- Mixtures of animal, vegetable and mineral substances are employed in great variety in the arts for making joints, mending broken china and other objects, &c. A strong cement for alabaster and marble, which sets in a day, may be prepared by mixing 12 parts of Portland cement, 8 of fine sand and 1 of infusorial earth, and making them into a thick paste with silicate of soda; the object to be cemented need not be heated.