PROCEEDINGS. Vn 



Ordinary Meeting, Province Building, 8th Dec, 1890. 



The President in the Chair. 



Infer alia. 



Mr. E. Gilpin, Jr., communicated a memorandum of Experiments ou Building 

 Stone from Nova Scotia, made for Mr. H. G. C. Ketchum, of the Chignecto .Ship 

 Railway, by Mr. N. E. Cooper. The specimens of stone experimented on were 

 two (Nos. 1 and 2) from Grindstone Quarry, near Joggins in Chignecto Bay, 

 intended for use at Amherst Dock, and two (Nos. 3 and 4) from Gulf Shore, near 

 Pugwash, Northumberland Strait, 6 to 8 miles from Port Philip, intended for use 

 at Tidnish Dock, and being used at the 30 ft. arched bridge at Tidnish River. 

 Nos. 1 and 2 had been rulibed with sand ; Xos. 3 and 4 finished with the fine chisel 

 only. 



" The first piece of stone experimented upon was No. 3 from Gulf Shore Quarry. 

 It was placed between pitch pine boards 1 inch thick, and the pressure in the 

 large ram put on ; when it had reached 34 tons per foot the stone cracked verti- 

 cally H inches from the edge. Thinking that it might not have been put upon its 

 natural bed, it was again put in with the face at right angles to the former upper- 

 most, and, on applying the pressure of 34 tons per foot, it cracked on both sides 

 parallel to the vertical faces at about the same distance from them as in the first 

 case. 



" In order to test whether there was any unequal strain upon the specimen a 

 half brick was tested under precisely similar conditions. This cracked with a 

 pressure of ,53 tons per square foot and crushed at 150 tons per square foot. 



" The appearance of the pitch pine board seemed to indicate unequal pressure. 

 Similar pieces of yellow pine were then procured. 



" The specimen No. 1 from Grindstone Quarry was tlien tried, with the result 

 that at a pressure of 600 tons per sq. foot the corners began to chip, the yellow 

 deal packing being reduced in thickness to about |- inch. The specimen was 

 then removed as it appeared to be subject now to unequal strains. 



" The companion specimen No. 4 to No. 3, from Gulf Shore first experimented 

 upon was then tried between yellow pine boards, and failed by splintering on the 

 edge, the pressure being 228 tons per sq. foot. 



"Specimen No. 2, the companion to No. 1, was not tested." 



The President read a paper by Mr. D. W. Robb, of Amherst, N. S., on 

 " Steam Boiler Tests as a means of determining the Calorific Value of Fuels." 

 {See Transactions, p. 9.) 



The President read extracts from a letter received from Mr. R. Balfour Brown, 

 of Yarmouth, as follows : — 



" I send you two small boxes containing samples of ores from Port Gilbert, in 

 Digby Co. 



" Among the samples you will find some pieces of pudding stone, well spotted, 

 and indeed saturated with paraffin tallow. A piece of the tallow, on having a 

 blaze from a blowpipe applied to it, burned like a squib until it was consumed ; it 

 soon, however, loses its gaseous element and becomes much less inflammable. 



" I presume sulphuric ether would decompose this substance, but I have at- 

 tempted no test of itself or the gangue. 



