914 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J, 



has furnished us with the jiei'mauent records of each authority ; 

 therefore, if we faithfully study these guides, our conclusions 

 will he fairly accurate. 



Definition of a Brick. 



Before proceeding further it may he well to arrive at some 

 decision concernuig the constitution of a brick. Surely it is 

 an actual " stone," the elements of which were formed on 

 the ocean floor or in the bed of some lake, just as all strati- 

 fied rocks are formed, with sediment brought down by rivers 

 from some land near by. Mechanical agencies have tritu- 

 rated these denuded particles, carried them to such a distance 

 from land as to be freed from coarser matter, and then in 

 suitable places they have been collected, ground, and kneaded 

 in nature's great laboratory, and then elevated above the 

 ocean line. The work of pressing and burning a portion 

 into bricks has been reserved for the hand of man, and 

 herein it differs somewhat from ordinary sedimentary stone, 

 though it bears a striking analogy to metamorphic rock, 

 the difference being that a brick is quarried and shaped 

 before it is pressed and hardened, while the stone must be 

 shaped after its construction is completed. 



The nominal size of a common brick is 9" x 4:1" x 3", 

 but some clays are worked up into different sizes and shapes, 

 whilst others are capable of receiving a high degree of 

 ornamentation and finish. Such are the various terra cottas, 

 roofing tiles, decorative tiles, and ceramic mosaics ; but for 

 the purposes of this paper they must all be included under the 

 general and comprehensive term of Brickwork. 



History of Brickwork. 



For ages past bricks have Ijeen one of the recognised 

 building materials. Masters whose reputations are beyond 

 dispute have not scrupled to use burnt clay in constructing 

 some of the noblest buildings which have adorned the earth, 

 and it cannot be doubted that in the hands of skilful artists 

 most brilliant results have been effected from the employment 

 of this material. 



Historic antiquity abounds with instances of the honorable 

 employment of brickwork, but we must look to a far remoter 

 age for the first evidences of the ceramic art. 



Ilecent investigations have thrown much light on the con- 

 ditions of pre-historic man, and the state of society as it then 



