188 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is the representative of the idea of the state which leaves its indi- 

 vidual citizens to develop themselves freely according to their inborn 

 natures, and to work together on an equal footing for the good of the 

 whole ; which preserves to the villages and the provinces their self- 

 administration, and yet subjects them in every instant to the higher 

 interests and laws of the whole ; which appears ready armed against 

 the external enemy, preserves unity and peace within ; which applies 

 the capital accumulated by the common labor of all the citizens to the 

 advantage and advancement of the whole, without letting it be preyed 

 upon by any ; which in untiring activity never suffers a pause, and by 

 continuous renovation endures for centuries, always increasing, always 

 blossoming, and always bearing fruit. 



-*- 



AMERICAN AND FOBEIGN ASPHALTS. 



By E. J. HALLOCK. 



BITUMINOUS substances, apparently of organic origin, are found 

 in various parts of the world. Sometimes they occur in a free 

 state, as in the Island of Trinidad, and at others impregnating calcare- 

 ous rocks, or serving as a cement to hold the particles together, as 

 at Val de Travers or Seyssel. 



For several reasons the asphalt lake in Trinidad possesses special 

 interest for us. The island, which is the southernmost of the Lesser 

 Antilles, lies off the northern coast of South America, and is easily 

 accessible from any of our sea-ports. Here, amid the most luxuriant 

 vegetation, is a lake three miles in circumference, on the surface of 

 which lies a crust of asphaltum of such tenacity that in the rainy sea- 

 son a person can walk across it ; but, under the influence of the hot 

 sun, it softens to a thick tar. This crust receives accessions from be- 

 neath, and formerly it would overflow and run into the sea, more than 

 two miles away. A similar substance, known as " Jew's pitch," is 

 washed ashore in considerable quantities around the borders of the 

 Dead Sea. In Texas, south of Shreveport, there is said to be a pitch- 

 lake containing large quantities of bitumen, but little is yet known 

 about it. In Southern California there are accumulations of asphalt 

 on the coast at Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, etc., which resembles, 

 when pure, that from Trinidad. It promises to supply the wants of 

 the western coast, as Trinidad will that of the eastern part of this 

 country. 



In Kentucky there is a considerable quantity of asphaltic mineral 

 which may some time be utilized for road-making. 



An interesting and valuable asphaltic mineral, known as Albertite, 

 is found in New Brunswick ; and a similar one, called Grahamite, oc- 



