All have a knowledge of drugs and simples, such as may fall in there with many a European drug, by the have been in use amongst the fraternity for ages; but side of his Bengalee medicines, seeds, and poisons, havnone have the least knowledge of anatomy, or knowing the most jawbreaking names. Here the coberaz or the structure or use of one of the viscera. doctor comes and selects and buys, not unfrequently having recourse also to the garden or jungle, or to the shrine of the gods, for the tulsic, or the sacred burrut or banian, for its thin, fibrous, pendent roots, highly astringent, and on that account sought for by our medicus. I have seen the thorn, thistle, and even cacti used with success-the gelatinous pulp of one of these latter species being known to the Bengalees as cooling and astringent at the same time.

Let this, however, not induce any one to despise my Bengalee doctor, and set him down as a complete ignoramus. Some of these men will perform cures which startle Europeans of the greatest skill; and some of them possess nostrums, or quack medicines, as the erudite call them, which no inducement will make them divulge, and with which they cure cancers, spleen, tertian agues, &c. &c. to the surprise of our more learned countrymen. Such knowledge and such secrets generally descend from father to son. The manuscripts of the sire are intrusted to the young aspirant as soon as he becomes a votary of Esculapius; he compounds his old father's medicines, and buys his drugs at the pussaree's, and accompanies him in his rounds, and so progresses in his sire's knowledge and practice.

There exists another class of doctors in India; but these, strictly speaking, cannot be called Bengalee doctors. These men are with the sepoy regiments, under the guidance and tuition of the regimental surgeon. They are either Mohammedans, or Hindoos of the lowest classes, and some of them acquire considerable skill and experience in the course of their subordinate profes-│ This is one class of coberazes or doctors. Some, again, sional course. But not one case has fallen under my are entirely amateurs or self-taught geniuses. I have notice of one of these men, on retiring from the Comseen practitioners amongst gardeners, weavers, and shoe-pany's service, having set up for himself, with his store makers; and the latter of these frequently set them- of English knowledge and practice. I must not forget selves up as exorcists or devil expellers, and are such to mention, that amongst the Bengalee doctors, great men as we read of in Scripture. They exhort the Evil faith is attached to charms. When everything fails, One not only by mystic words, but chastise him with one of these self-taught geniuses will perchance recomblows, which are generally inflicted with an old shoe mend for an ague to get a certain number of yards of on the devoted head of the possessed patient. The evil cotton thread, spun by the chaste hands of a spinster; spirit is finally driven to an old tree or an old ruin; and and to speak in Mrs Glass's way, he will say, Take the Hindoo wayfarer, in the shades of night, has an your thread in hand, and when you reach a peepul-tree, utter abhorrence of such known places, firmly believing then walk backwards, and wind the flimsy thread, that devils can be cast out, and that the power of without breaking, three times round the stem or performing such miracles still exists amongst their branches. Neither gaze to the right nor left; but nation. there leave your offering, and go your way, and no doubt your faith will cure you.' The peepul-tree is in one respect like the aspen: its leaves are affected by the slightest wind, and, like the aspen's, are constantly in motion. Another hakeem may recommend the fever-smitten to get a plateful of rotees, or scones, and halwah (a sweetmeat), and some other savoury things, and these must be gazed at by the patient, and excite his longing; and alongside of the eatables must be a lamb or kid, on whose head the sick man places his hand; and after some prayers, the eatables and animal are carried out to the jungles or country, and set down by some interested relative, and there the viands and scapegoat are left, and both doctor and patient look with confidence for a miraculous cure. This is a Mohammedan recipe. It is not an uncommon sight to see a plateful of rice, and cowries, or pice, and curds and red rags, placed at early dawn by some old Hindoo wife where three roads meet, at the recommendation of the coberaz; and wo to him who first touches or steps over these deadly charms! But I have done generalising, and now come to an individual sketch.

The Bengalee doctor is contented with a small remuneration. As he has neither wasted much gold, nor lost much of his precious time in study, he values his labours in his profession accordingly. Three or four rupees are reckoned a handsome fee in a serious case: eight annas (a shilling of our money), or even half of that, may be given without affronting the medicus in trifling diseases; and so poor or penurious is the Bengalee, that he frequently makes a preliminary bargain with the doctor, that a failure or death is to be followed by a loss of his fee, or a forfeiture of half the sum.

Now fancy the coberaz entering a sick-room, leaving his slippers outside; he makes his obeisance, or sometimes none, according to the rank of the family, and then seats himself at the head of the patient. He asks few questions, and is supposed to know almost everything by feeling the pulse. The tongue, that great oracle of our scientific men, is never consulted; the Bengalee will inquire if you have a headache, or if you are thirsty; but if he were to say, 'Put out your tongue,' he might be taken for a madman. Bleeding, cupping, and blistering are understood; but for the latter purpose vegetable substances are used; and I have seen even gools, a sort of artificial fireball, placed on the seat of disease, to bring on a flow of humour; but this is reckoned a violent and painful process.

The operation of cupping is performed by barbers, or badenies the latter being a low caste of people, something like the gipsies. A doctor may recommend cupping, but his caste prohibits him from sucking the cow's horn to draw blood. Leeches abound in the marshes of Hindoostan, and a plentiful supply is always kept of them by the above-mentioned badenies, as well as by midwives, who always belong to some of the lowest castes among the Hindoos.

As cutaneous diseases are common, and productive of great annoyance in the hot and moist climate of Bengal, so the Bengalee doctor is most dexterous in curing ringworms, and the most repulsive-looking eruptions. In such cases they use alteratives, of which sarsaparilla is well known, along with their poisonous external applications, otherwise their red precipitate and borax, &c. might be very injurious. In every Indian town a druggist or pussaree may be found; and a scientific eye

My hero is Sumboo Mistree or Coberaz. To him I owe a debt of gratitude; but for him, I could not have smiled with a set of pearly teeth in the days of conquest and romance; nor could I, descending to more homely and matronly days, and matter-of-fact and substantial things, have eaten a beef-steak or a roll at the present moment, if it had not been for this same Sumboo, whose invaluable tooth-powder I use to this time, in preference to Ruspini's dentifrice, and all other beautifully sealed and scented powders for ladies' toilets in little white boxes.

Sumboo, then, as known by me in days gone by, was an active, slender personage, with a round visage, fair complexion for a Hindoo, and clear brown eye. His height five feet eight inches, possessing a fine regular set of teeth, and a thick, trim moustache on his upper lip; for Bengalees let their beards grow on their chin only in the days of mourning, when the razor is not used for forty days. If on a visit to a superior, Sumboo was to be seen with the very beau-ideal of turbans on his wellshaped though small head; the muslin as white as snow, and every fold and plait laid on by a scientific turban-dresser. His zama, a very full dress, made of

mulmul also, hanging in folds about him, like a fashion-neyman baker, who was supported right and left by the able lady's dress in the present day; and well might Brothers Carr. Another baker was acting as secretary Sumboo be styled a man in petticoats. Sumboo always to the meeting, the object of which was, inter alia, to wore a yellow plain slipper; and with true Bengalee elicit opinions as to the mode in which the workmen feelings of respect, entered barefoot into a superior's had enjoyed their late excursion to Edinburgh, and at house. My favourite's good-humour was imperturb- the same time to consider the pleasure trip for 1849. able, and a smile was always on his face to cheer the The fact of employers and employed occupying the sick man. A white scarf generally ornamented Sumboo's same benches will appear sufficiently startling when shoulders, and over this a shawl was thrown in winter. contrasted with the degraded position of the bakers in A bright tin-box, containing pills and medicines, was London; and perhaps more so, when it is added that generally in Sumboo's hands, although a black cloth the workpeople at this meeting expressed their sentibag, like an instrument-holder of our surgeons, occa- ments in a free and intelligent manner, void of restraint, sionally was patronised instead, and placed, rolled up, and equally void of arrogance. The number of people under his arm. My Esculapius was conversable with engaged in the Messrs Carr's works varies from ninety those for whose abilities he had respect; he talked to a hundred. with impartiality of his own practice in comparison with that of the 'sahibloag's,' and highly valued any European recipes if they were given him. He was far from niggardly with his own knowledge; and to my own father, whom he respected and knew well, I have heard him as frankly and candidly speak of the compounds of his salves or pills as any well-informed physician of our own nation would do. To his own compatriots he was of course all mystery, well knowing that ignorance delights in marvels.

Sumboo was not a rich man, so his house and furniture were humble. He always went on foot; and after his professional visits were over, he would be seen going to the river in a coarse dhooty to perform his ablutions and his devotions. Of his domestic connections I know nothing; but I think that, like most poor Hindoos, he had but one wife. The only extravagance Sumboo was guilty of-if extravagance it may be called, where religious feelings and prejudices were concerned was, that he had once a year, in the month of October, the image of Cartic, or the god of war, made in his house; and this was styled giving a Cartic Poogha. Why he made that dapper, peacock-mounted divinity his household god, who can tell? Perhaps he merely lived and acted as his fathers had lived and acted before him so a beautifully gilt and varnished god was made at his expense; and Brahmins and musicians were hired, first to honour, and then to drown Cartic after the days of ceremony and worship were over.

This is all I know and can divulge of the individual and his tribe. Whether he be still in the land of the living, crowned with gray hairs and a happy conscience, or whether Gunga has washed over his ashes, and obliterated the spot of his obsequies, Heaven only can tell, for it is thirty long years since I saw Sumboo.

CARLISLE BAKERS.

A Few weeks ago we presented, from a published report of Dr Guy, an account of the deplorable condition of the London operative bakers. Dr Guy's paper has, it appears, suggested to Dr Henry Lonsdale the propriety of inquiring into the state of health and morals of a large body of individuals employed in the baking establishment of J. D. Carr and Co., Carlisle. The inquiry was entered on with a view to ascertain whether there was anything in the baking trade necessarily tending to bad health and demoralisation; and the result is such as may be anticipated: in a well-conducted establishment, with reasonable hours of labour, there is nothing in the baking, any more than in any other trade, to lower the standard of health or deteriorate the habits. Dr Lonsdale having furnished a paper on the subject to the Journal of Public Health, we are enabled to offer an abridged statement of his observations; and these will be perused with not the less interest, that we gave an account of Messrs Carr's great baking concern some years ago in these pages.

'Of thirty-one engaged in baking, seven were apprentices, between sixteen and twenty years of age, from six months to seven years in the trade; the twenty-four others were journeymen, twenty-one of whom were between twenty and thirty years of age; the ages of the remaining three were respectively forty-four, fifty-three, and sixty years. The journeymen had been from seven to twelve years in the trade. Being struck with the comparative youth of the great majority of the parties, Messrs Carr explained that "older hands," generally brought from Scotland, were found so intractable, owing to their drinking habits and non-compliance with the rules and orderly conduct which it was sought to establish on the premises, that they were obliged to give a preference to younger and steadier men. Six of the apprentices were very healthy; the seventh, his father said, was a delicate boy from infancy, and was then complaining of dorsal weakness; he had not been more than seven months at the trade. Of the twenty-four journeymen, only one was ill, and he (a delicate person from birth) laboured under cold and slight cough; the remainder were in the enjoyment of robust health. On more minute inquiries as to their past health, I found that seventeen had never ailed anything since they joined the baking: one had been four days ill during the five years that he had been engaged in the establishment: one had had diarrhoea twice a year, and attributed much of his present good health to teetotalism: one had suffered from erysipelas in the leg, caused by heavy work in a former situation: a third had had the rheumatic fever: another had the intermittent fever when working at Leith: one was liable to sore throat. A ready explanation was offered of the erysipelas and intermittent fever by the parties themselves, who had been exposed to heavy work, long hours, and confined rooms. were most healthy in their present situation. The rheumatic fever was the only severe case of disease, as far as I could learn, that had occurred in the establishment since its formation twelve years ago. One of the workmen, an elderly person, whose memory and manner lacked nothing of youthful energy, could safely vouch, for six years of his experience, that there were "no important diseases amongst the men," by which I understood that the ailments had been most trifling. Personal observation assured me of the healthy appearance of the workmen. I questioned them, however, closely as to their liability to erysipelas and other skin diseases, spitting of blood, affections of the lungs, rheumatism, and fever; and I was gratified to learn their remarkable immunity, with the exception of the rheumatic case already alluded to. Mr J. D. Carr informed me (and he was confirmed by other speakers at this meeting) that he could not remember any particular disease occurring during the twelve years; that there had been no death among the bakers; and the only one which had occurred during that time was a carter of advanced age.

They

The extremely good health manifested by the 'Being introduced into the large packing-room of the bakers, as given above, may be said to pervade the establishment-a room ninety-nine feet by twenty-four, whole establishment. I examined twenty-eight boys, and having thirteen large windows-I found nearly whose ages varied from twelve to fifteen years. Eighteen seventy well-dressed working men and boys assembled of these are engaged in the lighter duties of biscuitunder the presidency of one of their number-a jour-making-sixteen of whom looked extremely well, and

had ruddy complexions; two were rather pale-faced, but professedly healthy and vigorous. The ten others, engaged in the packing department, were unexceptionably healthy-a remark which applies to the whole number since they joined the trade.

I had an opportunity of seeing three millers, three packing-men, five joiners and carpenters, eight shopmen, and two carters, men of middle age principally, and all in excellent health, and some apparently amused at any questions being put relative to that which their countenances bespoke was so fully enjoyed by them. 'In the course of the evening I elicited from four or five of this intelligent body of workmen several important statements confirmatory of those recorded by Dr Guy, relative to the highly objectionable condition of the London bakers. An almost similar state of things exists in Edinburgh, or at least did a short time ago. The lads are sent too early to the trade, and work from three in the morning till six or seven in the evening, in underground rooms of extremely small dimensions, and dreadfully overheated; carry enormous weights on the head; and when they retire to rest, it is not to homes of comfort, as their sleeping-berths are too often recesses in the wall, little better than large cupboards.

To what circumstances do the workmen of Messrs Carr owe their good health and past immunity from disease, as compared with their own class in metropolitan towns, or those of other classes of artisans, generally considered more favourably placed in point of health in the same city of Carlisle ?"

industry, and more careful regard for their interests, on the part of their workmen.

'When I re-peruse Dr Guy's account of the London bakers, and recall my own brief experience of the same class in Edinburgh, and then turn to Messrs Carr's establishment, how striking the contrast! Here are workshops, wages, and hours of work, which tend to bodily comfort and healthy vigour; here are schools of instruction, reading-rooms, and library, to develop the moral and intellectual man; here the employers show the example of temperance, urbanity, and order-all which are calculated to promote self-improvement and self-respect, and to make their workpeople good and respectable citizens. I have endeavoured to show that they are a healthy body of men - probably more so than any other class in Carlisle-and from what I can learn, they have the character of being steady, obliging, and intelligent.

It is evident, from Dr Guy's paper, that in London the men work double hours, and that masters literally rob their workmen of health and life; but as far as I can learn, this "double-time" system has not yielded a corresponding amount of wealth to the employer. Such a system cannot be expected to thrive. Man's labour, to be valuable, demands a due supply of good food and a proportionate amount of rest. Masters ought to be made aware, if they are not already, that work pursued for eighteen hours out of the twenty-four must be attended with many imperfections-much hard fighting against time; much carelessness and indifference, and great waste of material. I say nothing of the filthy habits and depraved feelings which such a system of slavery engenders; nor would it be politic to attempt an analysis of the principles of guiding men who, seeing themselves lowered physically and morally in the scale of artisanship, and daily pillaged of seven or eight hours' work by unscrupulous masters, may possibly be inclined to forget the difference between meum and tuum, and seek, at their masters' cost, some equivalent for their unrequited services.'

In conclusion, Dr Lonsdale remonstrates with the

Dr Lonsdale solves this question by a reference to the airiness of the apartments, the arrangements for insuring cleanliness, the temperate habits of all concerned, and the comparatively short working hours. The daily operations commence at half-past five A. M., and close at six P. M., with forty-five minutes to breakfast, and an hour to dinner; so that the actual hours of labour are ten hours and forty-five minutes daily. On Saturdays they close at five P. M. The wages of the workmen vary from 23s. to 25s. to foremen; 18s. to 20s. for journeymen; and 3s. to 5s. to boys, with an allow-practice of requiring hot rolls for breakfast, which is in ance of biscuits daily. None are allowed to work overtime without being paid, and their remuneration for over-time exceeds the ordinary rate of wages. Such wages, properly laid out in a provincial town, enable the men to rent comfortable dwellings, or lodgings with good sleeping apartments, to live on wholesome food, and dress themselves respectably as artisans. That they obtain these comforts I am fully satisfied from inquiry made. Being teetotalers, they spend no money in public-houses.'

reality the main cause of the oppression to which the London bakers are subjected. We do not absolutely despair of seeing master bakers emulating the Carrs as respects various arrangements; but it must be borne in mind that in the establishment just described no rolls are baked: it is only a bread-and-biscuit factory. In usual circumstances, master bakers, even with the best intentions, cannot follow the example given them at Carlisle. They are compelled, by a matter of public taste, to work their men an unreasonable length of time daily. On A library, evening and Sunday school, and a reading- the public, therefore, be the blame, until the hot roll is room, are the engines of moral advancement. The utterly banished from the breakfast table. We agree hours of recreation are spent partly in reading and with Dr Lonsdale in thinking that the duty of disusing partly in out-door exercise. The fact of the workmen this unwholesome species of bread merits the attenliving almost around the door of the mill, adds mate- tion of those who occasionally lend a helping hand to rially to their resting at the time of meals. In the win- ameliorate the condition of the humbler classes.' ter, the reading-room is well attended, and the demand for books materially increased. A foremen's meeting is held weekly, at which one of the firm attends, and every encouragement is given to the men to mention anything which appears to them calculated to improve their own condition or that of the establishment. The kind urbanity of the masters has kindled a kindred spirit amongst the men. The workmen assist each other in times of distress-a fund being temporarily established for the purpose. No instance has occurred of parties engaged in the establishment soliciting parochial relief. Such a fact requires no comment.

In lieu of races and other dissipating amusements, which fleet by, and leave no pleasant remembrances, the Messrs Carr entertain their workpeople to a day's excursion from Carlisle during the summer months; and a joyous day it is to all to visit interesting localities. To the Messrs Carr a trip of this kind may probably cost L.40; but I verily believe that they reap good interest for this and other benefactions by an increased

ALUM WORKS.

THE manufacture of alum, which consists in the refining of a rough mineral substance, was begun in England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by Sir Thomas Chaloner, who established works for the purpose near Whitby. At this place the manufacture is still carried on, as may be observed by persons voyaging along the coast of Yorkshire. Whitby is situated on beds of aluminous schist, which extend over a district thirty miles in length, and terminate on the coast in cliffs rising in some places to a height of 750 feet. This schist, commonly known as alum slate, is partly bituminous, and contains scattered particles of iron pyrites. It is of a bluish-gray colour, resembling hardened clay in appearance, and decomposes, coming off in flakes or layers on exposure to the atmosphere: the most valuable lies near the surface. Among this schist there are large portions which, when laid in a heap, and sprinkled

with sea-water, take fire spontaneously, and burn until all the combustible material is exhausted. Some of the schists combine all the elements of alum, from which the refuse has simply to be separated; others contain clay and sulphur only, and after being converted into sulphate of alumina, require the addition of an alkali to form alum. The schists which are too hard to decompose naturally, are reduced to the proper state by the aid of fire. In whatever way the process may be carried on, the result ought to be the same; the combination in certain definite proportions of sulphuric acid, alumina, and water-the constituents of alum.

At Whitby, after the aluminous material is excavated, it is removed to the calcining ground in barrows, or by trucks running on tramways. Here a quantity of fagots and dry furze is disposed so as to form a bed about two feet thick, and four or five yards square: on this the schist, or mine,' as it is technically called, is piled to the height of four feet, when the underlying wood is set on fire. After this, more and more of the fagots and mine is added, until a heap 100 feet high and 200 in length and width is formed, containing 100,000 cubic yards. One hundred and thirty tons of the calcined material are required to produce one ton of alum. To prevent as much as possible the waste of sulphuric acid from so enormous an ignited mass, the crevices are stopped with small fragments of the refuse clay moistened. This at the same time excludes the air, binds the heap together, and keeps it from falling in. The calcination of a large mass at once, as is the practice at Whitby, is said to cause a prodigious loss of sulphuric acid. At the alum works near Glasgow, the more economical method of low heaps widely spread is adopted.

Whenever it is dissolved in a saturated state, it is run off into the crystallising vessels, which are called roching casks. These casks are about five feet high, three feet wide in the middle, and somewhat narrower at the ends; they are made of very strong staves, nicely fitted to each other, and held together by strong iron hoops, which are driven on pro tempore, so that they may be easily knocked off again, in order to take the staves asunder. The concentrated solution during its slow cooling in these close vessels forms large regular crystals, which hang down from the top, and project from the sides, while a thick layer or cake lines the whole interior of the cask. At the end of eight or ten days, more or less, according to the weather, the hoops and staves are removed, when a cask of apparently solid alum is exposed to view. The workman now pierces this mass with a pickaxe at the side near the bottom, and allows the mother water of the interior to run off on the sloping stone floor into a proper cistern, whence it is taken and added to another quantity of washed powder, to be crystallised with it. The alum is next broken into lumps, exposed in a proper place to dry, and is then put into the finished bing for the market.'

Alum crystallises in octahedrons-a form which may be represented by two four-sided pyramids joined base to base. Besides the manufactories already enumerated, there are others in Belgium, Bohemia, Sweden, and France. In various parts of the world, it is sometimes found existing naturally in a pure state, on stones or in certain mineral waters. It is met with near Naples, where the argillaceous soil is abundantly penetrated by sulphuric acid; and in Yorkshire there are alum springs. The most famous chemists have from time to time directed their attention to the analysis of alum, with the view of effecting improvements in its manufacture; the general production has not only been benefited by these analyses, but the facility of adulteration diminished. The best alum is said to be made in Italy; that manufactured in France and England is not unfrequently impregnated with sulphate of iron. Among the improvements to be effected in the process, a means of preventing the present waste of sulphuric acid is greatly to be desired.

During the process of calcination the heap diminishes to one-half its original size, and becomes at last porous and open to the air throughout its decomposition is facilitated by an occasional sprinkling with water. It is usual to have a number of heaps burning in succession, in order that every part of the works may go on uninterruptedly throughout the year. When a heap has become quite cold, it is ready for lixiviation: the calcined lumps are thrown into pits and macerated in water from eight to ten hours; the water becomes impregnated with sulphate of alumine; and under the name of alum liquor,' is drawn off into cisterns placed The uses of alum are manifold and important: incorat a lower level, upon a fresh supply of roasted mine, porated with paper, it presents a hard, smooth surface, until it acquires a certain specific gravity. More water fit for writing upon; furriers employ it in the preservais poured over the lumps left behind in the pits, and tion of the hairy covering of skins; it retards putrefacthe whole of the material is washed and soaked again tion in animal substances; and hardens the tallow used and again until the whole of the alum is extracted. To for candles. Its astringent properties are valuable in facilitate this operation, the cisterns are generally con- medicine, and its caustic properties, as calcined alum, structed on the side of a hill, and the better these are in surgery. But it is in dyeing that the use of alum is arranged, the more economically can the manufacture most important and most widely diffused. It is rare be conducted. that colouring matters present any affinity for the substances to be dyed; most of them would disappear with the first washing, were there no medium by which they could be fixed. The substance employed for this purpose is called a mordant or biter-in; and in this respect alum holds a pre-eminent rank. This mineral is also made subservient to other less praiseworthy purposes: bakers use it to give a good colour to bad flour, and to swell a comparatively small lump of dough into a large loaf; iced ginger-beer and lemonade offered for sale at railway stations and other places, if narrowly inspected, will be found imbedded in lumps of alum, which pass very well for ice.

The different liquors obtained from the maceration are classed as strong, seconds, and thirds. To facilitate the subsidence of the sulphate of lime and iron, and the earth held in suspension, the solution is sometimes boiled; a process by which the sulphuric acid is made to combine the more readily with its affinities. When, to avoid expense, this preliminary boiling is omitted, the alum produced will be impure, and of inferior quality. After cooling, the liquor is transferred to lead pans, in which it is kept boiling for twenty-four hours; the loss in evaporation being supplied by pumping in additional quantities of mother water,' until the required degree of concentration is attained. About four hundredweight of alum is said to be the daily quantity obtained from each pan. The liquor in the pans is run A scheme has been lately projected in London for the off every morning into the 'settler,' where the alkali, improvement of Ireland, which is thus graphically desometimes a lye made from kelp, is added. Twenty-two scribed by the correspondent of the 'Inverness Courier:' tons of muriate of potash go to the formation of one hun-It is briefly this-to convert all the peat bogs into chardred tons of alum. From the settler the liquor passes into coolers to crystallise; the crystals, after standing four days, are washed and drained, and, as described by Dr Ure, the washed alum is put into a lead pan, with just enough of water to dissolve it at a boiling heat; fire is applied, and the solution is promoted by stirring.

PEAT MOSSES.

above laudable purpose. A first meeting of its projectors coal! A society is in course of being organised for the and promoters was held here the other day, presided over by Lord de Mauley. A Mr Rogers, said to be an eminent civil-engineer, expounded the nature and advantages of the project. There are in Ireland about three million acres of peat bog. Being situated at various elevations above