Asphalt

(as-falt',) or ASPHALTUM. [Gr.asphaltos.] (Min.) A black and compact kind of bitumen, also called Mineral Pitch, very fusible and inflammable, burning with a smoky flame. It is found in great abundance on the surface and shores of the Dead Sea (which has been called in consequence the Asphaltic Lake); in a lake in Texas, and in various other localities. The ancients employed it in some of their cements, and it was also used by the Egyptians in the proce of embalming, either alone or in combination with other substances. At present its principal use is for pavements, and as a constituent of varnishes. [s. 53]