Chapter 5

The bone-black in the hopper, A, descends into the drier, B, enters the retorts, D, and, after revivification, passes into the cooling pipes, F, from whence it issues cold and ready to be bagged. A coke fire having been built in the fire-place, Y, the flames spread throughout the fire chamber, direct themselves toward the bottom, divide into two parts to the right and left, and heat the back of the retorts in passing. Then the two currents mount through the lateral flues, V, and unite so as to form but one in the drier. Within the latter there are arranged plates designed to break the current from the flames, and allow it to heat all the inner parts of the pipes, while the apertures in the drier allow of the escape of the steam.

By turning one of the cylinders, G, so as to present its aperture opposite that of the cooler, it instantly fills up with black. At this moment the whole column, from top to bottom, is set in motion. The bone-black, in passing through the undulations, is thrown alternately to the right and left until it finally reaches the coolers. This operation is repeated as many times as the cylinder is filled during the descent of one whole column, that is to say, about forty times.

With an apparatus of the dimensions here described, 120 hectoliters of bone-black may be revivified in twenty four hours, with 360 to 400 kilogrammes of coke.--_Annales Industrielles_.

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[Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 330, page 5264.]

SOAP AND ITS MANUFACTURE, FROM A CONSUMER'S POINT OF VIEW.

In our last article, under the above heading, the advantages to be gained by the use of potash soap as compared with soda soap were pointed out, and the reasons of this superiority, especially in the case of washing wool or woolen fabrics, were pretty fully gone into. It was also further explained why the potash soaps generally sold to the public were unfit for general use, owing to their not being neutral--that is to say, containing a considerable excess of free or unsaponified alkali, which acts injuriously on the fiber of any textile material, and causes sore hands if used for household or laundry purposes. It was shown that the cause of this defect was owing to the old-fashioned method of making potash or soft soap, by boiling with wood ashes or other impure form of potash; but that a perfectly pure and neutral potash soap could readily be made with pure caustic potash, which within the last few years has become a commercial article, manufactured on a large scale; just in the same manner as the powdered 98 per cent. caustic soda, which was recommended in our previous articles on making hard soap without boiling.

The process of making pure neutral potash soap is very simple, and almost identical with that for making hard soap with pure powdered caustic soda. The following directions, if carefully and exactly followed, will produce a first-class potash soap, suitable either for the woolen manufacturer for washing his wool, and the cloth afterward made from it, or for household and laundry purposes, for which uses it will be found far superior to any soda soap, no matter how pure or well made it may be.

Dissolve twenty pounds of pure caustic potash in two gallons of water. Pure caustic potash is very soluble, and dissolves almost immediately, heating the water. Let the lye thus made cool until warm to the hand--say about 90 F. Melt eighty pounds of tallow or grease, which must be free from salt, and let it cool until fairly hot to the hand--say 130 F.; or eighty pounds of any vegetable or animal oil may be taken instead. Now pour the caustic potash lye into the melted tallow or oil, stirring with a flat wooden stirrer about three inches broad, until both are thoroughly mixed and smooth in appearance. This mixing may be done in the boiler used to melt the tallow, or in a tub, or half an oil barrel makes a good mixing vessel. Wrap the tub or barrel well up in blankets or sheepskins, and put away for a week in some warm dry place, during which the mixture slowly turns into soap, giving a produce of about 120 pounds of excellent potash soap. If this soap is made with tallow or grease it will be nearly as hard as soda soap. When made by farmers or householders tallow or grease will generally be taken, as it is the cheapest, and ready to hand on the spot. For manufacturers, or for making laundry soap, nothing could be better than cotton seed oil. A magnificent soap can be made with this article, lathering very freely. When made with oil it is better to remelt in a kettle the potash soap, made according to the above directions, with half its weight of water, using very little heat, stirring constantly, and removing the fire as soon as the water is mixed with and taken up by the soap. A beautifully bright soap is obtained in this way, and curiously the soap is actually made much harder and stiffer by this addition of water than when it is in a more concentrated state previously to the water being added.

With reference to the caustic potash for making the soap, it can be obtained in all sizes of drums, but small packages just sufficient for a batch of soap are generally more economical than larger packages, as pure caustic potash melts and deteriorates very quickly when exposed to the air. The Greenbank Alkali Co., of St. Helens, seems to have appreciated this, and put upon the market pure caustic potash in twenty pound canisters, which are very convenient for potash soft soap making by consumers for their own use.

While on this subject of caustic potash, it cannot be too often repeated that _caustic potash_ is a totally different article to _caustic soda_, though just like it in appearance, and therefore often sold as such. One of the most barefaced instances of this is the so-called "crystal potash," "ball potash," or "rock potash," of the lye packers, sold in one pound packages, which absolutely, without exception, do not contain a single grain of potash, but simply consist of caustic soda more or less adulterated--as a rule very much "more" than "less!" It is much to be regretted that this fraud on the public has been so extensively practiced, as potash has been greatly discredited by this procedure.

The subject of fleece scouring or washing the wool while growing on the sheep, with a potash soap made on the spot with the waste tallow generally to be had on every sheep farm, seems recently to have been attracting attention in some quarters, and certainly would be a source of profit to sheep owners by putting their wool on the market in the best condition, and at the same time cleaning the skin of the sheep. It therefore appears to be a move in the right direction.

In concluding this series of articles on practical soap making from a consumer's point of view, the writer hopes that, although the subject has been somewhat imperfectly handled, owing to necessarily limited space and with many unavoidable interruptions, yet that they may have been found of some interest and assistance to consumers of soap who desire easily and readily to make a pure and unadulterated article for their own use.

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COTTON SEED OIL.

By S.S. BRADFORD, Ph.G.

Having had occasion during the last six years to manufacture lead plaster in considerable quantities, it occurred to me that cotton seed oil might be used instead of olive oil, at less expense, and with as good results. The making of this plaster with cotton seed oil has been questioned, as, according to some authorities, the product is not of good consistence, and is apt to be soft, sticky, and dark colored; but in my experience such is not the case. If the U. S. P. process is followed in making this plaster, substituting for the olive oil cotton seed oil, and instead of one half-pint of boiling water one and one-half pint are added, the product obtained will be equally as good as that from olive oil. My results with this oil in making lead plaster led me to try it in making the different liniments of the Pharmacopoeia, with the following results:

_Linimentum Ammoniæ_.--This liniment, made with cotton seed oil, is of much better consistency than when made with olive oil. It is not so thick, will pour easily out of the bottle, and if the ammonia used is of proper strength, will make a perfect liniment.

_Linimentum Calcis_.--Cotton seed oil is not at all adapted to making this liniment. It does not readily saponify, separates quickly, and it is almost impossible to unite when separated.

_Linimentum Camphoræ_.--Cotton seed oil is far superior to olive oil in making this liniment, it being a much better solvent of camphor. It has not that disagreeable odor so commonly found in the liniment.

_Linimentum Chloroformi_.--Cotton seed oil being very soluble in chloroform, the liniment made with it leaves nothing to be desired.

_Linimentum Plumbi Subacetatis_.--When liq. plumbi subacet. is mixed with cotton seed oil and allowed to stand for some time the oil assumes a reddish color similar to that of freshly made tincture of myrrh. When the liquor is mixed with olive oil, if the oil be pure, no such change takes place. Noticing this change, it occurred to me that this would be a simple and easy way to detect cotton seed oil when mixed with olive oil. This change usually takes place after standing from twelve to twenty-four hours. It is easily detected in mixtures containing five per cent., or even less, of the oils, and I am convinced, after making numerous experiments with different oils, that it is peculiar to cotton seed oil.--_American Journal of Pharmacy_.

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THE FOOD AND ENERGY OF MAN.

[Footnote: From a lecture delivered at the Sanitary Congress, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, September 28, 1882.]

By PROF. DE CHAUMONT, F.R.S.

Although eating cannot be said to be in any way a new fashion, it has nevertheless been reserved for modern times, and indeed we may say the present generation, to get a fairly clear idea of the way in which food is really utilized for the work of our bodily frame. We must not, however, plume ourselves too much upon our superior knowledge, for inklings of the truth, more or less dim, have been had through all ages, and we are now stepping into the inheritance of times gone by, using the long and painful experience of our predecessors as the stepping-stone to our more accurate knowledge of the present time. In this, as in many other things, we are to some extent in the position of a dwarf on the shoulders of a giant; the dwarf may, indeed, see further than the giant; but he remains a dwarf, and the giant a giant.

The question has been much discussed as to what the original food of man was, and some people have made it a subject of excited contention. The most reasonable conclusion is that man is naturally a frugivorous or fruit-eating animal, like his cousins the monkeys, whom he still so much resembles. This forms a further argument in favor of his being originated in warm regions, where fruits of all kinds were plentiful. It is pretty clear that the resort to animal food, whether the result of the pressure of want from failure of vegetable products, or a mere taste and a desire for change and more appetizing food, is one that took place many ages ago, probably in the earliest anthropoid, if not in the latest pithecoid stage. No doubt some advantage was recognized in the more rapid digestion and the comparative ease with which the hunter or fisher could obtain food, instead of waiting for the ripening of fruits in countries which had more or less prolonged periods of cold and inclement weather. Some anatomical changes have doubtless resulted from the practice, but they are not of sufficiently marked character to found much argument upon; all that we can say being that the digestive apparatus in man seems well adapted for digesting any food that is capable of yielding nutriment, and that even when an entire change is made in the mode of feeding, the adaptability of the human system shows itself in a more or less rapid accommodation to the altered circumstances.

Food, then, is any substance which can be taken into the body and applied to use, either in building up or repairing the tissues and framework of the body itself, or in providing energy and producing animal heat, or any substance which, without performing those functions directly, controls, directs, or assists their performance. With this wide definition it is evident that we include all the ordinary articles recognized commonly as food, and that we reject all substances recognized commonly as poisons. But it will also include such substances as water and air, both of which are essential for nutrition, but are not usually recognized as belonging to the list of food substances in the ordinary sense. When we carry our investigation further, we find that the organic substances may be again divided into two distinct classes, namely, that which contains nitrogen (the casein), and those that do not (the butter and sugar).

On ascertaining this, we are immediately struck with the remarkable fact that all the tissues and fluids of the body, muscles (or flesh), bone, blood--all, in short, except the fat--contain nitrogen, and, consequently, for their building up in the young, and for their repair and renewal in the adult, nitrogen is absolutely required. We therefore reasonably infer that the nitrogenous substance is necessary for this purpose. Experiment has borne this out, for men who have been compelled to live without nitrogenous food by dire necessity, and criminals on whom the experiment has been tried, have all perished sooner or later in consequence. When nitrogenous substances are used in the body, they are, of course, broken up and oxidized, or perhaps we ought to say more accurately, they take the place of the tissues of the body which wear away and are carried off by oxidation and other chemical changes.

Now, modern science tell us that such changes are accompanied with manifestations of energy in some form or other, most frequently in that of heat, and we must look, therefore, upon nitrogenous food as contributing to the energy of the body in addition to its other functions.

What are the substances which we may class as nitrogenous. In the first place, we have the typical example of the purest form in _albumin_, or white of egg; and from this the name is now given to the class of _albuminates_. The animal albuminates are: Albumin from eggs, fibrin from muscles, or flesh, myosin, or synronin, also from animals, casein (or cheesy matter) from milk, and the nitrogenous substances from blood. In the vegetable kingdom, we have glutin, or vegetable fibrin, which is the nourishing constituent of wheat, barley, oats, etc.; and legumin, or vegetable casein, which is the peculiar substance found in peas and beans. The other organic constituents--viz., the fats and the starches and sugars--contain no nitrogen, and were at one time thought to be concerned in producing animal heat.

We now know--thanks to the labors of Joule, Lyon Playfair, Clausius, Tyndall, Helmholtz, etc.--that heat itself is a mode of motion, a form of convertible energy, which can be made to do useful or productive work, and be expressed in terms of actual work done. Modern experiment shows that all our energy is derived from that of food, and, in particular from the non-nitrogenous part of it, that is, the fat, starch, and sugar. The nutrition of man is best maintained when he is provided with a due admixture of all the four classes of aliment which we have mentioned, and not only that, but he is also better off if he has a variety of each class. Thus he may and ought to have albumen, fibrine, gluten, and casein among the albuminates, or at least two of them; butter and lard, or suet, or oil among the fats; starch of wheat, potato, rice, peas, etc., and cane-sugar, and milk-sugar among the carbo-hydrates. The salts cannot be replaced, so far as we know. Life may be maintained in fair vigor for some time on albuminates only, but this is done at the expense of the tissues, especially the fat of the body, and the end must soon come; with fat and carbo hydrates alone vigor may also be maintained for some time, at the expense of the tissues also, but the limit is a near one, In either of these cases we suppose sufficient water and salts to be provided.

We must now inquire into the quantities of food necessary; and this necessitates a little consideration of the way in which the work of the body is carried on. We must look upon the human body exactly as a machine; like an engine with which we are all so familiar. A certain amount of work requires to be done, say, a certain number of miles of distance to be traversed; we know that to do this a certain number of pounds, or hundredweights, or tons of coal must be put into the fire of the boiler in order to furnish the requisite amount of energy through the medium of steam. This amount of fuel must bear a certain proportion to the work, and also to the velocity with which it is done, so both quantity and time have to be accounted for.

No lecture on diet would be complete without a reference to the vexed question of alcohol. I am no teetotal advocate, and I repudiate the rubbish too often spouted from teetotal platforms, talk that is, perhaps, inseparable from the advocacy of a cause that imports a good deal of enthusiasm. I am at one, however, in recognizing the evils of excess, and would gladly hail their diminution. But I believe that alcohol properly used may be a comfort and a blessing, just as I know that improperly used it becomes a bane and a curse. But we are now concerned with it as an article of diet in relation to useful work, and it may be well to call attention markedly to the fact that its use in this way is very limited. The experiments of the late Dr. Parkes, made in our laboratory, at Netley, were conclusive on the point, that beyond an amount that would be represented by about one and a half to two pints of beer, alcohol no longer provided any convertible energy, and that, therefore, to take it in the belief that it did do so is an error. It may give a momentary stimulus in considerable doses, but this is invariably followed by a corresponding depression, and it is a maxim now generally followed, especially on service, never to give it before or during work. There are, of course, some persons who are better without it altogether, and so all moderation ought to be commended, if not enjoyed.

There are other beverages which are more useful than the alcoholic, as restoratives, and for support in fatigue. Tea and coffee are particularly good. Another excellent restorative is a weak solution of Liebig's extract of meat, which has a remarkable power of removing fatigue. Perhaps one of the most useful and most easily obtainable is weak oatmeal gruel, either hot or cold. With regard to tobacco, it also has some value in lessening fatigue in those who are able to take it, but it may easily be carried to excess. Of it we may say, as of alcohol, that in moderation it seems harmless, and even useful to some extent, but, in excess, it is rank poison.

There is one other point which I must refer to, and which is especially interesting to a great seaport like this. This is the question of scurvy--a question of vital importance to a maritime nation. A paper lately issued by Mr. Thomas Gray, of the Board of Trade, discloses the regrettable fact that since 1873 there has been a serious falling off, the outbreaks of scurvy having again increased until they reached ninety-nine in 1881. This, Mr. Gray seems to think, is due to a neglect of varied food scales; but it may also very probably have arisen from the neglect of the regulation about lime-juice, either as to issue or quality, or both. But it is also a fact of very great importance that mere monotony of diet has a most serious effect upon health; variety of food is not merely a pandering to gourmandism or greed, but a real sanitary benefit, aiding digestion and assimilation. Our Board of Trade has nothing to do with the food scales of ships, but Mr. Gray hints that the Legislature will have to interfere unless shipowners look to it themselves. The ease with which preserved foods of all kinds can be obtained and carried now removes the last shadow of an excuse for backwardness in this matter, and in particular the provision of a large supply of potatoes, both fresh and dried, ought to be an unceasing care; this is done on board American ships, and to this is doubtless owing in a great part the healthiness of their crews. Scurvy in the present day is a disgrace to shipowners and masters; and if public opinion is insufficient to protect the seamen, the legislature will undoubtedly step in and do so.

And now let me close by pointing out that the study of this commonplace matter of eating and drinking opens out to us the conception of the grand unity of nature; since we see that the body of man differs in no way essentially from other natural combinations, but is subject to the same universal physical laws, in which there is no blindness, no variableness, no mere chance, and disobedience of which is followed as surely by retribution as even the keenest eschatologist might desire.

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RATTLESNAKE POISON.

By HENRY H. CROFT.

Some time since, in a paper to which I am unfortunately unable to refer, a French chemist affirmed that the poisonous principle in snakes, or eliminated by snakes, was of the nature of an alkaloid, and gave a name to this class of bodies.

Mr. Pedler has shown that snake poison is destroyed or neutralized by means of platinic chloride, owing probably to the formation of an insoluble double platinic chloride, such as is formed with almost if not all alkaloids.

In this country (Texas) where rattlesnakes are very common, and persons camping out much exposed to their bites, a very favorite anecdote, or _remedia_ as the Mexicans cull it, is a strong solution of iodine in potassium iodide.[1]

[Footnote 1: The solution is applied as soon as possible to the wound, preferably enlarged, and a few drops taken internally. The common Mexican _remedia_ is the root of the _Agave virginica_ mashed or chewed and applied to the wound, while part is swallowed.

Great faith is placed in this root by all residents here, who are seldom I without it, but, I have had no experience of it myself; and the internal administration is no doubt useless.

Even the wild birds know of this root; the queer paisano (? ground woodpecker) which eats snakes, when wounded by a _vibora de cascabel_, runs into woods, digs up and eats a root of the agave, just like the mongoose; but more than that, goes back, polishes off his enemy, and eats him. This has been told me by Mexicans who, it may be remarked, are not _always_ reliable.]

I have had occasion to prove the efficacy of this mixture in two cases of _cascabel_ bites, one on a buck, the other on a dog; and it occurred to me that the same explanation of its action might be given as above for the platinum salt, viz., the formation of an insoluble iodo compound as with ordinary alkaloids if the snake poison really belongs to this class.

Having last evening killed a moderate sized rattlesnake--_Crotalus horridus_--which had not bitten anything, I found the gland fully charged with the white opaque poison; on adding iodine solution to a drop of this a dense light-brown precipitate was immediately formed, quite similar to that obtained with most alkaloids, exhibiting under the microscope no crystalline structure.

In the absence of iodine a good extemporaneous solution for testing alkaloids, and perhaps a snake poison antidote, may be made by adding a few drops of ferric chloride to solution of potassium of iodide; this is a very convenient test agent which I used in my laboratory for many years.