In _building_ there are three things to be considered, viz. commodity or conveniency; secondly, firmness or stability; thirdly, delight. To accomplish which ends, Wotton considers the whole subject under two heads, namely, the seat or situation, and the work. 1. As for the seat, either that of the whole is to be considered, or that of its parts. 2. As to the situation, regard is to be had to the quality, temperature, and salubrity or healthiness of the air; that it be a good healthy air, not subject to foggy noisomeness from adjacent fens or marshes; also free from noxious mineral exhalations; nor should the place want the sweet influence of the sun-beams, nor be wholly destitute of the breezes of wind, that will fan and purge the air; the want of which would render it like a stagnated pool, and would be very unhealthy. In the foundations of _buildings_, Vitruvius orders the ground to be dug up, to examine its firmness; that an apparent solidity is not to be trusted, unless the whole mould cut through be sound and solid: ’tis true, he does not say to what depth it should be dug: but Palladio determines it to be a sixth part of the height of the building. The great laws of walling are:--1. That the walls stand perpendicular on the ground-work, the right angle being the foundation of all stability. 2. That the largest and heaviest materials be the lowest, as more proper to sustain others than be sustained themselves. 3. That the work diminish in thickness, as it rises, both for the ease of weight and to lessen the expence. 4. That certain courses, or lodges, of more strength than the rest, be interlaid, like bones, to sustain the wall from total ruin, if some of the under parts chance to decay. 5. Lastly, that the angles be firmly bound, they being the nerves of the whole fabric. These are sometimes fortified on each side the corners, even in brick buildings, with square stones; which add both beauty and strength to the edifice. See STONE, BRICKS, LIME, SAND. BULLETIN, _Fr._ any official account which is given of public transactions. See GAZETTE. BULLETS, are leaden balls, wherewith all kinds of small fire-arms are loaded. The diameter of any bullet is found, by dividing 1.6706 by the cube root of the number, which shews how many of them make a pound; or it may be done in a shorter way. From the logarithm .2228756 of 1.6706 subtract continually the third part of the logarithm of the number of bullets in the pound, and the difference will be the logarithm of the diameter required.