manner the work proceeds upwards until finished. 
All bricks that are laid with their length in the 
direction of the length of the wall are called 
stretchers, and all those that take an opposite 
direction, or present their ends towards the faces 
of the wall are called headers, whether they are 
visible on the outer faces of the wall or are hid- 
den within it. A heading course is one in which 
all the bricks that compose it are headers; and 
a stretching course has all its bricks laid as 
stretchers. All brick-walls ought to commence 
with a heading course, in order that the lower 
bricks may be so covered by the superposed wall 
that they cannot slip out of their places. 
Brick-walls are generally described by the num- 
ber of bricks that occur in their thickness, rather 
than by their dimensions in inches; thus we 
speak of a single brick-wall, a brick-and-half 
wall, two bricks, &c., and if the size of the bricks 
are determined, this at once gives the thickness 
of the wall, and then walls are spoken of as nine 
inch, fourteen inch, &c., walls. A four inch wall 
is one that is half a brick thick, or built with 
whole bricks all laid in the direction of their 
length. In paving with bricks, or bringing up 
courses to a proper level, the bricks are often 
laid with their thin sides upwards, and when so 
disposed this is called drich-on-edge-work. Brick- 
on-end-work is only used for paving floors, and in 
this the bricks are placed with their ends up- 
wards. From the small dimensions of bricks a 
great part of the strength of brick-work depends 
on the joints being well and regularly broken, or 
so disposed that no two vertical joints shall occur 
in the same line over each other in two contigu- 
ous courses; or in other words, that good bond 
should be preserved ; and yet to make the work 
look handsome, all vertical joints in alternate 
courses must be correctly over each other, so that 
if a long plumb-line should be fixed in any verti- 
cal joint of a piece of work at its top or upper 
course, that line should also cover or pass over 
the vertical joints in every alternate course below 
it. 
In order to produce this regularity of appear- 
ance in the joints, so necessary to the handsome 
appearance of brick-work, as well as to break the 
joints and cause the bricks to overlap each other 
for procuring strength, bricks are always laid 
in particular forms distinguished by the name 
of bonds. Of these two varieties are used in 
England, and are called Old English bond and 
Flemish bond. Old English bond consists of al- 
ternate courses of all headers and all stretchers 
alternating with each other, except when the 
wall contains an odd number of half bricks, and 
then a single row of stretchers becomes necessary 
in each heading course, and a row of headers in 
each stretching course to make out the thickness 
of the wall. Thus, for example, in building a 
brick-and-half wall, or a two brick and half wall, 
such thickness can only be obtained as above, or 
by cutting whole bricks into halves, which would 
BRICK-WORK. 
539 
occupy more time, and produce great waste of 
material. The first course of a brick-and-half 
old English wall would therefore be laid headers 
and stretchers, and the next higher course in 
succession would show its stretchers on the op- 
posite face of the wall. If the wall is 23 bricks 
thick, the stretching course can be laid in the 
middle of the wall, and then the succeeding 
course may be all stretchers. And when the 
wall is two bricks thick, it may consist entirely 
of alternate courses of headers and stretchers. 
Neither of these last two methods is proper for 
building walls, because the joints are not suffi- 
ciently broken; for, as each of these courses has 
to be covered with a course of stretchers, it will 
be evident that a straight joint, or one without 
bond, will run through the whole length and 
height of each of these walls, and that there is 
nothing to tie the two faces together, conse- 
quently such walls would be liable to split in two 
in their vertical longitudinal dixection when 
loaded, or carried to a considerable height. To 
obviate this, every third or fourth header should 
be laid in the middle of the wall, when its defi- 
cient length must be made out by pieces of brick 
called datts, or bricks cut to shorter lengths, 
which will not at all alter the external appear- 
ance of the face of the wall, but will add mate- 
rially to its strength. Pieces of brick less than 
half-a-brick in width are often necessary in the 
face of a wall to shift a joint, so as to produce 
good bond, and such short pieces are called closers, 
pronounced closhures. The advantage of this 
kind of bond is that it contains no hollows or 
interstices, but is perfectly solid, and is therefore 
peculiarly well suited to any work in which great 
strength, rather than beauty of appearance, is 
desirable. It is therefore constantly resorted to 
both in masonry and brick-work, for the piers 
and abutments of bridges, the side walls of canal 
locks, and all such purposes. Flemish bond con- 
sists of headers and stretchers alternately in 
every course, but so disposed that no vertical 
Joints occur over each other in contiguous courses, 
This bond is generally adopted in house building, | 
because it is thought to look handsomer, and | 
takes fewer bricks, or at any rate permits the 
builder to use a great deal of the small batts and | 
broken rubbish that constantly occur in building; 
for no wall, consisting of an odd number of half- 
bricks, can be built solid when this bond is 
adopted. 
The following is a return of the duties paid 
upon bricks in the several excise collections in 
England, in 1839 and 1845 :— 
COLLECTIONS, 1839. WEARS: 1845. 
gS By Gk Loos edt 
Barum, . A BIS ST( és) ater, G&G) Il” 
Bath, r 8,507 8 43 1,084 0 23 
Bedford, » 4,901 1 11 8,361 7 74 
Bristol, - 2,587 16 11 4,520 9 43 
Cambridge, 6,934 11 64 8,675 8 6% 
Canterbury, 4,715 16 24 7,428. 6 103 
Chester, 10,082 19 353 33,864 17 3 
