Smyrna times., 1883-04-11
The Egyptian 0belisk in Central
Park, N. Y.

In recent number of the Scientific
american appears q communication in
which the writer who appears to be
man Of skill and science, assists his dis
belief in the Obelisk being taken from
granite quarry and cut from cold
stone. The writer w. Cummings
asserts that it is composed of concrete
and in support of his theory says:
g have spent lifetime in the man
Hfacture of lines and cements, and in |
the study of mortars, concretes, etc., |
and after thirty years spent in this |
line it seems as though ought to know
concrete when see it.
I" / went around on the back side of
the obelisk, climbed over the wire
fence, mounted the masonry work,
took out strong magnifying glass and
q sharp pointed steel, and went at it.
q could see what looked at dis
tance to be gray, reddish, uniform
tint, was, on close inspection, granite
broken into pieces from the size of
walnut down to corn or wheat size,
and these broken stones were intimate
| ly mixed with some bituminOus mat
ter, black and seamy, something of the
nature of asphaltum. The black SUBJ
stance and broken stone were thor
oughly mixed with hydraulic lime by
the latter | do not mean hydraulic
cement, but lime which contained suf-
ficient clay to render it hydraulic, but
not enough to prevent it from slaking
if kept under water eight or ten days.
The hydraulic lime is light in color,
with slight yellowish tinge peculiar
to all true hydraulic lines such lines
withstand the action of the weather
much better than the best Portland
cements. With my steel point could
plow out this hydraulic lime, and with
my knife | cut and shaved the black
substance, which lay in all conceivable
ways, the grain in some bits presenting
their fiat sides, sometimes their ends,
sometimes vertical, sometimes hori-
ZOntal, showing it to have been mixed
up with lime and broken stone hap
hazard. The lime showed in such thin
! streaks that it is evident that the men
. who made the obelisk knew how to
make concrete. | think, if l had had
time enough and no policemen to nose
around and bother, me, l could have
= taken out bit of granite with my
= steel.
The hieroglyphics show, as plain as
anything can show, that they were
formed by fastening the proper forms
on the inside of the box into which the
: concrete was rammed, and when the
concrete was hardened sufficiently, the
p, boxes were taken away, and the pat
terms of the hieroglyphics were with
drawn, leaving their impression on the
G face Ofthe concrete, exactly as is don,
: every day by manufacturers of artificia
stone. Such work cannot be mistaken
for work done by the chisel by any on,
familiar with that class of work
e Every letter is made to "draw," and il
V no place could | find spot among al
!, the hieroglyphics where a patterl
would not draw" Such q structure
y made in concrete as l have described
could be safely carried up at the rat
n of from II to Is inches per day, and S
:, positive am that it is concrete, that
> would not hesitate to enter into q cor
g tract to erect exact duplicates of it i
re any city for $4,000 each. / think
can find granite in Connecticut of tn
. same color, the bituminous matter i
" New York, and the hydraulic lime
L Buffalo, and with these make Just 6
1T good obelisks as were ever turned OF
k in Egypt. AS to the durability of til
70 obelisk in Central Park, of which muc
" has been written lately, think it wi
+ stand for ages where it is. Some po
tions may get loose that were n,
We perfectly cemented, but as a whole tt
material is ofthat class that will outla
, anything else we have. If it we
lu Portland cement or Roman cement
ng the place Of the hydraulic lime, shou
be say it would disiHtegrate in few year
al out not so with the true hydraul
lime, of which that in the obelisk seen
NJ TO be an excellent type.