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 194: PAYIA about 20 per cent, of asphalt mixture with 80 per cent, of calcareous sand, which should con- tain at least 20 per cent, of carbonate of lime. The asphalt mixture is composed of varying proportions, depending on location and climate, of Trinidad asphalt and grahamite, a firm con- choidal fracturing carbonaceous mineral found in large quantities in West Virginia, and first accurately described and named by Prof. Henry "Wurtz. From samples that have been laid in some of the streets of New York it may be ex- pected that this will make a good road pave- ment when laid upon a good concrete founda- tion. It should be a well recognized rule that no asphalt road shall ever be attempted or al- lowed to be laid without the road bed being first covered with a layer of hydraulic concrete sufiiciently thick to withstand the pressure of the heaviest carts and drays. PAYIA. I. A N. province of Italy, in Lom- bardy, comprising the districts of Pavia, Bob- bio, Lomellina, and Voghera ; area, 1,292 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 448,435. It is watered by the Po, the Ticino, and the Olona, and the canals of Bereguardo and Pavia and the JSTa- viglio Grande pass through it. The country is generally level, and the soil fertile. Much attention is paid to the raising of silk and the breeding of cattle, and mucn of the cheese called Parmesan is made here. There are no manufactures of importance. The climate is not very healthy. II. A city (anc. Ticinum), capital of the province, on an eminence on the left bank of the Ticino, near its confluence with the Po, 19 m. S. by W. of Milan; pop. in 1872, 29,618. It is about one mile in extent Pavia. each way, and is surrounded by an old wall. A communication with the suburb on the other side of the river is made by a covered bridge of eight arches built in 1351. From this bridge the principal thoroughfare extends through the city. Pavia was at one time remarkable for the magnificence of its buildings, and for its numerous lofty square towers, designed for ornament, or used as prisons or strongholds, whence it was called " the city of a hundred towers." Of those still standing, Belcredi and Maino are each about 190 ft. high. One of the most noteworthy of the edifices now remain- ing is the cathedral, begun near the close of the 15th century and still unfinished, in a side chapel of which is the magnificent tomb of St. Augustine. The church of San Michele, a Lombard building, was finished during the 7th century. Santa Maria del Carmine, an immense Italian Gothic church built in the 14th century, is a remarkable specimen of the finest brick- work ; and the church of San Francesco is of the same style and material. The celebrated church of San Pietro in Oielo d'Oro, which con- tained the tomb of Boethius, is now mostly in ruins, and a part of it is used as a storehouse. About 4 m. N. of the city is the magnificent monastery of Oertosa, founded in 1396 by Gio- vanni Galeazzo Visconti, the first duke of Milan, with a church having a fa9ade which is con- sidered the most beautiful architectural work of that age. The university of Pavia, one of the most ancient in Italy, is said to have been founded by Charlemagne in 774; but it re- ceived its greatest impulse from Galeazzo Vis- conti. It has a library of about 50,000 vol- umes, a collection of coins, a museum of an- atomical preparations and of specimens of nat- ural history, a botanic garden, and a school of the fine arts. Of the two colleges now belonging to the university, the collegio Bor- romeo educates about 40 students, and the collegio Ghislieri about 60 ; and in both the students are instructed, lodged, and fed gratu- itously. The total num- ber of students in the university is about 1,600. Although at the end of the Eoman re- public Ticinum was a place of considerable importance, it is men- tioned first by the geog- raphers and historians of the empire. In A. D. 452 it was taken by Attila; but Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, rebuilt and fortified it, and erected a palace. During the Gothic wars it was the principal stronghold of that peo- ple in northern Italy, and there the royal treasury and valuables were kept. During the Lombard invasion it resisted for three years a siege by Alboin. Taken by him in 572, the Lombard monarchs chose it for their residence, and it remained the capital of their kingdom till 774, when