Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/549

 1869.] Practical Carpentry and Joinery. 441 These designs can be executed in wood, stone, brick, or concrete, as well as in adobe, and can be made to look tasteful and neat. If executed in wood, there are several ways of building them, and many befiitting styles of ornament, which we propose to take up, on other occasions, seriatim. PRACTICAL CARPENTRY & JOINERY BRACKETS OR CONSOLES. THESE are among the necessary or- naments of architecture. They are used for supports to a cornice, an arch, a table, &c, and, in our American Do- mestic St3'les, form a prominent and very interesting feature in the finish of fronts. The accompanying plate presents four examples. They are all Elizabethan. Both the lower ones are the same design, the one being a front, and the other an angular or side, view. The word console is much used ; and we derive it from the French architects ; but this name is singularly infelicitous. If we trace it to a Latin origin, we find it still more puzzling. The term bracket more clearly conveys the meaning, or use, of this ornament ; console having re- ference to the foot, and bracket meaning the arm. Both are French words, de- rived from the Latin ; and, as both are used in the upper part of a building, it is evident that bracket is the more fitting word. The term corbel is sometimes used, instead of either of these ; but very incorrectly. The true meaning of corbel is a hanging, not a sustaining or- nament. It is likewise derived from the French, meaning a basket. and should not therefore be used in the sense of a support. We are thus particular, in reviewing and inspecting this matter, as some of our builders are too apt to mix up those features ; and, as errors are more sure to