CnAi-. II. STONE.

479
cannot take place freely, the respective layers coataining the water will be violently de-
tached from one another. This is a more important consideration in the case of the bedding
of stones, and it is unfortiinaie that the system of competition throws so great a temptation
in the way of the practical builder as to render it a mere matter of cluuice whether this
constriictive law he observed or not, unless a costly sysiem of supervision be organised, anj
thus the precautions often taken by the stone merchant to indicate the upper bed of the
material he delivers, are defeated.
1667/'. The chemical reactions which take pLice in building stones are mainly those
arising from the oxygenation, or the hydration of the various ingredients of wiiich those
stones are composed. Tiiese reactions are independent of those resulting, in the interior of
the country, from tiie agents directly presented hy atmospheric moisture in the form of
Ciirbonic acid gas, sulphur, and ammonia ;
or ujjon the sea-shore, in the form of hydro-
eliloric acid, or of common salt itself, in minute particles. Tims, if the oxide of iron be
present in any notable proiiortions, it is likely to undergo changes of a nature to disturh
the stability of the compound, and even the crystalline sulphates of lime are exposed to
chemical decomposition, in consequence of the liheration of the sulphuric acid gas they
tontain. The otlier mineral salts, such as the siliiates and the sulphates of iion, so often
met with in building stones, are at times susceptible of very injurious decomposition
;
and
the soda, potassa, or the organic matters the stones may contam, frecjuently give rise to
the formation of new salts ;
mainly under the action of atmosplieric moisture, it is true,
hut also under the influence of the jiartial decompositions which take place around them.
It is to be observed, however, that the danger to building stones from this ])eculiar class of
influences, is very small and very slow in its action, compared with the dangers arising
from the mechanical disintegration produced hy atmospheric causes: and that, with the
exceptions of the actions of free carbonic acid upon the felsjjar of gianites, the changes of
state produced in limestones by the same agent, and the modifications of the ahimdant
salts of iron in some peculiar stones, there is little practical necessity for dwelling upon
this interesting but obscure branch of apiilied chemistry.
1667c. The actions capable of affecting the stability of the composition of ordinary
buildinij stones, by reason of the new forms of matter they superinduce, may principally
t)e considered to be those resulting from the absorption of the gases of the atmosphere, and
especially the process known iiy the name of siiltpelrinp, or more correctly, of nitrification.
Tliis process displays itself in the formation of minute crystals, efflorescing from the
interior to the exterior of the stone, and it leads to the destruction of the exposed surfaces
af the latter, through the gradual removal of the miimte particles, in consequence of tlie
disintegration produced by the expansive action of the crystals in process of formation.
1667d. It is supposed that the organic matter diffused through nearly all stratified
deposits gives rise to the formation of certain nitrates, such as the nitrate of lime and
nitrate of soda, under the influences of damp, of air, and of light of certain descripiions
-for nitriHcatiiin certainly takes place most abundantly near damp ground, rising in a
nail pari passu with the range of the capillary attractions of its materials, and upon tlie
nwrtliern or shaded faces of the said walls. Not only does this nitrification throw off the
minute and less adherent particles of the building luaterials themselves, whether they be of
stone or brick, but it is also able to detach any protecting coat which may be put ui>on
them, if the adhesion of that coat to the subjacent material sliould not he of a very ener-
getic nature. Let the adhesion, however, he ever so energetic, if once the action of nitrili-
eation should have been established, it must run its course, and tlie amount of evil it is
capable of producing will simply depend upon the quantity of organic matter originally
Contained in tlie materials, or susceptible of being absorbed by them from the atmosphere.
]667e. The secondary limestones which have not been affected by plutonic action, tlie
loamy clays, some kinds of pit sand, sea sand, and some descriptions of natural cements,
are particularly exposed to the danger of nitrification in damp situations, rendering it in
vain to ex])ect to be able to preserve any rtiural paintings, or even any sculpture of a
delicate character.
l()67f.
Practically, then, the great agent of destruction of building stones, in any of its
modes of exhibition, is the damp, or the water supi)lied by the atmosphere, directly or
indirectlv ;
tlie efibrts of those who seek to prevent this destruction must he directed to
combating this primary source of evil. Fortunately the precautions to he observed for
this purjjose are very simple, and they only require a little common sense on tlie part of
the builders charged with their application, to the materials at least, which have been long
before the public. The first and foremost rule is never to employ a porous absorbent
stone in the ground, or in elevation; unless, in the former case, it be maintained constantly
wet ; or, in the second case, the absorption of moisture from the ground be prevented l)y
tlie inter|)osition of some impermeable material. Porous stones should not be used for
the copings, parapets, window-sills, weather-beds of cornices, plinths, strings or other
parts of a building where water may lodge. Care must also be taken to bed such stones
with mortars which are not exposed to develope in themselves, or are not likely to exeite