(546 Transactions of the American Institute. 



ou shipboard, and the foreign demand is constantly increasing. A 

 l)ed of the lirst quality is generally held as high as one thousand 

 dollars an acre. The American cranberry — of which there are 

 three varieties well known to dealers, the Bell, the Bugle and the 

 Cherry — is much larger than the English cranberry. In some of 

 the restaurants and other places in Paris, where condiments and 

 preserves are sold, the American cranberry now has a conspicuous 

 place. 



BLANCHING OF THE HAIR. • 



A paper, read before the Royal Society, London, by Mr. Eras- 

 mus Wilson, has thrown new light on the question as to what 

 causes the sudden whitening of the hair, often produced by fright 

 or profound grief. He cites a case in which the hair was colored 

 white and brown alternately from end to end. The white segments 

 were about one-half the length of the brown, and the two together 

 measured about one-third of a line. Under the microscope the 

 colors were reversed, and it was obvious that the opacity of the 

 white portion was due to a vast accumulation of air globules packed 

 closely together in the fibrous structure of the hair, as well as in 

 the medulla. There was no absence of pigment, but the accumula- 

 tion of air-globules veiled and obscured the normal color and struc- 

 ture. Mr. Wilson suggested the possibility of the brown portion 

 being the day growth, and the white portion the night groAvth. 

 He also said, in reference to the sudden blanching of the Avhole 

 hair, of which there were many cases on record, that during the 

 prevalence of a violent nervous shock, the normal fluids of the haii' 

 might be drawn inward toward the body, in unison with the gen- 

 erally contracted and collapsed state of the surfoce, and that the 

 vacuities left by this process of exhaustion might be suddenly filled 

 with atmospheric air. An interesting discussion followed the read- 

 ing of the paper. Dr. Sharkey alluded to a recent case of suddeu 

 Ijlanching of the hair, reported by Dr. Landois, of Griefswald, in 

 Virehow^s Archiv, which was ascertained to be the result of an 

 accumulation of air-globules in the fibrous substance of the hair. 



CARAMEL COLORS. 



A correspondent of The London Chemical JSfews says the dark 

 color given fo vinegar by caramel, may be obtained by mixing 120 

 pounds of glucose with six pounds carbonate of ammonia and six 

 pounds of water. Heat together in a metal Ijoiler till the glucose 

 has attained the desired color, keeping the mixture well stirredj 



