646 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1357 



■tiou to used paper made primarily from chemically 

 prepared pulp. Conservation -will result in rework- 

 ing more paper wastes. The differential in value of 

 the regenerated pulp which goes back to bookstoek 

 or into boxboard must bear the cost of ' ' de-ink- 

 ing. ' ' To conserve the strength and length of fiber 

 and secure the greatest yield, the paper requires me- 

 chanical treatment whereby the fibers are loosened 

 and drawn apart with minimum tearing; the chem- 

 ical treatment should lift the ink, the substances 

 used dissolving or emulsifying the binder and 

 carrying the pigment particles away in the neces- 

 sary washing. A combination of borax, soap, 

 kerosene ajid pine oil, does this best; the last 

 mentioned being a natural solvent of rosin, used 

 as size for many kinds of paper, and a solvent and 

 emulsifying body for gums and resins, which are 

 present in ground wood, used in cheaper grades of 

 magazine papers. The process has been patented. 

 Recovering newsprint: Charles Baskerville 

 and Reston Stevenson. With the prices obtain- 

 ing, the recovery of old newspapers in such con- 

 dition as to be used again for newsprint, offers an 

 opportunity for relative conservation, if not dis- 

 tinct economy in fact. Methods previously de- 

 vised for recovering printed papers made Uttle or 

 no distinction between newsprint stock and book 

 stock. The former normally contains a large pro- 

 portion of ground wood, which yellows on treat- 

 ment with caustic soda, the usual basis of chem- 

 icals applied in de-inking printed paper stock. 

 The authors, recognizing the difference in char- 

 acter of the fibers in the several kinds of stocks, 

 have studied the fundamental principles involved 

 ajad devised a novel method for completely de- 

 inking newsprint stock containing a large per- 

 centage of ground wood with the minimum pro- 

 duction of yellowing. The process developed 

 depends upon the addition of American fuller 's 

 earth to the alkaline solution in which the printed 

 or soiled newspapers are pulped. The binder is 

 loosened and the ink lifted from the fibers, the 

 oils being absorbed by and the ink particles ad- 

 hering to the argillaceous earth, which is washed 

 away from the fibers through a fine gauze screen. 

 Temperature factors and concentrations are given. 

 A finished pulp, free from pigment and binder, 

 clean as when first made, has been obtained ready- 

 made for the paper mill. If desired the stock 

 may be bleached by treatment with dilute sul- 

 phurous acid, but this is unnecessary for ordinary 

 newsprint stock. 



On the cellulose content of various compound 

 celluloses: Louis Kahlenberg. Using the ferric 



chloride hydrolysis method described at the TJr- 

 bana meeting of the American Chemical Society, 

 various compound celluloses were decomposed and 

 their cellulose content estimated. The following 

 materials were thus investigated: (1) Woods — ■ 

 bass wood, birch, black walnut, cherry, hemlock, 

 maple, redwood, red oak, white ash, Washington 

 fix, white pine, yellow pine; (2) Straws — wheat, 

 oats, rye, barley, millet, soy beans, corn stalks, 

 corn husks, timothy hay; (3) Nutshells — black 

 walnut, English walnut, hickory, filbert, Brazil, 

 pecan, almond, peanut, horse chestnut; (4) Barks 

 — hemlock, pine. So far as comparable results 

 have previously been presented in the literature 

 by others, the values obtained are found to be, in 

 general, of the same order of magnitude as those 

 in this research. 



The constitution of cellulose: Harold Hibbert. 



The acid hydrolysis of sugar cane fiber and cot- 

 ton seed hulls: E. G. Sherrakd and G. W. Blanco. 

 Sugar cane fiber and cotton seed hiills were hydro- 

 lyzed by digesting with dilute sulphuric acid under 

 115 to 120 pounds steam pressure. About 27 per 

 cent, of total sugar was obtained from the bagasse 

 and about 14 per cent, from the cotton seed huUs. 

 Of the total sugar obtained from these materials 

 very little was fermentable, the greater proportion 

 being xylose. The yield of sugar from bagasse 

 using Hudson and Harding's method was 21.22 

 per cent, of the original dry fiber. Of this 57 

 per cent, was obtained as crystalline xylose and 

 shown to be identical with that from cotton seed 

 hulls. Attention is called to the fact that pentose 

 sugar influence the equilibrium established in the 

 hydrolysis of cellulose of hexose sugars. When 

 present in suflicient quantities they prevent the 

 formation of fermentable sugars. It is pointed 

 out that bagasse is a promising source of xylose 

 or furfural. Charles L. Parsons, 



Secreta/ry 



SCIENCE 



A Weekly Journal devoted to the Advancement of 

 Science, publishing the official notices and pro- 

 ceedings of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science 



Published every Friday by 



THE SQENCE PRESS 



LANCASTER, PA. GARRISCW, N. •% 



NEW YORK, N. Y. 



Enteied in the poet-efficc at Lancutcr, Pa.» ai •econd clua matter 



