PREPARATION OF CATOUT. 223 



Wiero to Ptolemy, wliioh carried so many building?, consisting of 

 porticoes, baths, halls, &c., arranged in mosaic, and ornamented 

 with agates and jasper. 



Bricks appear to be of the highest antitjuity ; and, as we lenrn 

 from sacred lustory, the making of lliem was one of the oppressions 

 to which the children of Israel were subjected during their servi- 

 tude in Egypt. The bricks of the ancients, however, so far differ- 

 ed from ours, liiat (hey were mixed with chopped straw in orddr 

 t<» bind the clay togelher, and instead of being burned weic com- 

 monly dried in the sun. V'itruvius recommeiidfid, that they should 

 be exposed in the air for two years before tiiey were used, as they 

 could not,be sufficiently dry in less time ; ami by tlie laws of Utica, 

 no bricks were allowed to be used, unless they had lain to dry for 

 five years. From Dr. Pocock's description of a pyramid in Egypt, 

 constructed of unburnt bricks, it appears that the Egyptian bricks 

 were nearly of the same shape as our common bricks, but rather 

 larger. Some of those he measured were 13 1-2 inches long, 6 1-2 

 broad, and 4 inches thick ; and others 15 inches long, 7 broad, and 

 4 3-4 thick. The biicks used by the Romans were in general 

 square ; and M. Quatremere de Quincy observes, that in his re- 

 searches among the antique buildings of Rome, he found them of 

 three different sizes. The least were 7 1-2 inches square, and 1-2 

 thick; others 16 1-2 inches square, and from 1 8 to 20 lines in 

 thickness ; and the larger ones 22 inches square, by 21 or 22 lines 

 thick. Among the celebrated buildings of antiquity, constructed 

 of bricks, were the tower of Babel, and the famous walls of Baby- 

 lon, reckoned by the Greeks among the wonders of the world ; the 

 walls of Athens, the house of Croesus at Sardis, and the walls of 

 the tomb of Mausolus. The paintings, which were brought from 

 Lacedasmon to Rome, to ornament the Cotnitium in the edileship 

 of Varro and Murena, were cut from walls of brick ; and the Tem- 

 ple of Peace, the Pantheon, and all the Thermae, were composed 

 of this material. The Babylonian bricks, which are in the posses- 

 sion of the East India company, and upon which Dr. Hayes has 

 lately favored the public with a dissertation, are inscribed with va- 

 rious figures and characters, and are supposed by some to be a part 

 of that brick work, upon which Pliny tells us that the Babylonians 

 wrote the observations which they made of the stars for seven 

 hundred and twenty years. 



OX THE PREPARATION OF CATGUT, FOR VARIOUS USrS. 



[Concluded from page 203.] 



Catgut for Musical Instruments. 



Of all the cords from intestines, this kind is the most difiicuit to 



make, and requires the greatest care and ability of the workmen. 



It is acknowledged that for many years they have been made as 



well in Friance as in Italy, with the exception of the treble-strings 



for violins, which eur maniifactilrers ha.ve. not beei) able to imitntc. 



