34 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



In order to prevent that inconvenient, unhealthy process of manu- 

 facture, the Sociele d' Encouragement of Paris proposed a premium 

 for a chemical process enabling the manufacturers of these articles to 

 dispense with putrid fermentation. The process suggested by Mons. 

 Labarraque, the successful candidate, is remarkable for its cheapness 

 and the facility of its application. In following the method recom- 

 mended by this chemist, these animal matters can be worked more 

 easily, and kept for a longer time without evolving any noxious 

 smell. 



The guts, previously scoured, are put into a vat containing, for 

 every forty guts, four gallons of water, to which 1^ pounds oxychloride 

 of sodium, marking 13 on the areometer of Beaunie, is added. After 

 twelve hours of maceration, the mucous membrane is easily detached, 

 and the guts are free from any bad smell ; by this method, the process 

 of insufflation is more easily performed. 



The insufflated guts are suspended in a dry room until the desicca- 

 tion is complete ; and, once dried, the extremities by which they were 

 tied together are cut, and, in pressing the hand over the length of the 

 insufflated (inflated) gut, the air inside is completely, taken out. The 

 guts are then submitted to fumigation by sulphur, in order to bleach 

 and to preserve them from the attacks of insects. After this last opera- 

 tion, the guts are fit for use. 



Besides a large home supply of bladders, England imports several 

 hundred thousand a year, packed in salt and pickle, from America and 

 the Continent ; and the aggregate value of the bladders used in Great 

 Britain, is stated at 40,000 or 50,000. 



NEW METHOD OF PREPARING GUNPOWDER. 



Mr. W. Bennett, of England, has invented a new method of manu- 

 facturing gunpowder, the ingredients consisting of lime, nitre, sulphur, 

 and charcoal ; the lime is dissolved in a sufficient quantity of water 

 to bring the other elements into a paste. The lime, after having 

 been made into a solution, is strained through a fine sieve ; this solu- 

 tion is then added to the other ingredients, and the whole is put into 

 a mill, and ground until it becomes a paste ; it is then taken out of the 

 mill, and passed between two rollers, one grooved and the other plain. 

 The paste, by passing between the rollers, is formed into long strips of 

 a triangular shape ; it is then carried on an endless web or canvas 

 over some hot tubes, which are heated by steam, hot waier, or any 

 other artificial heat which may be applied ; by this means, the strips 

 are easily broken into grains. This mode of manufacture prevents a 

 great deal of danger, as the powder is pulverized and brought into 

 grain while in a wet state. The lime makes a firm grain, resists the 

 damp, and gives it a degree of lightness which increases the bulk 25 

 per cent, over ordinary gunpowder, a great advantage for blasting 

 purposes. Plaster of Paris, Koman or Portland cement, or other strong 

 cementing substance, may be used as a substitute for lime. And the 

 patentee finds that for blasting purposes the following proportions an- 

 swer well, that is to say, nitre, 65 Ibs. ; charcoal, 18 Ibs.; sulphur, 10 

 Ibs. ; and lime, 7 Ibs. ; but the proportions may be varied according to 

 the strength required. 



