HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 225 



"Scrap made by this process last August (1877), and dried in the 

 open air, was lately analyzed at the agricultural experiment station of 

 Connecticut, and the statement of the director, Prof. S. W. Johnson, of 

 New Haven, shows the proportion of moisture to be reduced to 11.45 per 

 cent., or about one-fifth that contained in the scrap fresh from the press; 

 and the proportion of oil to 4.G5 per cent., thus proving that the content 

 of oil in the washed sera]) as it came from the press (before drying it) had 

 been reduced to less than 2^ per cent. [The percentage of nitrogen was 

 10.24 per cent., the phosphoric acid 7.50 per cent. These figures refer 

 to the material as dried in the open air.J 



"According to these figures, the proportion of oil hitherto lost is, by 

 the new ])rocess, reduced from an average of, say 15 per cent, of the 

 weight of the scrap as it commonly issues from the press, to about 2 

 per cent. The balance, say 12 or 13 per cent., is saved. Let it be as- 

 sumed, however, that only 10 per cent, can be realized in practice, and 

 that the annual out-turn of scrap from the factories of the Maine 

 association be only 40,000,000 pounds. This would give an annual 

 saving of 4,000,000 pounds of oil, or 533,000 gallons, worth, at current 

 prices at market for 1877, forty cents per gallon, $213,200. 



'• With reference to drying by artificial means, which is obviously 

 important, no doubt is felt that the apparatus now in operation will 

 effect the work as thoroughly as may be desired, and cheaply and 

 quickly also, provided only the oil and gelatine in the scrap be reduced 

 as above described. 



" Two companies belonging to the association have succeeded in dry- 

 ing the scrap in considerable quantities, notwithstanding the obstacles 

 referred to. The scrap is passed through a slightly inclined heated iron 

 cylinder thirty feet long and four feet in diameter, and on the pas- 

 sage is agitated by paddles attached to a revolving shaft, and comes, 

 out at the lower end dried to about 25 per cent, of moisture. The process 

 will be greatly promoted in dispatch and efficiency by the application 

 of the new oil- saving method, and the whole manufacture will then be 

 under full control. The scrap can at once, upon withdrawal from the- 

 press, be subjected to the drying process by furnace heat, irrespective 

 of the state of the weather, and thus the loss of ammonia by decomjiosi- 

 tion be forestalled. If the contained moisture is reduced to a per cent, 

 no lower even than 20 or 25, the scrap cau be kept on the spot at con- 

 venience, and without offense to the senses, or transported as required.'- 



AdamsorCs process. 



294. The other process for extracting fat from tish is that of Adamson. 

 It depends upon the use of hot petroleum, naphtha, or benzine, to dis- 

 solve the oil. Whole fish, menhaden, or others, as well as scrap, are 

 said to be arranged in layers, in an inclined iron cylinder, the naphtha 

 or benzine directed upon and passed through them. In the passage the 

 oil is extracted from the fish, which are left in an excellent form for dry- 

 15 P 



