FOUNDATIONS EXPOSED, PEEAK MUSEUM. -57 



in water, (d) the fouudations were practically all below water 

 level. 



What has happened is evidently that the lime of the 

 concrete having no power of sotting beneath the water remained 

 as hydrated oxide and was then slowly dissolved and carried 

 away by the action of the water flowing throiigh the soil. The 

 average annnal rainfall in Taiping is one hundred and seventy- 

 three inches, that is to say in a year a layer of water fourteen 

 feet five inches deep falls. This amount of water would weigh 

 about nine hundred pounds per square foot of surface, and 

 would be aljle to dissolve nearly one and a quarter poun<ls of 

 lime. There is, therefore, no difficulty in understanding that a 

 very few years would suffice to remove all the lime from concrete 

 situated below the water level of the ground. 



The result of this action is that the sand and stones are 

 left behind in a very loose state in consequence of the removal of 

 the lime from the interstices of what was originally concrete. It 

 follows that the richer the conci'ete is in lime to begin with the 

 looser will it become in the course of a few years, and the more 

 liable will the superstructure raised on it be to dislocations due 

 to the sulisidence of the concrete itself. The varying permi- 

 ability of the ground to the flow of subterraneous water will 

 cause the subsidence to take place unevenly. The action of 

 the water once begun will go on increasing as the loose sand and 

 stones remaining of the concrete will form channels through 

 which the water will flow freely, and so tend to hasten the 

 solution of that which is left. 



Lime having once set, that is having absorbed carbonic acid 

 and become crystalline carbonate of lime, is only slightly soluble 

 in Avater, but even then it is unsuitable for situr^tions where it 

 is exposed to the constant action of a large body of water, 

 particularly in a place like Perak where, except in the lime- 

 stone districts, the water is nearly free from carlionate of lime, 

 and therefore in a fit state to dissolve a comparatively large 

 amount. 



A curious feature of the alluvial deposits in this State 

 is the total absence of bones and the calcarious shells of 

 molluscs. This can only be explained by their having been 

 dissolved by Avater, for it is impossible to suppose that there 

 were no animals in the country during the formation of the 

 modern alluvial beds. This has an evident bearing on the 

 subject in hand, as shewing that both the amount and the 

 quality of the water here differ very materially from Avhat they 

 do in England, where we naturall ,• take our ideas from. In 



