April 21, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



429 



possibility of converting waste material into 

 valuable food products. 



In view of the interesting results obtained in 

 Germany during the recent war, on the action 

 of alkalis on chopped straw, this matter is 

 well worthy of a thorough study. In a recent 

 lecture by the writer to the Syracuse Section 

 of the American Chemical Society on "The 

 role of alkali in the future development of the 

 cattle food, cellulose, paper-pulp and liquid 

 fuel industries," attention was drawn to the 

 fact that experiments carried out at the behest 

 of the German War Office show that by the 

 simple process of boiling chopped straw for 

 three hours with a one per cent, solution of 

 sodium carbonate a 75 per cent, yield of mate- 

 rial is obtained, of which 75 per cent, is digesti- 

 ble, and this in spite of the relatively high 

 lignin content. A full account of this work is 

 to be found in the recent pamphlet by Hans 

 Magnus entitled, "Theorie und Praxis der 

 Strohaufschliessung," published by Paul Parey, 

 Berlin, 1919. Further information and addi- 

 tional references are to be found in the recent 

 work of Hans Pringsheim, "Die Polysac- 

 charide," Berlin, 1919. 



It would seem that the treatment with soda 

 ash is peculiarly applicable to American con- 

 ditions and offers to the individual farmer the 

 possibility of obtaining a cheap cattle food 

 from such waste materials as chopped straw, 

 ground corn cobs, etc., by the use of a chemical 

 product with which he is familiar and employ- 

 ing only the simplest type of machinery. The 

 resulting material when mixed with molasses 

 apparently yields a profitable and palatable 

 cattle food of high nutritive value. 



Lantern slides have been made of the various 

 tables quoted in the pamphlet by Magnus, and 

 the writer will be pleased to loan them to any 

 one interested in lecturing on this subject. 



Harold Hibeert 

 Yale University 



BUTYL ALCOHOL AS A REAGENT IN 

 HISTOLOGY 



Professor Griffin's article in Science for 

 March 10, recommending the use of isopropyl 

 and methyl alcohols for histological work, 

 impels the writer to call attention to the prac- 



ticability of using butyl alcohol, as recently 

 suggested by Larbaud,^ for similar purposes. 

 Among the advantages claimed for this reagent 

 are that it obviates difficulties due to the 

 presence of slight amounts of water in so- 

 called "absolute" ethyl alcohol, and that it does 

 away with the contraction and hardening due to 

 xylol, since butyl alcohol is a solvent of paraf- 

 fin and therefore takes the place of xylol or 

 chloroform as well as of the higher alcohols. 

 As butyl alcohol does not mix readily with 

 water, Larbaud recommends a mixture of equal 

 parts of butyl and 95 per cent, ethyl alcohols 

 in appropriate dilutions for the lower grades 

 in the dehydi-ating series. There seems to be 

 no a priori reason why a mixture of butyl and 

 methyl alcohols would not serve equally well. 

 The writer has used Larbaud's methods, with 

 slight modifications, for the dehydration and 

 infiltration of fungus tissues for eytologieal 

 study, with entirely satisfactory results. 



George W. Martin 



Hull Botanical Laboratory, 

 IJNrvERSiTY OP Chicago 



GENETICS OF THE VIENNA WHITE 

 RABBIT II. 



In Science for March 10, I described the 

 genetics of a variety of white rabbit having 

 colored eyes, which I supposed to be identical 

 with the variety known in Europe as Vienna 

 White. This variety I had synthesized by 

 crossing albinos carrying the gene for yellow 

 coat, with chinchillas, and I showed the white 

 variety with colored eyes to be genetically a 

 "yellow chinchilla." Since writing that article 

 I have been able to obtain from Europe a pair 

 of Vienna White rabbits and I find that, 

 though they look like my synthetic white rab- 

 bits, they breed very differently. When crossed 

 with yellow rabbits, they produce not yellow 

 young, as my synthetic whites should do, but 

 blue, black or gray young, according to the 

 genetic constitution of the yelloAV parent, and 

 these j'oung are invariably Dutch-marked, pre- 



1 Larbaud, Mile. : Nouvelle technique pour les 

 inclusions et les preparations microscopiques des 

 tissues vegetaux et auimaus. Comptes. Mend. Ac. 

 Aci. Paris, 172: 1317-1319. 1921. 



