THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 100 



It is necessary to be able to detect an oily substitute when oc- 

 casion requires it. 



A known quantity of the sample is dig-ested in alcoholic potassium 

 hydroride for twelve to fifteen hours. An excess of normal acid solu- 

 tion is then run in and the mixture is allowed to stand for about 

 twenty-four hours, and the liberation of free fatty acids will be seen to 

 have formed in the beaker. This would indicate the presence of an 

 oily substitute and not a pure rubber. 



Rubber Fillers: — Most of the fillers can be detected and identified 

 by extracting- the finely dividel sample with a strong inorganic acid 

 (H CI or HNO.,), evaporating oiT the excess and replacing it by 

 water. The metals are then determined by the regular methods. 

 Another method is to first char the samples and then extract with acid. 



The compound microscope will be found to be a great aid in the 

 detection of various precipitates and powders obtained in the analysis 

 of rubber . 



HUMAN BILLBOARDS. 



Some of us are made on the order of billboards; a flashy front 

 with a vacant lot behind. — Hogwallow Kentuckian. 



This is the age of condensed foods. We are now to have con- 

 densed eggs. Chemists com])ute that 70 per cent, of eggs is water, 

 and that by evaporating this and canning the remainder the product 

 can be kept for an indefinite time. There are no shells and no bad 

 eggs, nothing, in fact, but canned chemicals. It may be a matter of 

 sentiment, but we opine that most men will prefer the fruit of the hen, 

 to that of the laboratory. The canned concoction may be just as 

 nutritive, but there is something about the good old egg, sunny side 

 up, that appeals to the imagination.— iV. Y. Press. 



German Foot Powder. — Policemen, mail carriers and others whose 

 occupation keeps them on their feet a great deal often are troubled 

 with chafed, sore and blistered feet, especially in extremely hot weather, 

 no matter how comfortably their shoes ma}' fit. A powder is used 

 in the German army for sifting into the shoes and stockings of the foot 

 soldiers, cahed "Fusstreupulver," and consists of three parts of salicylic 

 acid, ten parts starch and eighty-seven parts pulverized soapstone. It 

 keeps the feet dry, prevents chafing and rapidly heals sore spots. Finely 

 pulverized soapstone alone is very good. 



