The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-07-03
WHAT BECOMES OF THE wAsTEe


ing is ever destroyed, for though we
may change the form of matter, and
make it for the time unfit for its
primary use, we can never annihilate
anything, for nature will use the ele-
ments apparently destroyed for some
of her most subtle and valuable pro-
cesses. In the last number of the Lon
don Quarterly, we find graphic ac-
count of some of the ways in which
art is learning to initiate nature in this
respect, and is putting to various inn
portant uses the refuse matter that is
daily cast away as worthless. The
dust heaps of London, which contain
all the waste of its 100000 houses, were
formerly deposited on open ground,
forming vast hills, where swine were
brought to fatten, but of late this
nuisance has been abolished, and now
the contents of the dust carts are sep
arated and analyzed as soon as they
arrive. The waste coal is divided,
and the larger pieces resold, while
the refuse coal-dust bakes the bricks
that rebuild the city. The bones go
to the boiling houses to make gelatine,
the larger ones being converted into
the numerous articles now manufac-
tured of bone, the smaller being ground
down for manure, and the fat around
them carefully preserved for SOAP
The paper, sorted according to color,
is re-made into paper, the worst por-
tions being used for wrapper and pa
pier -mache ornaments. The cotton
and linen rags are of course converted
into paper; the woolen ones being
changed into brilliant and silky cloths
of various textures. This is the orig
inal shoddy, the figurative meaning of
which is 50 familiar to us all. The old
metal is stripped off its solder (the most
valuable part and remelted, scraps of
iron being frequently used to secure
the copper that is found in some
streams, and which will incrust the
iron, and in time dissolve it, so that it
is replaced by mass of copper which
would otherwise escape into the sea.
Broken glass is melted and worked up
anew, and glass vials are resold to the
druggists. Old boots and shoes are, if
possible, patched up and sold to those
who are willing to buy them, or if too
far gone, the leather is cut up into
pieces for the cObbler. India-rubber
shoes and other articles are melted,
mixed with new gum, and reformed
into their original shapes. The vege-
table decay feeds the pigs, and the
broken crockery is powdered to make
new roads.
In France, the dead body of every
horse is utilized, the hair going to the
upholsterer, the hide to the tanner,
the intestines to make strings for
lathes, the fat is sold for u cents a
pound, the hoofS and bones are sent to
the turner. Even the rats of Paris are
secured for their furs, and their skins
which are used for gloves. The French
sheep are also now made to contribute
in a novel manner to the use of man.
They draw from the land, in grazing,
a large amount Of potash, much Of
which is expelled from the skin in the
form of sweat, constituting about 15
per cent. Of the weight Of the fresh
fleece. The potash is extracted by i'm
mersing the raw wool in water, evap-
Grating the solution, and distilling the
residue, from which is obtained some
gas used in lighting the factory, some
ammonia, and final residue corbo-
nate, sulphate, and chloride of po-
tassium, which are separated and sold.
1t has been computed that eighty-four
sheep would in this way produce pot
ash to the value Of about five dollars
each year.
The drainage that has just been COM
pleted in London, not only secures
health to its inhabitants, but is esti-
mated to be worth two millions of
pound sterling, in the manner it yields.
For many years the English went to
great expense to procure guano from
the Pacific Islands, which formed a
less useful manure than that which
was already poisoning the air of their
own shores. Various useful products
are now obtained from the offensive
refuse of gas works, which was former
ly emptied into the sea. Benzine,
naphtha, lampblack, paraffin oil, and
ammonia, are some of these. The de-
licate perfumery, so highly priced by
the most fastidious, is often obtained
from refuse and repulsive materials.
Fusil oil, a peculiarly fetid liquid,
forms the basis of the oil of pears, oil
of apples, and oil of grapes. The oil
ofalmonds, so much in demand as
perfume and flavor, is procured by the
action of nitric acid on the offensive
oils of gas tar, and the coil demille
feur," is chiefly derived from the
drainage of the COW house.-Pu6tic
Ledger.
The custom of allowing the bride