304 DR. ANGUS SMITH ON PEAT. 



read a paper " On the mode of extracting and preparing peat 

 in the provinces of Holland and Utrecht j and on the ad- 

 vantages which will result to the department of the Somme 

 by the adoption of a part of the Dutch processes." See 

 Annales de Chirnie, vol. xxxiv. p. 224, An viii. 30 Prairial. 

 At p. 256 he says : — " This object, so interesting to the 

 department of the Somme, and especially for the poor, de- 

 serves the attention of the Central Administration. And 

 as the peat (tourbe) is a product of the soil, an agricultural 

 product, if I may dare to call it so, attention to it becomes 

 naturally one of the duties of the Free Society of Agricul- 

 ture established in that department." 



I call attention to this extract to show that I am quite 

 aware that I am not the first to look with interest to the 

 production of peat as a national industry — the actual grow- 

 ing, independent of the utilizing, which has long been 

 studied ; but many inventions must be made again and 

 again, until the fitting time for their use shall come. That 

 the time has not come for a general use of this idea every 

 one will agree; but it has come, and has never in our 

 time ceased to exist, for a considerable portion of the 

 community — which portion is, in my belief, very much 

 disposed to neglect its privileges, and, we may say, also 

 its duties to a great extent, because these are not seen. 

 This paper of M. Dejean might very well apply now to 

 some parts of this country, where so much waste of mate- 

 rial is allowed; but there is this consolation, that, if there 

 is waste for this generation by the mode of cutting peat, 

 there is no real waste, as the material, if allowed to remain, 

 soon repairs itself, and all loose pieces are cemented by 

 growth. 



In Erdmann's ' Journal fur pr. Chemie/ vol. xxiv. 1841, 

 at p. 275, there is a paper by H. Reinsch on peat; and at 

 p. 277 he says that, by slow distillation of the etherial 

 solution of the peat-resins, lie obtained a distinctly crys- 



