PEAT CHARCOAL. 
535 
We learn from The Mark Lane Express of the 12th ult., “ that 
several noblemen and gentlemen, deeply interested in the question 
of sanitary reform, by which the health and condition of the poor 
in our cities and towns may be improved, and who are equally in- 
terested in ameliorating and giving employment to the Irish peasan- 
try, and in the development of the vast resources of Ireland, met 
on Saturday, the 3d instant, at the house of W. Pinney, Esq., 
M.P., Berkeley-square. The particular object of the meeting was 
to hear a detailed account, by Jasper Rogers, Esq., Directing En- 
gineer of the Irish Amelioration Society, who was called on to 
prove by facts the theories he has propounded for the last three 
years, and to test which the Irish Amelioration Society was formed. 
The most important of these facts, amongst many of minor con- 
sideration brought forward by Mr. Rogers, was, that by a very 
simple means all the filth that now passes through our sewers, 
poisoning the waters of our rivers by its deposits, and the air by 
the exhalation of its gases — spreading widely, as well as originat- 
ing, the most fearful epidemic and zymotic diseases — by which 
the poverty and misery of the labouring classes are increased, and 
the lives of their families unnecessarily sacrificed, could be ar- 
rested in its progress either to or through the sewers; and by its 
admixture with peat charcoal, this, the most obnoxious and pesti- 
lent filth, might be converted into a very cheap and portable, but 
highly valuable, manure. 
“ Considerations of equal magnitude and importance, as regards 
the amelioration of the condition of the Irish peasantry, were con- 
nected with these plans : for the conversion of the peat bogs of 
Ireland into charcoal for sanitary purposes would give employment 
to many thousands of the Irish peasantry (the only and true means 
of ameliorating their condition); and land, now wild and dreary 
wastes, would be reclaimed, and rendered amongst the most fertile 
of that naturally rich but most unfortunate country.” 
* * * 
Mr. Pinney, who was warmly greeted, rose and said, after 
descanting largely on the properties and uses of peat charcoal, 
“ I am not aware whether the properties of peat charcoal, when 
mixed with nightsoil as a manure, are generally known. They 
were tested a short time since before two meetings. One experi- 
ment was made at the Mechanics’ Institute in the presence of be- 
tween 600 and 800 persons. On that occasion a large quantity of 
offensive matter was brought forward — we shall not now repeat 
the experiment \laughter \ — and mixed with the prepared peat 
charcoal in a large machine. Immediately afterwards the combined 
matter was shovelled or spouted out in a dry state, and deposited 
