ALGAROVILLA 69 



neighbourhood of Singapore. Mr. Montgomery Martin informs us that Agar-Agar 

 produces in China from six to eight dollars per pecul in its dry and bulky state. 

 From 6,000 to 12,000 peculs ara produced annually, the pecul being equal to 100 

 catties of 1-333 Ibs. each. 



Similar to this, perhaps the same in character, is the Agal-Agal, another species 

 of seaweed. It dissolves into a glutinous substance, and its principal use is for 

 gumming silks and paper, as nothing equals it for paste, nor is it liable to be 

 eaten by insects. The Chinese make a beautiful kind of lantern formed of 

 netted thread -washed over with this gum, and which is extremely light and trans- 

 parent. 



Dr. Macgowan, of Ningpo, forwarded to the Society of Arts, throxigh Sir John 

 Bowring, the following algae, which ho thus names and describes : 



Tan-shwin grass, so named from the place, on the coast of Formosa, whence it is 

 procured. It is used for making yang-tsai (ocean-vegetable). 



Nin-mau (ox-hair) grass. Made into an iced jelly, and sold in the streets, in hot 

 weather, sugared. 



Hdi-tdi (sea-tape). Sent into the interior, wherever fossil coal is used. It is con- 

 sidered corrective of the deleterious exhalations of that fuel. It is usually boiled with 

 pork. This kind comes from Shantung province. 



Tsz-tsai (purple vegetable). Often eaten as it is, to give a relish to rice, or 

 cooked. 



Fah-tsai (hair vegetable). Boiled, either with animal or. vegetable articles, forms 

 a broth. Also the gills eaten with sugar. 



Ki-tsai (hen-foot vegetable). Cooked with soy or vinegar. Used by women to 

 make the hair glossy, and to strengthen it. A kind of Bandoline. 



Sea-tape, from Japan. It is preferred to the former. 



Within the last few years considerable improvements have been effected ir tho 

 economic applications of algae or seaweeds. Mr. E. C. C. Stanford's method of 

 utilising the marine algse is carried out at the works of the British Seaweed Company 

 in the Hebrides. The seaweed is collected during the winter, and the Company is 

 thus enabled to employ a large number of hands at a time when they would otherwise 

 be unoccupied. The dried and compressed weed is distilled in retorts at a low red 

 heat ; a larger quantity of iodine is thus obtained than would be yielded by burning 

 the weed for kelp in the ordinary way, whilst the alkaline salts are obtained more 

 easily and economically. Further, a number of volatile organic products such as tar, 

 ammonia, and acetic acid are collected from the distillation, and an illuminating gas 

 is also obtained : indeed, the Company's works are lighted by seaweed gas. Finally, 

 tho carbonaceous residue in the retort, known as seaweed charcoal, is recommended 

 for use as a valuable deodorizer instead of earth in the dry-closet system. A collec- 

 tion of products obtained from seaweed by Stanford's process was exhibited in the 

 International Exhibition of 1871. See KELP ; IODINE. 



AXiGAROBA. See AT.OAROVILIA. 



ALGAROTH POWDER OP. Powder of Algarotti, English Powder. This 

 salt was discovered by Algarotti, a physician of Verona. Chloride of antimony is 

 formed by boiling black sulphide of antimony with hydrochloric acid : on pouring the 

 solution into water, a white flocky precipitate falls, which is an oxychloride of anti- 

 mony. If the water be hot, the precipitate is distinctly crystalline ; this is tho 

 powder of algaroth. This oxychloride is used to furnish oxide of antimony in tho 

 preparation of tartar emetic. 



AXiGAROVXIiXiA. This substance is called by the Spaniards Algaroba, from the 

 resemblance it bears to the fruit of the Carob (Ccratonia sillqua), which is a nativo 

 of Europe, in the southern countries of Spain and Portugal. It is the fruit of a treo 

 which grows in Chili, of which the botanical name is Prosopis pallida, according to 

 Captain Bagnald, K.N., who first brought a sample of it to this country in the year 

 1832. It consists of pods bruised and agglutinated more or less with tho extractive 

 exudation of the seeds and husks. According to a more recent determination/ algaro- 

 rilla is said to be the product of tho tree Juga Marthae of Santa Martha, a province 

 of New Carthagena. 



It is an astringent substance replete with tannin, capable, by its infusion in water, 

 of tanning leather, for which purpose it possesses moro than four times the power of 

 good oak-bark. Its active matter is very soluble in water at a boiling temperature. 

 The seeds are merely nutritive and demulcent, but contain no astringent property. 

 This resides in the husks. The seeds in the entire pod constitute about one-fifth of 

 tho weight, and they are three or four in number in each oblong pod. Alcohol of 

 60 per cent, over proof dissolves 64 parts in 100 of this substance. Tho solution 

 consists chiefly of tannin, with a very little resinous matter. Water dissolves some- 

 what moro of it, and affords a very styptic-tasted solution, which precipitates solution 



