DOMAIN XI. DECOMPOSED. 



decomposition. The conjecture, if such, 

 was certainly verified by the event. From 

 this, and numerous other examples, it may 

 be inferred that the ancient architects ob- 

 served, with a most scrutinizing eye, the 

 nature and the structure of the stone which 

 they employed ; an important circumstance 

 which has not met with due consideration 

 among the moderns. 



The same considerations are also of the 

 greatest importance in private buildings 

 where stone is abundant and in general re- 

 quest ; and the product of any new quarry 

 should be put to several tests, and severely 

 examined, before it be brought into use, 

 The example of the houses of Malta, above 

 mentioned by Mr. Kirwan, is a striking 

 lesson of this kind; and some modern 

 buildings in Scotland are more decayed 

 than the ancient. If iron, clay, or ever 

 perhaps some magnesian mixtures, be mud; 

 intermingled, the stone is apt to become 

 carious. But the magnesian rocks in ge- 

 neral are little subject to decay ; and ser- 

 pentine, resisting moisture by its unctuous 



