Chapter 5

From whatever standpoint, therefore, we view the lacteal product of these four-footed giants, we are fully warranted in ascribing to it not only extreme richness, but also great delicacy of flavor.

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THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF RICE, MAIZE, AND BARLEY.

By J. STEINER, F.C.S.

Rice contains much more starch, but on the other hand, much less albuminous matter and ash, than maize and barley. The compositions of different kinds of dried rice do not vary very much, but as the amount of moisture in the raw grain ranges from 5 to 15 per cent., no brewer ought to buy rice without having first of all inquired with the assistance of a chemist as to the percentage of water present in the sample.

Another point requiring attention is that of taking notice of the acidity, which also varies a good deal for different sorts of rice. In comparing the nutritive values of the three kinds of grain before us, Pillitz obtained the following numbers:

Barley. Maize. Rice. -------------- ------------- ------------------ Air Dried at Air Dried at Air Dried at With Dry. 100° C. Dry. 100° C. Dry. 100° C. Husk.

Moisture. 13.88 --- 13.89 --- 12.51 --- 12.00 Starch. 54.07 62.65 62.69 73.27 74.88 85.41 74.50 Dextrin and sugar. 5.66 6.67 3.57 4.14 1.12 1.26 --- Total albumen matter. 14.00 16.28 10.63 12.35 9.19 10.40 7.80 Mineral matter. 2.33 2.70 1.48 1.71 0.84 0.94 2.30 Fatty matter. 2.30 2.68 4.36 5.03 0.78 0.88 0.30 Cellulose matter. 7.76 9.02 3.38 4.50 0.68 1.11 3.10 ----------------------------------------------------------- 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

On looking over this table, we notice that rice contains by about 20 per cent, more starch than barley, and by about 10 to 12 per cent, more than maize.

But on the other hand, barley and maize are richer in albuminous matter and in ash. The extractive matter, _i. e._, the part which is soluble in cold water, is also much greater in barley and maize than in rice. The extractive matter is for barley 8.7 per cent., for maize 6.3 per cent., while rice contains only 2.1 per cent., and it consists in each case of dextrin, sugar, the soluble part of the ash, and of some nitrogenous matter (soluble albumen).

The amount of woody fiber or cellulose is considerable for rice with its husk, but only slight for samples without husk. The seat of the mineral matter of the grain of rice is mainly in the husk, and as this ash is very valuable as nourishment for the yeast plant, it is an open question whether it would not be preferable to use for brewing purposes rice with its husk. The comparatively largest amount of fat is contained in maize; and as such oil is not desirable for brewing purposes, different recommendations have been advanced for freeing the grain from it. In the following table some of the mineral constituents of the three kinds of grain are compared with each other. These data refer to 100 parts of ash, and are taken from analysis given by Dr. Emil Wolf.

100 parts of Potash Lime Magnesia Phosphoric Silica grain contain acid ash.

Barley. 21.9 2.5 8.3 32.8 27.2 2.55 p. ct. Rice with husk. 18.4 5.1 8.6 47.2 0.6 7.84 " Rice without husk. 23.3 2.9 13.4 51.0 3.0 0.39 " Maize. 27.0 2.7 14.6 44.7 2.2 1.42 "

The excessive amount of ash in rice with its husk is very remarkable, and as this mineral matter consists to a great extent of phosphoric acid and potash, the larger part of it is soluble in water. Consequently on using rice with its husk for brewing purposes, the yeast will be provided with a considerable amount of nutritive substance.

In conclusion it need hardly be mentioned that the use of rice with its husk would also be of considerable pecuniary advantage. There is very little oil in the husk of rice, as shown above by analysis, and it is not likely that the flavor of the brew would suffer by it.--_London Brewers' Journal._

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PETROLEUM OILS.

Nothing is in more general use than petroleum, and but few things are known less about by the majority of persons. It is hydra-headed. It appears in many forms and under many names. "Burning fluid" is a popular name with many unscrupulous dealers in the cheap and nasty. "Burning fluid" is usually another name for naphtha, or something worse. Gasoline, naphtha, benzine, kerosene, paraffine, and many other dangerous fluids which make the fireman's vocation necessary are all the product of petroleum. These oils are produced by the distillation or refining of crude petroleum, and inasmuch as the public, especially firemen, are daily brought into contact with them it is proper that they should know something of their properties. Refining as commonly practiced involves three successive operations. The apparatus employed consists of an iron still connected with a coil or worm of wrought-iron pipe, which is submerged in a tank of water for the purpose of cooling it. The end of this pipe is fixed with a movable spout, which can be transferred or switched from one to another of half a dozen pipes which come around close to it, but which lead into different tanks containing different grades of the distillate. When the still has been filled with crude oil the fire is lighted beneath it, and soon the oil begins to boil. The first products of distillation are gases which, at ordinary temperatures, pass through the coil without being condensed, and escape. When the vapors begin to condense in the worm the oil trickles from the end of the coil into the pipe leading to the appropriate receiving tank.

The first oil obtained is known as gasoline, used in portable gas machines for making illuminating gas. Then, in turn, come naphthas of a greater or less gravity, benzine, high test water white burning oil, such as Pratt's Astral common burning oil or kerosene, and paraffine oils. When the oil has been distilled it is by no means fit for use, having a dirty color and most offensive smell; it is then refined. For this purpose it is pumped into a large vat or agitator, which holds from two hundred and fifty to one thousand barrels. There is then added to the oil about two per cent, of its volume of the strongest sulphuric acid. The whole mixture is then agitated by means of air pumps, which bring as much as possible every particle of oil in contact with the acid. The acid has no affinity for the oil, but it has for the tarry substance in it which discolors it, and, after the agitation, the acid with the tar settles to the bottom of the agitator, and the mixture is drawn off into a lead-lined tank. After the removal of the acid and tar, the clear oil is agitated with either caustic soda or ammonia and water. The alkali neutralizes the acid remaining in the oil, and the water removes the alkali, when the process of refining is finished. A few refiners improve the quality of their refined oil by redistilling it after treating it with acid and alkali. All distillates of petroleum have to be treated with acid and alkali to refine them. There is one thing peculiar about the distillates of petroleum, and that is that the run which follows naphtha, which is called "the middle run oil," is the highest test oil that is made, running as high as 150 and 160 degrees flash, while the common oil which follows, viz., from 45 down to 33 degrees Baume, will range at only about 100 flash, or 115 and 120 degrees burning lest.

An oil that will stand 100 flash will stand 110 burning test every time. Kerosene oil, at ordinary temperature, should extinguish a match as readily as water. When heated it should not evolve an inflammable vapor below 110 degrees, or, better, 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and should not take fire below 125 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. As the temperature in a burning lamp rarely exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit, such an oil would be safe. It would produce no vapors to mix with the air in the lamp and make an explosive mixture; and, if the lamp should be overturned, or broken, the oil would not be liable to take fire. The crude naphtha sells at from three to five cents per gallon, while the refined petroleum or kerosene sells at from fifteen to twenty cents. As great competition exists among the refiners, there is a strong inducement to turn the heavier portions of the naphtha into the kerosene tank, so as to get for it the price of kerosene. In this way the inflammable naphtha or benzine is sometimes mixed with the kerosene, rendering the whole highly dangerous. Dr. D. B. White, President of the Board of Health of New Orleans, found that experimenting on oil which flashed at 113 degrees Fahrenheit, an addition of one per cent. of naphtha caused it to flash at 103 degrees; two per cent. brought the flashing point down to 92 degrees, five per cent. to 83 degrees, ten per cent. to 59 degrees, and twenty per cent. of naphtha added brought the flashing point down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. After the addition of twenty per cent. of naphtha the oil burned at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. There are two distinct tests for oil, the flashing test and the burning test. The flashing test determines the flashing point of the oil, or the lowest temperature at which it gives off an inflammable vapor. This is the most important test, as it is the inflammable vapor, evolved at atmospheric temperatures, that causes most accidents. Moreover, an oil which has a high flashing test is sure to have a high burning test, while the reverse is not true. The burning test fixes the burning point of the oil, or the lowest temperature at which it takes fire. The burning point of an oil is from ten to fifty degrees Fahrenheit higher than the flashing point. The two points are quite independent of each other; the flashing point depends upon the amount of the most volatile constituents present, such as naphtha, etc., while the burning point depends upon the general character of the whole oil. One per cent. of naphtha will lower the flashing point of an oil ten degrees without materially affecting the burning test. The burning test does not determine the real safety of the oil, that is, the absence of naphtha. The flashing test should, therefore, be the only test, and the higher the flashing point the safer the oil.

In regard to the danger of using the lighter petroleum oils, the following, under the head of "Naphtha and Benzine under False Names," is taken from Prof. C. F. Chandler's article on "Petroleum" in Johnson's Cyclopedia. He says: "Processes have been patented, and venders have sold rights throughout the country, for patented and secret processes for rendering gasoline, naphtha, and benzine non-explosive. Thus treated, these explosive oils, just as explosive as before the treatment, are sold throughout the country under trade names. These processes are not only totally ineffective, but they are ridiculous. Roots, gums, barks, and salts are turned indiscriminately into the benzine, to leave it just as explosive as before. No wonder we have kerosene accidents, with agents scattered through the country selling county rights and teaching retail dealers how to make these murderous 'non-explosive' oils. The experiments these venders make to deceive their dupes are very convincing. None of the petroleum products are explosive _per se_, nor are their vapors explosive under all circumstances when mixed with air. A certain ratio of air to vapor is necessary to make an explosive mixture. Equal volumes of vapor and air will not explode; three parts of air and one of vapor gives a vigorous puff when ignited in a vessel; five volumes of air to one of vapor gives a loud report. The maximum degree of violence results from the explosion of eight or nine parts of air mixed with vapor. It requires considerable skill to make at will an explosive mixture with air and naphtha, and it is consequently very easy for the vender not to make one. In most cases the proportion of vapor is too great, and on bringing a flame in contact with the mixture it burns quietly. The vender, to make his oil appear non-explosive, unscrews the wick-tube and applies a match, when the vapor in the lamp quietly takes fire and burns without explosion. Or he pours some of the 'safety oil' into a saucer and lights it. There is no explosion, and ignorant persons, biased by the saving of a few cents per gallon, purchase the most dangerous oils in the market. It is not possible to make gasoline, naphtha, or benzine safe by any addition that can be made to it. Nor is any oil safe that can be set on fire at the ordinary temperature of the air. Nothing but the most stringent laws, making it a State prison offense to mix naphtha and illuminating oil, or to sell any product of petroleum as an illuminating oil or fluid to be used in lamps, or to be burned, except in air gas machines, that will evolve an inflammable vapor below 100 degrees, or better, 120 degrees Fahrenheit, will be effectual in remedying the evil. In case of an accident from the sale of oil below the standard, the seller should be compelled to pay all damages to property, and, if a life is sacrificed, should be punished for manslaughter. It should be made extremely hazardous to sell such oils." Prof Chandler is professor of analytical chemistry, School of Mines, Columbia College.

There is no substance on earth, or under the earth, which will chemically combine with naphtha, or that will destroy its peculiar volatile and explosive properties. The manufacturers of petroleum products have exhausted the whole resources of chemistry to make this product available as a safe burning oil, and their inability to do so proclaims the fact that it cannot be done. Chemistry has shown that naphtha, and, in fact, the other products of petroleum, will not part with their hydrogen or change the nature of their compounds, except by decomposition from a union with oxygen, that is, by combustion. These humbugs, who deceive people for their own gains, may put camphor, salt, alum, potatoes, etc., into naphtha, and call it by whatever fancy name they please. The camphor is dissolved, the salt partially; potatoes have no effect whatever. The camphor may disguise the smell of the naphtha, and sometimes myrhane or burnt almonds may be used for the same purpose. But, no matter what is used, the liability to explosion is not lessened in any degree. The stuff is always dangerous and always will be. There is not much danger in the use of kerosene, if it is of the standard required by law in several of the States. At the same time petroleum is dangerous under certain conditions. Where oil is heated it is more or less inflammable, and, in fact, inflammability is only a question of temperature of the oil, after all. Burning oils should be kept in a moderately cool place, and always with care. Of course, if a lighted lamp is dropped and broken, the oil is liable to take fire, though the lamp may be put out in the fall, or the light drowned by the oil, or the oil not take fire at all. This will be the effect if the oil is cool and of high flash test. When a lamp is lighted, and remains burning for some time, it should never be turned down and set aside. The theory is, that while lighting, a certain supply of gas is created from the oil, and that when the wick is turned down that supply still continues to flow out, and not being consumed, forms an inflammable gas in the chimney, which will explode when a sufficient quantity of air is mixed with it in the presence of light, which may happen if a person blows down the chimney; but a lamp should never be extinguished in that way. A good, high test kerosene oil can be made with ordinary care as safe as sperm oil, though, of course, it is not so safe as a matter of fact. We are sure to hear of it when an accident happens, but we never hear of the reckless use of kerosene where an accident does not occur, and yet there are few things so generally carelessly handled as burning oils.--_Fireman's Journal_

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COMPOSITION OF THE PETROLEUM OF THE CAUCASUS.

By MM. P SCHUTZENBERGER and N. TONINE.

All portions of this petroleum contain saturated carbides of the formula C_nH_{2n}, which the authors name paraffenes. At a bright red heat they yield benzinic carbides, C_nH_{2n-6}, naphthalin and a little anthracen. At dull redness the products are along with unaltered paraffenes, products which unite energetically with bromine, and which are converted into resinous polymers of ordinary sulphuric acid. It is difficult to isolate, by means of fractional distillation, definite products with constant boiling points.

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NOTES ON CANANGA OIL OR ILANG-ILANG OIL.

[Footnote: From the _Archiv der Pharmacie_.]

By F. A. FLÜCKIGER.

This oil, on account of its fragrance, which is described by most observers as extremely pleasant, has attained to some importance, so that it appears to me not superfluous to submit the following remarks upon it and the plant from which it is derived.

The tree, of which the flowers yield the oil known under the name "Ilang-ilang" or "Alanguilan," is the _Cananga odorata_, Hook. fil. et Thomp.,[1] of the order Unonaceæ, for which reason it is called also in many price lists "Oleum Anonæ," or "Oleum Unonæ" It is not known to me whether the tree can be identified in the old Indian and Chinese literature.[2] In the west it was first named by Ray as "Arbor Saguisan," the name by which it was called at that time at Luçon[3] Rump[4] gave a detailed description of the "Bonga Cananga," as the Malays designate the tree ("Tsjampa" among the Javanese); Rumph's figure, however is defective. Further, Lamarck[5] has short notices of it under "Canang odorant, _Uvaria odorata_." According to Roxburgh,[6] the plant was in 1797 brought from Sumatra to the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta. Dunal devoted to the _Ucaria odorata_, or, properly, _Unona odorata_, as he himself corrected it, a somewhat more thorough description in his "Monographic de la Famille des Anonacees,"[7] which principally repeats Rumph's statements.

[Footnote 1: "Flora Indica," i (1855), 130.]

[Footnote 2: "No mention of any plant or flowers, which might be identified with Cananga, can be traced in any Sanskrit works."--Dr. Charles Rice, _New Remedies_, April, 1881, page 98.]

[Footnote 3: Ray. "Historia Plantarum, Supplementum," tomi i et ii "Hist. Stirpium Insulæ Luzonensis et Philippinarum" a Georgio Josepho Canello; London, 1704, 83]

[Footnote 4: "Herbarium Amboinense, Amboinsch Kruidboek," ii. (Amsterdam, 1750), cap. xix, fol. 195 and tab. 65.]

[Footnote 5: "Encyclopédie méthodique. Botanique," i (1783), 595.]

[Footnote 6: "Flora Indica," ii. (Serampore, 1832), 661.]

[Footnote 7: Paris, 1817, p. 108, 105.]

Lastly, we owe a very handsome figure of the _Cananga odorata_ to the magnificent "Flora Javæ," of Blume;[1] a copy of this, which in the original is beautifully colored, is appended to the present notice. That this figure is correct I venture to assume after having seen numerous specimens in Geneva, with De Candolle, as well as in the Delessert herbarium. The unjustifiable name _Unona odoratissima_, which incorrectly enough has passed into many writings, originated with Blanco,[2] who in his description of the powerful fragrance of the flowers, which in a closed sleeping room produces headache, was induced to use the superlative "odoratissima." Baillon[3] designated as Canangium the section of the genus _Uvaria_, from which he would not separate the Ilang-ilang tree.

[Footnote 1: Vol. i. (Brussels, 1829), fol. 29, tab ix et xiv. B.]

[Footnote 2: "Flora de Filipinas," Manila, 1845, 325. _Unona odoratissima_, Alang-ilan. The latter name, according to Sonnerat, is stated by the Lamarck to be of Chinese origin; Herr Reymann derives it from the Tagal language.]

[Footnote 3: "Dictionnaire de Botanique."]

The notice of Maximowicz,[1] "Ueber den Ursprung des Parfums Ylang-Ylang," contains only a confirmation of the derivation of the perfume from Cananga.

[Footnote 1: Just's "Botanischer Jahresbericht," 1875, 973.]

_Cananga odorata_ is a tree attaining to a height of 60 feet, with few but abundantly ramified branches. The shortly petioled long acuminate leaves, arranged in two rows, attain a length of 18 centimeters and a breadth of 7 centimeters; the leaf is rather coriaceous, and slightly downy only along the nerves on the under side. The handsome and imposing looking flowers of the _Cananga odorata_ occur to the number of four on short peduncles. The lobes of the tripartite leathery calyx are finally bent back. The six lanceolate petals spread out very nearly flat, and grow to a length of 7 centimeters and a breadth of about 12 millimeters; they are longitudinally veined, of a greenish color, and dark brown when dried. The somewhat bell-shaped elegantly drooping flowers impart quite a handsome appearance, although the floral beauty of other closely allied plants is far more striking. The filaments of the Cananga are very numerous; the somewhat elevated receptacle has a shallow depression at the summit. The green berry-like fruit is formed of from fifteen to twenty tolerably long stalked separate carpels which inclose three to eight seeds arranged in two rows. The umbel-like peduncles are situated in the axils of the leaves or spring from the nodes of leafless branches. The flesh of the fruit is sweetish and aromatic. The flowers possess a most exquisite perfume, frequently compared with hyacinth, narcissus, and cloves.

_Cananga odorata_, according to Hooker and Thomson or Bentham and Hooker,[1] is the only species of this genus; the plants formerly classed together with it under the names _Unona_ or _Uvaria_, among which some equally possess odorous flowers, are now distributed between those two genera, which are tolerably rich in species. From _Uvaria_ the _Cananga_ differs in its valvate petals, and from _Unona_ in the arrangement of the seeds in two rows.

[Footnote 1: "Genera Plantarum," i, (1864), 24.]

_Cananga odorata_ is distributed throughout all Southern Asia, mostly, however, as a cultivated plant. In the primitive forest the tree is much higher, but the flowers are, according to Blume, almost odorless. In habit the Cananga resembles the _Michelia champaca_, L.,[1] of the family Magnoliaceæ, an Indian tree extraordinarily prized on account of the very pleasant perfume of its yellow flowers, and which was already highly celebrated in ancient times in India. Among the admired fragrant flowers which are the most prized by the in this respect pampered Javanese, the "Tjempaka" (_Michelia champaca_) and the "Kenangga wangi" (_Cananga odorata_)[2] stand in the first rank.

[Footnote 1: A beautiful figure of this also is given in Blume's "Flora Javæ," iii., Magnoliaceæ, tab. I.]

[Footnote 2: Junghuhn, Java, Leipsic, 1852, 166.]

It is not known to me whether the oil of cananga was prepared in former times. It appears to have first reached Europe about 1864; in Paris and London its choice perfume found full recognition.[1] The quantities, evidently only very small, that were first imported from the Indian Archipelago were followed immediately by somewhat larger consignments from Manila, where German pharmacists occupied themselves with the distillation of the oil.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Jahresbericht d. Pharmacie_, by Wiggers and Husemann, 1867, 422.]

[Footnote 2: _Jahresbericht_, 1868, 166.]