FISHERIES AND FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF PUGET SOUND. 375 



The aluminum alginate is soluble in caustic soda, forming a neutral solution and 

 giving on evaporation a substance like algin, but harder and making a stiffer finish. 

 It is also soluble in ammonia, the salt becoming an insoluble varnish on evaporation. 



The alginates of copper (blue), nickel (green), cobalt (red), chromium [green), are 

 all soluble in ammonia and form beautiful, colored, insoluble varnish on evaporation. 



Commercial application of algin or sodium alginate. — Algin being a soluble gum of 

 considerable elasticity and flexibility is a great desideratum, and as a soluble substi- 

 tute for albumen, which can easily be rendered soluble and used as a mordant, it is a 

 valuable production. 



As a finish, algin has the advantage over starch that it fills the cloth better, is 

 tougher and more elastic, that it is transparent when dry, is not acted upon by acids, 

 and it imparts to the goods a thick, clothy, elastic feeling without the stiffness imparted 

 by starch. It has been used as a mordant in dyeing turkey red with remarkable suc- 

 cess. The mordants when precipitated seem to have full dyeing powers, the results 

 indicating that the substance is capable of taking the place of cow dung as used in 

 print and dye works. 



As an article of food. — Algin contains carbon, 44*39 ; hydrogen, 5*47 ; nitrogen, 

 3*77; oxygen, 46*37; or about the same amount of nitrogen found in Dutch cheese. 

 It has a pleasant marine taste, easily overcome if objected to, and may form a useful 

 addition to the kitchen for thickening soups and puddings. It appears specially 

 adapted to replace gumarabic in the manufacture of jujubes and lozenges. To make 

 into jelly requires addition of glucose or gelatin or admixture of lemon juice. 



For boiler incrustations. — The sodium alginate has a remarkable effect on resolv- 

 ing and preventing the incrustation of boilers. It precipitates the lime in a state in 

 which it can be easily blown off. The solution is pumped in with the feed water in 

 the proportion of 1 pound to every 1,000 gallons ; when hard waters area necessity 

 the saving of fuel is considerable. For salt water boilers the sodium alginate is 

 valuable and should be fully investigated. 



Algic cellulose. — This substance bleaches easily, and under pressure becomes very 

 hard, and can be turned and polished with facility. It also makes a good paper, tough 

 and transparent, but with no fiber. 



The process of extracting the algin and the cellulose utilizes the whole plant, and 

 we obtain two new products of considerable commercial importance. The process is 

 extremely simple, as already described, being a maceration of the plant for twenty- 

 four hours in a solution of sodium carbonate in the cold; then filter and press. This 

 operation does not require an* extravagant plant, nor do operations on a large scale 

 present any serious practical difficulties. The alga 3 of the Pacific coast are in such 

 enormous quantities that the rudest kind of a building for shelter could be erected 

 anywhere on the coast, or on Puget Sound near to the extensive fields of kelp, where 

 it could be easily gathered at small expense and macerated in fresh-water solution of 

 sodium carbonate, filtered, pressed, and made ready for the manufacturers. 



During a residence of many years in the vicinity of Cape Flattery, at the entrance 

 of Fuca Strait, I have had ample time and opportunity to observe the great masses of 

 the giant kelp and other marine plants, which are torn up by the roots every fall by the 

 storms, and piled by the waves along the beach at Neah Bay. I have frequently 

 noticed, when a mass of this kelp has been thrown into a pool of fresh water, that in 

 a few days it is covered with this slippery substance which Stanford has named algin, 



