nature, those first
Ideas, those lowest grades of the objectivity of will. The regularity of
the building and its parts is partly produced by the direct adaptation of
each member to the stability of the whole, partly it serves to facilitate
the survey and comprehension of the whole, and finally, regular figures to
some extent enhance the beauty because they reveal the constitution of
space as such. But all this is of subordinate value and necessity, and by
no means the chief concern; indeed, symmetry is not invariably demanded,
as ruins are still beautiful.