Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1915 — Probable First Use of Mortar. [ARTICLE]

Probable First Use of Mortar.

. Th& use of lime as binding material for ihbrtar originated in the remote past It is probable that some savages when using limestone rocfs to confine their fire noticed th%t the stones were changed by the action of, the heat. A passing shower may have slaked the lime to a paste, and they discovered that the paste was smooth and sticky, and- was a better materi* than clay to fill the crevices In Iheii rude dwellings. From this discovery it was but a step to add sand to the paste in order to produce a mortal; ■