746 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Novel Fire Annihilator. 



Mr. David F. Masnata, a resilient of the island of Cwba, hag 

 seriously proposed to use soda water in the extinguishment of 

 fires. We hope Mr. Masnata will invent some ver}' cheap mode 

 of generating carbonic acid gas, so as to lessen the price of our 

 favorite beverage. 



Starch in Potatoes. 



Dr. Nessler, of the Duchy of Baden, has shown by analysis that 

 the nutritive value of potatoes varies with their size, and in favor 

 of increased bulk. Potatoes about two inches in diameter contain 

 17.2 per cent, of starch, and those about the size of walnuts 14.6 

 per cent. We infer that full growth is necessary to full develop- 

 ment of starch. 



Fine Collection of Maize. 



Mr. William S. Carpenter, Esq., of the American Institute, has 

 transmitted to the Paris Exposition, by the ship Mercuiy, 115 

 varieties of Indian corn, each of w^hicb has a name. The most 

 remarkable ear in this collection contains 1,290 grains, arranged 

 in twenty rows. The name of this variety is the Western Gourd 

 8eed. It is probable this collection is the best ever made. 



Tuning Forks. 

 These forks are raised in pitch by filing off* a portion of the end 

 of each branch, and lowered or flattened by filing oif a portion of 

 the side of each branch. Dr. W. Rowell has ascertained, by a 

 series of experiments, that the jiitch of a given steel fork is not 

 chano-ed in the slightest degree by being hardened and then soft- 

 ened, or vice versa. Admitting the correctness of the assumption 

 that steel is slightly expanded by the hardening process, the ques- 

 tion arises, is not the increase of elasticity just sufficient to com- 

 pensate the flattening effect of elongation ? 



Albumen. 

 At the last meeting of the American Photographical Society, 

 Prof. Tillman remarked that albumen plays so important a part in 

 the animal economy, and has of late become so useful in the arts, 

 especially in certain photographic processes, increasing interest is 

 excited regarding its composition. It forms about seven per cent, 

 of the blood and ten per cent, of the white of a^g, and in both 

 exists as an alkaline albuminate. Its atomic formula, as deduced 

 by Leiberkuhn, is, according to the new notation, C72 ^m -^is 



