adopted, and that it comes up to the general requirements of the specifications.

Second. Look out for irregularities in the quality of the cement, so as to avoid using any that is either too old or too fresh, or which has been injured by dampness.

Third. Test first for fineness, second for soundness, third for activity, and fourth for rise in temperature, rejecting all cement which is unfit for use because of non-compliance with the specifications in these particulars.

Fourth. It will seldom, if ever, be necessary to resort to the boiling test, which is essentially a laboratory test; although it may prove useful in an emergency to determine conclusively whether certain cement is fit for use or not.

Fifth. Test all cements for the tensile strength of neat briquettes, making one-day and seven-day tests. Never pass cement on shorter time-tests than seven days, as the one-day test is by no means conclusive.

Sixth. Make, more for your own satisfaction than for any other reason, a few sand-briquette tests for seven and twenty-eight days, so as to know the value of the mortar which you are using. It would not do to rely on sand-briquette tests for the acceptance or rejection of cement, as this would delay the work too much.

Seventh. You will often have to use your judgment about passing or rejecting cement that is needed for immediate use and which fails in some comparatively unimportant point to quite fill the requirements of the specifications. Rather than delay the Contractor materially, pass such cement, provided that in your opinion its use will in no way injure the quality of the work; but, on the other hand, if the rejection of the said cement will not delay the Contractor seriously, insist on its complying with the specifications in every particular. Be careful not to let the Contractor run in any poor cement or force it upon you because of any assumed or real necessity for haste in completing the construction.

In respect to inspection of stone for masonry, the author offers, as his idea of what stone-inspection should be, the following instructions  to  stone-inspectors, it being understood