REPORT ON BUILDING STONES. 



Bj Prof. JAMES HALL 



The following report on building stones was commnnicated to the 

 Commissioners of the New Capitol in 1868. The report was called 

 for before it could be properly completed, and much material intended 

 for incorporation, was never finally prepared for publication. At that 

 time the author was promised further facilities for continuing and com- 

 pleting the work, but these were never granted, and the report, in its 

 very incomplete and unsatisfactory condition, has remained as origin- 

 ally published. The small number of copies at that time issued was 

 quite insufficient to supply the demand; and the author has been fre- 

 quently solicited to republish the report. This has been postponed from 

 time to time, in the hope of being able to add matter of interest, and 

 especially some tables of tlie comparative strength and resistance to 

 crashing force. But these data still remain as they were recorded in 

 1868; and there is no prospect of being able to resume a work which, 

 if properly carried out, would be of important economic value. 



The report is herewith communicated as originally presented. It 

 forms a part of the work accomplished by the author since assuming 

 the charge of the State Museum of Natural History in 1866. It may 

 very properly be regarded as the result of museum work. It is illus- 

 trated by the museum collections of marbles, building stones, etc., 

 chiefly in the material occupying the shelves along the sides of the 

 entrance-hall of the State Museum on State street. 



Januaryy 1886. 



