the experimental results of some uniaxial compression tests preformed on samples of one kind of sandstone are deseribed .The sandstone tested is discontinuous and anisotropic .It contains a large amount of tensile fission which occur along a preexisted shear fracturing zone of geological structure in the rock mass .it is suggested in this paper that the deformation and failure of this kind of rock could be divided into five stages
and the experimental results obtained could further be used to interpret the deformation and failure of rock masses .