178 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



We have now seen two of the great forma of 

 the waste of combined nitrogen : wasted, as far 

 as the excreta of man and animals are concerned, 

 partly by conveyance into rivers and seas, partly 

 by destructive fermentation, and in case of the 

 explosives by a reduction differing from destruc- 

 tive fermentation merely in its more rapid char- 

 acter. But for both these kinds of waste there 

 is, at any rate, the apology to be advanced that 

 the nitrogen brought into play was essential. In 

 other words, combined nitrogen is absolutely in- 

 dispensable in the food of man and animals, and 

 if their excreta are subsequently misapplied, and 

 not returned to the soil, that does not condemn 

 the original use of the nitrogenous matter. In 

 the explosives, again, the nitrogen is not an inert 

 constituent, but, in the cases we have taken, is 

 essential. We cannot make either gunpowder, 

 gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine, or picric acid, without 

 oxidized nitrogen, though we may and should 

 most earnestly seek to produce explosives avail- 

 able for practical use which shall not require this 

 expenditure of one of the main elements of life. 



But there is another form of the waste of 

 nitrogen more unjustifiable still. In pointing out 

 some instauces of this kind of loss, we must pro- 

 test against the possible imputation of seeking to 

 play into the hands of any sect of world-betterers 

 and social reformers. We are merely judging 

 certain practices which mankind adopted in days 

 of greater ignorance than the present, according 

 to the light of modern chemical science, and pro- 

 nouncing our verdict without fear or favor, and 

 utterly indifferent to the possible tendencies or 

 applications of such decision. 



It is a threadbare story to tell our readers 

 that Nature does not present us with her treasures 

 in a state ready for our immediate use. Some- 

 times they are mixed or combined with things 

 useless, or even pernicious, as pyrites with arsenic, 

 or coal with sulphur. More frequently the ad- 

 mixture may consist of an ingredient inferior in- 

 deed in value, but still capable of use. But if we, 

 in endeavoring to turn to account some such 

 plentiful and inferior article, waste a far more 

 valuable product with which it is blended, we may 

 confess ourselves guilty of egregious folly. Let 

 us suppose an ore containing gold and copper in 

 the relative proportions of a shilling's worth of 

 the former to a pennyworth of the latter. Sup- 

 pose, then, some metallurgist using this ore for 

 the extraction of copper, and operating in such a 

 manner as to render the gold utterly incapable 

 of separation. He would be regarded as foolish 

 and his process as wasteful, whether it was in 



itself remunerative or not. To waste a shilling's 

 worth of gold for the sake of extracting a penny- 

 worth of copper would be considered as a cul- 

 pable abuse of natural resources. Now, in the 

 cereals we find a mixture of substances somewhat 

 analogous to the case which we have, for illustra- 

 tion's sake, assumed. There is in them a very 

 precious substance — combined nitrogen in the 

 form of gluten — relatively small in quantity, but 

 predominating in value; and there is a substance 

 of a very much lower value — a compound of car- 

 bon, hydrogen, and oxygen, in the form of starch. 

 We are by no means denying that starch has its 

 important uses, but it is a substance which Nature 

 produces in almost indefinite amount, and its 

 constituents are far more plentiful in the earth 

 than is combined nitrogen. Hence we contend 

 that if mankind, when in quest of starch or of 

 some product of starch, take a substance con- 

 taining starch in admixture with gluten, and waste 

 the latter and more valuable product, they are 

 acting just like the metallurgist whom we have 

 been supposing, and are either ignorantly or 

 knowingly squandering the resources of the 

 world. 



As the first instance cf this economic sin we 

 may mention the use of wheat-flour for purposes 

 other than food. A very serious quantity is con- 

 sumed, without having undergone any previous 

 chemical conversion, in the textile manufactures. 

 It serves the sizer for communicating an artificial 

 body to flimsy cotton goods, and is employed by 

 the calico-printer in thickening his colors to the 

 desired consistence. To give some idea of the 

 extent of this waste we quote the following recipe 

 from a recent work : l 



For medium sizing, take — 



Flour, 3* sacks 980 lbs. 



Tallow 180 " 



Brown paraffin wax 5 " 



White soap 105 " 



Soft soap 15 " 



China clay 448 " 



We have heard of six and a half sacks of 

 flour mentioned as the daily consumption in a 

 single manufacturing establishment. 



From this we turn to the manufacture of 

 starch. The demand for this substance in its 

 ordinary commercial state is both varied and 

 wide-spread. Its domestic use in stiffening linen, 

 though most generally known, is probably not 

 the most extensive application which it under- 

 goes. Like flour, it serves for stiffening calico 

 and for thickening colors, and is the raw material 

 1 Thomson's " Sizing of Cotton Goods." 



