Proceedings of tee Polytechnic Association. 883 



cidences pointed out by Dr. Gladstone do not show any definite rela- 

 tion between the atomic weight of metals and their respective 

 refracting power. 



Beachwood Tar. 

 M. Longninine stated, at a meeting of the Chemical Society, of 

 Paris, that when this tar is distilled along with water, there is 

 obtained a light, yellowish colored oil, which, on being treated with 

 caustic potash, yields a crystalline compound, due to a peculiar 

 phenol, which constitutes about one-fifteenth of the entire quantity 

 of oil obtained. The remainder of the oil yields chiefly tereben, 

 boiling and distilling over between 160 and 180 degrees C. The 

 phenol obtained has some of the virtues of ordinary phenol or car- 

 bolic acid, and exhales that peculiar and well known smell of 

 Eussian leather, wdiich is tanned with birch bark, and is chiefly 

 employed for book-binding purposes. 



A Cuke for Burns. 

 A valuable discovery was accidentally made by a workman in 

 France, who, some, little time ago, in varnishing various pieces of 

 metal, scorched himself most dreadfully. In his agony, and witliout 

 an instant's reflection, he thurst his injured hand into the pot con- 

 taining the varnish, and immediately felt reliev^ed as if by enchant- 

 ment. He repeated the operation for a day or two, and in a short 

 time was perfectly cured. The discovery attracted considerable 

 attention in the neighborhood. He was sent for to Metz to cure 

 some men injured by a powder explosion; and, being successful, he 

 was directed to apply his cure to patients in the hospitals of Paris, 

 where his treatment for burns was soon found to be more efiicient 

 than the old method. 



New Use of Bran. 

 M. Poncelet proposes, in the Moniteur Scientific of Paris, to use 

 a certain quantity of bran, which contains from forty to sixty per 

 cent of its weight of starch, instead of malt or raw grain, for the 

 purpose of brewing, and for the manufacture of starch. He either 

 uses the bran as it is, or extracts the starch previously, and adds to 

 it the material5 required for the mash-tubs. 



Sulphurous Acid Gas for Dissolving Bones. 

 M. Coignet, of Paris, for the purpose of extracting gelatine from 

 bones, places them in cold water and forces a current of sulphurous 



