Organic Remains, <^c. 243 



ceiver, may fill up the beater with fresh water, after drawing off the 

 first liquor, and perform the operation in the same vat. 



The greatest improvement I can at present suggest, would be to 

 boil the pulp taken from the vat by steam heat, for fifteen or twenty 

 minutes, in water containing as much muriatic acid as would give to 

 the liquor a strong acid taste. This operation can also be performed 

 by placing a pipe in the beater from any steam vessel. 



Muriatic acid, beside the oxide of iron, dissolves the carbonate of 

 lime, red resin, and alumina, contained in the indigo, and by being 

 mixed with water, the greater portion of the extractive matter would 

 be taken up at the same time. By boiling the pulp in water strongly 

 impregnated with muriatic acid the indigo remaining would be twen- 

 ty five per cent better than any hitherto made, and a price, more 

 than equivalent to the difference in the loss of weight and expense 

 of working, would be obtained from the consumer. 



I have been informed by some South Carolina planters, that owing 

 to their inability to proceed with the fermentative operation as rapid- 

 ly as the crops require, a portion is often left on the fields for two or 

 three weeks after the plants have arrived at maturity. This circum- 

 stance alone is sufficient to blast the interest of the planters. Their 

 interest would be much better consulted, by gathering in the crop, dry- 

 ing it, and extracting the coloring matter by the simmering process. 

 This difficulty is obviated in Bengal by their planting the seed in suc- 

 cessive periods, so that one crop shall ripen, a week or more after the 

 other, each crop being sufficient to supply one set of tanks during the 

 period of maturity. 



Dyers as well as indigo planters, would be highly benefited by at- 

 tending to the analysis of indigo. Were they, when a superior color 

 is wanted, to boil the ground indigo in a bag as described by Qua- 

 tremere, there would be no difficulty of obtaining the desired result 

 from indigo of any quality. 



Art. IV. — Synopsis of the Organic Remains of the Ferruginous 

 Sand Formation of the United States, with Geological Remarks; 

 by Samuel G. Morton, M. D. he. &ic. 



(Continued from Vol. XVII, p. 295.) 



Since the former part of this memoir was printed, but few ad- 

 ditional facts have come under my observation, and the principal of 



