(24) 



ture of the various oils are of considerable commercial im- 

 portance. Some of these by-products are shown in the cases 

 with the oils. 



Plant Constituents. Cases 49 to 60. — This exhibit con- 

 sists of a series af alkaloids, acids, glucosides and amaroids, 

 albuminoids, resinoids and enzymes. These substances plants 

 store up in their tissues, or in the tissues of one or more 

 organs, and from them they are extracted for use in all 

 branches of the arts, sciences and industries. 



Starches. Case 61. — Starch, as in the case of many 

 other substances, exists in and is consequently derived from 

 the several organs of various plants, for example, the roots 

 of the cassava plant furnish the cassava flour and tapioca, 

 while those of coontie yield coontie flour which is quite sim- 

 ilar to sago, and those of the sweet potato plant furnish sweet 

 potato flour. The rootstocks of the common potato plant 

 abound in potato flour, while those of the arrow-root plant 

 yield arrw-root flour. The stems of some of the sago palms 

 and those of some of the true palms are the sources of sago 

 flour. The fruits, both dry and fleshy, of a great variety 

 of plants, contain starch; for example, those of the several 

 grains, wheat, rye and corn; while those of the banana yield 

 the less common banana flour. The seeds of some plants 

 are used as a source of starch, as for instance, those of the 

 chocolate plant. 



Cork and Paper. Cases 62 to 64. — Cork is the light 

 outer bark of the cork oak tree, a tree indigenous to southern 

 Europe. The substance, as we are accustomed to see it, is 

 prepared by means of boiling the cork bark and scraping off 

 the rough outer portion. The crude cork and many manu- 

 factured articles are shown in case number 49, and a large 

 jacket of crude cork is exhibited near by, just as it was 

 stripped from the tree. 



Wood fiber, especially that obtained from the trunks of 

 the spruce and poplar, enters largely into the manufacture of 

 paper. In cases 48 and 50, the fiber is shown in its crude 

 condition and in the various stages of refinement, as well as 



