Polytechnic Association Proceedings. 701 



of the grape, which contains sugar and tartaric acid. The alcohol 

 present in the wine is always produced by the sugar in the grape. 

 In the Myatt Linnaeus plant there is no juice that will produce 

 wine; one of its ingredients is oxalic acid, which is poisonous, and 

 if not removed from the juice before it is prepared as a beverage, 

 would be injurious to health. The juice of the apple contains 

 malic acid and sugar, and for this reason he did not regard cider as 

 a healthy beverage. He had made experiments with the rhubarb 

 plant in question, and was satisfied that for wine it is almost worth- 

 less. He had boiled its juice, and abstracted the oxalic acid by 

 meau9 of lime. In all his tests he had failed to get the least par- 

 ticle of sugar, which is a necessary ingredient in a wine plant or 

 berry. 



VEGETABLE HAIR. 



On the mountains of the Sierra Nevada range, a plant called 

 ** soap root " grows in unlimited quantities. It is a bulbous root, 

 enveloped in a very tough fiber, resembling somewhat the husk of 

 the cocoanut. These roots, which are gathered with the spade in 

 large quantities by Chinamen, are first put through a picker, similar 

 to a threshing machine, which separates the filler into hairs, eight 

 or ten inches long; these are steamed to free them from gummy 

 matter, then dried in the sun, and afterward twisted into ropes by 

 machinery. They are steamed again to set the curl produced bj 

 twisting, then bound in bales and sent to market. The color of 

 this prepared fiber is dark brown, and resembles curled hair. This 

 new material is now largely employed for beds. An examination 

 of it after more than two years' use, proved that it had been but 

 little injured by wear. It is said moths will not attack this sub- 

 stance as they do animal hair. An enterprising firm of Boston has 

 introduced the California vegetable hair into our markets. We 

 understand it can be afforded in the form of hair rope at the rate 

 of twenty cents per pound. Specimens of this material may be 

 seen at the American Institute exhibition. 



ASPHALT PAVEMENT IN PARIS. 



Asphalt pavement was first introduced in Paris in 1854 by M. 

 Momberg, Chief Engineer, and M. Vandrey, Engineer of the 

 Municipal Service of the city. The first street paved in this manner 

 was Rue Begere, and since that time a great number of streets in 

 the central part of the city have been thus improved. The so- 

 called asphalt used for this purpose is a natural composition, 



