The sale increased so rapidly that he was unable to produce the envelopes fast enough, so he commissioned a dozen houses to make them for him, and thus set going an important branch of the manufacturing stationery trade.
Asphalt as a Street Pavement.
All forms of bituminous pavements, whether manufactured from natural or artificial asphalt, are, in fact, artificial stone pavements. The industry started with the use of the natural rock asphalt from the mines in the Val de Travers, Canton Neuchatel, Switzerland.
The mines were discovered in 1721, but it was in 1849 that the utility of their product as a road covering was first noticed. The rock was then being mined for the purpose of extracting the bitumen contained in it for its use in medicine and the arts. It is a limestone, impregnated with bitumen, of which it yields, on analysis, from eight to fourteen per cent.
It was observed that pieces of rock which fell from a wagon were crushed by the wheels, and under the combined influence of the traffic and heat of the sun, a good road surface was produced.
A macadam road of asphalt rock was then made, which gave very good results, and finally, in 1854, a portion of the Rue Bergère was laid in Paris of compressed asphalt on a concrete foundation. From Paris it extended to London, being laid on Threadneedle Street in 1869, and Cheapside in 1870.
HATE FOR NAPOLEON TURNED TO LOVE.
Curious Effect Produced on French Newspapers By the Series of Successes That Attended
the Emperor's Progress from Elba to Paris.
There are instances on record of cases in which distance did not "lend enchantment to the view." Of these instances Napoleon's advance to Paris after his escape from Elba affords a striking example.