editor's table. 



vinn bark, have failed. There i3 a project for starting a ma mi factory of perfumes in 



Algeria, originating in M. Millon's ingenious researches. In a description of his process, 

 we are told that, "to avoid the alterations which flowers undergo on drying or distillation, 

 ho separates the aromatic part by dissolving it in a very volatile licjuid, which is afterwards 

 expelled by distillation. With such a solvent, the distillation is attended by no inconve- 

 nience, for it may be performed at a low temperature." The best solvents are ether and 

 sulphuret of carbon. " Proi>erly managed, there is very little loss of the solvent, and tho 

 distillation is rapidly performed, much more rapidly, and with a largc^r quantity of leaves 

 and flowers, than by the ordinary method. But the gathering of the flowers should be done 

 at the proper time of day for each flower. Thus, the carnation gives oft" its perfume after 

 an exposure of two or three hours to the sun. Roses, on the contrary, should be gathered 

 in the morning as soon as well open; the jasmine before sunrise." By this process, the 

 perfume becomes isolated, and may be kept exposed to the air for years without alteration. 

 The project becomes important by the side of the fact, that the annual value of the perfumes 



ex])ortcd from France is 30,000,000 francs. The Institute of British Architects announce, 



as subjects for future prizes : "The Application of Wrought Iron to Structural Purposes ;'' 

 "The Influence of Local Materials on Euglish Architecture ;" and they promise a tangible 

 honor " for the best design in not less than five drawings, for a marine sanitarium, or build- 

 ing for the temporary residence of a limited number of convalescents belonging to the mid- 

 dle and upper classes of society." The Institute do not confine themselves to the merely 

 useful, as Mr. Papworth's paper lately read before them, on "Beauty in Architecture and its 



Alliance with the Past," abundantly testifies. Certain agricultural chemists in France 



have discovered that pounded glass is profitable in cultivation of the land; and M. Paul 

 Thenard is making experiments, on a great scale, with the pulverized slag of blast furnaces. 

 This slag he believes to be equivalent to feldspathic rock, and eminently attackable by the 

 agents present in the soil and atmosphere ; for the constituents are silicates, anhydrous 

 potash, and iron. He has set up the necessary machinery for pulverizing the stubborn 

 lumps, and promises to publish his results as soon as they are justified by practice. Should 

 they confirm the results obtained on a smaller scale, what an opening there will be for a 

 new branch of industry, in the preparation of a fertilizer from heaps of refuse at present 



regarded as a nuisance ! Meteoric stones lead to the strong inference that the materials 



of the moon are exact representatives of our system ; for up to the present time, no element 

 has been found in a meteorite that has not its counterpart on the earth ; we certainly have 

 the proof, at least as far as we may ever expect to get it, that some materials of other por- 

 tions of the universe are identical with those of our earth. Fruja Domo is the name of a 



canvas sold in England, prepared from hair and wool — a perfect non-conductor of heat and 

 cold, keeping a fixed temperature. It is adapted to preserving fruits and flowers from the 

 scorching rays of the sun, from wind, from attacks of insects, and from morning frost. It is 

 two yards wide, and may be had of any required length, at about thirty-seven cents per yard 



run. It would be well for some of our seed-store men to introduce it. Prof. George Wilson, 



of Edinburgh, writing on the physical sciences, happily remarks : " A cattle dealer will 

 give you one calf which shall certainly, in course of time, prove a bouutiful yielder of milk 

 and cream ; another, which shall as certainly be a fatted ox when three years old ; a third, 

 which shall by-and-by be a match for a horse at the plough. The Yorkshire broadcloth 

 makers choose by preference the long-stapled wool of sheep fed plentifully upon artificial 

 grasses, turnips, and the like. The Welsh blanket makers, on the other hand, prefer the 

 shorter wool of sheep cropping the natural grass of the hills ; whilst the Scotch tartan 

 shawl weavers work only with Australian or Saxon wools. In like manner, the comb- 

 makers will tell you that the farmers are injuring them, by multiplying breeds of cattb 

 quickly fatten, and are, in consequence, killed before their horns are well grown : 



