No usage can make it gentle. It is perpetually restlefs, and seeking what it may devour. Those which have been shown in Europe, therefore, must always be kept secured within a strong cage, as the only means of guarding against mischief by them. A male and female ocelot were brought from France some years ago, which had been taken when very young. At the age of three months they became so strong and fierce, as to kill a bitch that was given them for a nurse. When a live cat was thrown to them, they sucked its blood, but would not taste its flesh. The male seemed to have a great superiority over the female, as he never allowed her to partake till his own appetite was satisfied.

Like all the larger animals of the cat kind, the ocelôt produces but a small number at a time. The two above mentioned, were the only young ones found with the mother; which was killed at the time they were taken; and makes it probable they bring forth only that number.

DISQUISITIONS CONCERNING THE MODE OF MAKING BRICKS AMONG THE ROMANS.

a

Continued from p. 66.

GLASS makers are at present subjected to a very great expence by the breaking of their crucibles, which might be effectually obviated by employing a composition of the same nature with that above described. In the manufacture of glass it is necefsary to have very large crucibles for containing the mel

ted matter in great quantities.

These crucibles

very difficult to

must consist of materials that are melt, and that are at the same time of a very compact texture. The only substance they have hitherto found, which possesses these properties, is a very pure kind of clay. This they reduce to a very fine powder; soak it in water till it becomes as soft as pap; it is then kneaded up with great care, into small pastils, of about half a pound weight each, which are allowed to dry till they become of a proper consistence. The workman then forms his crucible, by beginning at the bottom: this is done by succefsive thin layers, worked dexterously one above the other, allowing the preceding one to dry a little before the next layer is applied. It is impofsible to convey an adequate idea by words of the manner in which these layers are applied; but long practice has taught the men a manner of applying them, that is as efficacious as can be imagined, for closing the pores which are gradually produced by shrinking in drying, by succefsively prefsing, from time to time, all the parts of the crucible, in every stage of the operation, from the time that the clay is first applied quite soft, till it has attained a very considerable degree of hardnefs; yet notwithstanding all this attention and care, it frequently happens that these crucibles are incapable of containing the melted glafs from the beginning, or are bursted the very first time the fire is aplied to them. But if a considerable proportion of the clay were first burnt, and then powdered before it was mixed with the native clay, the composition would

fhrink much lefs in drying, and would, by consequence, be much less subject to be damaged by small fifsures, or to burst upon the application of the fire.

These very glass men, although they have not thought of adopting this improvement, do nevertheless adopt a practice exactly founded on the same principles here recommended, in another branch of their business. It is necessary for them to have the sides of their furnace coated with some kind of material that is able to resist, for a very long time, the action of their very intense fire. This they find is best effected by a kind of bricks formed of the same kind of clay with their crucibles; but as it would have been a work of very great expence to work these bricks up in the same manner they do the crucibles, they have thought of abridging the labour, by mixing some dry powder with the clay paste; and the powder they employ for this purpose is the old crucibles themselves, after they have been baked in the furnaces sufficiently, and when they are no longer fit for service in that way. These old crucibles are then broken into small pieces, which are afterwards grinded in a mill, like a sugar baker's mill, till it is reduced to a grofs kind of powder, which is intimately mixed with the clay paste in due proportion, and then formed into large bricks, about two feet in length and one foot in breadth, which dry slowly without any cracks or fifsures, and when perfectly dry, are built into the furnace as occasion may require, where they remain long, and perfectly resist the greatest heat that is ever applied to them, withput fhewing any tendency to vitrification.

It is probable that the old Roman bricks were formed, somewhat after the same manner, of clay alone, a part of which had been previously burnt. and reduced to powder, to be mixed with the native clay, which would form a composition capable of bearing a fire sufficiently intense to reduce the whole to a stony state without vitrification. At any rate, it is certain, that by following this practice, we might form a kind of bricks that would be equally hard with the hardest native stone, and that would more effectually resist the impressions of the air, and vicifsitudes of weather, than almost any other stone, granite perhaps alone, excepted.

Were a composition of this kind introduced into common use, it might be employed for many valuable purposes, not only in contributing to the durability of our buildings, but also in promoting the improvement of the fine arts; as I fhall perhaps endeavour to fhow in some future essay.

Roman bricks were of a much larger size than those of modern times. The reason of this smallnefs of size in our bricks is obvious; for as we are not at liberty to apply a great heat to any part of them, lest the outside fhould be vitrified, fhould we attempt to make them large, the heart of each brick would be entirely raw and unbaked, so as to be much worse than they are when formed of the present size. But were we at liberty to employ a sufficient degree of heat to bake them to the heart, as could be safely done by adopting the plan suggested in the foregoing part of this essay, we might have bricks of any size that should be judged most convenient,

In that case they might be moulded into elegant forms, so as to be fit for constructing ornamented walls, cornices, ballustrades, &c. at a much smaller expence than these can be cut in stone of any kind, while they would be at the same time more strong

and durable.

Even columns, pilasters, and the other more elegant decorations of architecture, might then be executed of brick, not only at a much smaller expence than they could be formed of stone, but which would also be more light, strong, and durable.

Let us suppose that a column of four feet diameter was wanted;—if it was to be formed of any kind of stone, it must consist of a solid mafs of matter throughout its whole dimensions. But the same columa might be formed of our brick, so as to be equally strong, though not of one half the weight, by forming them in the following manner.

We will suppose that the architect requires that the column should be formed of successive cylindrical pieces, of proper dimensions, placed one above another horizontally, for the whole height of the column. To form this of brick, let a hollow frame of wood be provided, of the proper height for each of these rings, whose internal diameter fhall be equal to that of the external diameter of the column, having the proper mouldings cut out upon it, and the whole bound together with hoops like a barrel. A number of smooth cylindrical pieces of wood are to be next provided, and fixed in an upright position near to, but not touching one another, throughout the whole heart of the column, leaving