We now come to that material which is, in England, a more important agent than stone in the construction of dwelling-houses; namely, _bricks_ made from clay. There were three millions and a half of houses in Great Britain in the year 1841; and there can be no doubt that of this number those which were built of brick constituted a vast majority. It is only in a few particular districts that stone is a more available material for houses than bricks. In other countries, too, as well as our own, the arts of brick-making and bricklaying are carried on more extensively than the operations of the stone-mason. Bricks and Brick-work in Early Times. It has been observed that “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.” It is stated in the Book of Genesis that burnt bricks were employed in the construction of the Tower of Babel. Now, as this structure appears to have been raised about four hundred years after the Deluge, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the art of making bricks was invented almost as soon as men began to build. Bricks seem to have been in common use in Egypt while the Israelites were in subjection to that nation; for the task assigned them was the making of brick, and we are informed in the Book of Exodus, that the Israelites built two Egyptian cities. No particulars are given in Scripture of the method of making bricks; but as straw was one of the ingredients, and as very little rain falls in Egypt, it is probable that their bricks were not burned, but merely baked by the heat of the sun. The same mode of baking bricks seems still to be practised in the East. The ruins of the tower near Bagdad are formed of unburnt bricks. The art of brick-making was carried to considerable perfection among the Greeks. Pliny states that they made use of bricks of three sizes, distinguished by the following names: _didoron_, or six inches long; _tetradoron_, or twelve inches long; and _pentadoron_, or fifteen inches long. That the Romans excelled in the art of making bricks there is the amplest evidence, since brick structures raised at Rome seventeen hundred years ago, still remain nearly as entire as when first built.