538 Asphaltic Mastic, to Flooring, Roofing, QNo. 139. 



and even where joints are necessary they can be so closed as to present 

 a continuous surface ; neither does it impart taste, smell or color, to 

 any liquids that may come in contact with it when employed to line 

 tanks, vats, reservoirs, &c. Having thus stated its origin, composi- 

 tion and essential qualities, I will proceed to the modes of its ap- 

 plication. 



The purposes to which it has been applied in France are so exten- 

 sive and various, that they first claim attention. The Chevalier de 

 Pambour states, that the pavements in several crowded thoroughfares 

 of Paris have been made of this substance for the last six years,* and 

 are now in excellent order. It has resisted the oscillation on suspension 

 bridges and the varying temperatures of heat and frost, the asphalte 

 being on such structures as perfect as the day it was laid down. 

 For roofing edifices, lining water reservoirs, and paving stables it has 

 been particularly useful, having been laid down seven years in the 

 stables of Cavalry Barracks. It has been extensively applied in the 

 fortifications of Lyons, as stated by M. Gahan, a Captain of Engineers, 

 also at Lisle and Vinceunes, and the Artillery have covered the roofs 

 of warehouses several years since in the arsenal at Douai, which have 

 withstood all weathers. The naval department also have made nu- 

 merous trials of it in the various buildings at the port of Toulon, 

 and it is being introduced into the other ports of France. The pave- 

 ment formed of it resists better than stone the friction of chains in 

 Dock Yards ; and in Jails and Hospitals it has been used not only on 

 account of its durability, but that it keeps particularly clean, and 

 ablutions are performed more easily on it. The material is also used 

 on the "Pont Royal," and "Pont de Carrouse," on the areas round 

 public fountains, in the court yards and extensive floors of colleges 

 and churches. 



It has been employed as a cement, and is more particularly valuable 

 under this head for hydraulic works ; several large tanks have been 

 constructed in Paris with it. The mode adopted has been to cover 

 the faces of the bricks that were to be exposed to the water with a 

 very thin coat of asphalte ; they were set in fluid mastic instead of 

 cement, which was also poured into spaces, left for the purpose, of one- 

 fourth between the inner and outer bricks forming the side walls as 

 * This was stated in 1840. 



