18 
THE ROMANCE OF DIRT. 
By ERNEST J. SUTCLIFFE, Bradford. Jan. 23, 1906. 
In the course of a most interesting and instructive paper, 
Mr. Sutcliffe revealed to his audience a veritable fairy tale of 
modern chemical research and discovery. His subject was the 
utilisation of matter usually called “waste.” He declared 
that the chemist had rendered the word “ waste’’ almost 
obsolete, and his lecture fully justified the apparent paradox 
of its title. The lecturer dealt first with the ‘“ waste”’ 
products of various trades—alkali, hydrochloric acid, tar, 
ammoniacal liquor, etc. He showed how the alkali waste in 
the Widnes and St. Helens districts, which used to cover 
immense tracts of country with useless and offensive material, 
is now turned to good account by the chemist. Thousands of 
tons of sulphur are produced annually from this once dangerous 
and disagreeable material. The residue consists of the per- 
fectly harmless substance of chalk, which is used again in the 
production of carbonate of soda and the manufacture of 
cement. Hydrochloric acid, another product of the alkali 
industry, was years ago allowed to escape into the canals, to 
the great detriment of the barges used thereon. Now, all the 
bleaching powder used in trade is manufactured from it, and 
from being a nuisance it has become an article much valued 
in the production of chlorine, ammonium chloride, glue, 
phosphorus, the refining of beet-root sugar, and in bleaching 
works. The by-products of gas-making were dealt with. The tar 
and ammoniacal liquor which were formerly the despair of the 
gas engineer, are now sources of revenue. Coal tar is one of 
the most prolific of substances,—yielding creosote, naphtha, | 
aniline dyes of nearly every conceivable hue, quite a number of 
delicious perfumes used in scenting soaps, etc., essences and 
flavourings, valuable to confectioners; drugs and medicines 
rivalling quinine in their efficacy; antiseptics, so useful in 
surgery ; explosives, such as picric acid, melinite, and 
lyddite ; and a sweetening principle like saccharine, compared 
with which sugar is feeble; photographic developers like 
hydroquinone and eikonogen; disinfectants; pitch, naph- 
thalene, lighting oils, and lubricants. This is not by any means 
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