352 
tannic acid yielded a chlorine derivative resembling that men- 
tioned above, which gave a brilliant magenta colour with sodium 
sulphite. Moreover, from a specimen of jute fibre which had 
become rotten through shipment in a damp state, a body was 
extracted having all the properties of a tannin, Esparto resin, 
when fused with potash, furnished phloroglucin and much proto- 
catechuic acid. The general identity of these non-cellulose con- 
stituents with the class of astringent substances or tannins is 
thus fully established. 
The authors then give details as to the bromine and chlorine 
compounds obtained from Esparto resin ; they next investigate the 
action of caustic alkalies on the chlorine derivative C,yH,,C],O, 
of jute-fibre, by which action two atoms of chlorine were re- 
moved, as is the case with chloranil. By the action of bromine 
on jute-fibre a brominated compound was obtained similar to 
that from Esparto resin. As regards the constitution of these 
derivatives the authors are inclined to believe that their molecule 
is built up round chloranil as a centre. Chloranil, when boiled 
with sugar, forms a brown substance which behaves with 
alkalies and chlorine exactly like the aromatic substance ob- 
tained from bast fibres, 
The authors next consider the wider problem of the relation 
of the cellulose to the non-cellulose constituents of bast-fibres 
and the relation of both to the life of the plant. In these points 
they have been anticipated by the investigations and inferences 
of the physiological botanists Sachs, Sachsse, &c., who have 
stated that cellulose is directly derived from starch or its physical 
equivalents sugar, fat, or inulin, and is not a product of the 
resolution of a proteid molecule; this formation of cellulose is 
attended with the evolution of carbonic anhydride. The che- 
mical changes are expressed by Sachsse thus :— 
1(CggH go Og9 +390) =1(39COg + og HO + CoH 205) 5 
the molecule nC,H,,9, is then transformed into substances 
having the atomic ratio CgH,,0;. The formation of cellulose 
usually ocenrs in tho-e portions containing no chlorophyll ; the 
formation of starch, on the other hand, is associated with th: 
presence of chlorophyll and the evolution of oxygen. The 
lignification of fibres originally consisting of pure cellulose is 
held by Sachs to be a modification of the cell-substance (cellu- 
lose), and not an infiltration of substances from the contents of 
the cell, This change is expressed by Sachsse thus :— 
CoH 4909 = 5 HO + Cy gHoyCy5 + CgHO;- 
Jellulose Lignia 
Sachsse thinks that it is to this more highly oxidised molecule 
C,H,O, that the origin of the tannins is to be referred. The 
authors dissent from this equation, and think that bodies re- 
sembling metapectic acid CgH,,O, are formed. Such bodies 
have been found by Kolbs in linen-fibre, and by the authors in 
the portions of the jute-fibre near the roots (jute-cuttings), Sachs 
maintains that the tannins are degradation products of cellulose 
and are to be looked upon as excreta, like urea in the animal. If 
now the extreme terms of the developmental series are the cellu- 
lose and the tannins, it devolves upon the chemist to investigate 
the intermediate stages of the transformation, The authors 
therefore treated jute fibre with dilute (5 per cent.) sulphuric 
acid at moderate temperatures ; as a result of these experiments 
they conclude that the jute fibre consists for the most part not of 
cellulose, but of a transition form between the original carbo- 
hydrate and its ultimate modification of a soluble astringent. To 
this transitional modification the authors give the name of 
/astose, as the authors consider there are many celluloses, so also 
there will be many forms of bastose. The aromatic derivatives 
derived from these bastoses the authors propose to call dastins, 
The authors then adduce various argaments to prove that the 
conversion of carbo-hydrates into aromatic bodies is possible, 
Thus Hoppe Seyler, by heating starch to high temperatures with 
water, formed pyrocatechin. Gun-cottors or nitrocelluloses 
degrade spontanewusly into bodies of the pectic class, and the 
authors, by the action of strong sulphuric acid on dextrin at 7 
per cent., obtained a black substance which furnished a 
chlorinated product resembling in its properties the chlorobastin 
previously described. The formation of the black substance was 
accompanied with that of acetic and carbonic acids. The 
authors conclude the paper with the results of several miscel- 
laneous researches bearing on the subject. The stony concre- 
tions of pears can be converted into cellulose, and a chlorobastin 
giving the colour reaction with sodie sulphite, The origin of 
tannins, the reactions of jute substance under high pressure, the 
reduction of indigo by jute, the reaction of linseed oil with 
sulphuric acid, and additional obseryations on the cblorobastins, 
wea 
tind it 
NATURE --~ 
[ Feb. 
an athe ie of these abeellsngone researches. The authors 
nally embody their results in a diagrammatic survey or genea- 
logical tree : Carbonic anhydride and water, by the action of 
light, protoplasm and chlorophyll, form starch ; starch and oxy; 
during the growth of the plant give off CO, and H,O, pectin 
and cellulose being formed. The starch passes through bastose 
to bastin. Bastose can be split up in various ways by chlorine 
into cellulose and chlorobastin, by dilute sulphuric acid into 
furfurol, acetic acid, &c., and tannins (insoluble) by decay into 
pectic acid, and tannins (soluble) by nitric acid into cellulose and 
a nitro body. Bastin, by fusion with KHO, furnishes phloro- 
glucin and protocatechuic acid, and by chlorination carbonic 
acid and chlorobastin, 
NOTES FROM THE OTAGO UNIVERSITY 
MUSEUM 
I.—On a New Method of Preserving Cartilaginous Skeletons 
and other Soft Animal Structures 
N reading Professor Miall’s account of the employment of 
glycerine jelly for the preservation of anatomical prepara- 
tions (NATURE, vol. xviii. p. 312), it occurred to me that many of 
the more solid and less complicated structures, usually kept in 
spirit, might possibly be preserved by thoroughly impregnating them 
with glycerine jelly and then allowing them todry. 1 was able to 
make very few experiments in this direction before leaving Eng- 
land, but during the present year I have tested the method Iam 
about to describe enough to make me feel tolerably confident in 
recommending it as of especial value for cartilaginous and parti- 
ally ossifted skeletons, and useful also for such things as hearts, 
stomachs, and other viscera, and for the exoskeletons of 
Crustacea, Echinoderms, &c. 
I will first describe the method adopted in preparing the 
skeleton of a fresh Elasmobranch. The fi-h is eviscerated, the 
gills removed and placed in strong spirit, and the body plunged 
into water a few degrees below the boiling point. Animmersion 
vary ng from a few seconds to a few minutes serves to soften the 
mu-cle and connective tissue to such an extent that they can 
readily be stripped from the cartilage without injury to the latter. 
This I find the only satisfactory way of cleansing many parts of 
the elasmobranch skeleton, notably the vertebral column, In 
the case of the gills even a momentary immersion in hot water 
is liable to cause a separation of the cartilages ; they are there- 
fore best prepared in the cold, after the ligaments have been well 
hardened with alcohol. After the remainder of the skeleton is 
cleansed it may either be put through the preserving process at 
once, or previously hardened in alcohol—the latter alternative is 
the best, since it diminishes subsequent shrinking, but it is not 
essential and may very well be dispensed with in the case of 
large skeletons, for the sake of saving the otherwise large ex- 
penditure of alcohol. I need hardly say that it is always advisable 
to separate the skull from the vertebral column, the pectoral 
fin from the shoulder girdle, &c., as in this partially disarticu- 
lated condition the skeleton is more easily manipulated, besides 
being more convenient for future use. In the case of large 
sharks it is also necessary to divide the vertebral column into 
pieces small enough for the vessel used in the preserving 
process. } 
The various parts of the skeleton, with or without previous 
hardening in alcohol, are then placed in ‘‘ glycerine fluid ”’ of the 
following composition :— 
Glycerine ; ar = 1 litre. 
Water... eee ate ts Wes YS 
Alum... ae 20 grm. 
Corrosive suklimate 70" 5; 
This fluid is a modification of Wickersheimer’s, the chief 
alteration being the omission of alcohol: the alum may 
also be omitted if the specimen has been hardened with alcohol. 
After remaining in the fluid until thoroughly permeated—two 
days to a week, according to size—the skeleton is transferred to 
the following glycerine jelly :— 
Gelatine ... nay 45 — a 2) \. 
Glycerine te we ne oa I Sire. 
Water aa aa ate ae a. ery 
Corrosive sublimate 1 F 12 3 
The jelly is kept at a heat just sufficient to melt it, in ap 
earthenware vessel (neither the glycerine fluid nor the jelly 
should be allowed to come in contact with metal), over a water 
9, 1882 . 
