BRICK, a kind of artificial stone made of baked day.
1. The art of making bricks is so simple that it must have been practised in the earliest ages of the world ; probably before mankind had discovered the method of fashioning stones to suit the purposes of building. The Book of Genesis informs us, that burnt-bricks were employed in the construction of Babel.. Now, as this structure appears to have been raised about 400 years after the period of the flood, we may say, without much exaggeration, that the method of making bricks existed from the very ori gin of society. Bricks seem to have been in com mon use in Egypt while the Israelites were in sub jection to that nation ; for the task assigned them was the making of brick ; and we are informed in Exodus, that the Israelites built two Egyptian cities. No particulars art given In scripture of the me thod of making bricks ; but as straw was one of the ingredients, and as it veil seldom rains in Egypt, it is probable that their bricks were not burnt, but merely baked by the heat of the sun. The same mode of making bricks seems still to be practised in the East. For the ruins of the tower tear Bagdad, which some have considered as the Tower of Idabel, others as the Tower in Babylon described by Herodotus (lib. i. c. 181.), is formed of unbtvnt-bricks. We have seen specimens from that place ; they are large, but thin, and have a brown colour. It is not at all likely that_structures of us burnt-brick should be able to resist the weather since the time of Nebuchadnezzar; it is much more probable that the tower in question was reified by the Arabs in comparatively modern times.
The art of brick-making was carried to consider able perfection by the Greeks. Pliny informs us, that they made use of bricks of three different sizes, distinguished by the following names ; didoron, or six inches long; tetradoron, or twelve inches long; and pntadoron, or fifteen inches long (lib. xxxv. c. 14). That the Romans excelled in the art of making bricks we have the amplest evidence, since brick structures raised at Rome 1700 years ago, Trajan'; pillar for example, still remain as entire as when first built. Brick-makingbas been carried to great per fection by the Dutch, who have long been in the habit of forming their floors, and even of paving their streets, in some cases, with bricks. And it
is remarkable how long their bricks will continue un injured in such situations. Though brick-making has been long carried on in England, and especially in the neighbourhood of London, upon a very great scale, and though the process upon the whole is con ducted in this country with very considerable skill, yet it must be acknowledged, that English bricks are by no 'means so durable as Dutch bricks. We are disposed to ascribe this inferiority not so much to the nature of the materials employed in the menu ricture of English bricks, as to the mode most 'fre quently employed in London in building houses. Few of the London houses, comparatively speaking, are freeholds. Most of them are built upon ground let for a lease of a certain number of years, which seldom exceeds 99 years. After the expiration of this period, the house becomes the property of the landlord who let the ground. Thus it becomes the interest of the builder to construct the house so, than shall last only as long as the lease. Hence the goodness of the bricks becomes only a secondary ob ject. Their cheapness is the principal point. The object, therefore, of the brickmakers is not to fur nish durable bricks, but to make them at as cheap a rate as possible. Accordingly, the saving.of manual' labour, and of fuel, have been carried by the makers of London bricks to very great lengths. We can not but consider this mode of proceeding as very ob jectionable, and as entailing a much heavier expense upon London than would have been incurred had twice the original price been laid out upon the bricks when they were first used; and had the houses been constructed to last a thousand instead' of 'a hundred' years. No doubt, certain advantages attend these ephemeral structures. The inhabitants are enabled, once every century, to suit their houses to the pre vailing taste of the day. Thus, there are no anti quated houses in London. But as the increase of the price of all' the materials of building has more than kept pace with the increase of the wealth of individuals, it is to be questioned whether the houses are always improved when they are pulled down and rebuilt.