Stone Arches.—Stone arches are very frequently used both in stone
and brick buildings. (For general definitions and terms see Brickwork.)
They may be built in a great variety of styles, either flat,
segmental, circular, elliptical or pointed. Each block or voussoir
should be cut to fit exactly in its appointed place, the joints being
made as fine as possible. The joints should radiate from the centre
from which the soffit or intrados is struck, or in the case of an elliptical
arch they should be at right angles to a tangent drawn to the
intrados at that point. The extrados or back of the arch is usually
concentric with the intrados, but is sometimes made thicker in one
portion than in another; thus the arch may be deeper at the crown
than at the sides, or at the sides than in the centre. In some cases
two or more voussoirs are of one stone, having a false joint cut in
the centre; this is economical, and in some cases adds to the stability
of the arch. Generally the arch is divided into an uneven number
of voussoirs so as to give a keystone, the voussoirs being laid from
each side of the keystone and fitting exactly in the centre of the arch.
The keystone is not a necessity, arches being frequently formed with
an even number of voussoirs; some architects hold that the danger
of the voussoirs cracking is thereby lessened. Where lintels are used
in a stone wall over openings of small span it is usual to build a
relieving arch above to take the superincumbent weight of masonry;
or the same purpose may be effected in walls of ashlar by a flat
relieving or “save” arch, formed in the next course of three stones
above the lintel, the tapering keystone resting between the two side
stones which are tailed well into the wall.
In very many cases it is desired to form square heads to openings of greater span than it is convenient to obtain lintels for in one piece, and some form of flat arch must therefore be adopted. The voussoirs are connected by joggles worked on their joints, as in fig. 17. The weight of the superimposed wall is taken by a lintel with relieving arch above at the back of the arch.
Arches built to an elliptical form when used for large spans (if of flat curve they should bridge over 8 ft. or 10 ft.) are liable if heavily loaded to fail by the voussoirs at the centre being forced down, or else to burst up at the haunches. With arches of this description there is a large amount of outward thrust, and abutments of ample strength must be placed to receive the springers.
Stone Tracery.—The designs of Gothic and other tracery stonework are almost infinite, and there are many methods, ingenious and otherwise, of setting out such work. Nearly all diagrams of construction are planned on the principle of geometrical intersections. In the example illustrated in fig. 18 the method of setting out and finishing the design is very clearly shown, together with the best positions for the joints of the various parts. The jointing is a matter which must be carefully considered in order to avoid any waste of stone and labour. It will be observed that the right-hand side of the elevation shows the method of setting out the tracery by the centre lines of the various intersecting branches, the other half giving the completed design with the cusping drawn in and the positions of joints. All the upper construction of windows and doors and of aisle arches should be protected from superincumbent pressure by strong relieving arches above the labels, as shown in the figure, which should be worked with the ordinary masonry, and so set that the weight above should avoid pressure on the fair work, which would be liable to flush or otherwise destroy the joints of the tracery.
Carving.—Stone carving is a craft quite apart from the work of the ordinary stonemason, and like carving in wood needs an artistic feeling and special training. Carving-stone should be of fine grain and sufficiently soft to admit of easy working. The Bath stones in England and the Caen stone of France are largely used for internal work, but if for the exterior they should be treated with some chemical preservative. Carving is frequently done after the stone is built into position, the face being left rough—“boasted”—and projecting sufficiently for the intended design.
See E. Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française; W. R. Purchase, Practical Masonry; J. O. Baker, A Treatise on Masonry Construction; C. F. Mitchell, Brickwork and Masonry; W. Diack, The Art of Masonry in Britain. (J. Bt.)
MASPERO, GASTON CAMILLE CHARLES (1846– ),
French Egyptologist, was born in Paris on the 23rd of June
1846, his parents being of Lombard origin. While at school he
showed a special taste for history, and when fourteen years
old was already interested in hieroglyphic writing. It was
not until his second year at the École Normale in 1867 that
Maspero met with an Egyptologist in the person of Mariette,
who was then in Paris as commissioner for the Egyptian section
of the exhibition. Mariette gave him two newly discovered
hieroglyphic texts of considerable difficulty to study, and,
self-taught, the young scholar produced translations of them
in less than a fortnight, a great feat in those days when
Egyptology was still almost in its infancy. The publication of
these in the same year established his reputation. A short
time was spent in assisting a gentleman in Peru, who was
seeking to prove an Aryan affinity for the dialects spoken by
the Indians of that country, to publish his researches; but in
1868 Maspero was back in France at more profitable work.
In 1869 he became a teacher (répétiteur) of Egyptian language
and archaeology at the École des Hautes Études; in 1874 he
was appointed to the chair of Champollion at the Collège de
France.
In November 1880 Professor Maspero went to Egypt as head of an archaeological mission despatched thither by the French government, which ultimately developed into the well-equipped Institut Français de l’Archéologie Oriental. This was but a few months before the death of Mariette, whom Maspero then succeeded as director-general of excavations and of the antiquities of Egypt. He held this post till June 1886; in these five years he had organized the mission, and his labours for the Bulak museum and for archaeology had been early rewarded by the discovery of the great cache of royal mummies at Deir el-Bahri in July 1881. Maspero now resumed his professorial duties in Paris until 1899, when he returned to Egypt in his old capacity as director-general of the department of antiquities. He found the collections in the Cairo Museum enormously increased, and he superintended their removal from Gizeh to the new quarters at Kasr en-Nil in 1902. The vast catalogue of the collections made rapid progress under Maspero’s direction. Twenty-four volumes or sections were already published in 1909. The repairs and clearances at the temple of Karnak, begun in his previous tenure of office, led to the most remarkable discoveries in later years (see Karnak), during which a vast amount of excavation and exploration has been carried on also by unofficial but authorized explorers of many nationalities.
Among his best-known publications are the large Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient classique (3 vols., Paris, 1895–1897, translated into English by Mrs McClure for the S.P.C.K.), displaying the history of the whole of the nearer East from the beginnings to the conquest by Alexander; a smaller Histoire des peuples de l’Orient, 1 vol., of the same scope, which has passed through six editions from 1875 to 1904; Études de mythologie et d’archéologie égyptiennes (Paris, 1893, &c.), a collection of reviews and essays originally published in various journals, and especially important as contributions to the study of Egyptian religion; L’Archéologie égyptienne (latest ed., 1907), of which several editions have been published in English. He also established the journal Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l’archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes; the Bibliothèque égyptologique, in which the scattered essays of the French Egyptologists are collected, with biographies, &c.; and the Annales du service des antiquités de l’Égypte, a repository for reports on official excavations, &c.
Maspero also wrote: Les Inscriptions des pyramides de Saqqaroh (Paris, 1894); Les Momies royales de Deir el-Baharî (Paris, 1889); Les Contes populaires de l’Égypte ancienne (3rd ed., Paris, 1906); Causeries d’Égypte (1907), translated by Elizabeth Lee as New Light on Ancient Egypt (1908).
MASS (O.E. maesse; Fr. messe; Ger. Messe; Ital. messa; from
eccl. Lat. missa), a name for the Christian eucharistic service,
practically confined since the Reformation to that of the Roman
Catholic Church. The various orders for the celebration of Mass
are dealt with under Liturgy; a detailed account of the Roman
order is given under Missal; and the general development of the
eucharistic service, including the Mass, is described in the article
Eucharist. The present article is confined (1) to the consideration
of certain special meanings which have become attached
to the word Mass and are the subject of somewhat acute controversy,
(2) to the Mass in music.
The origin of the word missa, as applied to the Eucharist, is obscure. The first to discuss the matter is Isidore of Seville (Etym. vi. 19), who mentions an “evening office” (officium vespertinum), a “morning office” (officium matutinum), and an office called missa. Of the latter he says: “Missa tempore sacrificii est, quando catechumeni foras mittuntur, clamante levita ‘si quis catechumenus remansit, exeat foras.’ Et inde ‘missa,’ quia sacramentis altaris interesse non possunt, qui nondum regenerati sunt” (“The missa is at the time of the sacrifice, when the catechumens are sent out, the deacon crying, ‘If any catechumen remain, let him go forth.’” Hence missa, because those who are as yet unregenerate—i.e. unbaptized—may not be present at the sacraments of the altar). This derivation of
