REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 115 



making copies of ancient sculpture which were discovered about 

 that time. 



The use of compact gypsum or alabaster was quite common in 

 ancient times, and frequent references are made to it in ancient 

 books. It was chiefly employed in the manufacture of urns, vases 

 and other ornaments. Slabs of alabaster w^ere sometimes used for 

 windows, and the Komans used plates of the transparent gypsum 

 or selenite for this purpose. 



The industrial development of the last 20 years has been marked 

 by a most wonderful increase in the use of gypsum. Up to that 

 time the demand for raw gypsum in the United States was almost 

 as great as that for plaster of paris, and the use of the latter 

 article was very limited. With the discovery of processes by 

 which the set of stucco may be retarded and the hardness of the 

 finished product increased, plaster of paris has replaced lime 

 mortar to a great extent as a wall plaster. Another factor in 

 the increased production of this material is found in its use in 

 Portland cement to retard setting. 



In the year 1885 Prof. Carl Straub, then of Syracuse N. Y., 

 patented a fluid composition for retarding the set of plaster of 

 paris and at the same time hardening the material. Early in the 

 next year (1886) he obtained another patent for a dry compound to 

 be used in the same w^ay. This was the starting point of the hard 

 wall plaster industry in this country. Professor Straub asso- 

 ciated with himself Mr S. S. Ruston, and under the firm name of 

 Straub & Co. the first business of manufacturing hard wall 

 plaster was established at Syracuse. The new material met with 

 favor from the start, and in January 1887 the Adamant Manu- 

 facturing Co. was organized with a greater capital and took over 

 the plant and business of Straub & Co. 



At the outset only Nova Scotia and European gypsum were 

 used, as at that time one of the things much desired was to have 

 a white, smooth surface to the wall. The demand, however, for 

 a wall plaster having the advantages of plaster of paris in the 

 matter of quick setting and freedom from shrinkage, so that a 

 building could be more quickly ocxiupied than when a lime plaster 



