230 
in Egypt was 1655,-1600 B.C. (Thothmes III. and IV). The 
inscription on the stone sets forth that it was 36 years in cutting 
and preparation.* 
In this country now, granite, by which word, taken in its 
general sense, we mean any rock of the type, has won its way 
into more general use as a building stone, from its intrinsic 
qualities, and moreover from the vast improvement in the 
manufacture of steel; also in the art of tempering and devising 
tools, appliances, machinery and steam power requisite to 
procure easily and speedily from the quarry, blocks of granite 
of huge size, so far as the jointing will admit—to face the 
slabs—to reduce them to the shape required, and next to finish 
the pieces by polishing the surfaces. Again, readiness and 
facility of transport count for no small share: small finished 
articles are despatched by railway from the North, those larger 
and of considerable weight, are shipped from the Peterhead 
district to London for instance, by seagoing steamer; and all 
these, together with other advantages, work toward bringing 
_ the stone into more extensive employment than formerly + have 
stimulated the demand for it, and raised it generally in esti- 
mation, and deservedly so, with the exception on which we 
would now enlarge. Granites, with all their valuable qualities, 
are lacking in one respect, namely, in their power to withstand 
exposure to heat beyond a certain temperature. 
The tremendous conflagrations in Boston, Chicago, in 
Liverpool and London, brought the fact clearly before the eye, 
that granites collapse at a high degree of heat and fall to pieces, 
indeed granite is much more susceptible of injury by fire than 
a compact sandstone with a siliceous matrix. 
* For a valuable account of the natural building materials employed in 
ancient Rome, including a notice of the Egyptian granites and syenites, we 
would refer to a recent work by Prof. J. H. Middleton, M.A., entitled 
“ Ancient Rome in 1885.” Black & Co., Edinburgh, 1885. See pages 10-19. 
+ It is calculated that over a million tons are now quarried in Aberdeen- 
shire alone every year. See Granites and our Granite Industries, by Geo. F. 
Harris, F.G.S8. London. Crosby Lockwood & Son, 1888. A work well worth 
having, though it reached the author of this treatise too late to be of service 
to him. 
