306 THE WORLD'S LUMBER ROOM. 



from it, and at one mill in Norway two horses are constantly 

 employed in removing it. From 9 cwts. of sawdust, over 19 \ 

 per cent, of grape sugar is obtained, and from this brandy is 

 manufactured. But the Paris cabinet-makers have invented 

 a way of using the sawdust itself. By subjecting it to enor- 

 mous pressure and intense heat they convert it into a solid 

 mass, which can take a brilliant surface, and which they call 

 bois durci, or tough wood. 



The dust of mahogany, birch, and rosewood, is used for 

 cleaning and dressing furs ; boxwood-dust for cleaning 

 jewellery ; and the shavings made in the shaping of cedar 

 pencils yield otto of cedarwood, in the proportion of 28- 

 ounces to the hundredweight. 



The dust made by ivory-turners is sold at sixpence a 

 pound, and when boiled down makes the finest and purest 

 animal jelly. Ivory-dust jelly was at one time a" fashionable 

 remedy in cases of weakness, and Mr. Buckland was of 

 opinion that it only needed to be tried to convince people 

 of its virtues. There is at all events nothing objection- 

 able about it, which, is more than can be said for the 

 " red-currant " jelly which as well as rum, the Americans 

 are declared to fabricate from old boots ! 



Dye-wood residues that is, wood shavings from which 

 the best of the dye has been extracted give a solution 

 which is useful for tanning and also to a certain 

 extent for dyeing ; but the insoluble remainder was worth 

 but a few shillings a ton, and was in most cases thrown 

 away the only use to which it could be put being to burn 

 as fuel when mixed with tar-refuse until a French chemist 

 began to convert it into paper pulp. 



