550 ANNUAL KECOED OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



etc., placed on suitable open frames, it will take up the oily 

 matter, and retain it in solution after condensation. By dis- 

 tilling this solution, and either j^assing the vapor through 

 fresh portions of wool, etc., or condensing it, the oily matter 

 is left as a residue, which can be purified and utilized. Treat- 

 ment with vapor is more eifective than with liquid hydrocar- 

 bon, since it comes into more intimate contact with the sub- 

 stance to be purified. 13 C\ September 1, 1872, 1163. 



REMOVAL OF GUM FROM SILK. 



Formerly raw silk was boiled in bags in a solution of soap, 

 whereby its gloss was frequently injured. Afterward this 

 process was modified by exposing the silk to the action of 

 steam, after having been impregnated with Marseilles soap. 

 The removal of the gum from raw silk has since then been 

 still further simplified, and requires neither boiling nor steam- 

 ing. The silk, suspended upon sticks, is moved about for a 

 quarter of an hour in a hot bath, containing a quarter of a 

 pound of soap for every pound of silk, and then treated in the 

 same way in a second bath containing only one fifth of a 

 pound of soap for a pound of silk. Simple as this proceeding 

 is, it has, nevertheless, been found successful in rendering the 

 silk soft, smooth, and of higher gloss. 18 (7, 1872, xx., 409. 



IMPROVED FLOUR PASTE. 



Paste which will keep unchanged in warm or damp weather 

 may be made in the following manner : Put a teaspoonful of 

 powdered alum in two quarts of water, and let it boil. Mix 

 a pint of flour smoothly into a pint of cold water, and stir it 

 into the boiling alum water, continuing the boiling and stir- 

 ring until the flour is cooked, and the whole is clear, like starch. 

 Add to this about half a teaspoonful of essential oil of cloves 

 or cinnamon, strain through a wnre gauze or perforated tin 

 strainer, and bottle in wide-mouthed jars, which should be 

 corked to keep out dust. 



PROCESS FOR BLEACrilXG RAPE, POPPY, AND LINSEED OILS. 



Puscher states that by mixing 220 pounds of these oils in- 

 timately with 4^ pounds of a mixture containing equal parts, 

 by weight, of 96 per cent, alcohol and oil of vitriol, they do 

 not become j^artially resinous, as when oil of vitriol alone is 



