THE TECHNOLOGIST. [August 1, 1864. 



34 USES OF THE EORSE-CHESTXUT. 



it as though we could go and get a lot of something or other and confine 

 it to our own use ; as though we could have the exclusive patent or 

 power of getting it ; as though the only possible operation of the inten- 

 tion which we have in getting new material should have the effect of 

 reducing the price of rags. But nobody dreams or ever supposed that 

 any new material that can be brought will exclude rags ttiim useV or 

 form a substitute for them. It may be very well to supplement them, 

 but rags for all tiaie to come will ever remain the sheet-anchor of the 

 paper maker, simply because rags are refuse, costing nobody anything 

 to produce, and without reference to the purpose to which they are 

 applied, and are altogether irrespective of the law of supply and de- 

 mand ; therefore the only effect of introducing new material, whatever 

 it be, is to operate upon the price of rags ; but the unfortunate part of 

 it is this, that in the introduction of a new mateiial we do as much good 

 to the foreigner as we do to ourselves, and still we shall always remain 

 in the same relative position as we do now. If we bring in a material 

 and reduce rags 21. per ton, it ought always to be borne in mind that it 

 is not the actual price of rags or the materials of which we complain, 

 but the relative price as between ourselves and those we have to com- 

 pete with abroad. (Loud cheers.) This is simply the plain mode of 

 reasoning upon the question which I thought it necessary to put forth 

 to supplement the statement made with regard to new material." 



USES OF THE HORSE-CHESTNUT. 



Of all the waste substances which might be profitably employed in 

 domestic economy, there is none Avhich has given rise to more discussion 

 or on which so many attempts have been made as the fruit of the horse- 

 chestnut, which contains a large quantity of starch. At various periods 

 the utilization of this product has attracted public attention, and many 

 speculators have essayed to make it an object of commerce. 



"When first introduced from Constantinople, the fruit of the horse- 

 chestnut was considered edible ; and Parkinson, writing in 1629, in- 

 cluded it among his fruit-trees, and described the nut as of " a sweet 

 taste and agreeable to eat when roasted." Very little use has ever been 

 made of the nuts in this country ; though in Turkey they are mixed 

 with horse food, and are considered good for horses which are broken- 

 winded. When ground into flour, they are used in some places to whiten 

 linen cloth, and are said to add to the strength of bookbinders' paste. 

 They contain, moreover, so large a quantity of potash, as to be a useful 

 substitute for soap, and on the latter account they were formerly exten- 

 sively employed in the process of bleaching. The nuts contain a great 

 deal of starch. 



