BUILDING. 



to the strength of the work to select the 

 stones in each course, so that every alter- 

 nate ashler may have broader beds than 

 those of every ashler placed in each alter- 

 nate interval. In every course of ashler 

 facing bond stones should be introduced, 

 and their number should be proportioned 

 to the length of the course. This should 

 be strictly attended to in long ranges of 

 stones, both in walls without apertures, 

 and in the courses that form wide piers ; 

 when they are wide, every bond stone of 

 one course should fall in the middle of 

 every two bond stones in the course be- 

 low. In every pier where the jambs are 

 coursed with the ashler, and also in every 

 pier where the jambs are one entire 

 height, every alternate stone next to the 

 aperture in the former case, and every al- 

 ternate stone next to the jambs in the lat- 

 ter case, should bond through the wall ; 

 and also every other stone should be plac- 

 ed lengthwise, in each return of an angle, 

 not less than the average length of an ash- 

 ler. Bond stones should have no taper in 

 their beds ; the end of every bond stone, 

 as well as the end of every return stone, 

 should never be less than a foot. There 

 should be no such thing as a closer per- 

 mitted, unless it bond through the wall. 

 All the uprights, or joints, should be 

 square, or at right angles to the front of 

 the wall, and may recede about f ths of 

 an inch from the face, from thence gradu- 

 ally widen to the back, and thereby make 

 hollow, wedge-formed figures, which will 

 give sufficient cavities for the reception 

 of packing and mortar. 



Both the upper and lower beds of every 

 stone should be quite level, and not 

 form acute angles, as is often the case ; 

 the joints from the face to about f ths of 

 an inch within the wall should be either 

 cemented with fine mortar, or with a mix- 

 ture of oil, putty, and white lead : the for- 

 mer is the practice both in London and 

 Edinburgh, and the latter in Glasgow. 

 The putty cement will stand longer than 

 most stones, and will be prominent when 

 the face of the stones has been corroded 

 with age. The whole of the ashler, ex- 

 cept that mentioned of the joints toward 

 the face of the wall, the ruble work, and 

 the core, should be set and laid in the 

 best mortar, and every stone laid on its 

 natural bed. 



All wall-plates should be placed upon 

 a number of bond stones, and particularly 

 those of the roof; by which means they 

 may either be joggled upon the bonds, or 

 fastened to them by iron and lead. In 

 building walls or insulated pillars of very 



short horizontal dimensions, not exceed- 

 ing a length of stones that can be easily 

 procured, every stone should be quite 

 level on the bed, without any degree of 

 concavity, and should be one entire piece 

 between every two horizontal joints. 

 This should be particularly attended to on 

 piers, where the insisting weight is great, 

 otherwise the stones will be in danger of 

 splintering and crushing to pieces, and 

 perhaps occasion a total demolition of the 

 fabric. Vitruvius has left us an account 

 of the manner of the construction of the 

 walls of the ancients, which were as fol- 

 lows : the reticulated is that wherein the 

 joints run in parallel lines, making angles 

 of 45 each with the horizon in contrary 

 ways, and consequently the faces of the 

 stones form squares, of which one diago- 

 nal is horizontal, and the other vertical. 

 This kind" of wall was much used by the 

 Romans in his time. The incertain wall 

 was formed of stones, of which the one 

 direction of the joints was horizontal, and 

 the other vertical ; but the vertical joints 

 of the alternate courses were not always 

 arranged in the same straight line : all 

 that they regarded was to make them 

 break joint. This manner of walling was' 

 used by the Romans in times antecedent 

 to the time of Vitruvius. Vitruvius di- 

 rects, that in both the reticulated and in- 

 certain walls, instead of filling up the 

 spaces between the sides with ruble pro- 

 miscuously, they should be strengthened 

 with abutments of hewn stone or bricks, 

 or common flints, built in walls two feet 

 high, and bound to the front with cramps 

 of iron. The emplection consisted of 

 two sides or shells of squared stone, with 

 alternate joints, and a ruble core in the 

 middle. 



The walls of the Greeks were of three 

 kinds, named isodomum, pseudosodo- 

 mum, and emplection. The isodomum 

 had the courses all of an equal thickness ; 

 but the pseudosodomum had them un- 

 equally thick ; in both these walls, wher- 

 ever the squared work was discontinued, 

 the interval or core was filled up with 

 common hard stones, laid in the manner 

 of brick, with alternate joints. The em- 

 plection was constructed wholly of squar- 

 ed stones ; in these bond stones were 

 placed at regular intervals, and the stones 

 in the intermediate distance were laid 

 with alternate joints, in the same manner 

 as tbose of the face ; so that this manner 

 of Greek walling must have been much 

 stronger than the emplection of the Ro- 

 man villagers. This is a most strong and 

 durable manner of walling, and in modern 



