294 



NA TURE 



{July 26, 1888 



obtained from the scum of sewage, represent some of the 

 leastattractiveofthesourcesof oleaginous matter dealtwith 

 by the soap-boiler ; whilst more or less damaged or rancid 

 oils, unfit for other use, and "foots " (residues containing 

 much impurity, which separate during the processes of 

 refining various kinds of oils), together with the somewhat 

 impure oily matters obtained by the aid of solvents (eg. 

 carbon disuiphide) from the marcs or cakes obtained in 

 olive and seed-oil crushing, cocoa-nut and other rank 

 vegetable oils, and animal tallows, lards, suets, &c, 

 imported from abroad, and obtained by treatment usually 

 of such a nature as to render the product more or less 

 malodorous, represent a better class of raw material, 

 suitable, after more or less purification, for the ultimate 

 production of the ordinary kind of household and laundry 

 soaps. The finest varieties of lard, &c, and purified 

 almond and other comparatively choice vegetable oils, 

 and such like superfine materials, constitute the substances 

 actually used in the manufacture of some of the best 

 varieties of toilet soap, and supposed to be employed in 

 the production of all such more delicate varieties. 



The author briefly but clearly describes the leading 

 processes and methods by means of which useful and 

 even superior qualities of soaps are manufactured in bulk 

 from the more ordinary materials, and the finer kinds from 

 the choicest sources, usually on a smaller scale. Numer- 

 ous analyses of various sorts of soaps are quoted, and the 

 methods of production of " filled " {i.e. adulterated and 

 watered) soaps, and of the composite scouring materials 

 containing silicate of soda and analogous alkaline com- 

 pounds together with true soap, are adverted to. It might, 

 perhaps, be considered that sufficient stress has hardly 

 been laid on the enormous extent to which such admixture 

 is sometimes carried on in the case of certain articles still 

 sold under the name of soap. When a scouring material 

 contains only one-seventh of its weight of actual soap 

 (mostly from cocoa-nut oil), and about as much silicate 

 of soda and inert soda salts added to " harden " the mass, 

 the balance being water pure and simple ; or when a 

 so-called " toilet soap " contains less than two-fifths of 

 its weight of true soap, and nearly as much water, the 

 balance being simply sugar and a more or less marked 

 excess of corrosive alkaline matter (both calculated to 

 act most injuriously on tender and delicate skins), it 

 would be supposed by many that the limit of honest 

 trading and proper description of quality has been pretty 

 closely approached, if not a long way passed, by describ- 

 ing and selling such articles as "soap" at all. In the. 

 description of the manufacture of transparent toilet 

 soaps by the process of solution of previously made 

 soap (mostly yellow or resin soap) in alcohol, the author 

 states that "most makers also add a certain proportion 

 of glycerin." It would be more correct to say that in the 

 great bulk of such soap actually sold a very consider- 

 able quantity of sugar is present ; whilst glycerin, although 

 frequently professedly a constituent, is usually conspicuous 

 by its entire absence from the composition — a difference 

 by no means to the advantage of the consumer, if troubled 

 with a sensitive skin, although not of any great conse- 

 quence to the fortunate possessor of a stout healthy 

 epidermis not easily affected by external influences. 



C. R. Alder Wright. 



INDIA IN 1887. 

 India in 1887. By Robert Wallace, Professor of Agri- 

 culture and Rural Economy in the University of 

 Edinburgh. With plates and illustrations. (London : 

 Simpkin, Marshall and Co. Calcutta and Bombay : 

 Thacker, Spink and Co., 1888.) 



PROFESSOR WALLACE has evidently thrown his 

 heart as well as his brains into his self imposed 

 task. He wished to know the effect of his own teaching, 

 and that of the college to which he was attached, upon 

 the development of Indian agriculture— and he went to 

 see for himself. Let us hope that Prof. Wallace will have 

 his reward for so unselfish a motive. The key to his 

 position lies in the fact that Indian Government scholar- 

 ships have been for many years bestowed at Cirencester 

 upon Indian native graduates who have been selected 

 for this purpose, with a view to their subsequent employ- 

 ment in the Agricultural and Forestry Departments of 

 India. His object, as he himself expresses it, is "to induce 

 the Government to alter its plans as regards the Indian 

 Agriculture Department, and to see that ground which 

 has been lost by inexperienced officers is yet capable of 

 being regained by efforts made in the right direction." 

 Quixotic as any attempt may appear to cause a Govern- 

 ment department to alter itself, or to quietly submit to 

 alteration, no doubt the best plan is to appeal to the 

 public, and this is what Prof. Wallace has done. He has, 

 no doubt, to some extent courted contradiction and hostile 

 criticism from those already engaged in agricultural 

 improvement in India. His book is not wanting in; 

 denunciation of the existing system, the strength of which 

 lies in the strongly practical bias of the writer, who 

 sympathizes with the farmer and his ways, whether 

 found in the stalwart son of the soil in England 

 or Scotland, or in the ryot of India. Their methods 

 are proved methods, their opinions are the result of 

 thousands of years of mental evolution. Prof. Wallace 

 clearly shows an inherent dislike to that kind of innova- 

 tion which springs from superficial knowledge gained in 

 one part of the globe and thrust upon those who are 

 engaged under totally different circumstances of soil and 

 climate. He insists most properly, we think, that it is a 

 delusion to imagine that any man, however able, can 

 gain a thorough or adequate knowledge of the science and 

 practice of agriculture in two years. Without in the 

 least detracting from the value of two years spent in 

 study at an agricultural college, he insists that the first 

 step is the study of native agricultural practices "by men 

 who have been trained in agriculture from their early 

 youth in this country, and who have subsequently 

 acquired a sound knowledge of the sciences bearing on 

 the subject." 



In the same spirit he inveighs heavily against the 

 almost universal employment as model farm managers 

 of men who have had no truly agricultural training, either 

 practical or scientific, and who have no intimate know- 

 ledge of the native methods of cultivation. The result of 

 this system has been that " many failures have destroyed 

 the confidence of Government ; and anything agricul- 

 tural, that is now being done, is reduced to the mere 

 minimum, with a chance any moment of being utter 

 abandoned." 



While these views are forcibly expressed and abui 



