Leon Malo

“ The last combination produces the mineral commonly called asphalt. When the bitumen contained in any of these substances is chemically isolated, it appears always a nearly identical substance, in composition, consistency, and appearance, except that the empyreumatic odor that characterizes it may become alliaceous in volcanic countries. Asphalt is doubtless one of the most considerable and valuable of the forms in which bitumen appears. It is a soft limestone, naturally and closely impregnated with that substance. ”

“ BITUMEN appears in nature as an accidental mineralogical product, under the most diverse and often most inexplicable conditions. It is found sometimes in the native state, sometimes mixed with clays, sometimes as the cement of conglomerates, sometimes impregnating limestones. ”

“ They are not deposited in the Jurassic formation, as are those in France, Switzerland, and Germany, but in a dolomitic limestone of the lower Carboniferous series. The mineral is rich in bitumen, of less fusible quality than the bitumens of France and Switzerland, and has not been produced in the compressed form. It is extensively made into mastic, the fabrication of which already amounts to ten thousand tons a year, and is rapidly increasing.—La Nature. ”