The electron microscope has been used to study changes in particle size, shape, and arrangement that occur during the hydration of clay in soil—cement. Samples of kaolinite, of a mixture of silica flour and montmorillonite, and of a natural silty clay were mixed with sufficient portland cement to produce soft—cement. Specimens were cured at constant moisture content for periods up to 32 weeks after compaction at optimum moisture content for the mixture. At the end of the curing period surfaces of fresh fractures were replicated, and the replicas were studied using the electron microscope.

All three mixtures showed similar behavior. Initially the fabric is one of separate portland cement grains distributed throughout the clay soil. As hydration of the cement proceeds, cement hydrate gel forms along the edges of groups of clay particles. Reaction between the soil and the cement is observed early in the hydration period. As hydration continues the soil grains are more and more broken down and the cement gel diffuses more extensively throughout the mass. Eventually, the breakdown of the soil minerals and the formation of hydration products reaches a point whore the soil and cement can no longer be distinguished as separate phases.

Industrial societies are seeking a civilization for which they have not as yet found a firm framework of moral and social values, nor definite forms of social life. That is why traditional peasant values and ways of life, and social institutions in rural communities, still appeal so strongly to emotion and remain so strikingly evocative in our urbanized, industrialized world. Village society is still seen as an ideal—and often idealized—social model; industrial societies would like to have something comparable in their vast cities.

The reaction products obtained when montmorillonites react with potassium halide at elevated temperatures, which were described in a previous publication, are further characterized. On the basis of their X-ray powder diffraction patterns, i.r. spectra, CEC and chemical composition they could be regarded as montmorillonite-illite interstratifications. Changes in morphology of various montmorillonites heated with and without K halide are related to the size, charge and position of interlayer cations. Scanning electron-micrographs of samples heated with KBr resemble those of well-crystallized illite. It is speculated that reactions of clay minerals with halides or other proton acceptors may account for some diagenetic processes in nature, e.g. the conversion of montmorillonite to illite on deep burial.

Tetracalcium aluminate hydrates are the first example of layer-structured crystals containing neutral sheets, which are highly capable of interlamellar adsorption of water and neutral organic compounds. In this respect tetracalcium aluminate hydrates present new aspects of the phenomenon of swelling, and bring about the challenge of comparison with the frequently examined clay-organic compounds.

This report is concerned with the probable monolayer structure of tetracalcium aluminate hydrate which forms five hydration stages. A summary concerning configuration and properties of adsorption complexes with approximately 500 selected organic substances follows. As far as these substances are homologues of certain functional groups, the change of basal distances depends upon the number of C-atoms.

Aside from pure organic compounds, one can also form interlamellar complexes with a mixture of such compounds. Here again a rule of proportion between the number of C-atoms and the basal distance becomes evident. Another variant is the mixed interlamellar complexing of water with organic compounds and the re- and de-hydration reactions of these products.

The report discusses the bonding conditions of various functional organic groups to the inorganic lattice. Furthermore, a series of homopolar organic derivatives of the tetracalcium aluminate hydrates can be produced. As is known, the existence of such compounds of clay minerals is a subject of dispute.

A history of the comic has not yet been written. According to historians, the comic had very different, and sometimes even opposite causes, in relation to different ages and cultures. What provoked laughter in one civilization could be taken quite seriously in another. The comic has always had a particular function and its nature, its internal composition, has not been immutable. It could be kept within the limits of a single sphere that was assigned to it in particular (the comic, as opposed to the tragic), but it could also be elevated to a conceptual vision of the world, and in this case, it embraced much more universal domains of human history. Nevertheless, nothing has been written on the history of the comic throughout all ages and encompassing all peoples. Serious studies concerning the place it occupies in the history of civilizations are, however, of great interest.

In non-aqueous systems, kaolinite can show, in addition to the physical interactions, considerable chemical activity. This study considers the chemical reactions that can occur at the kaolinite surface and explains these reactions in terms of acid-base interactions. In certain applications the chemical activity must be controlled if satisfactory products are to be obtained; for example, when kaolinite is used as a filler in rubber or as a diluent for insecticide powders. The concept of acid-base interactions is used to explain rheological and film properties in kaolinite-organic systems. The strength of the surface acid sites of kaolinite varies with the moisture content. At 1% moisture the surface is equivalent to 48% sulphuric acid whereas at 0% it is equivalent to 90% sulphuric acid. Therefore, the moisture level is extremely important and dry kaolinite will promote or catalyze many chemical reactions and where acid-base interactions are involved the presence of even small amounts of water usually retards or inhibits the reaction. Several examples explaining these interactions are given in the paper.

Stability determinations were made by solubility methods on two trioctahedral mica-derived vermiculites. The phlogopite-derived vermiculite was found to be unstable under acid solution conditions, where stabilities of montmorillonite, kaolinite and gibbsite had previously been determined. An attempt was next made to locate a possible montmorillonite-vermiculite-amorphous silica triple point. This triple point involved conditions of alkaline pH, high pH4SiO4 and high Mg2+. These are conditions where phlogopite and biotite-derived vermiculites are most likely to control equilibria if they are stable minerals. The montmorillonite-vermiculite-amorphous silica samples went to the montmorillonite-magnesite-amorphous silica triple point, leaving no stability area whatsoever for the vermiculites. These large particle-size, trioctahedral, mica-derived vermiculites appear to be unstable under all conditions of room T and P.

Arguments are presented indicating that micas are unstable in almost all weathering environments. A hypothesis is proposed that mica-derived vermiculites result from the unique way in which unstable micas degrade in these environments. It is proposed that vermiculite derives from a series of reactions whose relative rates often result in an abundance of vermiculite. These relative reaction rates are slow for mica dissolution, rapid for K removal and other reactions pursuant to vermiculite formation, and slow for vermiculite dissolution. In chemical terms, mica-derived vermiculites may be considered fast-forming unstable intermediates.

The rate of dissolution of phlogopite in an open system was measured at low temperature and pressure and at pH 3–5. The maximum dissolution rate was achieved by maintaining extremely low ionic concentrations in the solution using a cation-exchange resin (hydrogen form) as a trap for released cations. The resin also served as a source of hydrogen ions and acted as a buffer. The concentrations of ions adsorbed on the resin and remaining in solution were measured, along with surface area and cation-exchange capacity. The amount of phlogopite dissolved after 1010 hr was 67 times that dissolved using a CO2-buffered, closed-system method. During the first hour of the experiment, dissolution was incongruent, but later became congruent from 1 to 1010 hr. From 1 to 200 hr the reaction had linear kinetics. The dissolution rate for the first 200 hr of the reaction was 2.0 × 10−14 mole KMg3AlSi3O10(OH)2/cm2/sec. Since no evidence of parabolic kinetics was found, there is no reason to postulate the formation of a “protective layer.”

Polytypism in trioctahedral 1 : 1 phyllosilicates results from two variable features in the structure. (1) The octabedral cations may occupy the same set of three positions throughout or may alternate regularly between two different sets of positions in successive layers. (2) Hydrogen bonding between adjacent oxygen and hydroxyl surfaces of successive layers can be obtained by three different relative positions of layers: (a) direct superposition of layers, (b) shift of the second layer by a/3 along any of the three hexagonal X-axes of the initial layer, with a positive or negative sense of shift determined uniquely by the octahedral cation set occupied in the lower layer, and (c) shift of the second layer by ± b/3 along Y1 (normal to X1) of the initial layer regardless of octahedral cation sets occupied. Assuming ideal hexagonal geometry, no cation ordering, and no intermixing in the same crystal of the three possible types of layer superpositions, then twelve standard polytypes (plus four enantiomorphs) with periodicities between one and six layers may be derived. Relative shifts along the three X-axes lead to the same layer sequences derived for the micas, namely 1M, 2M1, 3T, 2M2, 2Or, and 6H. Polytypes 1T and 2H1 result from direct superposition of layers. Layer shifts of b/3 lead to polytypes designated 2T, 3R, 2H2, and 6R. The twelve standard 1 : 1 structures can be divided into four groups (A = 1M, 2M1, 3T; B = 2M2, 2Or, 6H; C = 1T, 2T, 3R; D = 2H1, 2H2, 6R) for identification purposes. The strong X-ray reflections serve to identify each group and the weaker reflections differentiate the three structures within each group. Examples of all four groups and of 9 of the 12 individual structures have been identified in natural specimens. Consideration of the relative amounts of attraction and repulsion between the ions in the structures leads to the predicted stability sequence group C > group D > group A > group B, in moderately good agreement with observed abundances of these structural groups.

The frequencies of structural OH stretching vibrations in swelling trioctahedral minerals such as hectorite or K-depleted phlogopite depend on the ionic form and hydration of the sample. The trioctahedral structure is evidently a suitable case for the observation of spectral changes, since hydroxyl groups are in conditions of high reactivity with the surrounding medium. These changes are attributed to the field which originates either from the cations or the residual water molecules, and the joint analysis of spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction data permits an interpretation that frequencies quoted for unaltered mica are only perturbed frequencies.

It is not as easy as one thinks to define the new dimension created by science in the life of modern societies; a considerable number of prejudices, resulting from conceptions which are often directly inspired by science itself, produce an unsuspected degree of resistance in this respect. Our only means of overcoming them seems to lie in isolating the real implications of the current scientific revolution, in breaking with the clichés which ensnare us, in becoming aware that research plays a very different part from the one that the preceding generation saw fit to attribute to it, so much so that one of the great barriers erected between art and science dissolves. Thus the hope placed by Gyorgy Kepes in “a new awareness of the interdependence of knowledge and feeling,” in “the links between the intrinsic characteristics of natural and artistic forms” would be justified, together with the efforts of such men as Buckminster Fuller to erect “a bridge between our conception of the constitutive principles of nature and the application of this knowledge to the creation of man-made forms,” and with the will to “renew the ancient marriage of art and science.”

Diquat2+ (1, 1’-ethylene-2, 2’-dipyridinium ion) and paraquat2+ (1, 1’-dimethyl-4, 4’-di-pyridinium ion) were competitively adsorbed by Na-saturated kaolinites, smectites and expanded and collapsed vermiculites. The relative preference for one or the other cation varied with the surface charge densities of the adsorbents and the location of the adsorption site, i.e. internal or external. Minerals with high surface charge exhibited preference for diquat whereas minerals with low surface charge preferred paraquat. Expanded vermiculites preferentially adsorbed diquat on internal surfaces. Collapsed vermiculites generally showed a preference for paraquat. Smectites and kaolinites preferentially adsorbed paraquat.

Surface charge densities of the layer silicates vs. the relative preference for diquat revealed two linear relationships, one for internal adsorption and one for external adsorption. Internal adsorption was characterized by a strong preference for paraquat on low-charged smectites, a relative decreasing preference for paraquat with higher-charged smectites, and a strong preference for diquat on high-charged expanded vermiculites.

Preferential adsorption for paraquat by kaolinite was quite similar to adsorption of paraquat on the external sites of vermiculites. There was no apparent relationship between competitive adsorption and surface charge density of kaolinite.

Samples of nacrite, dickite, kaolinite, and halloysite were investigated using X-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Fe3+ gave rise to EPR signals at g ≃ 4 which differed with the individual polytype. Only nacrite had no resonance in this region of the spectrum, but it had one at g ≃ 2. Dickite had a quadruple line, kaolinite a triple line, and halloysite a single line in this region. The EPR spectra of these minerals are apparently dependent also on the orientation of adjacent layers in the structures. Other resonances were attributed to (1) clusters of ferric ions giving rise to broad resonance near g ≃ 2, (2) trapped holes, and (3) free radicals linked with organic matter. The Mössbauer spectroscopic results suggest that iron occurs in the ferric state (except in nacrite where Fe2+ is present also) as an ionic substitution (IS) in octahedral layers. This suggestion follows from the difference is the IS values between octahedral and tetrahedral symmetry sites occupied by Fe3+ equal to ∼0.4 mm/sec. Linewidths depend mainly on the way the layers stack; for monoclinic modifications represented by nacrite and dickite, the linewidths are narrow (Γ = 0.45 mm/sec and 0.56 mm/sec, respectively); pseudomonoclinic halloysites also gave narrow linewidths (Γ = 0.39 mm/sec and 0.48 mm/sec). The widest line was observed for triclinic kaolinite (Γ = 0.62 mm/sec and 0.71 mm/sec).

Exorbitant attention has been paid to the nature of gods, whose character it is to be inacessible to examination, but relatively less attention has been paid to the impresarios of gods, viz. prophets and shamans and priests—the de facto sources of all our religious information—who are available for study. It is our contention that the nature of deities is to be sought in the psychic disposition of their exponents and, more than this, that the ancestor of the god is the shaman himself. The vatic personality is often known to be psychologically abnormal, or perhaps only temporarily in such a state as the dream or the vision, and doubtless often in response to the pressure of some current crisis, personal or social or both. But the conditions for hallucinatory contact with spirits and gods may easily be gained by psychically quite ungifted persons, through the use of psychotropic drugs. It is this second situation we would wish to examine in the present study.

To determine the reason why the adsorption of ethylene glycol on organo-smectites does not result in an expansion along the c-axis of the clays, smectites containing relatively small organo-ammonium ions (lauryl-, benzyl-, dibenzyl-, and dicyclohexylammonium), larger organic cations (dimethylbenzyloctadeyl- and methylbenzyldioctadecylammonium), and the heterocyclic organo-ammonium ion 1,4a-dimethyl-7-isopropyl-1,2,3,4,4a,9,10,10a-octahydro-1-phenanthrenemethylammonium and the corresponding ethoxylated compound were exposed to ethylene glycol vapor for up to several months and examined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), surface area, and thermogravimetric methods. Weight loss data showed that all samples adsorbed ethylene glycol. XRD data for oriented samples indicated that lauryl-, benzyl-, dicyclohexyl-, and ethoxylated heterocyclic ammonium clays expanded by one layer of ethylene glycol and that methylbenzyldioctadecylammonium smectite expanded by two layers. Dibenzyl-, dimethylbenzyloctadecyl-, and heterocyclic smectites did not expand because the clay oriented in such a manner as to leave free clay surface between the organo-ammonium cations.