Morning journal and courier., 1883-10-01

large profit on the operation.
 Within the last quarter of a century, that formerly neglected mineral-pyrites- been turned to useful purposes, to supply our manufacturers with the important mate rial, sulphur.
 In wire-making factories the dilute sul- phuric acid formerly used to clean the wire was allowed to run into the sewer, when it had become so charged with the iron scale as to cease to ''bite," and large quantities of re- fuse wire were employed only to fill up hol- lows in grading, or thrown into heap. All this waste material is now, however, convert ed into articles of commercial value. The processes are simple and comparatively ine1- pensivs.
 Not only in the inferior metals Is waste now prevented, but increased attention IS given to the collection of gold formerly lost. Immense heaps of refuse, or "talilngs," as they are technically termed, accumulate where mining operations are carried on. The sludge which is emptied from the pudding mills in Australia contain a considerable quantity of fine gold. Much of this Is now recovered, and the yield of gold from it ex- right to wash the tAilings is often sold to the Chinese, who are always well satisfied with the result of their labors.
 The quantity of gold used in the arts, in interior and exterior decorations, in photo graphy, electro gliding, water-glid1ng, the ornamentstion of china, etc., is very large, and the greater part is practically lost Jew elers' sweepings from the floors of the work shops are carefully collected, and even the clothes of the workmen are generally saved and sent to the refner. After 8 large gold coinage at the Royal mint, there is always great deficiency in waste and sweep. The sweep IS composed of cinders or dust from the forge the sweepings of the workshops, broken erucihles, the dross which adheres to the ingots of metal after fusion, and of eve ry waste which can possibly contain minute particles of the metal. This is generally sold. The silver and gold from photograph CTS waste is also now carefully collected. and forms a considerable item of economy. A
 method of utilizing the waste of gold leaf, used in printing and the arts, is by convert ing it into what is called feece-gold- The composition Is used like the ordinary bronze except that rather more copal is mixed with it. It is used for all fancy papers for which gold leaf and bronze have hitherto been used.
 The waste of the glass -furnsces-such as pieces of broken glass, flaw glass. the hearth droppings, and the glass remaining adherent to the blowers pipe-is utilized again, ser wing a purpose in the manufacture of glass; similar to rags in paper making Agate glass is made by melting waste pieces Of colored glass. One to two thousand tons of culiet or broken glass, are collected in the n4etrop- ols alone, and sold to the few city glass works to be remelted Broken bottles are now collected and utilized. Thousands of tons of these are broken every year in Lon, don alone. Broken ''wines" and broken 'ssod IS" are converted to many useful pur- poses the latter especially. The broken bot ties are utilized for the manufacture of cheap jewelry, chimney ornaments and inferior household glass for the manufacturing dis tricts They are also used for the manufac- ture of emery powder, glass paper, etc. Some idea of tue number of ''sodas" broken s,, kI,o ,F al incy and distributing may be gathered from the circumstance that one great mineral water manufacturer in London sold last year one hundred tons The value of the "metal, as it is styled, is somewhere about ten shlllings per ton, but it varies according to the de- mand When the market for fancy goods" is active, broken bottles command a better
 price. revival of trade sets this particular
 industry in motion along with others, and
 broken bottles are enhanced in value. In
 fact, broken glass and broken pottery serve many purposes, though 1t Is only lately that
 economic science has learned how to turn
 them to account.
 The utilization of blast furnace slag is not
 new, but has made great progress. Scattered
 throughout the iron making districts of
 Great Britain are many million tons ot soor1a or refuse from the blast furnaces, which is technically known as ''s!ag." This slsg goes
 on accommodating at the rate of nearly eight
 
 three times that of the iron from which 1t
 has been separated. It forms 8 heavy in cumbrance to iron-masters, demanding the
 purchase of large tracts of land whereupon to deposit it, while the investment is, of
 course, wholly unremunerative. There are one or two exceptions to this rule, where the
 slag is tipped into the sea, and serves to form land for the works, and where some of
 the iron works supply slag for the construs-
 tion of breakwater and training walls. Tho
 quantity thus utilized, however, on the Tees
 is but about 600, 900 tons per annum, form ing only small proportion Of the whole
 yield of the district
 In early times siag was broken up by hand
 and used for road making, and it eontin- ues to be used, where it can be had without heavy cost for transport but there IS only
 limited demand for this purpose. On the
 Continent, where stone is scarce, slag plays prominent part in road-making, and in Sils- sia and other similarly situated districts.
 Another direction in which many attempts
 have been made to utilize slag, both at home
 and abroad, is to adapt 1t for constructive purposes, and various schemes have been de-
 vised for transforming the highly refractory
 slag into bricks, sand and other materials for
 building.
 It is also applied to the manufacture of ar-
 tificiaI stone and moulded into chimney
 pieces, window heads, balustrading and out
 side ornamental builders work generally.
 The stone is composed of two and half
 parts of finely pulverized slag, and two and
 half parts of ground brick to one part of
 Portland cement. The mixture Is run into
 nolds and sets quickly, the articles beipg ready for the market in four or five days.
 Besides bricks and stone articles, the slag Is
 used for making mortars cement and con crete. The mortar is a mixture of slag and common lime, the cement being composed of the same materials, with the addition of iron
 oxides.
 Another useful purpose for which it has
 been successfully utilized is that of glass
 manufacture. The vitreous character of -slag indicates a resemblance to glass in it's
 composition. It does, in fact, contain the
 principal eomponents of glass, but not in
 proper proportions, and those in which it
 is deficient have, therefore, to be added, with
 others which are not present Bottles made
 of this slag by the Britten Patent Glass com
 pany were shown at the Paris Exhibition in
 1878, and received honorable mention.
 Another application is to the manufacture of slag-wooi By the action of strong jets of steam, the slag is transformed into a fibrous, whitish silicate cotton, which, being
 metallic, is incombustible, like asbestos. In the construction of new houses with Mansard roofs, the space between the interior lath, or paneling, and the exterior covering of zinc, slate or tin, is filled with this slag wool,
 which protects from the rigor of frost in winter and the intense heat in summer. If in winter the taps and spouts and water pipes are covered with this slag wool, it pre- vents the freezing of the water and the burst ing of the pipes and joints. This slag wool is also used now by gardeners to cover plants and protect them from the effects of sudden changes of temperature.
 In view of the general usefulness of slag, when converted into the various articles de- soribed, it is to be hoped, in the interests of commerce and progress, that the practice of it's utilization may become more and more extended Doubtless human progress will show that what is now the veriest waste will, in the course of time, assume condition of value Thus will art be made to approxi- mate to nature, in that it will know no waste.
 There are one or two other mineral sub stances, formerly neglected which have of late years been applied to very extensive and important uses. One of these is asbestos. This was long considered mere curiosity for making small fire proof articles. It is the only flexible ibrous mineral substance that is perfectly indestractible by fire or acids, not withstanding it consists of flores fine as the finest linen Now 1t is scarcely possible