Page:Vitruvius the Ten Books on Architecture.djvu/51

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Chap. VI]
DIRECTIONS OF THE STREETS
29

signed to show the precise quarters from which the winds arise; the other, how by turning the directions of the rows of houses and the streets away from their full force, we may avoid unhealthy blasts. Let A be the centre of a plane surface, and B the point to

DIAGRAM OF THE WINDS
(From the edition of Vitruvius by Fra Giocondo, Venice, 1511)

which the shadow of the gnomon reaches in the morning. Taking A as the centre, open the compasses to the point B, which marks the shadow, and describe a circle. Put the gnomon back where it was before and wait for the shadow to lessen and grow again until in the afternoon it is equal to its length in the morning, touching the circumference at the point C. Then from the