Excerpt from Practical Masonry: A Guide to the Art of Stone Cutting Comprising the Construction, Setting-Out, and Working of Stairs, Circular Work, Arches, Niches, Domes, Pendentives, Vaults, Tracery Windows, Etc Tms work has been compiled, not with the View of super seding any of the works already published dealing with the architectural or geometrical side of the stone - cutter's art, but as a means of introducing the student of Masonry to the practical work of everyday life in the workshop and on the building. It has no pretensions to instruct skilled workmen, but is intended to initiate young beginners in the craft into the rules and principles of good masonry. It is the result of many years' attentive observation and practical experience, acquired by the Author first as an Operative stone-mason, and afterwards as a foreman mason, on some of our largest public buildings. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.