Among the attractions of the fête was an apparatus for the concentration and utilization of solar heat, and, though the sun was not very brilliant, I saw this apparatus set in motion a printing machine which printed several thousand copies of a specimen newspaper entitled the Soleil Journal.
The sun's rays are concentrated in a reflector, which moves at the same rate as the sun and heats a vertical boiler, setting the motive steam-engine at work. As may be supposed, the only object was to demonstrate the possibility of utilizing the concentrated heat of the solar rays; but I closely examined it, because the apparatus seems capable of great utility in existing circumstances. Here in France, indeed, there is a radical drawback--the sun is often overclouded.
Thousands of years ago the idea of utilizing the solar rays must have suggested itself, and there are still savage tribes who know no other mode of combustion; but the scientific application has hitherto been lacking. This void this apparatus will fill up.

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