CHEMISTRY. 



93 



presented a marked difference in its nature in 

 the two solutions ; for, although, with albu- 

 men, 22 days elapsed before vibrios were 

 present, and 18 before fungi appeared, animal 

 life was exhibited in gelatine after 2 days, 

 and at no time did any fungi exist. 



Preservation of Meat and Vegetables. A 

 new process of preserving alimentary sub- 

 stances is described by the inventor, M. Sace, 

 in a communication to the French Academy, 

 accompanying specimens of meat and vegeta- 

 bles so prepared. The food to be preserved is 

 placed in a barrel, with layers of powdered 

 acetate of soda, in the proportion of one-fourth 

 by weight. In winter the temperature must 

 be raised to 20 0. After 24 hours, the bar- 

 rel must be turned, and, after 48 hours, the 

 process is complete, the salt having absorbed 

 the water of the meat or vegetables, which 

 may then be headed up in the pickle, or dried 

 in the air. 



If the barrels are not full, they are to be filled up 

 with brine of one part acetate or soda in three parts 

 water. The pickle is evaporated down to half its 

 bulk, crystallizing and regenerating for use one-half 

 the salt employed. The mother-liquors form an ex- 

 cellent extract of meat, representing three per cent, 

 of the total weight, and must be preserved and 

 poured over the preserved meat, when prepared, so 

 as to restore the original flavor of the fresh meat, 

 of which it is otherwise bereft by the retention of 

 the potassic salts in the pickle. For cooking, the 

 preserved meat must be steeped for from twelve to 

 twenty-four hours, according to size, in tepid water, 

 containing 10 grammes of sal-ammoniac per litre. 

 This salt decomposes the acetate of soda contained 

 in the meat, forming salt, and also arnmoniacal ace- 

 tate, which causes the meat to swell, and restores 

 to it the odor and acid reactions of fresh meat. 

 The bones also yield an excellent soup. By 

 adopting the precaution of simply removing the 

 intestines, animals, etc., may thus be preserved 

 whole. Fish, poultry, and game, have been so 

 treated, with excellent results. Meat may be dried 

 in a stove, losing one-quarter in weight thereby, in 

 addition to one quarter lost in pickling ; but, in gen- 

 eral, fish cannot be dried at all. Vegetables are sim- 

 ilarly prepared, losing generally five-sixths of their 

 weight ; before salting, they should be heated until 

 they lose their rigidity. In twenty-four hours they 

 may be pressed, and dried in the air. For use, they 

 must be steeped for twelve hours in fresh water, and 

 then boiled as if fresh. Potatoes must be steamed 

 before salting. Finally, all food thus prepared must 

 be kept perfectly dry, as the salt absorbs moisture 

 from the air. 



Cheap Saline Disinfectants. After discuss- 

 ing the respective merits of a variety of disin- 

 fectants for common use, Mr. Sidney W. Rich 

 gives the preference, on some accounts, to 

 chloride and sulphate of iron, because they 

 have all the action of the corresponding alumi- 

 na salts, and, besides, they possess the power 

 of absorbing the sulphuretted products of de- 

 composition. The latter fact places them at 

 the top of the list in respect of efficacy. There 

 is one objection, however, to the use of the 

 iron salts : that, when employed in large quan- 

 tities for ordinary purposes, the iron itself is 

 likely to be injurious to the vegetation with 

 which the fluid or other matter may ultimate- 

 ly come in contact. The very best results, the 



author thinks, are to be obtained from a solu- 

 tion containing hydrochlorate of alumina with 

 a small quantity of chloride of iron. The hy- 

 drochlorate of alumina will serve to do the 

 general work of a disinfectant and antiseptic, 

 while the iron salt will absorb the sulphuretted 

 compounds which arise from the decomposi- 

 tion of some kinds of organic matter. 



Arsenic in Paper-Hangings. Among the 

 papers in the Third Annual Report of the 

 Massachusetts Board of Health, is one by Dr. 

 F. W. Draper, on the evil effects of the use of 

 arsenic in certain green colors. He pays 

 much attention to the employment of the 

 poison in the manufacture of wall-paper. He 

 shows that arsenical paper-hangings include 

 those well-defined varieties known as un- 

 glazed, satined, and flocked. These comprise 

 all grades, from the costliest to the cheapest, 

 and vary from the plainest surface to the most 

 elaborately-figured designs. In some there is 

 a small coating of the poisonous article, loose- 

 ly applied, either for a perfectly undecorated 

 paper or to serve as a ground on which to im- 

 .press the figures. In others, any isolated or 

 small patterns of foliage contain the green pig- 

 ment. Of all the kinds, those which have the 

 unglazed surface are most likely to do harm, 

 since in that class, the color is only moderately 

 adherent, and is removed by the slightest fric- 

 tion. The glazed papers are less open to this 

 objection, because the process which gives the 

 polish tends also to fix the pigment more se- 

 curely. From such a surface the green dust 

 would not escape readily until after long wear, 

 or by frequent dusting, abrasions in the glazing 

 were produced. The flock-papers occupy an 

 intermediate place between the two other 

 varieties. The wool constituting the flock is 

 generally of a dark-green color, from vegetable 

 dyes ; and if the arsenical pigment is used, it 

 is found in the ground-tint on which the flock 

 is laid, or in the green figured foliage formed 

 in the intervals. The flock, as primarily pre- 

 pared, is not poisonous; but it may become 

 so, since it is easily detached from the pa- 

 per, and may bear away with it particles of 

 the subjacent color. Various analyses have 

 proved that the quantity of poisonous color in 

 wall-paper is frequently from fifty to sixty 

 grains per square foot. In one specimen 

 seventy grains, and in another nearly a drachm, 

 were obtained. Taking the average of the re- 

 sult, it appears that a room of ordinary dimen- 

 sions decorated with arsenical paper-hangings 

 would hold on its walls considerably more 

 than a pound of poisonous coloring-matter, 

 containing half its weight of arsenic. The 

 author remarks as follows upon the effects of 

 this pigment and the health of persons occu- 

 pying rooms so prepared : 



Does the presence of this pigment, in such large 

 amount, on the walls of rooms habitually occupied 

 by day or night, exert any deleterious influence oil 

 the health of the occupants ? Can an agent, avowed- 

 ly very poisonous when swallowed, become disen- 

 gaged in any way, directly or indirectly, from the 



