ON rilK I'SK OF STONE IN CITIES 297 



this \va\'. will doubtless scm'vc to n\i::^:iin fax'or with all inter- 

 ested in s^oocl huildiniL^'s. 



It sliould he said in this connection, that the Connecti- 

 cut (juarries j)roduce a great \arlet\'. Some ol tliese sand- 

 stones have a laminated structure, which tentls more rapidly 

 to exfoliate than the more homoL^cneous kinds, and [)articu- 

 larly when set on ed^e in huildin:;- Ironts; some of it is 

 shah' in places and is more liahle to disintei^'ration and de- 

 ca\'. and does not exhibit so much llakiu''- oil. but crumbles 

 to pieces u[)on lon^- exposure. Much of the Connecticut 

 brownstone. which has been irsed in the city, is of this in- 

 ferior kind and low-|)ricecL Some ot the newer and cheap 

 contract-built apartment-houses in the up-town streets, are 

 illustrations of the more laminated varieties which are 

 already beginning to show signs of exfoliation. Ihe 

 difference between the well-selected and the more inferior 

 kinds can be seen in the stone of some of the older buildings 

 of the cit\'. 



Brown sandstone from the New Jersey quarries is well 

 represented in the city, and notabU' in several of the more 

 ornate church edihces and pri\ ate houses. The New Jersey 

 sandstone is more of a reddish-brown and less sombre color 

 than that of Connecticut, finer grained and less micaceous. 

 It is not generally so laminated in structure, and approxi- 

 mates more closeh' to a " freestone." Trinit\- chinxh (^1846) 

 is a fine architectural example of the stone from Little P^alls. 

 The decay in some of the stones of the exterior walls neces- 

 sitated a careful examination and redressing a few )'ears 

 a 00.''^ 



The Newark sandstone is represented in the Temple 



* Dr. Thomas Egleston, of the Columbia College School of Mines, made an exhaus- 

 tive investigation of the causes of the decay of the stone in this building in iSSo. and 

 found that there were four leading varieties of stone used in it, and that the stone was 

 not all well selected. He says: " By a careful selection of stones with siliceous bind- 

 ing materials and the rejection of all others, material might have been selected that 

 would have lasted indefinitely." — Cause and Prevention of the Decay of Building 

 Stone, read before the American Society of Civil Engineers, June 24, iSS5, Vol. xv, 

 Transactions. 



38 



