224: ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



whortlcbcriy, contain a considerable proportion of quinic acid, identical with 

 that obtained from Peruvian bark. 



On the Preservation of Yeast. M. Changy, a French chemist, states that 

 yeast, whether solid or liquid, if mixed with a certain quantity of animal 

 or vegetable charcoal, and afterwards dried, either by a current of air or by 

 a rotating apparatus, produces a powder which preserves for ail unlimited 

 period its fermenting properties. 



Oxidation of Organic Matter. Mr. G. T. Glover, writing in the Chemical 

 News, recommends oxidizing organic matter in analysis for the detection of 

 mineral poisons, by conveying through the mass to be examined the gas 

 evolved when chlorate of potash is treated with dilute muriatic acid. He 

 represents this process as avoiding the inconvenience of mixing the chlorate 

 of potash with the substance itself. 



New Dye. An Austrian is said to have discovered a carmine dye in the 

 Chinese sorgho. The plant is allowed to ferment, and then treated with 

 caustic soda or potash, which dissolves the coloring matter. It is then pre- 

 cipitated by sulphuric acid. 



Carious Action of Silver. Professor Boettger states that if dry oxide of 

 silver is moistened with essence of cloves, the mixture takes fire and the 

 metal is reduced. 



Suggestions for Removing Ink Spots. If the ink is the common nutgall and 

 iron ink, a solution of oxalic acid will remove the spot at once. Those from 

 ink which contains indigo, if on paper, are first bleached with chlorine water 

 and then removed by hydrochloric acid; if on linen, first with a solution of 

 hydrochloriie of lime or Labarraque's solution, and then Avith acid. Blue 

 ink is removed by treating the spot first with some alkali, and washing it 

 afterwards with some acid. 



Benzinated Magnesia for the Removal of Grease Spots. Lumps of carbon- 

 ate of magnesia (calcined magnesia will answer the same purpose) are 

 saturated with benzole, and spread over the grease spot a sixth of an inch 

 thick. When dry, the magnesia is simply dusted off, but the operation is 

 repeated if necessary. This method of applying benzole in combination 

 with the capillary action of the magnesia is said to be superior to any other 

 for the removal of fresh and old spots from all kinds of wood, ivory, paper, 

 parchment, silk, and cotton: for woollen it is not adapted, on account of the 

 magnesia becoming fixed in the grain. 



Coal-Oil as a Preservative for Sodium and Potassium. Coal-oil is a better 

 article for preserving sodium and potassium than naphtha. In coal-oil, 

 sodium keeps its lustre for months or years, while in the purest naphtha it 

 loses it in a few days. Correspondence Journal Franklin Institute. 



Action of Sulphuretted Hydrogen on Silver. It has been shown by M3I. 

 Davanne and Girard that perfectly dry sulphuretted hydrogen does not act 

 upon silver. Silver le&ves may be suspended in a perfectly dry atmosphere 

 of this gas without undergoing change. 



Adamantine Boron. This name is applied by Deville to anew combination 

 of aluminum and boric acid, recently prepared by him, which possesses most 

 remarkable properties. It is harder than the diamond, will cut and drill 

 rubies, and even the diamond itself, with more facility than the diamond 

 powder. 



Gas-Lime as a Depilatory. As is well known, the Turkish rusma owes 

 its action on the hair to the persulphide of lime it contains, the arsenic pre- 

 sent being only the bearer of the sulphur. A writer in the Polytechnische 



