jOO 
POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 
[Jui.Y, iSyo. 
ready solubility in water, and also by the fact that 
when treated with nitrate of silver it yields a bright 
red precipitate of nitrate of zirconethyl. Under the 
inlliience of the electric current it presents most 
interesting features. In a very weak solution, in a 
small glass tube hermetically sealed and submitted 
to an electric current, it changes its color to blood- 
red and shows a light blue fluorescence ; the latter, 
says Dr. Morvan, is due to zirconium. On after- 
wards breaking the tube and neutralizing with a 
minute quantity of ammonia, the substance resumes 
its original tispect and fluorescence. 
A weak solution of the monococyl-metadihy- 
droxyl-benzol, placed in a hollow prism, refracts 
light strongly; on its spectrum being thrown upon 
a screen, both colors of the fluorescence disappear. 
The zircon compound behaves in a similar manner. 
Removing the white screen and collecting the col- 
ored rays by means of a Iwis, — the rays thus 
collected now forming a simple ray, — the latter, 
on being conveyed through a common prism, is 
spread out again into a spectrum, in which not only 
the fluorescent colors are wanting, but also their 
complimentary tints. These are certainly most 
interesting properties, such as have neVer before 
been noted in any substance. But there are many 
other wonderful properties to which we have no 
space to allude here. — Chemist and Druggist. 
«**- 
CULINARY RECIPES. 
SELECTED FROM FOREIGN SOURCES 
Lobster Omelet. — Chop three ounces of lobster 
very finely, put in four tablespoonfuls of bechamel 
sauce in a stewpan, and add a little pepper, salt, and 
a few drops of essence of anchovy. Stew for a few 
minutes, add the yolk of an egg, and place inside 
the omelet, which has been made in the usual man- 
ner. 
Oyster Omelet. — Put in a teaspoonful of butter. 
When melted, add a teaspoonful of flour, a little 
of the oy.ster liquor, two or three drops of lemon, 
and sullicient milk to make it as thick as cream. 
Boil it up; then add the oysters, chopped, add the 
yolk of an egg, boil up slightly, and place inside the 
omelet. 
Pumpkin a la Parmesan (Italian recipe.) — 
Clean and peel a pumpkin ; let it stand in salted 
water, drain it, put it in a pan on the fire with 
butter, salt, and spices; let it fry, stirring it con- 
stantly; afterwards add another piece of butter and 
some grated Parmesan cheese ; put the lid of the 
>saucepan on, and let it roast with fire above and 
below it. 
Salads en Surprise. — Make some light puff 
paste, and roll out quickly; cut out six circles, and 
bake in a quick oven ; curl up into the shapes 
of cornucopias; when hot fill these with lettuce 
cut up small, peas, etc., well soaked in Mayon- 
naise sauce. A little tarragon and chervil should 
be mi.xed in with the small salad. Dish these up 
like pastry and cream cornucopias. 
Lobster Salad en MAsquERADE. — Take a plain 
mould and place a gallipot inside, and between the 
mould and the gallipot put, first, a layer of aspic- 
jelly, colored carmine, which has been whisked up 
and is nearly cold ; when set, add a layer of natural- 
colored a.spic-jelly, also whisked up, then a layer 
of green aspic, and so till the mould is full. Put on 
ice till quite firm ; then fill the gallipot with warm 
water, and remove it ; then put in a lobster Mayon- 
naise, which has been already prepared. 
Veal Cutlets a la Macaroni. — Dip veal cutlets 
in liquefied butter; then roll thein in equal parts 
of Parmesan and bread-crumbs; pepper and salt to 
taste. When the bread-crumbing is quite set, dip 
the cutlets in egg, and again cover them with Par- 
mesan and bread-crumbs. Let them stand for a 
couple of hours; fry a nice color. Boil a small 
quantity of macaroni in the usual way, dress it with 
butter and tomato sauce, in which the yolk of an 
egg has been stirred. Sprinkle freely with grated 
Parmesan. 
Genoese Pastry tor Afternoon Tea. — Take 
eight ounces of butter, and creain it; then add the 
grated rind of a lemon and eight ounces of fine 
white sugar, and work the mixture till it is quite 
white ; then gradually add eight ounces of Vienna 
flour, and five whole eggs. Add the flour and eggs 
very gradually, such as after two spoonfuls of flour, 
one egg. Place this mixture in differently shaped 
small moulds, and bake them. Then turn them 
out, and stand them on a wire sieve til! cold, and 
then ice there with varioualy-colered and flavored 
glace. They can be ornamented with pi.^tachio 
kernels or crystallized violets placed on the top. 
Iced Savoury Oysters. —Take three dozen oys- 
ters, beard them, strain the liquor from them, and 
chop them up in small pieces; then let them soak 
in Mayonnaise sauce, made with lemon instead 
of vinegar. Whip some nicely-flavored aspic-jelly 
to a froth. Put some of this at the bottom of the 
china soulile dish, which it should be served in; 
then place a layer of the minced oysters, and then a 
layer of aspic; fill up the remainder of the dish till 
it is nearly full ; place a stiff band of paper round 
it, about two inches higher than the dish, and fill in 
with aspic-jelly. Place it on ice for two hours; 
remove the paper, and serve. Garnish with lemon, 
cut into fancy shapes, and rolled anchovies. 
Gnocchi a la Lomhardi (Italian recipe.) — Boil 
one poupd of potatoes, skin and ma«h them, and 
pass them through a. sieve; then take half a pound 
of fine flour, add to the potatoes, and incorporate 
well together till an eqiinl and consistent paste is 
made ; then divide it into pieces as large as a 
lemon, roll thein on a board with the palms of the 
hands, and form them into little sticks, which must 
be cut across in small pieces the size of walnuts; 
then mould them one by one with the fingers into 
any desired shapes ; they must then be left to dry 
by leaving them exposed to the air on a drainer. 
In the meanwhile, put a saucepan on the fire with 
salted water, and when it boils throw in the gnocchi, 
a few at a time, till cooked ; then drain them and 
season to taste, arrange them on a dish and sprinkle 
them with grated Parmesan cheese, and pour over a 
butter which has been melted and fried brown. 
Oyster Bombs. — Ta^e some large stewing oys- 
ters, scald them, and cut them small ; make half a 
pint of white sauce, in which half an ounce of gela- 
tine has been put, and a tablespoonful of lemon- 
juice and a little cayenne. Put the chopped oysters 
into the sauce, and mix lightly together; then put 
this mixture in a basin, and stand on ice till firm; 
when it is so, make it into round balls the size 
of greengages ; they should be slightly flattened at 
the bajse. Have ready half a pint of rich bechamel 
sauce, to which should be added one gill of aspic; 
stir well, and put on ice in a mould, and well 
surround with ice. When the sauce is quite firm, 
re-melt it, and place on ice again till beginning 
to jellify; then place each bomb, or ball, at the 
flattened side on a skewer; then carefully dip each 
one (lito the sauce, and, when completely masked, 
place them on a dish to get cold. After this, have 
ready two colored aspic-jellies — one red and one the 
usual color; — melt, and, when in a half-liquefied 
state, put the bombs on the skewer again, and slip 
some in one color and some in the other, and stand 
on ice to get cold ; dish them up in alternate colors 
in the form of a pile of shot. Garnish here and 
there with chervil-leaves. 
Practical Cljeiiiistry and tlje "Jirts,. 
[Original in t^opular Snence Xeics.\ 
CARBON. 
by George l. burditt. 
In looking over MendelejefT's table, we find at the 
head of the fourth series the element carbon. It is 
one of the most abundant elements, and one of the 
most important in nature. It is the characteristic- 
element of organic chemistry, where it forms a sort 
of frame-work upon which the organic compounds 
are grouped. Indeed, inorganic chemistry is called 
by some the study of the carbon compounds. C.ir- 
bon occurs in all vegetables, and in some minerals. 
It also exists in three allotropic forms, as the dia- 
mond, graphite, and charcoal. 
The diamond is the purest form of carbon, occur- 
ring in nature usually in conglomerate formations. 
India, Brazil, and the Cape of Good Hope furnish 
most of the diamonds in use, the Cape of Good 1 lope 
mines being more recently discovered. The diamond 
has prohably never been made artificially, although 
many attempts have been made. In order to make 
one, the carbon would have to be liquefied and crvs 
tallized. But carbon is only soluble in melted cast- 
iron, and is infusible; and so diamonds could not he 
got in this way. Making diamonds from bonzole was 
at one time tried by a Scotch chemist, but with 
questionable success. In nature they are probably 
made from some liquid form of carbon, but little or 
nothing is known of the process. Although they 
may be of almost any color, they are usually white, 
and when entirely free from all color are said to be 
of the first water, and these are the most valued. 
However, owing to impurities, they may be grav, 
yellow, brown, green, red, blue, or black. The rose 
diamonds are valued highly, and next to them the 
green. To heighten the effect of a diamond, it 
must be cut. This is a very slow and tiresome job, 
sometimes taking many weeks or months to finish 
The Ktone is first clipped off, piece by piece, until il 
is nearly the required size. It is then fixed upon a 
steel spring, by means of melted lead, and the leail 
allowed to solidify. This spring is tiien pressed 
down until the stone reaches a swiftly-revolving 
steel wheel, upon which there is a quantity at dia- 
mond dust, called " bort." By the constant grind- 
ing of the stone against the bort, a smooth plane or 
face is formed. And this is wliat is meant by 
diamond-cutting. The operation must be repeated 
for each face. The commonest forms after cu'ting 
are the rose and brilliant. The diamond is the 
hardest substance known, but it is quite brittle. 
Besides il« extensive use as a gem, it is used for 
cutting glass, and in making diamond drills for 
boring rock. Qtiartz is hard enough to scratch 
glass, but the diamond point is more curved than 
that of quartz, by virtue of which it gives a cleaner 
scraSch, and so is always used. Diamonds do not 
occur to any extent in the United States, although 
small ones hare been found in North Carolina. 
The second allotropic form of earbon is graphite, 
sometimes — but wrongly — called black-lead. It is 
fmind principally in Siberia, Cumberland, and at 
Ticonderoga, wliere it occurs as lumps between 
layers of sJate. It is of a grayish-black color; soft, 
greasy, and has a metallic lustre. It can be made 
artificially by dissolving carbon in melted cast-iron, 
and treating tiie product with dilute hydrochloric or 
nitric acid to remove the iron. Owing to its high 
fusibility, it is used in making crucibles for melting 
substances which require great heat. It is also used 
with oil as a lubricator; also in electrotyping. Its 
mo«t important use is in making pencils. The 
graphite is crushed fine under water, on top of 
which it floats oft" through a series of tubs, each a 
