An officer in the Royal Engineers, Sir Charles William Pasley (1780–1861) wrote on matters ranging from military sieges to architecture. In this substantial work, first published in 1838, he outlines the experimentally determined properties of various building materials, with a view to their practical application. Offering guidance on how to decide between different calcareous mortars and cements, Pasley discusses how to judge their comparative strengths. Heeding advice from the Institution of Civil Engineers, he made this work a broad overview, rather than simply focusing on his special area of interest: natural and artificial cements. His research on cements led to the large-scale manufacture of products such as Portland, patent lithic, and blue lias. Pasley discusses the research of other authors in the appendix. Also reissued in this series, in English translation, is Louis-Joseph Vicat's Practical and Scientific Treatise on Calcareous Mortars and Cements, Artificial and Natural (1837).