The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-05-05
agricultural department.
CONDUCTED BY ALBERT CHAPMAN.


There are certain standards OF COMPARE
sou by which we may with considerable
degree Of accuracy determine the relative
degree Of progress and civilization to
which different nations have attained.
For example, the following material stan
dards will suffice: The amount of iron,
the amount of sulphuiic acid, the amount
of steam. power, the amount Of paper used,
Of soap used by people will enable us
to determine very closely their intellectu-
al and social standing in the family OF
nations. There is still another to which
| would call your attention. Among the
hundreds of thousands Of objects Of inter-
est which surrounded the visitor at the
recent Exposition, at Vienna, where, to
an extent hitherto unprecedented, the
products of Christeudom and hcatheudom
were gathered in friendly competition,
there were here and there groups which
characterized especially the more advanc-
ed nations of the earth aud were catalogu.
ed under the head of "Naste Materials
and Their Products" No department
Of the exhibition more torcibly presented
the intimate relation Of Science to the
Arts than did this no department more
clearly showed the relative advance which
different nations had made towards civil.
zation,
That we may have an idea Of how great
has been this advance in certain nations,
that we may judge how accurately this
Utilization of Waste Substances fixed the
high water mark Of Civilization, let us
briefly run our eye over the record of
the past few years, for it may be that we
may fud therein lesson worthy our own
consideration it may be we may find a
hint, discover a path, which, followed a
little way, will lead some of us to com.
petence for ourselves, and enable us also
to prove a blessing to our fellows.
Among the greatest blessings which
Science has given to the race, has been
the utilization of those refuse products
which have hitherto not only numbered
manufacturers, but often, in their offensive
accumulation, been productive Of disease
and death, Not only has Science taken
numbering and often foul product, and
converted them by her magic touch into
useful commodities, but not inirequently
has real demand arisen for these same
refuse substances, enhancing greatly the
profits Of the original manufacturer and
lowering the cost of his former produc-
tions.
1t was not many years ago that a
chemist discovered among the tarry p,o-
ducts of the gas works a new compound,
TO which the name Benzole was given.
Like a thousand other compounds, similar
though not identical with it, little atten.
tion did this important discovery awaken.
But to-day only the rainbow in the heaven
and the flowers in the field can rival the
gorgeousness of color, and only the latter
the delicacy Of perfume which chemical
science has evoked from this waste pro.
duct from the gas retorts. More recently
still other chemists have sought out Of
this same foul, tarry mass, compound
which n their laboratories is fabricated
into the coloring principle Of madden, the
annual consumption of which in the arts
amounts to the enormous sum Of So.
100000, and which has in its production
appropriated thousands of acres of the
best farming lands of Europe, happily
now in prospect Of being given up e
other agricultural products through
wonderful discovery But the half ha,
hardly been said Of what science has done
with this once repulsve waste, From
hence we obtain most Of our ammonia, q
substance invaluable in the arts, and in.
dispensible to the farmer, owing to its
being compound rich in nitrogen
Not only this but entering as it does into
the composition Of alum, so abundantly
used in dyeing, Of which at least 10000
tons are used annually in England alone
it has liberated from that compound
potash, which has thus been left for other
uses, not the least important OF which j.
its value to the farmer as fertilizer.
But this one subject is by no means
exhausted, for when we include parafiine
carbolic acid, both produced in immense
quantities aud in general use when We
think of its use for roofing, for pavements
&C., &c, we may come to appreciate tC
what an extent we are indebted in oul
aesthetic and material happiness to The
labors Of science in utilizing this offensive
and abundant waste. have for purpose
of illustration selected but one waste pro
duct, although, as We have seen, ont
most fertile in valuable results, but {
thousand others might have been chosen
equally valuable for the purpose. Indeed
an idea of the immense importance o.
this may be seen in the fact that in New
England alone there is annually collect,
and converted to other uses more thar
s15,000,000 worth of waste material
which but few years since was woIst
than useless TO great extent thi
peculiar industry attained in our owl
country its greatest development dnriD.
the exigcncies arising in the war Of tn
rebellion, illustrating forcibly the trutl
that necessity is the mother of invention
As might be expected, England Franc
and Germany stand pre.eminent anon
the nations, and there is hardly anythin
so repulsive, hardly anything by genera
assent so worthless, but has not bee
turned into some new channel of useful
ness. In London alone there are mol
than 2, 100 wholesale dealers in such vast
materials, of such social and fnancia
standing as to appear in the Post-ofiic
Directory, while in Paris accurate censu
statistics show a population Of 2,50'
known as chiffoniers, or scrap .gathereis
whose annual receipts average more thai
100000 70 such system has i
been reduced in this latter city, thi
business of rag.pickiog, that this numer
GUS fraternity have divided themselyo
into castles and cliques, as aristocrat
and plebian as those which socially diyid
their betters, and they have their Hous
of Peers. their Chamber of Deputies, an,
grade lower still the drawing room o
the proletaireS, where the innobile rulgu