Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/104

Rh Reims, and, I believe, also in that of St. Germain des Fres of Paris. This pier buttress is not, as in the preceding examples, in the form of a continuous pilaster-like member, but is based upon a substructure (a, Fig. 42), which rises through the roof and is carried above the transverse arch of the aisle vault.

FIG. 42.

Many of these early flying buttresses were ill adjusted from want of accurate knowledge where they should abut. It required repeated experiment to teach the precise points upon which they should be brought to bear. This flying buttress of St. Leu effectually meets the higher pressures exerted by the vault haunches, but those at the springing were not securely braced. It was apparently thought that