[5] Many of the frets are woven spirals.
[6] There is, however, a strong objection, from a sanitary point of view, to the use of absorbent hangings, especially when the surface is rough, for they not only absorb infection, but hold dust, which generally contains the germs of disease.
[7] There arc many styles of Persian ornamentation—that of the Achæmenides, probably that of the Macedonians after the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, that of the Sasanides, that of the Saracens after they conquered the country, and their ornamentation was doubtless influenced by the subsequent Mongul conquest. That ornamentation which is generally called Persian, except modern work, seems to be Saracenic.
[8] In the sixteenth chapter of the Korân called the “Bee,” it is said, “and of the fruit of the palm-trees and of grapes, ye obtain an inebriating liquor and also good nourishment.”
“Eve’s tempter thus the rabbins have express’d,
A cherub’s face, a reptile all the rest.”—Pope.
[10] From Dr. Richter’s discoveries at Cyprus, it seems probable that the Ionic volute may have taken its rise from an enlargement of the Egyptian lotus.
