458 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



We think this machine one promising great ad- 

 vantaires to those enoatred in feeding sioci( ; and 

 we feel the more wiiiiiiir to recommend it as it is 

 warranted, and those not hkiniz it on a fair trial 

 are at liberty to return it. Tiie price §85 to 

 SllO. 



ON THE WAX PROCURED FROM SUGAR CANES. 

 BY M. AVKQUIN, DRUGGIST AT NEW OR- 

 LEANS. 



To the Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



Patent Office, July 1. 1841. 



The day alier your depanure from the city, I 

 received my periodicals from France, and among 

 the interesting^ articles coniaitied in them, noticed 

 one upon the subject of vetjetable wax, or "cero- 

 eie." I send you a translation, regret I ins I could 

 not, while you were here, give you some beiier 

 account of the process by which this new com- 

 pound is obtained. 



The inventor represents the wax as superior to 

 ppermaceti, and at the same ti'me much cheaper. 

 Yours, respectfully, H. L. Ellsworth. 



[Translated from L'Echo du Monde Savant. Paris.] 



The sugar-cane, like many other plants, exudes 

 a substance resemblinsr wax, to which the name 

 of vegetable wax has been given. 



This matter presents itself under the form ol 

 a white powder, adherinir to the bark, and may 

 be verj' easily detached from it, by scrnping with 

 the blade ol' a knile, or any other cutting instru- 

 ment, in order to purify it, maceration in cold 

 alcohol is employed, at 35° or 36"^, by which 

 means it is separated from the '■'■ chlorophylW'' 

 with which it is mixed. It is insoluble in water, 

 but soluble in boiling ether, from which it is de- 

 posited in cooling, under the form of grained 

 crystals ; it melts at 82°, and solidifies, at 80°, 

 into a crystalline mass ; its density is 0.961 to 

 10 ; it is without odor, and combines easily 

 with the alkalies. To procure this substance, to 

 which the discoverer has given the name of 

 " cerosie," the process by scraping would be loo 

 lengthy, and not sufficiently economical, M. 

 Avequin proposes to subf^titute the lollnwing. 

 By passing the canes though the mill, to extract 

 the juice, it fioatsupon the surlace of the troughs, 

 under the form of a white powder. The liquor, 

 is gradually heated to the boiling point, without 

 adding lime ; the scum is carefully collected, and 

 macerated in weak alcohol, to extract all the 

 particles of sugar, and to destroy the viscidity 

 which would otherwise present obstacles to a 

 thorough washing with pure water ; it is then 

 allowed to drain upon cloths, and thoroughly dried. 

 In this slate it is reduced to powder ; and treated 

 with cold alcohol at 36°* in order to separate the 

 " chlorophylky This process having been 

 renewed several times, the portion which remains 

 is treated with boiling alcohol at 36''* which ex- 

 tracts the " cerosie." The solution, collects in a 

 mass during the cooling, from which the alcohol 

 is separated by distillation. .Nevertheless the 

 " cerosie," thus obtained, always retains a small 

 proportion of " chlorophylle. 



* So in the manuscript. — Ed. F. R. 



About 30 quarts of juice from ribbon canes 

 have produced about 22.5 grains of impure cerosie. 

 In another trial M. Avequin procured by scrap- 

 ing, more than iwo grains of cerosie, in a violet 

 cane. 



One acre of canes, produced about 18,000, and 

 consequently about 72 lbs. of cerosie. A plan- 

 tation which rolls out ye^irly 300 acres of canes 

 will then tuniish 20,000 lbs. of cerosie. 



M. Dumas has made an analysis of this sub- 

 stance which is well worthy of fixing the atten- 

 tion ol'chcmisis. Three combustions, produced him 

 lor its conij)usilion, C'"", H'"", 0-. In represent- 

 ing the rerofcie, by the lormule C-"*, H"", H', O". 

 an alcohol will be produced, which will take rank 

 next to ether, a substance which cerosie very 

 much resembles in ad cases. 



Aote. — The i=taie of heat used is that of Reau- 

 mur, in which 80" corresponds to 212°, or boiling 

 water of Fahrenheit. 



ARTESIAN BORING AT PARIS. 



From Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts. 

 Many years ago, near the Barriere de Grenelle, 

 one of llie highest poiiils in Paris, a boring was 

 begun to obtain water. It was discontinued after 

 some years, and again resumed about seven 

 years ago. The result has been successful. We 

 have room only for the lollowing facts, recently 

 communicated by a friend in Paris. The water 

 was at last obtained below the clialk, at the depth 

 of nearly eighteen hundred feet. The torrent of 

 water, about three cubic yards per minute, rises in 

 a copious fountain in the grounds of an abat- 

 toir, (slaughter-house,) and is verj' pure. The 

 column rises from a source one third of a mile 

 below ground, and it spouts ihiiiy leet above the 

 surliace. The teniperalun' at the bolKtm of the 

 boring* was nearly 83° of Fahrenheit, (that of a 

 hot summer's day, such as is rarely known there 

 on the surface,) thus confirming lully ihe increase 

 of heat in the interior ol'lhe earth, by the average 

 gen'^rally observed in similar cases of about 1° 

 for fifty leet of descent, which, at the same rate of 

 increase, would give a fountain of boiling water 

 at two miles from the surface — full ignition of rocks 

 at ten miles, and fusion at two hundred miles; 

 thus leaving a firm crust to preserve the good 

 citizens of Paris from being disturbed by the lear 

 of breaking through, or by the danger of the 

 immediate outburst of the fire. 



DISCOVERY, IN VIRGINIA, OF THE REGULAR 

 MINERAL SALT FORMATION. 



From Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts. 

 As salt springs and fountains are very numerous 

 in Ihe western and south-western parls of the 

 United States, it was natural to expect that 

 mineral salt would, sooner or later, be discovered. 

 Indeed, sirala of salt, in regular position, and 

 roofed and floored by beds of sandstone, were. 



* Which is over eighteen inches wide at the top, 

 and from seven to eight at the bottom, and lined with 

 a metallic tube. 



