544 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
terms of their agreements in construction, and yet dissatisfaction is expressed at 
want of success in attaining the objects desired. 
Whether in ancient times better roads and pavements were built than at 
present, or whether only the best ones remain, is uncertain, but it is certain that 
some of the remains of such structures found, in Rome for instance, evince engi- 
neering skill and perfection of work in a high degree. These were laid out care- 
fully, excavated to solid ground, or in swampy places made solid by piles. Then 
the lowest course was of small-sized, broken stones, none less than three or four 
inches in diameter, over these was a course, nine inches thick, of rubble or broken 
stones cemented with lime, well rammed : over this a course, six inches thick, of 
broken bricks and pottery, also cemented with lime; upon this was laid \h^ pavi- 
nientum or pavement, composed of slabs of the hardest stone, joined and fitted 
together as closely as possible. This was costly— the Appian Way, about one 
hundred and thirty miles in length, having almost exhausted the Roman treasury 
— but it was as enduring as Nature's own work. In Peru and Central America 
similar remains. 1,500 to 2,000 miles long, were found by the Spaniards, which, 
as Prescott says, "were built of heavy flags of freestone, and in some parts, at 
least, covered with a bituminous cement which time has made harder than the 
stone itself." The roads of modern times lack most of the elements of durability 
which these possessed and consequently wear out in a very few years. 
The greatest enemy to wooden pavements is damp air. If wood is submerged 
in water or if it is kept perfectly dry it will not rot, but if it is exposed to moist air 
it will rot rapidly. It can be protected to a very considerable degree against 
wear by protecting the surface, hence all that is necessary to render it very dur- 
able is to insure it against exposure to dampness. The method of preparing the 
foundation at present adopted in Kansas City, i. e., constructing it of broken 
stone cemented together with water lime, is admirable, provided the surface 
moisture from rains, etc., can be kept from penetrating the interstices between 
the wooden blocks and resting upon the cemented surface below. If this cannot 
be prevented, then the foundation would be better without the cement, for it is 
plain that the blocks must, so to speak, stand with their feet in the water all the 
time, and their rotting must begin at once. But if the coal-tar or asphaltum, 
now sparingly and uselessly thrown upon the surface of the blocks, can be poured 
upon them so abundantly as to fill the interstices and prevent the water from 
passing down to the concrete below, we shall find that the rotting process will be 
indefinitely delayed and that the wear will also be vastly decreased. As we 
cannot keep the blocks submerged, we must keep them dry and protected from 
the action of the air — oxidation — to the fullest extent possible. These remarks of 
course apply to the work in relaying the blocks after removal for repairs of sew- 
ers, gas-pipes, water-pipes, etc , and to the work done by the street commissioner 
in keeping the streets in repair. He should be suppHed with proper material and 
be required to inspect such paving frequently, filling all cracks or openings of 
every kind as often as observed. In this way wooden pavements may be made. 
