Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/712

 692 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

development of English architecture, and incidentally illuminates the development of the social and domestic life involved therewith. English architecture may be said to begin in the prehistoric artificial caves with their underground galleries, survivals of which may be found even at the present time. The earliest structure which merits the name of "house" was the round hut, a type still to be found among the modern charcoal burners. The rectangular form of house finds its origin in the tent-like summer shelter of the ancient herds- man, consisting of a pair of "forks," or "crutches," connected at the top by a ridge pole, and covered with branches, mud, or other mate- rial. This type of house increased in length by the erection of more "forks," and in breadth by the addition of "outshuts," and the result- ing framework became the general plan upon which were constructed houses and barns (which were often combined under one roof), and churches with their central nave and side aisles. The distance between a pair of "forks" in an interesting way became constant, and was taken as a unit of measure — the rod, or perch. A host of other equally interesting facts are demonstrated. The author proceeds to trace step by step the evolution of the town house, the country manor, the castle, the church, emphasizing constantly the points of similarity between the English architecture and that of the continent, especially the Graeco-Roman influence wherever apparent.

Aside from its specific purpose, the book gives insight into the evo- lution of the social structure. Every town house, every manor, every castle, every church, contains crystallized in its walls social influences from the various periods of the past. We are led back, for example, to a time when the church "belfry" was not merely a bell-tower, but it was the "berfrey," or "beffroy" — "a beacon or watchtower." "In the year 1452 a bell was suspended in the tower of the cathedral of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, which was to be rung in times of feudal alarm, and all the watchmen on the steeples were then to blow their horns and hoist their banners." The church was also the courthouse, and the parish rector the fiscal officer of his district.

The survivals of past times found in the architecture of the present have for the most part lost their meaning to the people. Yet this architectural environment, formed by all the social influences expressed in it, reacts potently upon modern life.

Arthur W. Dunn.