600 transactions of the american institute. 



Substitute for Gunpowder. 



A new explosive compound has been made in England, by pulverising, se- 

 parately, forty-seven parts of chlorate of potash, thirty-eight parts of ferro- 

 cyanide of potassium, and five parts of sulphur; these are mixed, and with 

 water formed into a paste; the water is allowed to evaporate, and ten parts 

 of India rubber are added. These ingredients, when mixed and molded into 

 any required shape, form a solid, compact body; and are said to answer 

 the purpose of ordinary gunpowder. 



Improved Davy Lamp.1 



An English improvement on Sir Humphrey Davy's Safety Lamp, indis- 

 pensable in coal mines, is an arrangement of an extinguisher and lever 

 connections with the wire gauze so that the instant the gauze is removed 

 the light is extinguished. 



Essential Oils 



Mr. T. B. Grove's method of separating and collecting the essential oil 

 which exists in minute quantities in the watery solution produced by the 

 distillation of aromatic herbs, is to add to such solution a proportion of 

 olive oil. This is formed into a soapy emulsion by potash. When the 

 emulsion is destroyed by adding an acid, the olive oil rises to the surface, 

 bringing with it all the aromatic oil, which may be dissolved out by agita. 

 tion with rectified spirits. 



Laboratories. 



A London journal recounts the scientific benefits conferred by the Royal 

 Institution of Great Britain during an existence of sixty-four years, and 

 complains that while the Universities of Bonn and Zurich are spending 

 $150,000 for improvements in the chemical departments, the laboratories 

 of the Eoyal Institution are fit only to be called back kitchens. 



Preservation of Meat. 



The Admiralty of Great Britain are now making experiments with the 

 process of Dr. Morgan for the preservation of meat. It consists in forcing 

 through the arteries, capillaries, and veins of the slaughtered animal, brine, 

 which carries before it the blood, and both make their exit through an inci- 

 sion provided for that purpose. The brine tank is elevated about twenty 

 feet, so as to give sufficient pressure to the fluid, which passes through a 

 tube into the chest of the animal. Another tank, at the same height, con- 

 tains a mixture, consisting of six and a-half gallons of brine, ten pounds of 

 sugar, and three-quarters of a pound of saltpetre, with an infusion of cloves 

 and pepper. After the first or cleansing operation, requiring about six 

 gallons of brine, the fluid from the second tank is forced through the same 

 passages. The exit being closed, every part of the body is thus traversed 

 by the fluid. The whole process of cleaning and infiltration does not occupy 

 more than twenty minutes. The animal is soon after skinned and cut iu 

 pieces, which are thoroughly dried and packed in saw dust and charcoal. 

 It is said meat treated in this manner will stand any climate, and that more 

 of its nutritive qualities are preserved than by the ordinary process of cur- 

 ing. 



