BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL STONES. 347 



hundreds of years in a climate like that of Florida or Kew Mexico, but 

 which would probably be found in a sad state of disintegration at the 

 end of a single season in some more northern State. 



We are accustomed to hear a great deal regarding the wisdom of the 

 ancients, and especially the Egyptians, as shown in the selection of 

 enduring materials for their obelisks and monuments,* a wisdom or 

 prudence which modern builders " admire more than they imitate," and 

 we are referred to the still legible inscriptions and sharp sculptures on 

 the surfaces of these obelisks, even after thousands of years of ex- 

 posure, as proof of this marvelous foresight on the part of a semi- 

 barbarous people. It must be borne in mind, however, that nature 

 herself had vastly more to do in this matter than Egyptian foresight, 

 and it is more than probable that at that time materials were selected 

 with as little regard for their lasting qualities as they are to-day. The 

 Syene granite, so durable under Egyptian skies, is no better than 

 those in common use in this country, as the transported obelisks in 

 New York and London have plainly shown. It is a matter of climate 

 more than of material, and this fact should never for a moment be ig- 

 nored. Were the climate of the United States like that of Egypt, 

 southern Italy, or Mexico there would have arisen no occasion for the 

 compilation of this chapter.! 



(2) PRECAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED. 



The precautions which should be observed in selecting a stone for 

 building purposes may here be briefly alluded to. 



In those portions of the northern and eastern United States that 

 have been subjected to glacial action,| and where the great mass 



* Vide Materiaux de Construction, par L. Malecot, p. 30. 



t ''From the manner in which, the buildings and monuments of Italy, formed of cal- 

 careous materials, have retained to a wonderful degree the sharpness of their orginal 

 sculpturing, unless disfigured by the hand of man, it is clear that a dry and smokeless 

 atmosphere is the essential element of durability. In this respect, therefore, the 

 humid sky and gaseous atmosphere of British towns must always place the buildings 

 of this country at a comparative disadvantage as regards durability." (Hull, p. 282.) 



u La Grece, la Basse Italie, et notamment la Sicile, dit il, out cet <5trange privilege 

 que tout s'y conserve intact, presque sans se de'to'riorer, pendant des siecles consdcu- 

 tifs. Aussi les monuments, les statues, les marbres blancs eux-meines, qui,chez nous 

 (en France), devie'nnent noirs en deuxans, rouges en dix ans, ruin6s en cinquante, chez 

 eux sont a peine noircis au bout de trois on quatro siecles d'exposition en plein air. 

 Sous terre on dans un appartement ils gardent intactes leur forme et jusqu'a lour 

 blancheur, aperp6tuitc pour ainsi dire. 



J'ai vu retirer de terre a Pouzzole, pres de Naple, des marbres enfouis depwis plus de 

 deux mille ans, qui avaicnt Pair de sortir des mains du sculpteur. 



A Palerme, les statues et les marbres en plein air sont, il est vrai, assez noirs ; mais 

 ils n'ont jamais <5te" touchds, nra-t-on dit, depuis leur mise en place, et il y a la des 

 statues qui datent de dix siecles." (E. Carrey, as quoted in Malecot's Materiaux de 

 Construction, p. 31.) 



{This includes all of New England and those portions of other Slates lying north 

 of a line running irregularly from a point near the western end of Long Island 



