786 Transactions of the American Institute. 



December 26, 1867. 

 Professor S. D. Tillman in the chair. 



The Chairman presented the following notes on science and 

 technology: 



TO DEODOKIZE PETROLEUM. 



An odor in petroleum arising from sulpliur, may be removed by 

 treating it with a solution of oxide of lead in caustic soda. 



TO PRESERVE PEGGED BOOTS. 



The strongest and cheapest boots and shoes worn in this country 

 sometimes fail, owing to the shrinking of the wooden pegs. A 

 very simple remedy is to rub petroleum along the line where the 

 upper leather is joined to the sole. When the pegs are saturated 

 with this oil they resist the action of wet and dry weather. 



SARDINES. 



Sprats, young pilchards, and other fish of the herring family, are 

 put up in oil and sold as sardines in England. Mr. Couch, a Cor- 

 nish ichthyologist, says the sardine appears to be the only fish of 

 this family, except the pilchard that has the dorsal fin at the cen- 

 ter of gravity. Cuvier, found no difference in the structure of 

 those fish; the sardine being distinguished only by its inferior size. 



THE EQYPTIAX IVIUMMY. 



Prof. Czermak, of the University of Jena, while examining the 

 stomach of a mummy, found a roll of something, which, under the 

 microscope, proved to be the skin of the soles of the feet. Further 

 investigation shows that this disposition of the sole was a common 

 practice, and it is supposed to be symbolical of the eternal sepa- 

 ration of the dead from the earth. 



A SUBSTITUTE FOR DISTILLED WATER. 



A correspondent of The British Journal of Photography, says, 

 when in the wilds of Wales and Scotland, where it is difficult to 

 obtain distilled water for photographic purposes, he boiled the 

 purest river or spring water he could find, and, after adding to 

 every ounce a quarter of a grain of nitrate of silver, allowed it to 

 stand, and when cold, filtered. This solution met every requirement. 



NEW REMEDIAL AGENTS. 



Mr. Wentworth L. Scott, in a paper read before the British 

 Pharmaceutical College, at Dundee, suggests, that granulated char- 



