New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-01-06
THE WORLDS DUST.
What It Is, How It Is Made, and the
Manufacturers That Make It.

Manufacturers That Make It.
I Where the dust comes from is often
a wonder to housekeepers, who find
that, no matter how carefully the house
be kept, the dust will accumulate as
mysteriously as fluff in a vest pocket. A
visible way of accounting for the dust
| on the furniture is to trace it to the last
carpet sweeping, but this is only one Of
the sources Of house dust. It comes
from theceilings, from the impercepti-
bly, show disintegration of the
walls, from the decay of the furniture,
from clothing, from human bodies,
from the plants and trees outside, and
even from beyond the orbit of the earth
SO that a portion of dust upon lady's
piano may have just arrived on the earth
from distance of untold millions Of
miles. Various estimates have been.
made of the amount of mesoric dust,
daily deposited on the earth by the
motors, which are necessarily arriving,
and the total, while relatively small, is
absolutely large.
FroGsdust to dustmakers the trans
ition is easy and natural Dust is
merely matter of any nd-mineral,
animal, oryegetable in small particles
and dried, SO that it may be readily
transported by the wind from one point
to another. The two great dustmakers
are air and water. The action of the
former is exceedingly slow, SO that ages
are required for the convention of
stone into dust, but if time enough be
allowed the thing will be done, little by
little the particles of the stone separat-
ing one from another, until finally the
disintregation by the action of the air
alone is complete and the bit of flint or
granite is converted into little heap of
dust. But far more rapid is the disin-
tregation when the air is aided by water.
Water is chemically a great solvent,
taking up a portion of each substance
| placed in it, or over which it passes.
This solid matter it seldom retains as a
permanent solution, but generally, by
evaporation, deposits elsewhere in a
fine powder, which needs only a little
sun and wind to convert it into dust.
Something more than three-ffths of
the rain which falls over England and
Wales sinks into the ground and goes
to feed the springs from which, in dry
weather, except in the neighborhood of
snow-clad mountains, all brooks,
streams and rivers derive their whole
supply of water, and as these increase
in volume the farther they flow It is
evident that they must receive their
supplies not only at their source but at
various points along their course. The
river Thurn, for instance, starts with a
flow Of II cubic feet of water per min
ute; but quarter Of a mile from the
spring head, though it has not been
joined by any visible tributary streams,
the flow has increased to 81 cubic feet,
at a distance of five miles and a half it
has increased again to 800 cubic feet, so
that other,t and perhaps many, small
[ springs must have been discharged into
it. Now, all running water, whether it
flows above or below ground, has some
power of wearing away its channel.
Flowing at the rate of about three in
4 ches a second, it will remove fine clay;
at double this speed it will remove fine
sand; at ~ inches it will sweep away
fine gravel, and 3 feet it will roll along
stones as big as an egg; while noun
tain torrents which have dwindled to
mere threads, swell in few hours to
such a size that they will carry before
them sand and rocks and trees, will
sweep away bridges, and bury meadows
ten or fifteen feet deep in rubbish. Then,
again, mere dribble of water flowing
perpetually over limestone rocks will, in
time, produce results such as seem quite
out of proportin to its size; and we may
in fact safely affirm that even the most
sluggish stream wears it's bed more OF
less, in one way or another, ,either
chemically or mechanically. It is by
gravel and sand, though they look so
much less important than the powders,
that the chief work is done; but much
depends upon the inclination and con-
sequent rapidity of the current, as well
as upon the nature Of the rocks with
!, sshich it has to deal. Even a rivulet
when flooded will transport from 1000
to 5000 tons Of gravel in aday, during
the rainy season in India, when every
river and !, mountain torrent are
swollen, when for days and nights
together nothing is heard but the
crash of trees and powders and great
masses of earth and rock, 5000 to q,
i 600 feet in length, fall from the noun
tain side and are ground to sand and
1 mud in the boiling waters, the channel
of every stream, great and small, is en-
larged; and enormous quantities Of min
eral matter are carried down to the