Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 81.djvu/33

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TRINIDAD AND BERMUDEZ ASPHALTS
27

Analysis of Asphalt Water

Specific gravity 1,017 . 15° C./15° 0. Reaction strongly acid
In 1 kilogram

Cl 6.7757 NH4 .4071
SO3 5.5409 K .3391
SO2 .0467 Li .0271
S2O7 Traces Ca .5280
H2S Traces Mg .2666
S Traces Fe .0720
SiO2 .06588 Al Trace
B2O3 .0117 Mn None
I .0008 C's and Rb None
Br Trace Organic .4901
P2O5 None Oxygen ———
Na 6.5149 21 .0896

The percentage of soluble mineral matter or salts as compared to that of the bitumen is extremely small and unimportant, and plays no part in the behavior of the material industrially, since the addition of the same salts to other asphalts has been found to produce no perceptible effect upon them.

For many years Trinidad asphalt was supposed to contain a considerable amount of organic matter not of a bituminous nature, but an investigation conducted by me in 1908 showed that this really consists

Photo, W. H. Rau, Philadelphia

Road from Lake to Pier, Pier in Distance.