STONE

is earthy matter, condensed into so hard a state as to yield only to the blows of a hammer, and therefore well adapted to the purposes of building. Such was the care of the antients to provide strong and durable materials for their public edifices, that but for the desolating hands of modern barbarians, in peace and in war, most of the temples and other public monuments of Greece and of Rome would have remained perfect at the present day, uninjured by the elements during 2000 years. The contrast, in this respect, of the works of modern architects, especially in Great Britain, is very humiliating to those who boast so loudly of social advancement; for there is scarcely a public building of recent date, which will be in existence one you sand years hence. Many of the most splendid works of modern architecture are hastening to decay, in what may be justly called the very infancy of their existence, if compared with the date of those erected in antient Italy, Greece, and Egypt. This is remarkably the case with the three bridges of London, Westminster, and Black friars; the foundations of which began to perish most visibly in the very lifetime of their constructors. Every stone intended for a durable edifice, ought to be tested as to its durability, by immersion in a saturated solution of sulphate of soda, and exposure during some days to the air. The crystallization which ensues in its interior, will cause the same disintegration of its substance which frost would occasion in a series of years. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1185a.png:Artificial stone maker Figs. 1069, 1070 enlarged (155 kB) IMG:4147767755307473660_illo1185b.png:Artificial stone maker