ABSTRACT
The Pleasures of Limestone of limestone may be beautiful; but is limestone a strong and lasting building stone? It is: at least many of the finer stones are most durable.1 Fine structure and porosity, like a fine body, can attain a beautiful adjustment, can withstand the worse ravages of the many diseases to which all limestones are heirs. Whereas this is not true of the calcareous element in some dolomites and sandstones, the compactness of granular structure, the paucity of the cement, in the purer limestones, make them exceedingly robust stones. Of great importance are their capillary powers to draw soluble salts and other damaging moistures on to the surface. Stones with large pores put the ingredients of their chemical crystallizations outward. The size of the pores rather than their number is the point; and it is probably the greater size of the pores of Whitbed Portland that makes it a better building stone for outdoor use than the Basebed Portland.
