Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/302

* CONCRETE. 254 CONCUBINAGE. Crete is to place it in the structure in its plastic condition, and let it harden in place. When the M'ork is in the air the mixture is laid and rammed in layers, just as is done in making concrete blocks, bit when it is laid under water it has to be deposited in buckets, which oi)en when the bottom is reached and discharge their contents, or it is run through circular chutes, which reach from the surface to the bottom. Sometimes con- crete is placed under water by inclosing it in paper bags, which are slid down a chute; the bags become wet and the concrete bursts them open, thus allowing the succeeding bagfuls to unite into a solid mass. Sometimes, also, coarse open- cloth bags are used, the cement oozing through tiie meshes sufficiently to unite the whole into a single mass. The chief care to be exercised in placing concrete under water is to prevent the cement, sand, and aggregate from becoming sepa- rated. Concrete weighs when hard from 130 to 160 poimds per cubic foot, and costs, laid, from $2 to $10 per cubic yard. The uses of concrete are excellently summarized in A Treatise on Masonry Construction, by Prof. 1. 0. Bakei', as follows: "Concrete is admirably adapted to a variety of most important uses. For foundations in damp and yielding soils, and for .subteiTanean and submarine masonry, under almost every combination of circumstances likely to be met with in practice, it is superior to brick masonry in strength, hard- ness, and durability: it is more economical: and in some cases is a safe substitute for the best natural stone, while it is almost always preferable to the jioorer varieties. For submarine masonry, concrete possesses the advan- tage that it can be laid, under certain precautions, without exhausting the water, and without the use of a diving-bell or submarine armor. On account of its continuity and impenneability to water, it is an excellent material to form a substratum in soils infested with springs; for sewers and conduits ; for basement and sustain- ing walls ; for columns, piers, and abutments ; for the ])ointing and backing of walls faced with brick, rvibble, or ashlar work; for pavements in areas, basements, sidewalks, and cellars; for the walls and tloors of cisterns, vaults, etc. Groined d vaulted arches, and even entire bridges (see Bridges), dwelling-houses, and factories in single monolithic masses, with suitable ornamentation, have been constructed of this material alone." Consult Baker. Treatise on Masonry Construction (New York. I'.IOO). See Mortab. CONCRETE TERM. In logic, any name, whether substantive or adjectival, which denotes a thing and connotes a quality. See Connota- Tior»: Denotation. CONCRETION (Lat. concretio, coalescence, from cnncrescere, to grow together). A term used in medicine to denote a formation of solid, unorganized masses within the body, either by chemical precipitation from the secretions, or by the accidental aggi-egation of solids introduced into the system from without. If composed of precipitates in the urinary bladder, gall-bladder, ■or salivary ducts, concretions are called calculi. (See Calculus.) They may also be found in former cavities in the lungs, as well as in tuber- cular joints, in which cases they are composed of lime salts. They may be found in the fingers and toes of gouty patients, appeariog in nodules projecting from the sides of the joints, and termed "crabs' eyes.' These nodules are frequently com- I'osed of urate of sodium. Concretions composed of fecal matter are frequently found in the ver- lorm appendix, in cases of appendicitis; very rarely a fruit-seed is the basis and centre of such a concretion. Concretions have lieen formed upon pieces of catheter in the urinary bladder, and upon beans in the nostrils. Concretions formed of balls of hair, concretions of Epsom salts swal- lowed undissolved, and concretions of cholesterin (q.v.) have been found in the intestines. See I5EZ0AR. CONCRETIONARY STRUCTURE. A con- dition i)roduccd in rocks by molecular aggrega- tion aliout some nucleus, whereby the rock masses assume regularity of outline. This structure is exhibited in both igneous and sedimentary rocks, and may be due to processes acting at the time of their formation (primary concretions), or sub- sequent to their formation ( secondary concre- tions). It is especially frequent in limestones, clays, and iron ores. (Dolite is a limestone com- posed of rounded grains which resembles fish-roe in appearance and not infrequently attains great thickness. The flints of the English chalk forma- tion are an example of siliceous concretions. Clay-ironstone, hematite, limonite, pyrite, and marcasite often assume nodular or oolitic form, and are widely distributed in geological forma- tions. The structure of these primary concre- tions is due to the tendency Avliich atoms and molecules possess, when in a state of solution or suspension, of attaching them.selves to some foreign body. Particles of silica, such as sand and frustules of diatoms, commonly serve as cen- tral'points of attachment. Secondary concretions are developed by weathering in sandstones, shales, and limestones; the decomposition and disintegra- tion take efl'ect first on the surface of the rock masses, progi-essing thence toward the interior. Concretionary structure is rarely developed in igneous rocks, the best example being the beauti- ful diorite (Napoleonite) of Corsica, in which the feldspar, quartz, and hornljlende constituents have grouped themselves into globular aggrega- tions. CONCUBINAGE (from OF., Fr. concuUne, from Lat. concuhina, concubine, from concnmbere, to lie with, from com-, together-]- cuiare, to lie). In general, the cohabitation as husband and wife of a man and woman who are not lawfully mar- ried to each other. Specifically, a form of poly- gamy in which the primary matrimonial relation is supplemented by one or more secondary and inferior relations of the same kind. It was used, technically, in the former sense, in the common- law action for dower, in the allegation that the woman claiming dower was not a wife lawfully married to the party in whose land she seeks to be endowed, but his concubine. In the United States, the term has been applied, under the Ed- munds acts of 1S82 and 1887, to the polygamous relations of the Mormons, at which the acts were aimed. In its general sense, as denoting merely unlawful cohabitation, concubinage, however abhorrent to the moral sense of the community, is not in most jurisdictions obnoxious to the crim- inal law. (See Crim. Con.) In its special sense, however, as signifying a plurality of wives, it comes under the penalties of bigamy and poly- gamy (qq.v. ). The earliest Roman laws were distinguished for the strictness with which they treated marriage.