666 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In the summer of 1823 he gave an account of his analysis of 

 fulminating silver before the Academy. Having finished his 

 paper, as he was packing up his preparations, a gentleman came 

 up to him and questioned him as to his studies and future plans, 

 and, after a most exacting examination, ended by asking him to 

 dinner on the following Sunday. Liebig accepted the invitation, 

 but, through nervousness and confusion, forgot to ask the name 

 and address of his interviewer. Sunday came, and poor Liebig 

 was in despair at not being able to keep his engagement. 



The next day a friend came to him and said, " What on earth 

 did you mean by not coming to dine with von Humboldt yester- 

 day, who had invited Gay-Lussac and other chemists to meet 

 you ? " "I was thunderstruck,^' said Liebig, " and rushed off, as 

 fast as I could run, to von Humboldt's lodgings, and made the 

 best excuses I could." The great traveler, satisfied with the ex- 

 planation, told him it was unfortunate, as he had several members 

 of the Academy at his house to meet him, but thought he could 

 make it all right if he would come to dinner next Sunday. He 

 went, and there made the acquaintance of Gay-Lussac, who was 

 so struck with the genius and enthusiasm of the youth that he 

 took him into his private laboratory, and continued, in conjunc- 

 tion with him, the investigation of the fulminating compounds.— 

 Chemical News. 



THE COTTON mDUSTRY IN BRAZIL. 



Bt JOHN C. BEANNEE, Ph.D., 



rORMEELT ASSISTANT GEOLOGIST OF THE GEOLOGICAL StJEVET OF BRAZIL. 



COTTON is indigenous to Brazil. The oldest documents relat- 

 ing to that country contain many references to its existence 

 there and to the uses made of it by the Indians at the time of the 

 discovery. There is no indication, however, that it was then culti- 

 vated to any considerable extent by the natives. The picture of 

 the indifference of the aborigines in regard to such matters is 

 vividly suggested by the manner in which a few straggling plants 

 are allowed to grow, even nowadays, about the houses of the civil- 

 ized Indians, and by the poor classes generally throughout the 

 interior of the country. 



As soon, however, as the Portuguese came to Brazil, bringing 

 with them a knowledge of the cultivation of cotton and of its 

 uses, there was established an industry which has been an impor- 

 tant factor in the material prosperity and development of the 

 country. Although by the end of the seventeenth century cotton 

 was quite generally cultivated throughout Brazil, it was used 

 almost exclusively for domestic purposes until the last half of the 



