PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 227 



In imitation of the Paris Chiffonniers, the Committee of 

 the London Ragged Schools a few years ago set on foot a 

 rag collecting brigade, with a few trucks to collect waste 

 materials. In nine months with four trucks the boys had 

 collected 82 tons of rags and refuse, besides 50,000 

 bottles. A most heterogeneous collection it was, cocked 

 hats, hearse trappings, old aquariums, in one truck a 

 million postage stamps, in another a Bank of England 

 Cheque Book, in another a dozen pair of silk stockings, 

 and so on. 



It has only been possible for me to touch upon some 

 of the more important examples of the use of refuse. 

 There are many I have omitted to mention which might 

 have been included with advantage, but I think I have 

 given enough to show that civilization is every day adding 

 enormously to the useful products of the world, both by 

 economizing her resources and by calling new ones forth 

 by the aid of chemistry. There is one matter which 

 concerns us, as a manufacturing nation most nearly. Shall 

 we ever discover and be able to utilize new combinations 

 of the forces of Nature ? 



The world knows something of the triumphs already 

 obtained in conquering electricity, that most subtle and 

 mysterious force, but no one can foretell the future yet 

 before the electrical engineer. Again, shall we ever be 

 able to employ the more directly excited forces of Nature, 

 among which may be named the rise and fall of the tides, 

 and the tremendous manufactories and warehouses of 

 heat that are situated in volcanic mountains. There are 

 here boundless capacities of power, now dormant, but 

 possibly some day to be controlled and utilized by man. 



My subject is very far from being exhausted, though I 

 fear I have sorely tried your patience and endurance ; and 

 I am satisfied you will already have thought that I have 

 wished to give you a practical illustration of what rubbish 

 really is. You may, perhaps, have never thought it 



