Kansas academy of science. 



sugar. Recent patents have been taken out, by which an excellent quality of crystalized 

 grape sugar can be made. The product is actually the hydrate, and does not absorb 

 water readily. The chief modification from the ordinary method of manufacture is 

 that the liquid grape sugar is absorbed by some porous substance. Experiments with a 

 great variety of antiseptics, have shown that borax and boracic acid have the greatest 

 power in this direction. The difference between new and stale bread is not on account 

 of less water in the latter, but because a molecular change has taken place. The sticky 

 or elastic condition of new bread is the only reason why it is less digestible than the 

 stale. Recent French chemists claim to have discovered that alcohol is made in the sys- 

 tem, even if sugar and other fermentable substances do not form part of the diet. 

 Salicylic acid, if introduced into the system, is eliminated by the kidneys and liver. It 

 usually does no harm, but as in certain conditions of the system, and in certain tempera- 

 ments, it may do harm, its use as a food preservative cannot be recommended. Boiling 

 oxygen has been used as a refrigerant. By its use, nitrogen may be obtained in snow- 

 like flakes. 



O'Shea has investigated bleaching powder, and finds the symbols to be Ca — O — O CI. 

 Water decomposes it into Ca (O Cl 2 ) and Ca Cl 2 . The specific gravity of liquid oxygen 

 at minus 130° Centigrade is .899. Brucine is proposed as a test for tin. A nitric acid 

 solution is used ; this is diluted with water, and heated to boiling. It gives a purple 

 color with stannous compounds. 



II. Agricultural and Analytical Chemistry. — By J. T. Willard, State Agri- 

 cultural College. 



In preparing this review of the Progress in Agricultural and Analytical Chemistry, 

 the writer has been impressed by the mass of really valuable acquisitions of the past 

 year. His only difficulty has been to select from this abundance that which is of the 

 most importance and will most truly show the advances that have been made. This 

 selection has doubtless been influenced somewhat by his personal appreciation of certain 

 points, while another would have laid the greater stress upon other lines of work. Some 

 very valuable papers from their length can only be referred to, while many of scarcely 

 less value than those to be noticed presently cannot be alluded to at all. 



A large portion of the work in agricultural chemistry has consisted of experiments 

 to determine the effect of certain fertilizers on various crops. These experiments, while 

 quite valuable, cannot be mentioned in detail. Prof. Paul Wagner has conducted a series 

 of manuring experiments with such care that his results are almost as accordant as ac- 

 curate chemical analyses. After five years' experience, he insists that a tolerably exact 

 experiment in manuring requires the strict adherence to the methods which he describes. 

 ( Journal Chem. Society, No. CCVLIII, p. 634.) 



Dr. A. B. Griffiths finds that in solutions containing an increased amount of ferrous 

 sulphate up to .15 per cent, plants grow much better, especially those containing a 

 large amount of chlorophyl ; while in solutions containing .2 per cent., seeds will not 

 germinate and plants die. ( Chem. News, vol. 50, p. 167.) Other experiments of his tend 

 to the conclusion that chlorophyl is a compound of iron with a glucoside. ( C. N., 4^ — 

 237.) 



Dr. T. L. Phipson, about a year ago, published an article upon the production of oxy- 

 gen by certain unicellular alga?. ( C. N., 48 — 205.) He has since published the results 

 of other experiments showing that plants have not the power to take carbon dioxide 

 from water and decompose it liberating oxygen, if the water contains only carbon dioxide; 

 something else is necessary, and this, he asserts, is hydrogen peroxide. He attributes 

 the evolution of oxygen to reactions between C0 2 and H 2 2 by which ternary com- 

 pounds are formed in the plant and oxygen liberated. ( C. N, 50 — 37.) 



