178 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June 



wotilj eiulanper the pecnri'y, if Iho work is exposed to the unequal pres- 

 fine that would result from the use of irregularly shaped slonrs. Care 

 should betaken not to place hassock in situations « here ii is exposed to 

 very sreat pressure. For jambs, arches, &c., sound bricks are best to be 

 (i«ed with it. W hen the work is of a superior description, and the ma- 

 sonry intended to show inside, as is sometimes the case, tlie hassock is 

 capable of heinfj worked to a very good surface with close joinis ; and as 

 it can be procured in blocks of a considerable size, hassock is very appli- 

 cable as an internal facing. 



RnxntoTie Paring.— \n Kent, ra{;stone is much used for paving. Inmost 

 of the towns of this district the streets are laid with rH;>stone headers, iu 

 the same manner as granite is used in London; stables and yards also are 

 paved with headers, which are generally preferred for these purposes to 

 anv other paving material. It is better, liowever, in public llutroughfares 

 where exposed to heavy draunhts, to make the kirb stones of granite. 



The iiurahilitij of l)uHili»;;s erected with ragstone depends mainly upon 

 the qualities of the linif from which the mortar is made ; it can only be 

 depended upon when executed wiih mortar made with lime burnt from the 

 ragstone itself; this niorlar becomes in the lapse of time so very hard as 

 to form almost one and the same body with the stone. Many buildings 

 may be seen that have been erected a number of years that retain the ori- 

 ginal pointini; In the joints, fair as when first finished, aud so hard as to 

 resist the blow of a chisel. 



Ragstone lime is usually burnt in inverted conical kilns from seven to 

 ten teet diameter at the lop, such as are ordinarily used in this neighbour- 

 hood in common for burning either chalk, or ragstone lime. The process 

 is the same in either case, but the ragstone requires more fuel for its con- 

 version into lime. A kiln of the ordinary size will burn from one and a 

 half to two loads per Hay, each load averaging 36 bushels. A load of 

 lime requires for its production about four chords of stone, and one third 

 of a ton of coals. 



Although ragsione lime may be said to be ofaverystrongnature.it 

 will f'Ot take so great a quantity of sand as most other linies ; two parts of 

 sand by measure to one lime, is the proportion generally used. If an 

 excess of sand be employed, the mortar becomes short, and drops from 

 the trowel. iMortar made from ragstone lime nevei exhibits those proper- 

 ties common with the chalk limes, and technically known as " fatty." 



A concrete of ragstone C" Betun" J, and ragstone lime, is much used in 

 this part of the county ; the stone is broken small, uo piece larger than a 

 hen's egg, wiih half i's bulk of sand added, a quantity about sulHcient to 

 till up the interstices of the stone. The usual proportions may be stated 

 at six parts of stiuie, two of sand, and one part of lime. It is needless to 

 say tl.at the lime should be well burnt, ground, and used hot. A very good 

 practice is to dispose the broken stones and sand in layers, alternately, 

 with lime, in the proper proportions of each, then to be picked, and twice 

 turned over, and a sufficient quantity of waler added to reduce the mass 

 to a proper consistency. In other respects the us3 of ragstone concrete is 

 subject to the same regulations as concrete made from ballast. 



Pi icts. — Subjoined is an average list of prices of stone of various kinds 

 in the quarry, aud the rate at which it can be supplied in London along- 

 side ' the wharf, tugether with some prices paid for labour upon the 

 stone: — 



Rough rag. per ton 



Headers, per ton .. 



Rag lor breaking, per chord .. 



Rag for lime, per ctiord 



Hassock, roughly squared, per chord 



Hassutk, beat, per cliord ., 



Ashlar, scapled out, per foot cubic 



Aatilar, large acaritlings 



Lime, per load ot' 36 bushels 



It would, in most cases, be cheaper and otherwise preferable to burn the 

 lime in Loudon. 



Prices of labour on ragstone in Maidstone. 



». d. 



Beds and joints (usually measured as plain work) . . . . 8 



Plain picked face ., .. .. .. 8 



Plain close picked in a superior manner .. .. .. 10 



Tooled face . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 



Sunk work .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 



Sunk and tooled .. .. .. .. .. 18 



Moulded .. .. .. .. .. .. as 



Circular plain .. .. .. .. .. .. 10 



Circular and tooled .. .. .. .. .. 18 



Circular sunk and tooled •. .. .. .* 2 



Circular moulded and tooled .. .. •■ .. 3 6 



For ragsione concrete, the quantities may be slated at eleven chords 

 broken rag, one hundred of lime, and four bushels of sand, for ten yards 

 of concrete. Breaking the rag may be reckoned atone shilling the chord. 



FICTILE MANUFACTURES— POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. 



At a meeting of the Archjeological Institute, May 1, a very interesting 

 paper, by Mr. I5irch, was read,on " Fictile Manufacturen, including Pottery 

 and Porcelain of alt countries and all periods." The subject excited great 

 interest, and causeii llie table to be covered with numerous and valuable ex- 

 amples of the art, from the earliest to the most recent period. Specimens of 

 liahylonian, Greek, Roman, Mediaeval, Italian, and German pottery were 

 grouped according to date; and, to continue the aeries to our own time, a 

 large case presented specimens from the collection of the late Enoch Wood, 

 and the manufactory of the Messrs. Minton, illustrative of the progress of 

 the SlafTordbhire manufactories, from the time of Queen Elizabeth to the 

 present day. Among the contributors to the exhibition were the Marquis 

 of Northampton, Earl Spencer, Viscount Strangford, Sir Philip Egerton, 

 Bart., Mr. Talbot, Mr. Jekyll, Mr. Bidwell, Lady Brancker, Mr. Strutt, .VLK, 

 Mr. J. \V. Burgon, Mr. Dilke, .Mr. M'hincopp, Mr. Cole, .Mr. Mayer, of 

 Liverpool, the Kev. H. Addington, Mr. Gowen, Dr. Bromet, and Mr. Engle- 

 heart. 



Mr. Birch commenced by giving a brief, but eompreliensive history of an- 

 cient Fictile Art. He observed that the most ancient pottery extant was, 

 probably, that found at Babylon and Nineveh ; some of this was of a fine 

 red clay, and at the latter place varnished and enamelled ware, probably of 

 the time of Sardanapalus, had been found in the recent excavations of M. 

 Botta. It was, perhaps, from Babylon that Fictile Art was transmitted to 

 the Egyptians, who appear to have exercised it at the earliest known period 

 of their history. Vases are found in the tombs in the vicinity of the Pyra- 

 mids, of a date probably 2000 B.C., of baked clay, some glazed and of vari- 

 ous colours. The ornaments of Egyptian pottery consist chiefly of flowers; 

 with occasionally a few human and animal forms traced in black outliue, but 

 the designs are coarse, and show little taste or invention. 



Mr. Birch proceeded to describe the Fictile Art of Greece and Italy. The 

 vases of the archaic period are, \. the Athenian, of a light and fine clav ; 

 the ornaments are on a fawn-coloured ground, and consist of bands and 

 Meander borders. Animal forms occur but seldom in these designs — the 

 human form never. 2. The black ware, ornamented with figures in relief, 

 found throughout Etruria ; and which we must coi.sider the \Nork of the 

 Etruscan people, from about 6G0 B.C. to 416 B-C, when their power began 

 to decline. The subjects of these vases are the most early Greek myths ; 

 some of the figures exhiliiting monstrous combinations, borrowed from the 

 oriental religions, and to be ifaet with on the Babylonian cylinders and in 

 the art of Persepolis. The material of this ware is black throughout. Be- 

 sides this class of vases, the indigenous product of Etiuria, we find in that 

 country specimens of the Fictile Art, imported by the Greek settlers, and 

 resembling the vases found at Corinth by the traveller Dodwell. These are 

 known by the name of Nolan-Egyptian or Phcenician. The ground of this 

 ware is a pale straw colour, with animals painted iu maroon ; the details and 

 inner markings being given with the point of the graver, and some accesso- 

 ries picked out with crimson. The date of these vases is piobably from 

 600 B.C. to 5-10 or 520 b.c, — corresponding v\ith the mythic arrival of the 

 Greek potters, Eucheir and Eugrammos,said to have been brought to Etruria 

 by Demaratus, from Corinth. To these earlier specimens, succeed the vases 

 with black figures laid on a light ground. These are made of red clay, 

 tinted with an orange-coloured varnish : the design was drawn in slight 

 dark outline, or traced with a point, and the whole internal part of the 

 figure filled up with black. The light inner markings of the figure were 

 then incised on the black pigment with a craver, which cut down to the 

 yellow ground of the vase itself; the accessories being picked out with pur- 

 ple and white, as in the class last described. These vases are often accom- 

 panied by inscriptions recording the name of the artist, the maker, that of 

 the person to whom dedicated, and of the personages represented, — which 

 are particularly valuable as evidence of the early forms of the letters. 



The subjects of these vases were all taken from the most ancient Greek 

 legends, — the Capriaca, the Iliad and Odyssey, the Hymns of Homer, and 

 the works of AlcEeus and other early Greek poets. The figures on them are 

 Btill drawn in the archaic style, and resemble those on the early coins of 

 Sybaris, Caulonia, Tarentum, and other places in Magna Grascia. This class 

 of vases is found associated with Etruscan art and inscriptions in the tombs 

 of the Etrurian Lucumos. They also occur in Greece Proper, — but with 

 certain differences of fabric which forbid the supposition that they were all 

 manufactured there, and imported thence to Etruria. It is more probable 

 that, while those found in Greece itself are the indigenous product of that 

 country, the Italian vases were the work of the Greeks who settled in tb( 

 Etruscan cities. 



Second Period. — After the above archaic period, succeed the va^es of the 

 best time of Greek Art, from the epoch of Phidias and Polygnolus, B.C. 470, 

 to the urchonship of Euclidcs, B.C. 404. These vases have red figures on a 

 black ground. The material, like that of the earlier vases, is a fine red clay. 

 I'he artist, having traced out the design, then filled up the whole of the 

 background with the black pigment, following the contours of the group. 

 The inner luarkings of the figures, which iu the former style bad been in- 

 cised with the graver, were sketched in with a brush dipped in the black 

 pigment which formed the ground. This change in the technical jirocess 

 gave scope to the freer and mure refined treatment to which the Art of the 

 period had attained. 

 The subjects of these vases are apparently suggested by the works of the 



