The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-01-09

PROGRESS IN BrFeeBUcTs MANU-
FAcIURE IN REceNr YEhas

Tor IndustrinI substances Ways IN I
which Refuse Ia Made Productive.
The following extracts are taken |
from a report by Henry T. Kittredgs
Of Boston to the director OF the cen
sus upon the utilization Of wastes and
by-products In manufactures. Mr.. Kit
tredge is a wellknown expert In man
ufacturing processes:
Nothing In the arts Of manuiac-
ture Is more indicative Of economic
etiiciencies than the utilization Of pro
ducts that have been rejected as waste
or residues in the industrial processes.
The acme Of industrial economy is the
profitable employment OF every atom
Of materially in whatever form 1t may
be presented OF however obtained.
Every particle Of an organic or inor-
ganic substance has useful part TO
play in contributing to human neeessi-
ties or pleasures, and when 1t per
forms no function toward some useful
end, or remains dormant, it shows that
the ingenuity and enterprise of man
have not reached their fullest deYel-
opment. or that the arts Of the labora-
tory have not revealed all the secrets
OF nature.
For nearly a century the worlds
main supply of soap depended on soda,
which was obtained as a product OF
| the sulphuric-acid industry. Notwith-
standing soap was known to the an
| clients, it was regarded even in the
middle ages as a luxury, and when it
was not readily Obtained the lack OF
cleanliness was concealed by fine
clothes and by perfumes. The soda
industry being brought to a standstill
in France during the French reyolu-
ton, the national convention Of that
country appealed to the chemists to
discover some method for making soda
from common salt, which had been
shown by Du Hamel, in 1886, to con-
tain the same base as soda. About
40 years thereafter, Scheele found that
caustic soda could be obtained from
salt by the action of lead oxide; but
the production of soda by chemical
processes was unimportant from an
industrial standpoint until lie Blanc
secured results that gave to the world
one of it's principal industries. His
discovery was based upon the treat
ment of chloride of sodium with sui
phuric acid, forming hydrochloric
acid and sulphate of soda. The hydro
chloric acid was regarded as a by
product of so little value that 1t was
allowed to pass off into the air, to the
great detriment Of vegetation in the
neighborhood. To remedy this evil
the English government took action
against the soda works to compel
them to condense the acid and keel
it out of the way, and this led in
directly to the discovery that hydro
chloric acid could be used as a valua
BILE agent in the bleaching industry
which, however, was at that time fal
from having attained its present heigh
of development
THE choicest perfumes that arr
placed upon the market are no doub
obtained from oils and others extract
ed from flowers; but there are man,
others which are artifcially made
many out Of bed-smelling elements
The fusel oil obtained in the distilla
! ton of spirits has an odor that i
peculiarly disagreeable, yet it is used
after treatment with proper acids an
oxidizing agents, in making the o.
q of apples and the. oil of pears; an
Z the oil Of grapes ND the oil of cogna
q are little more than fusel oil dilute,
Oil Of pineapple is best made by tn
! action of putrid cheese on sugar, Q
n by distiling rancid butter with alcohC
: and sulphuric acid. One of the mos
p popular perfumes may be obtaine
from one of the products of gas ia
out of which is also obtained the 0
n Of bitter almonds, so largely consume
+, in the manufacture of perfumed soa
v and confectionery.
! The refuse of cities throughout Ii
a civilized world is now generally CO
= lecte1 and disposed of for sanitaI
: reasons, though in many instance
"a it is utilized to good advantage fl
: industrial purposes. The collectiC
of this refuse has been made on
within comparatively few years, b.
is now carried on Systematically, beir
more or less self-supporting and a
vantageous from an industrial poi
i of view Formerly this refuse wl
d simply accumulated and disposed
{ by burning, or casting into streams
= onto waste land Now, bones as
- rags, iron, paper, and other 81
" are separately collected and