May 12,1923 
Effect of Decomposition on Concrete Tile 
483 
was placed in a i-inch glass tube, 10 inches long, stoppered at each end, 
a glass tube giving ingress and egress at bottom and top. The inlet tube 
at the bottom was curved downward on the inner end to prevent the 
tile grains from escaping downward through the tube. Peat taken from a 
depth of 5 feet in the same pit from which the bog water was taken was 
mixed with distilled water in a 2-gallon glazed earthen jar having an 
orifice near the bottom. A glass tube led through this orifice and con¬ 
nected on the inside with a long inverted “ U ” on the bottom of which 
was a glass funnel covered with muslin as a filter. The tube through 
the orifice connected on the outside with a filter made of a i-inch stop¬ 
pered glass tube in which was asbestos pulp packed above glass wool. 
The object of the filter was to prevent the escape of any trace of solid 
matter into the powdered tile. At the upper end, the tube containing 
the powdered tile connected with a glass tube which led downward into 
another weighed filter made of a porcelain “gooch” in which ^-inch 
of shredded asbestos had been packed. A pump was connected on 
below the “gooch’' to draw the water through the system from the mix¬ 
ture of peat and water in the earthen jar. The last filter was carefully 
weighed after drying it in an electric oven at a temperature of 110° C. 
In action the pump sucked the water from the jar through the first 
filter, through the powdered tile, and through the second filter, which 
caught all fine sediments carried upward by the descending current. It 
was the intention to weigh the filter and the contents of the tube to ascer¬ 
tain the percentage of loss in weight, if any. 
SETTING OF POWDERED TIEE 
The experiment as outlined was a failure, but several most interesting 
facts were discovered. At the end of the fost day the apparatus began 
to work badly and more force had to be put on the pump to draw the 
water through. At the end of two days, the apparatus refused to work 
at all. It was taken apart and in the “goochwas found a considerable 
thickness of brown semigelatinous rubbery mass completely clogging it. 
Where the water from the peat had passed upward through the powdered 
tile, that also had been stained brown. The “gooch'' was disconnected 
and the water from the tile was led downward through a long tube acting 
as a siphon into a large glass container. At the end of another 24 hours 
the flow had entirely stopped and the powdered tile had ‘‘set'' firmly. 
A sample of powdered tile was moistened with water and allowed to 
stand overnight, and found to be set firmly in the morning. The same 
was done with the old tile, powdered, with like result, though the set 
was not so strong. This was repeated with both tile, using a large excess 
of carbonated water, the powdered tile being shaken up in the water. 
Both, on settling, set much more strongly than before. 
lO-DAY PEAT CUETURES 
To overcome this difficulty of the powdered tile “setting" another 
scheme was devised. Peat from the top of the University Marsh, which 
gave a slightly acid reaction, peat from the pit, which was alkaline, and 
peat from north central Wisconsin, which was strongly acid, were placed 
in glazed earthem jars and distilled water added. The jars were then 
allowed to stand 10 days in a warm room and the water tested for acidity. 
All were acid, and in the following proportions when titrated with ^ 
normal hydroxid solution, using phenolphthalein as an indicator. 
