CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 195 



affections. Shall we have this locality converted into a fashionable 

 watering-place, and find Dead-Sea water figuring amongst the articles 

 of import trade ? It is evident that if bromides come into greater de- 

 mand for photographic, medical, and other purposes, they might be 

 economically prepared on this spot, at least to the extent of evaporating 

 the water in shallow basins by natural heat, and sending the solid 

 residue to our laboratories for future manipulation. 



Interesting Application of Dialysis. Already an economical appli- 

 cation of Mr. Graham's ingenious process of dialysis has been discovered, 

 and tried, with an interesting result, in the utilization of brine. In the 

 curing of meat, there commonly remains a quantity of waste brine ; but 

 Dr. Marcet, by dialysing this refuse liquor, separates the salt from the 

 juice of the meat, and the latter remains fit for use as an article of diet. 

 Separated in quantities on a great scale, it might be converted into 

 soup for prisons and penitentiaries, or for half-starved cotton-spinners 

 in Lancashire. From this beginning it would, perhaps, be safe to pre- 

 dict that dialysis will prove as valuable to commerce as to science. 



Cement of Casein. Dr. Wagner, in The Technologist, recommends the 

 Employment of a cold saturated solution of borax or of silicate of soda, 

 to dissolve casein. The solution of casein by borax, is a clear liquid, 

 of viscid consistence, more adhesive than gum, and able to replace in 

 many cases strong glue. Stuffs of linen and cotton impregnated with 

 this solution can be treated with tannic acid or acetate of alumina and 

 rendered impermeable. 



Non-Inflammable Fabrics. A French chemist recommends the 

 following simple method of rendering muslins and all other light stuffs 

 incombustible ; it is merely necessary to mix with the starch used in 

 making them up the half of its weight of carbonate of lime, commonly 

 called Spanish chalk or Spanish white. The muslin or other stuff is 

 then ironed as usual. The chalk thus added in no respect injures 

 either the appearance, the quality, or the whiteness of the stuff. 

 Times. 



M. Lauvageon, a French investigator, has also discovered that cot- 

 ton cloth which has been exposed lor a certain time to the vapor of 

 burning sulphur assumes such an amount of incombustibility that al- 

 though it will char and become brittle when held over the flame of a 

 spirit lamp, it cannot be made to take fire, while under like conditions 

 similar cloth, but unprepared in this way, inflamed immediately. If 

 the alleged facts be borne out in practice, the problem is solved ; for 

 the simplest domestic means may be devised for subjecting, after being 

 washed, all white clothing to the vapor of sulphur, which will tend to 

 make it still whiter. Moreover, it may not prove necessary to repeat 

 the exposure so often. 



Coffee Crushed vs. Coffee Ground. It is not generally known 

 that coffee which has been beaten is better than that which has been 

 ground. Such, however, is the fact ; and in his brief article on the 

 subject, Savarin gives what he considers the reasons for the difference. 

 As he remarks, a mere decoction of green coffee is a most insipid drink, 

 but carbonization develops the aroma, and an oil, which is the peculi- 

 arity of the coffee we drink. He agrees with other writers that the 

 Turks excel in this. They employ no mills, but beat the berry with 

 wooden pestles in mortars. When long used, these pestles become 



