HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



IOI 



up perpetually a gasping swallowing movement, 

 during which I could see portions of the worm's 

 viscera pass completely through. 



A scientific friend to whom I sent specimens 

 with drawings, after much study and searching, 

 found that the worm was probably a form described 

 by Leidy in the '"Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences," Philadelphia, in 1848, under the 



Fig. 42. — Proboscis as disrupted 

 from body ; (E) being free end. 



Fig. 43.— (F) free end. 



name of Phogocata gracilis, and that the tubes (so- 

 called), varying in number as I have found them 

 from four to twenty-two (Leidy says twenty-three in 

 the full-grown animal) were the proboscides of the 

 animal. By placing the worm in a compressorium 

 and subjecting it to pressure, these proboscides may 

 be quite well seen in the body cavity writhing, 

 extending and contracting themselves, with a 

 ceaseless motion. I enclose rough sketches of the 

 creature, and of the proboscides as they appear when 

 separated from the body. They may interest you. 

 I may say that the infusorial parasites, which are 

 found quite plentifully upon this species of worm, are 

 identified as Urceolaria mitra, and it is said to be 

 the first time they have been seen in this country. 



H. E. Valentine. 

 Boston, Mass. U.S.A. 



" SACCHARINE "—A REPLY. 



THE March number of Science-Gossip contains 

 an interesting, but withal somewhat amusing, 

 chapter by Dr. Alfred Crespi, on " Benzoylsulpho- 

 nicionide " — the new and marvellous sweetening 

 agent which recent research has been successful in 

 producing from that most unlikely source — coal tar. 

 The article is interesting, because of the scientific 

 details it gives, and because it draws public attention 

 to one more of those wonderful discoveries by which, 

 for the past twenty years, scientists have been steadily 

 increasing their usefulness to, and earning the grati- 

 tude of, every section of the community. It is amusing 



only when the writer comes to the prosy question of 

 commercial utility ; then no other simile suits the story 

 so well as a game of skittles, the varying probable 

 uses of the production being trotted out only to be 

 bowled over again and knocked down by the ap- 

 parently somewhat self-doubled contrary arguments ; 

 and it occurred to me that a few words, from a manu- 

 facturer's point of view, might not be unacceptable to 

 general readers. 



It is usually understood to be an easy task to 

 prophesy after an event has taken place, and, having 

 donned the prophet's mantle, Dr. Crespi peeps into 

 the future (?), and tells us that "probably for com- 

 mercial and domestic purposes saccharine will soon 

 come into common use in the form of an alkaline 

 powder." But this is exactly what has already 

 happened : a large firm of London wholesale grocers 

 are the agents for the U. K. ; and in many of our 

 leading retail shops little packets, containing a small 

 bottle with a tiny scoop measure, are being offered to 

 a discriminating British public at 2s. 6d. each. 



The essayist considered it to be "reassuring to be 

 told saccharine will not drive cane or beet sugar from 

 the field " ; he does not venture upon giving any 

 reason for this comforting statement, but endeavours 

 to evolve "three great fields " of usefulness, the third 

 and least extensive being the only one that it is at 

 all likely to be of much service in. Sugar is strong 

 poison to some poor sufferers, and to these the boon 

 offered is almost beyond price ; were it alone for their 

 sake every sympathetic man would hail its introduc- 

 tion with joy. They are enabled to receive that for 

 which nature craves without detriment to their physical 

 conditions. 



The second, that of covering the taste of sickly 

 drugs, is so ably disposed of by the Doctor himself 

 that I need not say one word upon the point, but will 

 at once address myself to the first, which is the largest 

 of the three fields, and which contains the greatest 

 fallacy, viz. Its applicability to manufactured goods, 

 with special reference to the confectionery trade; and 

 it may as well be stated at once very broadly that, 

 except for the flavouring of liquids, etc., in which 

 bulk is not a point at issue,. or for the sweetening of 

 culinary preparations requisite for invalids, it is of no 

 practical value to the manufacturer unless he got it 

 almost entirely free of cost, while at present its cost 

 is about equal to that of good sugar. 



After having put certain ingredients together and 

 cooked them in the necessary fashion, the first con- 

 sideration with the maker is to know what weight he 

 has left, sugar as well as most other goods suffering a 

 loss by evaporation when at boiling-point ; this, how- 

 ever, due care reduces to a known quantity. Let me 

 give an illustration : if it were desired to produce 

 about one hundredweight of cake, 84 lbs. to be the 

 several component parts, and 28 lbs. of sugar to be 

 added, the total cost of material being, say, 30^., 

 and the turnout, after baking, would be, roughly 



