The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-04-12
Savings Of Science.

barrels annually. The local authorities OF
London sell the privilege of removing aust
and garbage from each district to con,
tractor, who carts it away to large yard
in the suburbs. There hill women, sieve
in hand, separate the mass, by rude
analysis, into component portions. The
most valuable of the latter are the waste
pieces of coal, and the "breeze" or coal
dust and half burnt ashes, The amount
of waste of the latter may be measured ny
to the poor, the refuse "breeze" Is sum
Gent to bake the bricks that are rebuild
| ing London. The material is used by the
contractors, who generally combine the
builders trade with their regular calm g,
| for the purpose of Embedding the newly
made bricks into compact squares. Tue
coal dust having been fired, the mass burns
with slow combustion for two or three
weeks, aided by the circulation of air
| which is kept up by the method OF STACK
| ing. The other constituents OF the dust
heap are separated by the sifters with the
utmost rapidity, bones, rags, paper old
iron, glass, and broken crockery, and even
mass, being piled in separate heaps.
The bones are put to score of differ
eut uses. OF the several tons of bones
that are picked out of the dust in the
course of a week, some go Immediately 10
the boiling house, where every portion OF
1aC ana pelaIlu6 IuSy Soh wv -
ed the former substance is bought by the
soap maker, the latter ia utilized to make
the patent preparations employed IN
cookery, photography, etc. The larger
bones are used by the turner's and are
converted into hundreds OF knick. knacks,
so that the bone you may have plckea at
dinner again enters your mouth, aIter
many changes. as q tooth pick or tooth
brush, while the smaller pieces, for aught
YOU know have been calcined, and form
the very charcoal tooth powder on your
toilet table. Fragments that cannot other
wise be employed are ground very hne,
and treated with sulphuric acid, constitu-
ting an excellent artificial fertilizer.
Bone dust is also sometimes used by
bakers for purposes of adulteration, so
that the poetical remark of the giant In
the fairy tale,
IN grind his bones to make my bread.
is fulfilled both fguratively and literally.
Another important product extracted from
bones is phosphorus, for which there are an
endless number of uses and finally, the
fat that is saved in the process of boiling,
is employed to make the commoner kinds
of soap.
Scraps of paper abound in the dust
heaps. These are all carefully sorted, the
white. from the colored and the printed.
The soiled pieces, which cannot be pront-
ably remanufactlred, are used to make
papisr machs ornaments, dolls heads, etc,
the clean paper is returned to the mill,
and even the printed paper has the ink
discharged from it, and goes again into
circulation. Old rags. of course, are
valuable to the paper maker, although the
discovery of other materials renders this
form of waste not quite 30 important as
formerly. Greasy dish cloths cannot go to
the mills again, SO they are sent to the
hop-grower to whom they are valuable as
fertilizers Wooden rags, if they happen
to be dyed scarlet, are treated ior
the recovery of their cochineal, which
ia nsed as dyeing material and other
valuable colored rags are ground up to
make flock paper. :,
The greatest market for all old wooden
fabrics in England is the town OF Bailey
and it's neighborhood, in Yorkshire, the
great shoddy metropolis. Regarding TINS
faiaments and greasy pulp, by mighty
toothed cylinders, the much vexed fabric
re enters life in the most brilliant forms,
from the solid pilot cloth to silky mohalrs
and glossiest tweeds."
Cotton and wooden rags are both valua-
BILE when separate, but of late years it has
been the custom to weave the cotton and
wooden together, the warp being made OF
the latter material and the welt of the for
mer thus mixed, however, the fabric can
not be converted into paper Or cloth. Many
endeavors have been made to effect
sSpdI dliOu, duu 1L PASoShS wy AtsSS 81
| placed in a closed receiver and subjected
to steam at very high temperature. The
result is that the cotton comes out pure and
fit for the paper maker; the wool is re-
duced to dark brown powder, known as
! the ulmate of ammonia, and is employe ed
to enrich manures which are poor in nitro
gen.
very important constituent of the duet
! heap is the old iron, battered sauce pans,
old pals, rusty hoops, horse shoes, and
nails from the road. All soldered articles
have the solder extracted from them, as it
is more valuable than the iron, and the
cheaper metal is then melted. The horse
shoe nails are not mixed with the common
cast iron, as they are much sought after by
gun makers for the purpose of making stub
twist barrels. Scraps Of iron, it is found,
may be made very useful in securing the
copper in the streams washing veins of
copper pyrites. Pieces of battered iron
collected; the copper quickly incrusts the
iron, aud in the process of time entirely
dissolves it, SO that mass of copper takes
the place of the iron. The residuum, in
the shape of a colored deposit, is at times