CHAPTER IX. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF DUST I A SOURCE OF BEAUTY AND 

 ESSENTIAL TO LIFE. 



When the lamp is shattered, 



The light in the dust lies dead ; 

 When the cloud is scattered, 

 The rainbow's glory is shed. 



Shelley. 



How beautiful is the rain ! 

 After the dust and heat, 

 In the broad and fiery street, 

 In the narrow lane, 

 How beautiful is the rain ! 



Longfellow. 



THE majority of persons, if asked what were the uses 

 of dust, would reply that they did not know it had any, 

 but they were sure it was a great nuisance. It is true 

 that dust, in our towns and in our houses is often not 

 only a nuisance but a serious source of disease; while in 

 many countries it produces ophthalmia, often resulting in 

 total blindness. Dust, however, as it is usually per- 

 ceived by us, is, like dirt, only matter in the wrong place, 

 and whatever injurious or disagreeable effects it pro- 

 duces are largely due to our own dealings with nature. 

 So soon as we dispense with horse-power and adopt 

 purely mechanical means of traction and conveyance, 

 we can almost wholly abolish disease-bearing dust from 

 our streets, and ultimately from all our highways; while 

 another kind of dust, that caused by the imperfect com- 

 bustion of coal, may be got rid of with equal facility so 



