Manholes are placed at intervals in the line of ducts to facilitate the drawing in and jointing of the cables, and surface boxes are placed in the footways for distributing purposes.
The famous Venetian pozzi, or wells for storing rain-water from the roofs and streets, consisted of a closed basin with a water-tight stratum of clay at the bottom, upon which a slab of stone was laid; a brick shaft of radiating bricks laid in a permeable jointing material of clay and sand was then built.
The doorways are of finely-cut stone, and of Greek type, and the date, though uncertain, cannot, from the careful jointing of the blocks, be very early.
The later basalts are especially marked by columnar jointing, which determines the famous structures of the Giant's Causeway and the coast near Bengore Head.
No doubt in times of remote antiquity it was found that the jointing of masonry which was to be immersed required the use of a cement indifferent to the action of water.
