MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 103 



Resin, sol. in alcohol, 0.05 per cent. 



Chlorophyll and nicotianin, 0.32 " 



Nicotina, 0.31 " 



To Remove Paint. — To remove pciint of white lead or zinc-white 

 which has become dry and hard, and cannot be removed by- 

 benzine, ether, or the bisulphide of carbon, a little chloroform 

 may be used successfully. The odor, so disagreeable to many 

 persons, will quickly disappear by warming the fabric before the 

 tire, or by the application of a moderately hot smoothing iron. 



Uses of Paper. — Esparto grass is radidly growing in use for 

 making paper. It is stated that a large proportion of British 

 paper is now made from it. The London *' Times" is printed on 

 paper made of tiiis material, as is also the fine thin paper on which 

 the circular conveying this information is printed. Fifty thousand 

 tons are annually exported from Spain and Portugal to England, 

 at a cost of about 35 dollars a ton. 



Machine belting is manufactured of paper by Messrs. Crane, at 

 Dalton, Mass., and is in use in several New England mills. One 

 of these paper belts measures 75 feet Jong and 8 inches wide. 

 The article promises to become the subject of much importance. 



Improvement in Generating Illuminating Oas. — Ferdinand King, 

 of Richmond, Va., in his patent, says: " I take of the oil that 

 runs from the gas tar produced at gas or coke works about 2 

 parts, and crude petroleum about 1 part, and mix them to- 

 gether, forming a compound oil. From this compound oil I gen- 

 erate gas by treating it in any oil-gas generator, in the same way 

 that other oils are treated for the same purpose. It makes a 

 superior illuminating gas, at a very small expense, and will be 

 found of great value for lighting private houses and single build- 

 ings or establishments which cannot be supplied by public gas 

 works." 



Minargent. — A new substitute for silver, which is said to possess 

 nine-tenths of its whiteness, malleability, ductility, tenacity, so- 

 norousness, and density, while it has a superior metallic lustre, 

 wears better, is less likely to be acted upon by sulphur in its vari- 

 ous forms, and is less fusible than silver. The chief features of 

 this alloy consist in the introduction of pure tungsten and alu- 

 minium, also the considerable proportion of nickel which the 

 inventors have been enabled to alloy with aluminium, notwith- 

 standing its known want of affinity therewith. Minargent is 

 composed of 1,000 parts copper, 700 parts nickel, 50 parts tungsten, 

 and 10 parts aluminium. The first three elements are melted 

 together, then run off in a granulated form, and again melted, 

 adding the aluminium and about 1^ per cent of a flux composed 

 of 1 part borax and 1 part fluoride of calcium ; these proportions 

 of borax are reduced as the fusion proceeds. 



Lnprovement in Fire-proof Safes. — Edward H. Ashcroft, of 

 Lynn, Mass., in his patent says: "I place in the inner perforated 

 compartments of a safe, metallic tubes or vials filled with a liquid 

 acid (sulphuric acid, for instance), one or both ends of such tube 

 or vial being stopped with an easily fusible alloy. I surround 

 this by, and place in immediate contact with it, bicarbonate of soda. 



