86 



CHEMISTRY. 



The number of acres under cultivation is as 

 follows: Barley, 1,997,717; buckwheat, 848,- 

 389 ; Indian corn, 62,368,869 ; oats, 16,144,593 ; 

 rye, 1,842,303; and wheat, 35,430,052. 



CHEMISTRY. The tendency of recent chem- 

 ical progress, according to Professor Liveing, 

 President of the Chemical Section of the Brit- 

 ish Association for 1882, has been toward 

 placing the dynamics of the science on a 

 satisfactory basis, and toward rendering an 

 account of the various phenomena of chemi- 

 cal action on the mechanical principles ac- 

 knowledged to be true in other branches of 

 physics. The most recent work has not been 

 marked by any brilliant discoveries, or by the 

 application of any startling novelties in pro- 

 cesses, but has been rather distinguished by 

 efforts to correct and perfect discoveries already 

 made, to confirm advances already attained, to 

 simplify and facilitate the application of prin- 

 ciples already wrought out to industrial, eco- 

 nomic, and other practical or beneficial pur- 

 poses. To these categories belong the work 

 in the redetermination and verification of the 

 atomic weights, in which some of our Ameri- 

 can chemists have played an important part ; 

 the progressive improvements that are made 



in industrial and manufacturing chemistry, the 

 patient work that is done in physiological chem- 

 istry, and the persistent zeal with which all 

 problems that have a bearing on the security 

 of life and health are followed up. 



NEW SUBSTANCES. The leaf and wood of the 

 California bay -tree, or laurel (Umbellularia, 

 or Laurus Californica), a tree the wood of 

 which is much used for veneering and fine 

 cabinet-work have a very fragrant, aromatic 

 odor, which, when strong, as in the crushed 

 leaf, excites the mucous surfaces, brings tears 

 to the eyes, and produces headache. Mr. J. 

 M. Stillman, of the University of California, 

 has obtained from the leaves, by distilling 

 them with steam, an oil of a clear yellowish 

 or straw color, of the peculiar aromatic odor 

 of the leaf, having a specific gravity at 11 C. 

 of 0*94, which has not thickened after stand- 

 ing for nearly a year. Subjected to fractional 

 distillation it gives up a small quantity of dis- 

 solved water, and separates into two principal 

 fractions, one boiling at from 170 to 190 C., 

 and the other at from 210 to 225, with smaller 

 quantities which pass over at the higher tem- 

 perature of 260. The lower fraction men- 

 tioned was subjected to repeated fractional 



