Polytechnic Association Proceedings, 733 



Morceau, and Winter Nelis. Some Washington pears, put in in 

 August, the season of their ripening, are still firm and fresh, with 

 apparently as brisk and lively a flavor as ever. Beside the pears, 

 are twenty-five crates of peaches, also put in in August, and still 

 sound. We might remark that when a room is opened for remov- 

 ino- the fruit, though it is still s^a green as when put in, it soon begins 

 to color by the admission of air, and will not keep for a long time 

 after removal. It is therefore important that no overripe fruit 

 goes into the houses. The chief success is in retarding the ripen- 

 ing, rather than in preventing decay. One of the rooms is devoted 

 to grapes, and now contains a ton and a half of foreign sorts, 

 mostly choice Black Hamburg's; also, half a ton Delawares, with 

 a large quantity of Rebeccas. The house at Cleveland, of which 

 this is a branch, is being filled with thirty tons of Isabella, Catawba 

 and Delaware grapes, which are to be sent here for sale in Decem- 

 ber, Januarj^ and Februarj'-, when the house is to be filled with 

 some three thousand barrels of apples — that building being 45x75 

 feet, and capable of holding this amount. 



In accordance with a resolution passed at a previous meeting, the 

 Chairman appointed a committee to investigate and report upon 

 the best method for testing the power of engines, consisthig of 

 Messrs. D. D. Parmelee, J. B. Root, Warren Rowell, W. P. Trow- 

 bridge, Charles E. Emory, Hamilton E. Towle, T. D. Stetson, Geo. 

 Peyton, S. H. Maynard, and Dr. Vanderweyde. 



BENZOIC ACID. 



Dr. Adolph Ott then took the stand, and read a paper upon the 

 production of benzoic acid from naphthalin. After describing the 

 appearance of this acid as it is extracted from benzoin, tolu balsam, 

 and some other substances, the doctor stated that it could be quite 

 cheaply produced from the products of the gas works, and described 

 the following process by which hydro-carbons are changed into 

 benzoic acid: The naphthalin is transformed into a modification of 

 the bi-protochloride of naphtha, this by oxj'dation is converted into 

 phtalic acid of ammonia; this is subjected to distillation, and by 

 the action of lime changed into benzonitril. By boiling the latter 

 with a caustic solution of soda, benzoate of soda is formed, from 

 which the benzoic acid is precipitated by hydrochloric acid. This 

 was announced as the process of .Castelhar, and has been pro- 

 nounced by the Secretary of the Chemical Commission of the Paris 



