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12 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. lection of freestones for building purposes. Those of Ohio and New Brunswick were remarkable for the dimensions of the blocks which can be obtained from the quarries, also for their excellent quality and even color. The facility for supplying stone from these quarries is so great that they are frequently used as more available than local freestone. The granite quarries of the United States are only partially, but otherwise exceedingly well, represented by the Bodwell Granite Company, Rockland, Maine, the Maine Red Granite Company, Red Beach, Maine, St. Johnsbury Granite Company, Vermont, St. Cloud Granite Quarrying Company, St. Paul, Minnesota,—the pro ducts of which are equal in workmanship and material to those of the famous Aberdeen and Dabbeattie quarries of Scotland. There are also some interesting samples from Maryland and from the Bay of Fundy, of excellent color and texture. Among the best decorative marbles in merchantable dimension, the Dougherty marble, of Tennessee, and the Mexican onyx are the most remarkable,—the first for its texture and the large size of the blocks, the second for its great beauty, resembling the onyx marble of Algeria. The exhibits of Maryland, Vermont, and Canada comprise marbles of almost every color. The demand in this country for improved building-materials has been constantly increasing of late years, and has been supplied exten sively by the European markets with cements, terra-cotta, and earthen ware, also with granites, marbles, metal-work, etc., for decorative and monumental purposes, the quarries of this country supplying the great bulk of the stone, and our mills furnishing the iron and wood and the mass of material used in construction. One of the most noteworthy improvements connected with modern construction is the extensive use made of beton and concrete (a conglomeration of sand, pebbles, broken stones, and lime mixed with water). This method of construction was very generally employed by the ancient Romans, vestiges of whose monuments scattered throughout the Old World still remain to attest the superior quality of such work. Its just claims for strength and durability, obtained at a moderate cost, have been fully demonstrated in the various engineering works of the day, such as bridges, aqueducts, embankment and retaining-walls, sewers, cisterns, reservoirs, etc. In civil structures, particularly where economy was an important element, this system has also been used. Churches, dwellings, store-houses, and buildings of every class have been constructed entirely of this material, with the most satis-