THE MANUFACTURE OF VEGETABLE OILS. 127 
system of defecation they propose the attentive consideration of Justus Liebig, and, if 
approved, his powerful support. 
The organization of the so-called “ continuous tubular circulating system,” by which, 
with the aid of steam-power, the healthy and ceaseless interchange of pure water and 
mammal liquor between town and country is now sought to be achieved, seems de¬ 
stined to constitute the mechanical complement of the great chemico-physiological 
truths promulgated by Justus Liebig ; from whose powerful genius the promoters of 
this plan anxiously anticipate not merely its adoption, but its incorporation in his 
great agricultural edifice, as its crown and pinnacle. 
It is not, however, pretended by the warmest advocates of this system, that it can 
be accomplished by a single generation. It is admitted, on the contrary, that the 
complete tubularization of the farms of Europe must be a task as gradual as the com¬ 
plete drain- and water-pipeage of her towns, or as the universal extension of her rail¬ 
way and electric communications. But as the magnitude of such a project may be, 
for many minds, the very pivot on which their judgment of it, favourable or adverse, 
may turn, the Reporter quotes here, from a speech of Mr. E. O. Ward (in 1855), some 
remarks bearing on this point. 
“ It is argued,” said the speaker, after adverting to the cost of the requisite pipeage, 
—“it is argued from this vast expenditure and widely-extended range of distribution, 
that the plan is impracticable. But I think this resembles the arguments urged 
against gas-lighting at the outset. ‘ What!’ it was said in the old days of oil-lamps, 
to the daring innovators who proposed gas-lighting, ‘ do you seriously ask us to tear 
up all the streets of our towns, and lay down thousands of miles of subterranean arte¬ 
ries, to circulate a subtle vapour through every street and into every house, to do, at 
a cost of millions upon millions, what our lamps and candles already do sufficiently 
well ?’ Such was the language used ; and the proposal of gas-lighting was regarded 
at the outset, by the majority of mankind, as the wildest and most visionary halluci¬ 
nation. But when Murdoch’s factory had been illuminated with gas, the whole pro¬ 
blem was virtually solved ; and when the first line of gas-lights burned along Pall Mall, 
the illumination of all the towns of Europe became a mere question of time. Just so, 
when the first farm was successfully laid down with irrigating tubes for the distribu¬ 
tion of liquid manure, there ceased to be any force in the argument about the quantity 
and cost of pipeage for this purpose. ... N or should we be deterred from grappling 
with the sewage problem by contemplating the vast magnitude of the results to which 
it will lead in the course of time—of generations, perhaps, when the whole subsoil of 
Europe will probably be piped for the distribution of liquid manure, just as all Flan¬ 
ders is already honeycombed with tanks for its storage.”* 
(To be continued.) 
THE MANUFACTURE OF VEGETABLE OILS. 
Whether considered as a medium for the application of colour in works of art, or of 
utility as the principal source of illuminating power where gas is unaltainable, or as the 
lubricator without which all machinery, from the simple clock of the cottager to the 
most complicated and powerful engine, would be all but useless, the value of oil is in¬ 
calculable ; and a few words on its manufacture and the process of refining it cannot be 
uninteresting. To furnish these we were favoured with a visit to the extensive works of 
Messrs. Pinchin and Johnson, who have two sets of premises: one, for the manufacture of 
oil, called Albert Works, on the Middlesex bank of the Thames, near Hammersmith; 
the other, for refining purposes, in Cable Street, St. George’s-in-the-East. The oils they 
manufacture are rape and linseed only, but their refining operations extend to the ani¬ 
mal as well as the vegetable oils. The Albert Works have a river frontage of about 200 
feet, and recede from the bank about the same distance, thus covering an area of more 
than three-quarters of an acre. The building consists of four stories ; the manufacture 
is carried on in the lowest, the others being used as storage for the grain, which is hoisted 
from the barges by means of cranes worked by steam-power. The first object which 
arrests the visitor’s attention is the engine, which is a small but beautiful piece of ma- 
* 4 Journal of the Society of Arts ’ (London), No. 120, for March 9th, 1855. 
