384 
PARIS UNIVERSAL 
wood or coal, is wasted—worse than wasted, because the com¬ 
bustible material, lost in the smoke of furnaces, locomotive 
funnels, and the chimneys of factories and dwellings, besides 
being a waste, is a positive nuisance. 
The remedy should be two-fold—first, the construction of 
furnaces, flues, &c., on scientific principles; and, secondly, the 
utilization of combustible material now rejected. The first 
method has already been made available to a good degree by 
the economical furnaces above referred to. But furnaces such 
as the Siemens, Berard, and others, are comparatively few in 
number. Science must devise some sure and convenient way 
of saving on a grander scale by a proper construction of steam- 
engines, stationary, locomotive, and marine. The time should^ 
speedily come when the black cloud that follows the railway 
train, or mantles the coal-burning city like a pall, shall be seen 
no more. Already there are valuable improvements before 
the world, covering a part of this ground, but they are tardily 
adopted in our country on account of the abundance of fuel. 
The second method of economy, the utilization of refuse 
and now unused material, is also attracting much attention. 
In Austria coal-dust is being used by being first converted 
into an agglomeration by means of a cement consisting of 2J 
parts of coal tar, one part of gluten and one half part of 
starch. About two per cent, of this is mixed with the dust by 
the aid of machinery, and it is then thrown into a hopper and 
comes out handsome bricks of some 10x5x5 inches in size. 
Samples of this coal are now on exhibition at Paris, and I 
have placed a specimen brick in the State Agricultural Rooms. 
Machinery and furnaces are also in use in various countries 
for the consumption of peat and lignite, instead of coal. 
The varied specimens of timber-—some of them immense 
logs and huge blocks, brought from Canada and other more re¬ 
mote colonies of Great Britain, from many portions of France, 
Germany, Scandinavia and Russia—nobly represented the for¬ 
ests of the world, and yet mutely appealed to the thoughtful 
economist for the initiation of measures in all countries for 
their more sparing use and timely reproduction. Forestry is 
