CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 245 



be exposed to the direct action of the sun, this change takes place much 

 more rapidly. The under layer of oil is separated from the spirit, which floats 

 upon it, and is preserved in well-closed bottles (stoppered, or with plugs of 

 wood or gutta-percha) ; the spirit may also be prepared for another operation, 

 or if large quantities be employed, it may be distilled after each operation. 

 The removal of color is not the only advantage which is gained by treating 

 olive oil with alcohol, for a considerable quantity of the margarine which it 

 contains is also dissolved out, and hence oil so treated will not solidify so 

 readily as the raw oil. The process just described, and which is undoubtedly 

 better than treatment, first with sugar of lead, then with sulphuric acid, wash- 

 ing with boiling water, and drying with chloride of calcium, or any other of 

 the processes in common use is applicable, more or less, to all other oils, even 

 to coarse fish oils. It may be of importance to painters in oil, who are anxious 

 not to injure the delicate tints of ultramarine, rose, scarlet, and other delicate 

 shades of red, and in fact of all pure tones, to know, that linseed oil, even the 

 darkest and muddiest, may be so far bleached as to become bright and clear, 

 and have only a slight yellow tinge ; a good deal of oil is now purified in 

 this manner in Great Britain. Polytechnisches Journal. 



On the employment of- Sea-weed in the manufacture of Soap. Mr. Claussen, 

 of flax-cotton notoriety, in a paper before the British Association, stated the 

 following facts relative to the employment of marine plants in the manufacture 

 of soap: 



" When I was experimenting on several plants for the purpose of discover- 

 ing fibers for paper pulp, I accidentally treated some common sea-weeds with 

 alkalies, and found they were entirely dissolved, and formed a soapy com- 

 pound which could be employed in the manufacture of soap. The making of 

 soaps directly from sea-weeds must be more advantageous than burning them 

 for the purpose of making kelp, because the fucusoid and glutinous matter 

 they contain are saved and converted into soap. The Brazilians use a mal- 

 vaceous plant (Sida) for washing instead of soap, and the Chinese use flour of 

 beans in the scouring of their silks ; and I have found that not alone sea- 

 weed, but also many other glutinous plants, and gluten, may be used in the 

 manufacture of soap with advantage." 



METHOD OF RAPIDLY BLEACIIIXG WAX, AXD PTJUIFYESTG TAL- 

 LOW, OILS, ETC. 



Wax, properly speaking, consists of pure wax and a coloring matter. 

 There arjs several kinds of wax, distinguished commercially by the relative 

 amount of coloring matter which they contain. Formerly it was supposed 

 that wax could only be bleached by the action of sunlight. To effect this 

 object the operations were commenced early in the spring, and continued for 

 3 or 4 months. The wax required to be made into ribbons of great tenacity, 

 or feathered as zinc is, by being poured into water. This must be repeated 

 several times during its exposure to the sunshine. The whole process requires 

 a heavy outlay of capital, and the results are moreover uncertain and variable 

 according to the weather. In order to diminish the amount of capital which 



