8o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



extent of more than 25,000 tons a year. It is received in two forms : 

 first quality, cut, and some known as agar-agar ; and second quality, 

 long. This sea-weed is principally consumed by the lower classes of 

 Chinese as a condiment or flavoring, with their rice or other food. 



Another product into which sea-weed is converted is gelose a sort 

 of vegetable isinglass. Viewed from whatever direction, the more 

 general utilization of sea-weed is a most important matter. In some 

 of the northern countries of Europe, cattle are fed on it. Formerly, 

 iodine was only obtained in any quantity from the kelp of sea-weed, 

 but it now appears likely that it can be produced in Peru at a com- 

 paratively small cost, as a by-product extracted during the process 

 of manufacturing nitrate of soda ; while the necessary arrangements 

 for the manufacture of iodine from kelp are very costly, and the works 

 and machinery used require a large sum of money. It is possible that 

 5,000 or 6,000 hundred-weight of iodine might be manufactured in 

 Peru at a low cost, but the war with Chili interfered materially with 

 the production. With the exception of the manufacture of kelp, the 

 principal use of sea-weed is for manuring land. Under the name of 

 carrageen, or Irish moss, some is used for food. In France, a gelatine 

 or gum is prepared from sea-weed, which is variously useful in the 

 arts, as in finishing cotton fabrics, making artificial leather, etc. When 

 chemically prepared and pressed, it was, at one time, used extensively 

 for the manufacture of a substitute for horn, called laminite, but this 

 has been dropped. It has occasionally been made into paper. 



There is an application of waste substances of vegetable origin that 

 is largely carried on, which certainly does not merit approval, being, 

 for the most part, prosecuted for the purposes of deception and fraudu- 

 lent gain, and this is in substitutes for, or additions to, coffee. Figs, 

 date-stones, lupines, malt, chiccory, etc., are largely sold, besides the 

 seeds of a stinking weed ( Cassia occidentalis) which, when roasted, 

 according to French authorities, is equal to coffee. While the produc- 

 tion of coffee is fully equal to the demand, and the price is moderate, 

 I can not see the necessity for these various substitutes. The more 

 legitimate use of date-stones is that to which they are put by the 

 Arabs. They are soaked in water for two or three days, and, when 

 somewhat softened, used to feed their camels, cows, and sheep. There 

 are shops in Medina where they sell only date-stones, and the poor 

 often occupy themselves in collecting the date-stones thrown about 

 the streets by those who eat dates. 



Cocoa is not so largely consumed in this country as on the Conti- 

 nent. But the cocoa shells or husks which are separated from the nibs 

 after sifting are imported here to the extent often of 500 tons annual- 

 ly, paying a duty of 2s. a hundred-weight, against 9s. Ad. a hundred- 

 weight charged on cocoa and chocolate. These shells or husks form 

 about twelve per cent of the weight of the beans. In the manufacture 

 of the finer chocolates they are always separated, and hence accumulate 



