70 • TRAXSACTIOXS OF THE [XOV. 23, 



parently it works 110 injury to the stone. If it did not deface 

 the stone there could be no reasonable objection to its nse. By 

 this process, even if frequent renewal was necessary, the obelisk 

 ought to be preserved indclinitely. 



It is a surprise to Americans to find the famous cathedrals and 

 buildings of "Eurojie so much dccom]iosed and subjected to re- 

 pair. This process would undoubtedly have preserved them in 

 all their original beauty. 



Mr. E. N. Peklee said that his house of brown stone had 

 been treated by the parafiine })rocess, greatly to his satisfaction. 

 Now, instead of the steps, railing, etc., becoming permanently 

 soiled and stained, every heavy rain washed the stone as clean as 

 new. His neighbors and friends were pleased with the appear- 

 ance of the house, and he regarded the process as a lirst-rate 

 tiling ; and one that would be greatly beneficial to the city. 



Mr. Caffall said that the expense of treating an ordinary 25 

 foot brown stone front, with a porch, would be $'-i!00 to ^300. 

 He did not know how long stone would retain the pai'atfine com- 

 pound, certainly for a great length of time. He had word from 

 England that buildings treated sixteen and eighteen years ago, 

 the earliest treated, showed no evidence of loss. Buildings in 

 St. Louis treated in 1879 showed no change. A committee sent 

 to St. Louis to examine the buildings ti-eated by this process, 

 found no instance of failure or dissatisfaction, lie could not 

 effectually treat damp surfaces. The steam issuing from the 

 stone or brick formed bubbles in the paraffine, and also kept pores 

 open, thus defeating the purpose of the process. 



At Monroe, Louisiana, the rise of water by floods is so great 

 that a large surface of the brick piers of the bridge over the 

 Ouachita River is exposed to floods of rushing water, and to 

 alternate conditions of wet and dry. Four years ago these jiiers 

 were treated with the parafiine conijiound, and recently the 

 engineers had written that the condition of the brick and the 

 mortar joints was still satisfactory. 



The speaker thought that even if the heat of the sun was suf- 

 ficient to melt the compound, the effect would only be to drive 

 the fluid deeper into the stone. The eva})orating jjoint is about 

 500° Jb\ 



The President said he had known the temperature of rock 

 to reach 150° F. in the sun; but if the paratfine were melted it 

 would be held in place by capillary force. 



Dr. DoREMUS expressed himself as a zealous advocate of the 

 treatment of the walls, flocfi-s, and ceilings of hospitals, to render 

 them impervious to poisonous emanations from patients. 



Dr. Agnew had stated to him that many years ago the north 

 wing of the old New York Hospital (Broadway near Duane st.), 



