Porcelain and Earthenware. 245 



china surpasses all other of European manufacture. The value of 

 porcelains stands in the following order. 



1st. The Chinese, or incomparable king te-tching; 



2d. The Persian ; 



3d. The Dresden scarcely inferior to the Chinese ; 



4th. The China of Sevres, is perhaps even more splendid in its 

 snowy whiteness and beautiful decorations, than the Chinese ; but 

 inferior in the solidity and infusibility of the ware. The Berlin, 

 English, and German porcelains have attained a high degree of ex- 

 cellence, some being superior in the enamel ; others in colors, and 

 others again in grace of form and quality. 



The potter's art has not been unknown or wholly neglected in the 

 United States. Bricks, and the common red-earthen, and stone 

 wares, have been made in various parts of the country, sufficient for 

 home consumption from an early period of its history. Within a few 

 years, establishments for making porcelain have been attempted but 

 probably owing to the high price of labor, the first efforts were not 

 as successful as was hoped by those who engaged in the enterprize. 

 There is an excellent establishment in full operation near Phila- 

 delphia ; and another, one commenced six or seven years since at 

 Jersey city near New York, is now used for the manufacture of the 

 printed Staffordshire, and a superior fire proof stone ware. The 

 manufactory exhibits a highly interesting series of the various pro- 

 cesses of the art, whose products merit approbation, and patronage. 



II. Nature of the Materials. 



Having traced the history of this art from the remotest antiquity, 

 a description will be attempted of the nature of the materials wrought 



into pottery. 



The component parts, and the best methods of making bricks 

 will not be considered here, as this essay is becoming longer than 

 was the design of the writer ; but may perhaps be the subject of a 



future communication. 



■ The art of pottery depends more for success upon the purity, and 

 the appropriate combination of materials, with their adaptation to the 

 precise degree of heat required, than upon the power of machinery, 

 or the dexterity of the artizan. Without the most accurate knowl- 

 edge of the former, and practice of the latter all the expense and la- 

 bor would end in disappointment. It is so complicated, and so nice, 

 and rests so much upon a knowledge of chemical affinities, and prin- 



