THE POTTER'S WHEEL. 



diffused through the mass, one part being too plastic and another 

 part not sufficiently so. The whole is reduced to an uniform 

 consistency by the process of kneading, in a manner exactly 

 similar to that by which the dough of flour is treated in bread 

 making ; and, as in this latter case, the method most commonly 

 adopted for effecting this is by treading the dough with the feet. 

 This, indeed, is one of the most characteristic operations of the 

 potter, being quite inseparable from his art, to whatever objects it 

 be applied, from the making of common bricks to the fabrication 

 of the most splendid porcelain. 



The mass of dough being spread out upon a flat surface of 

 stone or wood, the potter walks upon it with his naked feet, 

 beginning from the centre of the cake, and following a spiral 

 course until he reaches the circumference, after which he returns 

 by the same spiral to the centre. 



When the proper consistency and homogeneity are thus imparted 

 to the dough, the next process is to give it the form of the articles 

 intended to be fabricated. This is effected by different methods, 

 according to the shape desired ; but as by far the greater number 

 of articles of pottery are round in their horizontal dimensions, the 

 method most common is as follows : 



A ball of the dough, sufficiently large for the article to be 

 formed, is laid upon the centre of a small horizontal circular disc of 

 plaster of Paris, supported on a circular stage or table which rests 

 on a central pillar fixed in pivots, so as to be capable of receiving a 

 motion of rapid rotation. This motion being imparted to the ball 

 of dough placed upon the table, the potter applies his hands to it, 

 and gives it the desired form by the gentle pressure of his 

 palms and fingers. The process resembles in all respects that 

 of turning with the lathe, only that the revolving shaft is 

 vertical instead of being horizontal. The rude and soft mass 

 of dough assumes, under the dexterous fingers of the potter, 

 the most symmetrical and beautiful forms with marvellous facility 

 and celerity. 



3. This apparatus, called the " Potter's-wheel," is of high anti- 

 quity, being indeed co-eval with the art, and has had very nearly 

 the same form and arrangement in times the most ancient and the 

 most modern, and in parts of the earth most remote from each 

 other, and often among people between whom there are no traditions 

 of intercommunication. 



The custom which prevailed in the earliest ages and in all 

 countries of consecrating certain articles of pottery to religious 

 uses, and depositing them in sarcophagi and in tombs, sometimes 

 with drawings representing the processes of their fabrication, 

 proyes the veneration in which the art was held, and has happily 



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