916 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



find tliat brickwork prevailed in l?'g"ypt as an extensive buikl- 

 ing- material, and this cannot be wondered at, for desirable 

 building- stone was procurable as well as the labour to work 

 it ; consequently stone was used for the more important 

 buildings, whilst reeds were largely employed for humbler 

 structures. 



Such, however, was not the case in the centres of Assyrian 

 and Chaldean civilization ; consecpiently the prevaihng charac- 

 ter of the country caused brickwork to predominate above 

 all other materials for structural as well as documentary 

 j)urposes. 



Unburnt bricks were largely used, cemented together with 

 bitumen. These have now mostly returned to the earth they 

 were, and leave little for us to see, except mounds marking 

 the site of former cities and buildings. 



Nevertheless, a high class of ceramic art was developed, 

 and terra cotta ornaments and plaques were extensively made, 

 to whose durability we are indebted for much we now know 

 concerning the history and customs of those ancient nations. 



From the natural charactei'istics of Greece we should not 

 expect to find many remnants of brickwork. A country 

 abundantly supplied with the choicest of stones, and clothed 

 with forests of good building timber, would not be likely to 

 expend much energy on brick buildings; but had the con- 

 ditions of that country favoured the manufacture and 

 employment of brickwork, we might reasonably have expected 

 to find there examples of that high artistic merit which is so 

 indelibly stamped on the other productions of ancient 

 Greece. 



The Romans were, however, the first nation to raise brick- 

 work to the dignity it deserved, and, strange to say, some of 

 their, best works are to be found executed with bricks and 

 tiles. In stone-building the Romans slavishly followed 

 Greek precedent, and in their plagiarism lost the true artistic 

 ring of the original ; but in brickwork they have left behind 

 them the great redeeming feature of their architecture. 



NotAvithstanding the apparent similarity of Roman and 

 Greek buildings, this epoch marked the greatest change of 

 architectural evolution. I refer to the introduction of the 

 arch and dome as a recognised principle of architectural art. 



The nature of bricks and terra cotta render their employ- 

 ment in large blocks an impossibihty, as the material of 

 which they are composed is liable to warp and crack during 

 ihe processes of drying and burning should the blocks 



