. The cyclopædia; or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature. Encyclopedias and dictionaries. ,t w;is not i;il after the conqucft of Egypt tliey built Uic famous palaces of Siifa and Pcrfcpolis, and that tlicfc grtat woikj were dlrcfted by Egyptian architea? The fame talle foigr^antic conltniftioneaiid cxt traorclniary nations who, without works in Hones is found amoii;^ communication with thofc already mentioned, mull receive it from " itur; alone. When the Spaniards conquered Mexico and Peru, they remarked that the natives were accuilomed to buil
. The cyclopædia; or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature. Encyclopedias and dictionaries. ,t w;is not i;il after the conqucft of Egypt tliey built Uic famous palaces of Siifa and Pcrfcpolis, and that tlicfc grtat woikj were dlrcfted by Egyptian architea? The fame talle foigr^antic conltniftioneaiid cxt traorclniary nations who, without works in Hones is found amoii;^ communication with thofc already mentioned, mull receive it from " itur; alone. When the Spaniards conquered Mexico and Peru, they remarked that the natives were accuilomed to build edifices with large Hones, perfedly wrouglit and iomled, and laid without mortar; they had alio tranfported from g'cat dilbnces malTes of extraordinary dinieiilions. Stonchcnge, and various works of the fame nature, in our own country and on the continent, may alfo be mentioned as efforts of energetic conllrudtion, which had preceded every thing of finidi and ornament. Thus it fliould appear that this mode of building has every where been adopted previous to that with fmall Hones and mortar. The inhabitants of countries deprived of ftone quarries fupplied the delkitncy by means of bricks. Thefe were at firll ufcd crude, being menly dried in the fun, during a con- iiderable time ; but at length the maniifafturers found the method by baking them to form bricks as folid and durable as ftone. Of this material were built the walls of Babylon and the temple of Belus, the moft; ancient example of tliis mode of conllruftion which hillory records, and which were reckoned amon^j the wonders of the world. We alio learn that bitumen was ufed as cement in thcfe buildings, which renders it pmbable that at this period the metliod of reduc- ing calcareous Hones into lime to form mortar was not known. It is, however, to the difcovery of lime, that we owe the durabihty and pcrfeftion of cementitious building. Bitumen forms a porous connexion which the air difTolves and the aftion of the fun e
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1810, booksubjectencyclo, bookyear1819
