Iron County register., 1880-01-29
Valuable Rubbish.

of man, we find that he is doing his
best, however clumsily, to follow the
thrifty example that she sets him. For
many and many year no doubt the
pine tree shed its pointed, needle-like
leaves in the Silesian forests. and there
they were left to decay and turn into
mold at their leisuT, until M. Panne-
witt started a mandatory for convert
ting them into forest-wool, which, be-
sides being efficacious in cases of rheu-
matism when applied in its woody state,
can also be curled, felted or woven.
Mixed with cotton, it has even been used
for blankets and wearing apparel. The
history of gas-making best shows the
value of rubbish" To begin with:
The coal which yields most gas is what
is termed "cannel " coal, and is now
worth from % to so shillings ton or
more; where fifty years ago, before the
introduction of gas, it was looked upon
as almost worthless. In distilling coal
for gas, liquor is produced, which for
a long time was so great an inconveni-
ence to the gas companies that they ac-
tually paid for permission to drain it
into the common sewers as the simplest
way of getting rid of it. This gas
liquor contains salts of ammonia, to-
gether with naphtha and tar, and the
tar is now made by repeated distillation
to yield pitch, benzole, creosote, car
bolic acid, the substance known as par
affine and aniline. 1t seems strange
now that these valuable products should
ever have been thrown away as useless;
still stranger is it to learn that we de-
rive from one of these waste substances
the whole series of beautiful colors
called aniline dyes. Naphthaline is an
other residuary product, by a novel ap-
plication of which it is said that the
light-giving properties of gas may be
enhanced fourfold, at a very trihing
cost. But the uses to which the waste
liquor of the gas-works may be
put are not yet exhausted; for
not only is it turned to account itself, but
combined with the slaty shales found
among the coal, which were also at one
time source of perpetual annoyance,
it yields alum-used in the manufacture
of paper and preparation of leather;
copperas or green vitriOl (sulphate of
iron), used in dyeing, tanning and the
manufacture of ink and Prussian blue,
and sulphuric acid.
Rags are now recognized as such a
valuable commodity that in some coun-
tries their export is forbidden by Gov
ernment; nevertheless, from one source
or another the paper-makers of England
alone import annually some $4,000 or
10000 tons of linen or cotton rags, and
collect large quantities at home. These
rags are of very varying degrees of
cleanliness, as may be imagined; some
of the English ones require no bleaching
at all, while those of Italy bear away
the palm for dirt. Old sails are made
into the paper used for bank-notes, so it
is said, and old ropes reappear as brown
paper; but many other things besides
flax, hemp and cotton are now used in
the manufacture, and paper is made
and remade over and over again. Not
scrap of paper need be wasted, for
there are plenty of persons ready to buy
it, and if not good enough for remanu-
facture as paper, it can always be con-
verted in papier-mache, no matter what
its color or quality. Cuttings of paper
severed by bookbinders, pasteboard
makers, envelope cutters, pocketbook
makers and paper-hangers are readily
bought up; and so, too, are tons weight
of old ledgers and account books by the
papier-mache manufacturer, together |
with old letters and any other paper
rubbish, giving pledge that all shall
be promptly consigned to destruction in
his large vat; and out of this hetero-
genous assemblage he produces a SUBJ
stance so hard and firm and durable
that it has been suggested as suitable
for making soldiers huts and even ships.
ChGnbers's Journal.
1orv~y nDADv xrha hoc