Chapter IV: Part 4

17. _The Grecian style._--This style of building had its origin in the wooden hut or cabin, the frame of which primarily consisted of perpendicular posts, transverse beams, and rafters. This structure was at length imitated in stone, and by degrees it was so modified and decorated in certain parts, as to give rise to the several distinctions called orders of architecture. The Greeks, in perfecting their system of architecture, were probably aided by Egyptian examples, although they finally surpassed all other nations in this important art.

18. _Orders of architecture._--By the architectural orders are understood certain modes of proportioning and decorating the column and entablature. They were in use during the best days of Greece and Rome, for a period of six or seven centuries. The Greeks had three orders, called the _Doric_, the _Ionic_, and the _Corinthian_. These were adopted and modified by the Romans, who also added two others, called the _Tuscan_ and the _Composite_.

19. _Doric order._--The Doric is the oldest and most massive order of the Greeks. The column, in the examples at Athens, is about six of its diameters in height; in those of an earlier date, it is but four or five. The temple here adduced to illustrate this order was built by Cimon, son of Miltiades, about the year 450 before Christ. It is said to be in a state of better preservation than any other of the ancient Greek edifices at Athens. It will be seen that the shafts are _fluted_, that is, cut in semicircular channels, in a longitudinal direction. The United States' Bank, at Philadelphia, is a noble specimen of this order.

20. _Ionic order._--This order is lighter than the Doric, its column being eight or nine diameters in height. Its shaft has twenty-four or more flutings, separated from each other by square edges; and its capital consists, in part, of two double scrolls, called _volutes_, usually occupying opposite sides. These volutes are supposed to have been copied from ringlets of hair, or from the horns of the god Jupiter Ammon. The following example of this order consists of three temples, each of which was dedicated to a different individual, viz., Erectheus, Minerva Polias, and the nymph Pandrosus.

21. _Corinthian order._--The Corinthian is the lightest and most decorated of all the Grecian orders. Its column is usually ten diameters in height, and its shaft is fluted like that of the Ionic. Its capital is shaped like an inverted bell, and was covered on the outside with two rows of the leaves of the plant acanthus, above which are eight pairs of small volutes. It is said that this beautiful capital was suggested to the sculptor Callimachus by the growth of an acanthus about a basket, which had been accidentally left in a garden.

22. The Greeks sometimes departed so far from the strict use of their orders, as to employ the statues of slaves, heroes, and gods, in the place of columns. A specimen of this practice is exhibited in the cut illustrative of the Ionic order. It belongs to the temple dedicated to Pandrosus.

23. The most remarkable buildings of the Greeks were their temples. The body of these edifices consisted of a walled cell, usually surrounded by one or more rows of pillars. Sometimes they had a colonnade at one end only, and sometimes at both ends. Their form was generally oblong, and as the cells were intended as places of resort for the priests rather than for assemblies of the people, they were but imperfectly lighted. Windows were seldom employed; and light was admitted at the door at one end, or through an opening in the roof.

24. Grecian architecture is supposed to have been at its greatest perfection in the days of Pericles and Phidias, when sculpture is admitted to have attained its highest excellence. It was distinguished, in general, by simplicity of structure, fewness of parts, absence of arches, and lowness of pediments and roofs.

25. _Roman style._--The Romans adopted the three Grecian orders, with some modifications; and also added two others, called the Tuscan and Composite. The former of these they borrowed from the nation whose name it bears, and the latter they formed by uniting the embellishments of the Doric and the Corinthian. The favorite order in Rome and its colonies was the Corinthian. Examples of single pillars of these orders may be seen at the end of this article.

26. The temples of the Romans generally bore a strong resemblance to those of the Greeks, although they often differed from the specimens of that nation in several particulars. The stylobate of the latter was usually a succession of platforms, which likewise served the purposes of steps, by which the building was approached on all sides. Among the Romans, it was usually an elevated structure, like a continued pedestal, on three sides, and accessible in front by means of steps. The dome was also very commonly employed rather than the pent roof. The following is an example of a temple at Rome.

27. _Greco-Gothic style._--After the dismemberment of the Roman empire, the practice of erecting new buildings from the fragments of old ones became prevalent. This gave rise to an irregular style of building, which continued in use during the dark ages. It consisted of Greek and Roman details combined under new forms, and piled up into structures wholly unlike the original buildings from which the materials had been taken. Hence the appellations _Greco-Gothic_ and _Romanesque_ have been applied to it. The effect of this style of building was very imposing, especially when columns and arches were piled upon each other to a great height.

28. _Saracenic style._--This appellation has been given to the style of building practised by the Moors and Saracens in Spain, Egypt, and Turkey. It is distinguished, among other things, by an elliptical form of the arch. A similar peculiarity exists in the domes of the Oriental mosques, which are sometimes large segments of a sphere, appearing as if inflated; and at other times, they are concavo-convex on the outside. Several of these domes are commonly placed upon one building. The _minaret_ is a tall slender tower, peculiar to Turkish architecture.

29. _Gothic style._--The Goths, who overran a great part of the Western empire, were not the inventors of the style of architecture which bears their name. The term was first applied with the view to stigmatize the edifices of the middle ages, in the construction of which, the purity of the antique models had not been regarded. The term was at first very extensive in its application; but it is now confined chiefly to the style of building which was introduced into various parts of Europe six or eight centuries ago, and which was used in the construction of cathedrals, churches, abbeys, and similar edifices.

30. The Gothic style is peculiarly and strongly marked. Its principles seem to have originated in the imitation of groves and bowers, under which the Druid priests had been accustomed to perform their sacred rites. Its characteristics are, pointed arches, pinnacles and spires, large buttresses, clustered pillars, vaulted roofs, and a general predominance of the perpendicular over the horizontal.

31. The ecclesiastical edifices of this style of building are commonly in form of a cross, having a tower, lantern, or spire, erected at the point of intersection. The part of the cross situated towards the west is called the _nave_; the eastern part, the _choir_; and the transverse portion, the _transept_. A glance at the following diagram will enable the reader to understand the form of the ground-work more fully.

32. Any high building erected above a roof is called a _steeple_, which is also distinguished by different appellations, according to its form: if it is square topped, it is a _tower_; if long and acute, a _spire_; or if short and light, a _lantern_. Towers of great height in proportion to their diameter are denominated _turrets_. The walls of Gothic churches are supported on the outside by lateral projections, called _buttresses_, which extend from the bottom to the top, at the corners and between the windows. On the top of these are slender pyramidal structures or spires, called _pinnacles_. The summit or upper edge of a wall, if straight, is called a _parapet_; if indented, a _battlement_.

33. Gothic pillars or columns are usually clustered, appearing as if a number were bound together. They are confined chiefly to the inside of buildings, and are generally employed in sustaining the vaults which support the roof. The parts which are thrown out of a perpendicular to assist in forming these vaults, have received the appellation of _pendentives_. The Gothic style of building is more imposing than the Grecian; but architects of the present day find it difficult to accomplish what was achieved by the builders of the middle ages.

34. In the erection of edifices at the present day, the Grecian and Gothic styles are chiefly employed, to the exclusion of the others, especially in Europe and America. Modern dwelling-houses have necessarily a style of their own, so far as relates to stories, windows, and chimneys; and no more of the styles of former ages can be applied to them, than what relates to the unessential and decorative parts.

PILLARS AND ENTABLATURES OF THE FIVE ORDERS.]

THE CARPENTER.

1. It is the business of the carpenter to cut out and frame large pieces of timber, and then to join them together, or fit them to brick or stone walls, to constitute them the outlines or skeleton of buildings or parts of buildings.

2. The joiner executes the more minute parts of the wood-work of edifices, comprehending, among other things, the floors, window-frames, sashes, doors, mantels, &c. Carpentry and joinery, however, are so nearly allied to each other, that they are commonly practised by the same individuals; and, in this article, they will be treated together.

3. Carpentry and joinery, as well as all other trades connected with building, are subservient to the architect, when an individual of this particular profession has been employed; but it most commonly happens, that the master-carpenter acts in this capacity. This is especially the case in the erection of common dwellings, and, in fact, of other edifices where nothing very splendid is to be attempted. It is to be regretted, however, that the professional architect has not been oftener employed; for, had this been the case, a purer taste in building would have generally prevailed.

4. Contracts for the erection of buildings are often made with the carpenter, as master-builder or architect. In such cases, it is his business to employ persons capable of executing every kind of work required on the proposed edifice, from the bricklayer and stone-mason to the painter and glazier. It not unfrequently happens, however, that the person himself, who proposes to erect a building, chooses to employ the workmen in the different branches.

5. The constituent parts of buildings having been explained in the article on architecture, it is unnecessary to enter here into minute details on this point; nor would a particular description of the various operations of the carpenter and joiner be useful to the general reader, since, in every place, means are at hand by which a general view of this business may be obtained by actual inspection.

6. The carpenter and joiner are guided, in the performance of their work, by well-defined rules, drawn chiefly from the science of Geometry, and which they have learned from imitation and practice, as well as, in many cases, from the valuable works which have been published on these branches of the art of building.

7. The principal tools with which they operate are the axe, the adze, the saw, the auger, the gauge, the square, the compasses, the hammer, the mallet, the crow, the rule, the level, the maul, and the plane; and of many of these there are several kinds.

8. The timbers most employed in building in the United States are chiefly pine, oak, beech, black walnut, cypress, larch, white cedar, and hemlock; but of these pine is in the greatest use. Oak and beech are much used in constructing frames, in which great strength is required. Of the pine, there are several species, of which the white and yellow are the most valuable; the former of these grows in the greatest abundance in the Northern, and the latter, in the Southern states.

9. Vast quantities of timber are annually cut into boards in saw-mills, and floated down the rivers from the interior, during the time of high water in the spring and fall, and sometimes at other seasons of the year. The boards, or, as they are frequently denominated, planks, are placed in the water, one tier above another, and fastened together with wooden pins. Several of such _rafts_ are connected by means of withes to form one; and, at each end of this, are placed one or two huge oars, with which it may be guided down the stream. Upon these rafts, shingles and laths are also brought to market.

10. Logs and scantling to be employed in the frames of buildings are also conveyed down the rivers in the same manner. The business connected with the production of shingles, laths, boards or planks, and staves, is called lumbering; and it is carried on, more or less extensively, in the regions near the sources of all the large rivers in the United States, and in the British possessions in North America.

11. The trade in lumber has also given rise to another class of men, called lumber merchants; these purchase the lumber from the original proprietors, who bring it down the rivers, and, in their turn, sell it to builders and others. The lumbering business employs a large capital, and a numerous class of our citizens.

THE STONE-MASON, THE BRICKMAKER, &c.

THE MASON.

1. The art of Masonry includes the sawing and cutting of stones into the various shapes required in the multiplied purposes of building, and in placing them in a proper manner in the walls and other parts of edifices. It is divided into two branches, one of which consists in bringing the stones to the desired form and polish, and the other, in laying them in mortar or cement.

2. The rocks most used in building in the United States, are marble, granite, greenstone, scienite, soap-stone, limestone, gypsum, and slate. These are found in a great many localities, not only on this continent, but on the other side of the Atlantic. Of these stones, there are many varieties, which are frequently designated by their sensible qualities, or by the name of the place or country whence they are obtained; as _variegated_, _Italian_, _Egyptian_, or _Stockbridge marble_, and _Quincy stone_.

3. _The Stone-cutter._--Stone-cutters procure their materials from the _quarry-men_, whose business it is to _get out_ the stones from the quarries, in which they lie in beds, consisting either of strata piled upon each other, or of solid masses. Stones of any desirable dimensions are detached from the great mass of rock, by first drilling holes at suitable points, and then driving into them wedges with a sledge. These blocks are usually removed from the quarries, and placed on vehicles of transportation, by means of huge cranes, with which is connected suitable machinery.

4. The blocks of stone, received in their rough state by the stone-cutter, are divided, if required, into pieces of smaller size, by means of a toothless saw, aided by the attrition of sand and water. The other rough sides of the blocks are reduced to the proper form by means of steel _points_ and _chisels_ driven with a mallet. A kind of hammer with a point or chisel-like edge, is also used to effect the same object, especially in the softer kinds of stone.

5. For some purposes, the stones are required to be polished. This is especially the case with those employed in the ornamental parts of buildings. In the execution of this part of the work, the surface is rubbed successively with sand, freestone, pumice-stone, Scotch stone, crocus, and putty. When the face is a plane, the sand is applied by means of another stone, which is moved backwards and forwards upon it. In this way, two surfaces are affected at the same time.

6. In polishing irregular surfaces, the different kinds of stone are used in masses of convenient size; and the part applied to the surface to be polished is first brought to a form corresponding to it. The putty is an oxyde of tin, in form of powder. Crocus is the peroxyde of iron. The building-stone capable of receiving the highest polish is marble; and it is on this material that the stone-cutter, and the architectural carver or sculptor, exert their utmost skill; but some of the other stones which have been mentioned, possess the same quality to a considerable extent.

7. Carving architectural ornaments, such as pillars with their capitals, is a refined branch of this business; or it may rather be considered, of itself, a branch of sculpture. In the execution of this kind of work, the operator is guided by patterns, formed from the well-defined rules of the science of building. Very few stone-cutters attempt the execution of work so very difficult.

8. From the manufacture of mantel-pieces and monuments for the dead, the stone-cutter derives a great proportion of his profits. This will be manifest even to the superficial observer who may visit a few of the many stone-cutters' yards, to be found in any of our large cities. In some of these, blocks of marble are cut into slabs by the aid of steam-power.

9. In districts of country, also, where valuable stone is abundant, water is extensively employed for the same purpose. This is especially the case in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where marble of a good quality is abundant. A great proportion of the marble slabs used by the stone-cutter are obtained from such mills. Some other operations of this business are also sometimes performed by the aid of machinery.

THE STONE-MASON.

1. In Philadelphia, and in many other cities not only in this country, but also in Europe, the stone-cutters _set their own work_; and this practice has led to the habit of applying the term stone-mason to both stone-cutters and those who lay stone in mortar and cement. In New-York, however, as well as in some of the cities farther east, these two employments are kept more distinct. The stone-cutters in Philadelphia are sometimes denominated marble-masons.

2. But, in every city, there are persons called stone-masons, whose business consists exclusively in constructing the walls and some other parts of buildings with stone; and their operations are considerably enlarged in those places where there are no marble-masons. In many cases, the bricklayer is also so far a stone-mason, as to lay the foundation-walls of the buildings which he may erect. This is especially the case in the country, where the divisions of labor are not so minute as in cities. It may be well here to remark, also, that the bricklayers, in some places, perform the services of the marble-mason.

3. The marble-mason, in joining together several pieces in a monument, employs a kind of cement composed of about six parts of lime, one of pure sand, a little plaster, and as much water as may be necessary to form it to the proper consistency. No more of this cement is used than is required to hold the blocks or parts together, as one great object of the artist is to hide the joints as much as possible. The substance thus interposed, becomes as hard as the marble itself.

4. The cement employed in laying marble in common or large edifices, is somewhat different from that just described, as it consists of about three fourths of lime and one of sand. The latter substance is obtained, in an unmixed state, on the bays in every part of the world; hence it has received the appellation of _bay sand_.

5. When it cannot be conveniently had in a pure state, particles of the same kind can be separated in sufficient quantities from their admixture with other substances. This is effected by sifting the compound through a sieve, into a small stream of water, which carries off the lighter particles that are unfit for use, whilst the sand, by its superior specific gravity, sinks to the bottom. The part which may be too coarse, remains in the sieve. This, however, except the rubbish, can be used in the coarser kinds of masonry.

6. The mortar, used in laying bricks and common stone, has a greater proportion of sand, which is generally of an inferior quality. Besides, the materials are incorporated with less care. Lime for the purposes of building is procured chiefly by calcining limestone in a kiln, with wood, coal, or some other combustible substance. It is also obtained by burning chalk, marble, and marine shells. Water poured upon newly-burnt or _quick_ lime, causes it to swell, and fall to pieces into a fine powder. In this state it is said to be _slacked_.

7. Masonry is often required in situations under water, especially in the construction of bridges and locks of canals. Common mortar resists the action of the water very well, when it has become perfectly dry; yet, if it is immersed before it has had time to harden, it dissolves, and crumbles away.

8. The ancient Romans, who practised building in the water to a great extent, discovered a material, which, when incorporated with lime, either with or without sand, possessed the property of hardening in a few minutes even under water. This was a kind of earth found at Puteoli, to which was given the name of _pulvis puteolanus_, and which is the same now called _puzzolana_.

9. A substance denominated _tarras_, _terras_, or _tras_, found near Andernach, in the vicinity of the Rhine, possesses the same quality with puzzolana. It is this material which has been principally employed by the Dutch, whose aquatic structures are superior to those of any other nation in Europe. Various other substances, such as baked clay and calcined greenstone, reduced to powder, afford a tolerable material for water-cements. Several quarries of water lime, which is similar in appearance to common limestone, has been lately discovered in the United States, which, being finely pulverized and mixed with sand, makes very good water-cement.

10. In buildings constructed with marble and other costly stones, the walls are not composed of these materials in their entire thickness; but, for the sake of cheapness, they are formed on the inside with bricks, commonly of a poor quality, so that in reality they can be considered only brick walls faced with stone. These two kinds of materials have no other connexion than what is produced by the mortar which may have been interposed, and the occasional use of clamps of iron. Such walls are said to be liable to become convex outwardly from the difference in the shrinking of the cement employed in laying the two walls.

11. The principal tools employed in cutting and laying stone are the saw, various kinds of steel points, chisels and hammers, the mallet, the square, the compasses, the level, the plumb-rule, the trowel, and the hod, to which may be added, the spade and the hoe. The last three instruments, however, are handled almost exclusively by laborers.

12. Besides these, contrivances are required to raise heavy materials to the various positions which they are to occupy. These consist, for the most part, of one or two shafts, commonly the mast of an old vessel, to which are attached tackle extending in various directions, and also those by which the blocks are to be raised. The rope belonging to the hoisting tackle is pulled by a machine worked with a crank.

13. Masonry is one of the primitive arts, and was carried to great perfection in ancient times. The pyramids of Egypt are supposed to have stood about three thousand years, and they will probably remain for centuries to come, monuments as well of the folly as of the power and industry of man. The temples and other magnificent structures of Greece and Rome, exhibit wonderful skill in masonry, and leave but little, if anything new, to be achieved in modern times.

THE BRICKMAKER.

1. Brick is a sort of artificial stone, made principally of argillaceous earths formed in moulds, dried in the sun, and burned with fire.

2. The earliest historical notice of bricks is found in the book of Genesis, where it is stated that the posterity of Noah undertook to build a city and a lofty tower of this material. Whether the bricks were really exposed to the action of fire, as the passage referred to seems to imply, or only dried in the sun, is an unsettled point. But Herodotus, who visited the spot many centuries afterwards, states that the bricks in the tower of Babylon were baked in furnaces.

3. It is evident, however, that the earliest bricks were commonly hardened in the sun; and, to give them the requisite degree of tenacity, chopped straw was mixed with the clay. The manufacture of such bricks was one of the tasks imposed upon the Israelites, during their servitude with the Egyptians.

4. The extreme dryness and heat of the climate in some of the eastern countries, rendered the application of fire dispensable; and there are structures of unburnt bricks still remaining, which were built two or three thousand years ago. Bricks both sun-dried and burned, were used by the Greeks and the Romans.

5. The walls of Babylon, some of the ancient structures of Egypt and Persia, the walls of Athens, the rotunda of the Pantheon, the temple of Peace, and the Thermæ, or baths, at Rome, were all built of brick. The most common bricks among the Romans were seventeen inches long and eleven broad; a size, certainly, far preferable, as regards appearance, to those of modern manufacture.

6. In the United States, a great proportion of the edifices, particularly in the cities and towns, are constructed of bricks, which are usually manufactured in the vicinity of the place where they are to be used. The common clay, of which they are made, consists of a mixture of argillaceous earth and sand, with a little oxyde of iron, which causes them to turn red in burning. The material for bricks is dug up, and thrown into a large heap, late in the fall or in the winter, and exposed to the influence of the frost until spring.

7. The operation of making bricks is conducted very systematically; and, although every part of the work seems to be very simple, it requires considerable dexterity to perform it properly and to the best advantage. The workmen, in the yards about Philadelphia, are divided into _gangs_ consisting of three men and a boy. The first is called the _temperer_, who tempers the material with water and mixes it with a spade; the second is called the _wheeler_, who conveys it on a barrow to a table, where it is formed in moulds by the _moulder_, whence it is carried to the _floor_ by the boy, who is denominated the _off-bearer_.

8. The bricks are suffered to remain on the floor a day or two, or until they have become dry enough to be handled with safety. They are then removed and piled into a _hack_, under cover, in such a manner that the air may circulate freely between them. It is the business of the whole gang to remove the bricks from the floor, and also to place them in the kiln to be burned. In both cases, each one has his due proportion of labor to perform.

9. The day's work of a gang, when the weather is favorable, is to make and pile in the hack a tale of bricks, which consists of 2332, or an even 2000. The former number is called a _long tale_, and the latter, a _short tale_. Considerable skill and much care are required in burning the bricks in a proper manner; too much fire would cause them to vitrify, and too little would leave them soft, and unfit for atmospheric exposure.

10. In many places, the clay is mixed or prepared for the moulder by driving round upon it a yoke of oxen, or by means of a simple machine, consisting of a beam, into which has been driven a great number of spokes. One end of this beam is confined in a central position, while the other is moved round in a sweep by animal power.

11. Machines have also been invented by the aid of which the clay may be both mixed and moulded; but these have been very little used. A machine, however, is often employed in pressing bricks which have been formed in the usual manner. The pressing is done after the bricks have become partially dry. Such bricks are employed in facing the walls of the better kinds of structures.

12. _Tiles._--Tiles are plates used for covering roofs. They resemble bricks in their composition and mode of manufacture, and are shaped in such a manner that when placed upon a building, the edge of one tile receives that next to it, so that water cannot percolate between them. Tiles, both of burnt clay and marble, were used by the ancients; and the former continue to be employed in various parts of Europe. Flat tiles are used for floors in many countries, and especially in Italy.

THE BRICKLAYER.

1. The particular business of the bricklayer is to lay bricks in mortar or some other cement, so as to form one solid body; but he frequently constructs the foundations of buildings in rough stones, and, in some cities, he sets hewn stone in the superstructure. In the country, plastering is likewise connected with this business.

2. Bricklaying consists in placing one brick upon another in mortar, chiefly in the construction of walls, chimneys, and ovens. In connecting these materials, especially in walls, two methods are employed, one of which is called the _English bond_, and the other, the _Flemish bond_. In the former method, the bricks are most commonly of one quality, and are laid crosswise and lengthwise in alternate rows. The bricks which are laid across the wall are called _headers_, and those which are laid in the other direction are called _stretchers_. The brick-work of the Romans was of this kind, and so are the partition-walls of many modern brick edifices.

3. The bricks employed in the walls constructed according to the Flemish method, are of two, and frequently of three, qualities. Those placed in the front, or on the external surface, are manufactured with greater care, and, in some cases, are formed in a larger mould. A wall put up on this principle may be said to consist of two thin walls composed of stretchers, with occasional headers, to unite them together. The space between them, when the wall is thick, is filled in with the inferior bricks.

4. The inclosing walls of all brick edifices are erected on this plan, although they are thought to be more insecure than those constructed on the old English method. The reasons alleged for the preference, are its superior beauty, and a considerable saving in the most expensive kind of bricks. Greater security might be attained by the use of larger bricks, say sixteen inches in length, and wide and thick in proportion. Besides, an edifice constructed of well-made bricks of this size would be but little inferior in appearance to marble itself.

5. Most of the instruments used by the bricklayer are also employed by the stone-mason; and they have, therefore, been already mentioned. The particular method of laying bricks, in their various applications, can be learned by actual inspection in almost every village, city, or neighborhood, in our country, a more particular description of the bricklayer's operations is hence unnecessary.

6. Before closing this subject, however, it may be well to state that the chimney appears to be an invention comparatively modern, since the first certain notice we have of it is found in an inscription at Venice, in which it is stated that, in 1347, a great many chimneys were thrown down by an earthquake. It is conjectured that this valuable improvement originated in Italy, inasmuch as it was here that chimney-sweeping was first followed as a business.

7. Before the introduction of the chimney, it was customary to make the fire in a hole or pit in the centre or some other part of the floor, under an opening formed in the roof, which, in unfavorable weather, could be closed by a moveable covering. Among the Romans, the hearth or fire-place was located in the _atrium_ or hall, and around it the _lares_, or household gods, were placed. To avoid being infested with smoke, they burned dry wood soaked in the lees of oil. In warming other apartments of the house, they used portable furnaces, in which were placed embers and burning coals.

8. It is said by Seneca, who flourished about the middle of the first century of the Christian era, that in his time, a particular kind of pipes was invented, and affixed to the walls of buildings, through which heat from a subterranean furnace was made to circulate. By this means, the rooms were heated more equally. In the southern parts of Italy and Spain, there are still very few chimneys. The same may be said of many other countries, where the climate is pleasant or very warm.

9. Hollinshead, who wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, thus describes the rudeness of the preceding generation in the arts of life: "There were very few chimneys even in capital towns: the fire was laid to the wall, and the smoke issued out at the roof, or door, or window. The houses were wattled, and plastered over with clay; and all the furniture and utensils were of wood. The people slept on straw pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow."

THE PLASTERER.

1. In modern practice, plastering occurs in many departments of architecture. It is more particularly applied to the ceilings and interior walls of buildings, and also in rough-casting on their exterior.

2. In plastering the interior parts of buildings, three coatings of mortar are commonly applied in succession. The mortar for the _first coat_ is composed of about twelve parts of sand, six of lime, and three of hair, with a sufficient quantity of water to bring it to the proper consistence; that for the _second coat_ contains a less proportion of lime and hair; and that for the _third coat_ is composed exclusively of lime and water.

3. The mortar is applied directly to the solid wall, or to thin strips of wood called _laths_, which have been fastened with small nails to the joists, and other parts of the frame of the building. The tools with which the plasterer applies the mortar are _trowels_ of different sizes and shapes, and the _hawk_. The latter instrument is a board about a foot square, with a short handle projecting at right angles from the bottom.

4. In all well-finished rooms, cornices are run at the junction of the wall and ceiling. The materials of these cornices are lime, water, and plaster. The lime and water are first incorporated, and the plaster is added with an additional quantity of water, as it may be needed for immediate application. The composition is applied in a semifluid state, but the plaster causes it _to set_, or to become solid immediately. In the mean time, the workman applies to it, in a progressive manner, the edge of a solid piece of wood, in which an exact profile of the proposed cornice has been cut.

5. Ornaments of irregular shape are cast in moulds of wax or plaster of Paris, and these are formed on models of the proposed figures in clay. Such ornaments were formerly the productions of manual operations performed by ingenious men called _ornamental plasterers_. The casts are all made of the purest plaster; and, after having been polished, they are fastened to the proper place with the same substance saturated with water.

6. The branch of this business called _rough-casting_, consists in applying mortar to the exterior walls of houses. The mode in which the work is performed varies but little from that adopted in plastering the walls of apartments. It, however, requires only two coats of the cement; and, when these have been applied, the surface is marked off in imitation of masonry. It is likewise sometimes colored, that it may resemble marble or some other stone.

7. The cement is commonly made of _sharp sand_ and lime; but sometimes a kind of argillaceous stone, calcined in kilns and afterwards reduced to powder by mechanical means, makes a part of the composition. The qualities of this material were first discovered by a Mr. Parker, who obtained letters patent for this application of it, in England, in 1796; hence it has been called _Parker's cement_.

THE SLATER.

1. Slate stone is valuable for the property of splitting in one direction, so as to afford fragments of a sufficient size and thinness to answer several purposes, but especially for covering houses and for writing slates. The best slates are those which are even and compact, and which absorb the least water.

2. The slates used in the United States, are obtained either from our own quarries, of which there are several, or from those of Wales, in the county of Caernarvonshire. The stone is quarried in masses, which are afterwards split into pieces of suitable thinness. These are trimmed to an oblong figure by means of a knife and a steel edge, which act upon the slate much in the manner of a large pair of shears.

3. As it is impossible to dress all the slates to the same size without much waste of material, those engaged in their manufacture have introduced several sizes, the smallest of which are made of the fragments of the larger kinds. These are designated by names known to the trade, and to those practically conversant with the art of building.

4. The slates, when brought to market, especially those from Wales, require additional dressing to fit them for use. The manner of applying them to roofs differs but little from that employed in putting on shingles, as they are lapped over each other in the same way, and confined to their place by means of nails of a similar kind. The nails, however, have a broader head, and are somewhat larger, varying in size to suit the dimensions of the slate. The holes in the slate for the nails are made with a steel point attached to the slater's hammer, or to his knife, technically called a _saix_.

5. Slates are preferable to shingles on account of their durability, and, in a majority of situations, for their fire-proof quality. They, however, are objectionable on account of their weight and expensiveness, and are therefore beginning to be superseded in this country by sheets of zinc, and by those of iron coated with tin. Copper and lead are also used for roofs, but the metals just mentioned are beginning to exclude them altogether.

6. A serious objection to metal roofs has been their liability to crack, caused by the contraction and expansion of the material, in consequence of variations in the temperature of the weather; but a particular method of putting the sheets together has been lately devised, which appears to obviate the difficulty. Tiles are not used in this country, although in Europe they are very common.

THE PAINTER, AND THE GLAZIER.

THE HOUSE AND SIGN PAINTER.

1. The painting which is the subject of this article relates to forming letters and sometimes ornamental and significant figures on signs, as well as to the application of paints to houses and other structures, for the purpose of improving their appearance, and of preserving them from the influence of the atmosphere and other destructive agents.

2. The substances capable of being employed by the house and sign painter, comprise a great variety of articles, derived from the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; but he ordinarily confines his selection to but few, among which are white lead, litharge, Spanish brown, yellow ochre, chrome yellow, red ochre, terra di sienna, lampblack, verdigris, linseed-oil, spirits of turpentine, and gold-leaf.

3. White lead and litharge are manufactured in great quantities at chemical works, sometimes established for the express purpose of making these and some other preparations of lead. The substances of which we are now speaking, are produced in the following manner: the lead, in form of a continued sheet, about three feet long, six inches wide, and one line in thickness, is wound spirally up in such a manner, that the coils may stand about half an inch apart.

4. The metal in this form is placed vertically in earthen vessels, at the bottom of which is some strong vinegar. These vessels, being placed in sand, horse manure, or tan, are exposed to a gentle heat, which causes the gradual evaporation of the vinegar. The vapor thus produced, assisted by the oxygen which is present, converts the exposed surface into a carbonate of lead, the substance known as white lead, or ceruse.

5. The corrosion of one of these sheets occupies from three to six weeks, during which time it is repeatedly uncoiled and scraped. Litharge, or flake white, is nothing more than the densest and thickest scales produced in the manner just described. It can be obtained in a pure state from the dealers in paints, whereas the white lead of commerce is most commonly adulterated with chalk.

6. Spanish brown, yellow ochre, and terra di sienna, are earths impregnated with iron in different degrees of oxydation. Red ochre is yellow ochre burned. Chrome yellow is extensively manufactured in Baltimore, from the chromate of iron, found near that city. In chemical phraseology, the manufactured article is the chromate of lead, since the chromate is separated from the iron by the aid of a solution of the nitrate or acetate of lead.

7. Linseed-oil is obtained from flax-seed by pressure. It is afterwards filtered, and then suffered to remain at rest, to precipitate and clarify. This oil improves in quality by keeping, as it becomes, in a few years, as transparent as water. In this state, it is employed in the finest painting.

8. Before the oil is used, it is commonly boiled with a small quantity of litharge and red lead, to cause it to dry rapidly, after the paint has been applied. During the boiling, the scum is removed as fast as it rises, and this is mixed with inferior paints of a dark color. Linseed-oil, thus prepared, is vended by dealers in paints, under the name of boiled oil.

9. Spirits of turpentine is produced by distilling with water the resinous juice or sap of several species of the pine. The residuum, after distillation, is the turpentine of commerce. Spirits of turpentine is mixed with paints, to cause them to dry with rapidity. Like oil, it improves with age, and it is sold in the same manner by the common wine measure.

10. White lead, and several other principal paints, are purchased in their crude condition, and reduced to a state of minute division in paint-mills. They are afterwards mixed with boiled oil, and put up in kegs of different sizes for sale. Many articles, however, are pulverized, and sold in a dry state. The preparation of paints is commonly a distinct business, and very few painters seem to be acquainted with the mode in which it is performed.

11. In mixing colors for house and sign painting, white lead forms the basis of all the ingredients. This the color preparer, or the painter himself, modifies and changes by the addition of coloring materials, until it is tinged with the proposed hue. The pigments derived from vegetable bodies, produce, when first applied to surfaces, a brilliant effect; but they cannot long resist the combined influence of air and light, while the mineral colors, in the same exposure, remain unchanged.

12. Painters, in the execution of their work, commonly lay on three coats of paint. In communicating a white, the two first coats are composed of white lead and oil; and in the last, spirits of turpentine is substituted for the oil, for the inside work. For the outside of buildings, especially in warm and dry climates, this liquid is inapplicable, since it causes the paint to crack and flake off. It is, however, frequently used, when the painter is compelled to do his work at too low a rate, or when he is regardless of his reputation.

13. For other colors, the composition for the different coats is the same, except for the two last, in which other coloring substances are added to the materials just mentioned, to give the proposed hue. The tools for painting houses are few in number, and consist chiefly of brushes of different sizes, made of hog's bristles.

14. _Graining_ is understood, among painters, to be the imitation of the different species of scarce woods used for the best articles of furniture. But the manner in which this kind of work is executed can be hardly gathered from a concise description, although it may be easily learned from a practical exhibition of the process by a painter.

15. _Ornamental painting_ embraces the execution of friezes and other decorative parts of architecture on walls and ceilings. The ornaments are drawn in outline with a black-lead pencil, and then painted and shaded, to give the proper effect. Some embellishments of this kind are executed in gold-leaf, in the same manner with gold letters on signs. This kind of work is called _gilding in oil_.

16. Painting in oil, as applied to the execution of designs, seems to have been invented, or at least to have been brought into notice, in the early part of the fifteenth century, by John Van Eyck, of Flanders. Before this time, house-painting, so far as the exterior was concerned, could have been but little, if at all, practised.

17. One profitable branch of common painting is that of painting and lettering signs. In performing this kind of work, the sign is first covered with two or three uniform coats of paint. The letters are next slightly sketched with chalk or a lead-pencil, and then formed in colors with a camels'-hair brush. When the letters are to be gilt, the process, so far, is precisely the same. The leaf is laid upon the letters, while the paint is in a tenacious state, and is suffered to remain untouched, until the oil has become dry, after which the superfluous gold is removed. The whole is then covered with an oil varnish, which, in plain lettering, completes the operation.

THE GLAZIER.

1. Glazing, as practised in this country, consists chiefly in setting panes of glass in window-sashes. In the performance of this operation, the glazier first fits the panes to the sash by cutting away, if necessary, a part of the latter with a chisel; he then fastens the glass slightly with little pieces of tin, which have been cut to a triangular shape; and, lastly, he applies _putty_ at their junction with the sash, and by this means confines them firmly and permanently to their place. The putty is made of linseed-oil and whiting. The latter of these materials is chalk cleared of its grosser impurities, and ground in a color-mill.

2. Plain glazing is so simple, that no person need serve an apprenticeship to learn it; and there are but few who confine their attention to this business exclusively. It is commonly connected with some other of greater difficulty, such as that of the carpenter and joiner, or house and sign painter, but with the latter more frequently than any other.

3. When the glass, as received from the manufacturer, may not be of the size and shape required for a proposed application, the panes are cut by means of a diamond fixed in lead, and secured by a ferrule of brass, which is fastened to a small cylindrical handle of hard wood. This instrument is used, in conjunction with a straight edge, like a pencil in ruling lines on paper for writing. The glass is afterwards broken in the direction of the fracture, by a slight pressure downwards.

4. Although glass windows seem to us to be indispensable to comfort, yet glass had been manufactured many centuries in considerable perfection, before it was applied to this purpose. The houses in oriental countries had commonly no windows in front, and those on the other sides were provided with curtains, or with a moveable trellis-work in summer, and in winter with oiled paper.

5. In Rome and other cities of the empire, thin leaves of a certain kind of stone called _lapis specularis_ were used. Windows of this material, however, were employed only in the principal apartments of great houses, in gardens, sedans, and the like. Paper made of the Egyptian papyrus, linen cloth, thin plates of marble, agate, and horn, seem likewise to have been used.

6. The first certain information we have of the employment of glass panes in windows, is found in the writings of Gregory of Tours, who flourished in the last quarter of the sixth century. This prelate states that the churches were furnished with windows of colored glass, in the fourth century after Christ. The oldest glass windows now in existence were of the twelfth century, and are in the Church of St. Denis, the most ancient edifice of this description in France.

7. Æneas Sylvius accounted it one of the most striking instances of splendor which he met with in Vienna, in 1458, that most of the houses had glass windows. In France, all the churches had these conveniences in the sixteenth century, although there were but few in private dwellings. Talc, isinglass, plates of white horn, oiled paper, and thinly shaved leather, were used instead of glass. A similar state of things prevailed in England.

8. The glass used for the windows of churches and other public buildings, after the fourth century, was very commonly intrinsically colored or superficially painted. Painting on glass had its origin in the third century, and at first it consisted in the mere arrangement of small pieces of glass of different colors in some sort of symmetry, and constituted a kind of mosaic-work.

9. Afterwards, when more regular designs came to be attempted, such as the human figure, the whole address of the artist went no farther than drawing the outlines of the objects in black on glass resembling in color the subjects to be represented. The art, in this state of advancement, was spread over a great part of Europe.

10. About the beginning of the fifteenth century, a method of fixing metallic colors in glass by means of heat was discovered, and from this the art derived great advantages. It flourished most during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; but it declined in the following age, and in the eighteenth century it was very little practised in any country. It has, however, been partially revived, of late, in Germany. A very good specimen of this kind of painting, as well as of colored glass, may be seen in St. John's Church, in Philadelphia.

THE TURNER.

1. Turning is a very useful art, by which a great variety of articles are almost exclusively manufactured. Besides this, it constitutes a considerable part of the operations of several trades and occupations, such as the chairmaker, machinist, cabinet-maker, brass-founder, &c., since every substance of a solid nature can be submitted to the process.

2. Turning is performed in a _lathe_, an apparatus constructed in various ways, according to the particular purposes to which it is to be applied, although, in all cases, the general principle of its operation is the same. The kind represented in the above picture, is used for plain or circular turning in wood. On examination, it will be perceived, that two wheels of different sizes make essential parts of it. On the extended axle of the smaller one, is fastened the piece to be turned; and immediately in front of this is the _rest_, on which the cutting instrument is supported during the performance of the operation.

3. When the material to be turned is wood, it is commonly cut to the proper length with a saw, and brought to a form approaching to the cylindrical by means of an axe or drawing-knife. It is next fastened in the lathe. This is done by different means, varying according to the particular form of the thing to be turned. In plain circular turning, as applied to bed-posts, legs of tables, and rounds for chairs, the piece is supported at each end. That at the left hand is driven upon a piece of steel, which has been screwed upon the extended axle of the small wheel; and the other end is fixed upon a steel point, placed in an upright moveable piece called a _puppet-head_.