MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS. 195 



weeds, treated with nitric and sulphuric acids, made 

 plastic with various solvents, especially camphor and 

 castor or linseed oil, and then moulded or dyed in 

 imitation of ivory, tortoise-shell, amber, malachite, 

 coral, or parchment, into artificial teeth or gums, 

 shirt-collars, billiard-balls, or what not ; more durable 

 than ivory, cheaper and more durable than caoutchouc, 

 and, unlike vulcanite, free from sulphur. Though 

 mainly made in the United States, it was invented in 

 England by Mr. A. Parkes in 1885. 



Truly, though the introduction of a new resin or 

 fibre, or the invention of a simpler process of manu- 

 facture, may not subtend so large a visual angle in 

 the minds of the unthinking as the storming of a 

 citadel or the bombardment of a fleet, when we con- 

 sider the many strides which our civilization and its 

 attendant comforts have made even during one half- 

 century, owing to the careful observations and skilful 

 application of such men as those to whose names we 

 have had occasion to refer, we must admit that 



' Peace hath her victories 

 No less renowned than war.' 



132 



