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* MASON BEE. 145 MASONRY. 'Salural History, vol. ii. (Boston, 1884); How- ard. The Insect Hook (New York, 1901). See Plate of WihD Bees. MASON CITY. A city and the county-seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, 90 miles northeast of Koit Dod<^e, on the Iowa Central, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, the Chicago Great Western, and the Chicago and Northwestern railroads (Map: Iowa, D 1). The city has ii public library, a fine court-house, and a city ])ark, and is the seat of the National Memorial University, and of an Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home. Its population is increasing rapidly, and it enjoys considerable industrial and conuncrcial activity. There are important agricul- tural, grain, and live-stock interests, and a whole- sale trade in groceries, fruits, etc.; also .sandstone quarries, brick and tile works, flour mills, lime works, sash and door factories, and foundries. Mason Cit}', settled about 18.55. is governed under a charter of 1870, which provides for a mayor, elected every two years, and .a unicameral coun- cil. The citv ow'ns and operates the water works. Population, in 1890. 4007; in 1900, 0740. MA'SONRY. The art of construction in stone. The earliest existing examples are among the most magnificent specimens of the art. No nation has excelled the ancient Egyptians in stonework, whether we consider the size of the materials, or the unequaled exactness with which they are fitted together. The Eg^'ptians did not use mortar in their important structures, such as the Pyramids, the joints being all carefully polished and fitted. Cyclopean or polygonal ma- sonry, of wliieh remains exist in many parts of Greece and Italy, as well as Asia Minor, also ex- hibits stones of great size and with carefully ad- justed joints. The walls of Myeena; are among the earliest examples. These are built with huge irregular blocks, the spaces between, being filled up with smaller stones. The Italian specimens are usually more carefully executed: the stones are not squared, but they are all carefully fitted together. In some cases, the beds or horizontal joints are made level, and the upright joints left unsquared. No mortar is used in Cyclopean ma- sonry. The masonry of the Greeks and Romans very closely resembled that of the present day : Kubhle-wort,- {opus incertum), in which the stones are not regularly coursed; coursed work, where the joints are all level, and the stones of equal height; (islilar, resembling the latter, but built with larger stones all carefully dressed on the joints. Many of the Roman buildings in the East were constructed with blocks of enormous size, as at Baalbek (q.v.), where some of the stones are 00 feet in length. Modern stone masonry is classified according to (1) the degree of finish of the face of the stones, into quarry faced, pitch faced, and dressed; according to (2) whether the horizontal courses or layers are of the same thickness at similar heights, into range, broken range, and random masonry; according to (3) the care exer- cised in dressing the beds, into ashlar, squared .stone, and rubble masonry. (1) Quarry faced nias<mrv is thai in which the faces of the stones are left as they come from the quarry; it is used chiefly for massive structures such as bridge piers, retaining walls., dams, and areh bridges. Pitch faced masonry is that in which the face of the stones is roughly dressed so as to make the front of the horizontal joint a straight line; it is used for work where a rugged appearance is desired without the extreme roughness of quarry faced masonry. Vressed masonry, as the name indicates, is that in which the face of the stones is dressed to a more or less smooth plane surface; it is emjiloyed chiefly in building construction and for the finishing courses of engineering works. I'linrje masonry is that in which the hori- zontal joints are continuous throughout, or, stated in other woi'ds. in which each eour.se is of the same thickness throughout, lirokcn range masonry is tluit in which the horizontal joints are not continuous throughout, but in which the masonry is not laid in courses at all. Ashlar masonry is cut stone masonry in which the joint faces are so trul_y cut that the distance between the general planes of the contiguous surface of the stones is Vj inch or less. Ashlar masonry ma}' be subdivided into range ashlar, broken range ashlar, random ashlar, quarry faced ashlar, pitch faced ashlar or dressed ashlar, and also into combinations of these sub-classes, as, for e.x- ample, quarry faced range ashlar. Squared stone masonry is that in which the stones are roughly dressed and roughly squared on their joint faces; when the distance between the general planes of the contiguous surfaces of the stones is lA inch ASHLAR MAsn.NKV. or more, the masonry belongs to this class. In ])ractice the distinction between ashlar masonry and squared stone masonry is not well defined. Rubble masonry is that composed of unsquared stone, and may be laid with or without an at- tempt to approximate regular courses. Several of the above types are illustrated in the article Building. Some of the other current definitions of stone masonry work are as follows: Face, the front surface of a wall; back, the inside surface; facing, the stones which form the face of a wall ; bucking, the stones which form the back of a wall; batter, the slope of the surface of a wall; course, a horizontal layer of stone in a wall ; joints, the mortar l.ying between the stones (usu- ally the horizontal joints are called beds or bed joints, while the vertical joints are called builds or simply joints) ; coping, a coul'se of stone on the toj) of the wall to protect it: pointing, a better quality of mortar put in the face of the joints to help them to resist weathering; bond, the arrangement of stone in adjacent courses; stretcher, a stone whose greatest dimension lies parallel to the wall ; header, a stone whose great- est dimension lies perpendicular to the wall ; quoin, a corner stone: dou'cls. straight bars of iron which enter a hole in the upper side of one stone and also a hole in the lower side of the stone above; cramps, bars of iron having the ends