934 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Bauine, consisting of 100 gallons for a boiling solution ; of potassa, 

 of 42° B., five gallons ; solution of tartaric acid of 42° B., and lime 

 milk of 10° B. This solution is added to the hot oil, the whole 

 stirred for 24 hours, and loft at repose for 24 hours, whereupon 

 the oil has lost its dark color, and may be filtered. The residue 

 resulting from this process is boiled for two hours with one-tenth 

 its bulk of strong salt water ; hereby yet some oil will raise to the 

 top, 1 he remainder solidifies in the cold, and may be made into soap. 

 Adjourned. 



American Institute Polytechnic Association, } 



April 18, 1867. \ 



Prof. S. D. Tillman in the Chair; T. D. Stetson, Esq., Sec'y. 

 The meeting was opened by the Chairman with tlie following 

 notes on new discoveries and inventions : 



Beef Preserved Forty Years. 



Some beef deposited in tin cans, beneath a heap of stones, in 

 Spitzbergen, by Capt. Parry, in 1827, was recently discovered, 

 and a portion was cooked and eaten at a supper given in Stock- 

 holm, Sweden. 



Absolute Cold. 



The temperature of the ethereal medium is not higher than 

 275° C below the melting point of ice ; that is — 463 on Fahren- 

 heit's scale. Person, in calculating the heat absorbed by difterent 

 bodies during fusion used the constant 256° F., and inferred that 

 this number of degrees below zero was the point of absolute cold; 

 yet, batterer has produced, artificially, cold expressed by — 220° 

 Fahrenheit. 



Steam Plo"v\^ng in Great Britain. 



According to a report made to the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 230,000 acres of arable land are now prepared for crops by 400 

 steam-plows and cultivators, which have displaced 2,500 horses. 

 As the steam engine only eats while it works, a great saving is 

 effected. Nearly all these plows are driven by small stationary 

 enoines which are transported from field to field ; the plows are 

 fastened to an iron or steel wire rope, which is drawn from one 

 side of the field to the other b}' means of a clipped drum con- 

 nected with the engine. 



