BITUMEN, ASPHALTUM, PETROLEUM, ETC. 209 



MINERALOGY. 



BITUMEN, ASPHALTUM, PETROLEUM, PYROSCHISTS ^ND 

 CERTAIN OTHER SOLID HYDRO-CARBONS. 



BY G. C. BROADHEAD, OF PLEASANT HILL, MO., LATE STATE GEOLOGIST. 



[Read before the Kansas City Academy of Science, Kov. 28, 1S7G.] 



In 1876 I was appointed as one of the judges of the Centennial Exhibi- 

 tion at Philadelphia, and as such I was assigned to write np a part of the 

 exhibition, including the substances named at the head of this article. 

 That article is included in the following pages, with but few additions and 

 changes. 



HYDRO-CARBONS 



May be thus classified : 



1. G-aseous hydro-carbons — Marsti gas, defiant gas. 



2. Thin oily hydro-carbons, as petroleum. 



3. Thick oily hydro-carbons — Maltha or mineral tar, pittasphalt. 

 ■1. Solid Hydro-carbons, as asphalt, or pitch. 



5. Cannel coal and pryoschists, or slate. 

 G. Bituminous coal. 



BITUMEN — ITS EARLY HISTORY. 



Anciently, far back in the remote uncertainty of time, we find that in 

 the building of the tower of Babel "Slime had they for mortar,"* that the 

 ark of iN'oah was coated within and without with pitch, f and we are further 

 told in sacred writ " that the mother of Moses took for him an ark of bul- 

 rushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch.";]; In the latter instance 

 the pitch was undoubtedly bitumen ; in the others we infer that bitumen 

 was also used, and there is no doubt of its being used in the construction of 

 the tower of Babel. 



Herodotus] j informs us that the walls of Babylon were of brick laid in 

 bitumen. It was heated and used as a cement in the place of mortar, and 

 he also says that they mixed it with the tops of reeds and it was placed be- 

 tween every thirtieth course of bricks. His statements have mostly been con- 

 firmed by the obser^ ations of later travelers. Some state that they have found 

 that bitumen was used in every seventh or eighth course, and at one place 

 it was even found between every course of brick. Two kinds of brick ap- 

 pear to have been used at Babylon, one fire-baked, and the other sun-baked. 

 Some were deposited in lime and sand, or only in clay, others in bitumen. 

 Brick from Hillah, with bitumen still adhering to one side, were examined 

 by Parkinson, and the bitumen was found to be still combustible and would 



« Gen. xi, 3. t Gen. vi, 14. .| Ex. ii, 3. !| Clio. Book, I. 



