The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-06-26
ONLY LOST ART" REDIs-
COVERED rs CEMENT
MAKING

OF all the much discussed lost
arts" of antiquity, cement making is
the only one which has been redis-
covered in modern times.
For centuries scientists-real and
pseudo-have puzzled over malleable
glass, which was a form OF glass
said to have existed in the days OF
Rome's grandeur and which could be
bent or worked like metal without
breaking.
Early historians had quite little
to say about this substance, alleging
that it was introduced to the court
of Nero by Roman who had been
held prisoner in Africa. According
to the account, the ex-prisoner
brought back a glass goblet which
could be tossed about freely, and
could be Strengthened easily when
ever denied or crushed. Modern
glass makers are skeptical OF the
existence OF such glass at any time,
and all efforts to rediscover the art
of making it, if there ever was such
an art, have failed completely.
That copper was tempered to the
hardness of steel centuries ago is
now pretty well established. Cop
per chisels have been found in Peru
of hardness far greater than any
which it is possible to impart in this
day, although modern metallurgists
have tried diligently to find a
method, and in one or two instances
it has been possible to harden the
metal slightly. Every once in
while someone announces the redis-
covered Of the lost art, but the fact
that such claims are not followed by
the appearance of manufactured
tempered copper ON the market is
the best disproof OF the assertions.
could copper be tempered to the hard
ness of steel there is no doubt that
manufacturers would utilize it for
some purposes in which iron and
steel labor under disadvantages.
The dyemasters Of ancient Tyre
are asserted by historians to have
evolved a shade of purple so beauti-
full that it was eagerly sought all
over Europe and northern Africa by
nations which had themselves pro-
crossed well in the art of dyeing.
Except that the extraordinary shade
was obtained from clans or other
mussels, nothing is known OF its
manufacture, and all efforts to re-
produce it failed. With the fall OF
Tyre the secret was lost and has
never been brought to light.
Cement was discovered by the
Romans, who used it extensively for
the foundations of their triumphal
arches and temples. Excavations in
the Forum clearly show on the con-
crete, marks of the ancient wooden
forms, much as present day concrete
shows the same patterns. AS with
Tyrian purple, the art of cement
making was lost when Rome fell
before the Vandals, and during all
the ark Ages and the Renaissance
the secret remained buried.
But enough information remained
SO that some time prior to the Amer
lean Revolution investigators in
various parts of Europe began to
make cement of varying qualities in
a small way. The first notable use
of cement in modern times was in
the Eddystone Lighthouse OFF the
English coast. This was in 1856.
It was also employed in the Erie
Canal about 1920.
These cements were much like the
Roman variety, which has stood for
nearly 1900 years. They were
made of materials which nature had
already mixed in the proper pro-
portions. But in 1924 an English
man, Joseph Aspdin, succeeded in
making a stronger cement from
materials which nature had not al
ready prepared for him. This he
called portland cement, because it
resembled durable building stone
from the Isle of Portland, used in
building Westminster Abbey.
A highly developed form OF this
early portland cement is the cement
of modern commerce, so that the
secret of the ancient Romans in this
instance has not only been redis-
covered but also has been improved