Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 81.djvu/181

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emulsified water and mineral matter. It is a much purer bitumen, a fact of no importance as far as its technical application in street paving is concerned, since the fine mineral matter or filler must be added to any asphalt cement in its use in such construction, but which is of advantage where the material is to be used in the construction of bituminous broken stone highways by the penetration process, owing to the greater ease with which the purer and more liquid material will enter into the voids of the broken stone.

The ultimate composition of the pure bitumen of Bermudez asphalt is much the same as that of the bitumen in Trinidad asphalt, as can be seen from the following comparison:

Bermudez asphalt contains, like the Trinidad, a high percentage of sulphur, varying, however, according to the degree to which the material has become hardened at different points in the deposit. The softest material contains the largest percentage.