1870.] Chemistry. 105 



Scorching of Leaves by the Wind. — M. Marchand, engineer of 

 Fecamp, in Normandy, lias made some observations on the effect 

 produced on the leaves of various trees by the violent storm of the 

 12 th to the 1 6th of November. The wind was from the north-west ; 

 and on that side the leaves of nearly all the trees growing near the 

 coast, except the bay, ivy, and tree-mallow, were scorched as if by 

 fire, and lost about 39 per cent, of their normal weight ; and were 

 found to have absorbed an appreciable amount of sea-salt, which no 

 doubt obstructed the circulation of the sap and caused them to 

 shrivel up. The leaves exposed to the south-east were not similarly 

 affected. 



Japanese Sea-weeds. — At a recent meeting of the Koyal Academy 

 of Amsterdam, a collection was exhibited to illustrate the care taken 

 by the Japanese in applying to beneficial purposes the natural pro- 

 ducts of their country. The collection consisted of sixteen species 

 of Algae which are useful for food or other purposes, together with 

 fabrics manufactured from some of them. Several of the species 

 were altogether new ; in other instances the application was entirely 

 novel. 



5. CHEMISTEY. 



Mb. J. Alfred Wanklyn has made known a very unexpected 

 fact. He says that when chlorine gas is passed over metallic 

 sodium — even when the metal is fused, and whilst in a state of 

 fusion, shaken in contact with the gas so as to expose fresh metallic 

 surface — there is no increase in weight, and of course no action. 



The increasing demand for albumen, especially for the use of 

 calico-printing, has at various times led to attempts to obtain a 

 supply of this article from the blood of slaughtered oxen and sheep. 

 M. Dolfns-Galline describes a process invented by him, and actually 

 in operation on a large scale at the abattoirs of Dornach, France. 

 The process is based upon the fact of the coagulation of the cruorine 

 of the blood, and its separation from the serum, the latter yielding, 

 by cautious management, a dried albumen, which can be applied 

 instead of egg albumen for clear and bright colours. Ten litres of 

 serum yield 1 kilo, of dry colourless albumen ; the blood of two 

 and a half oxen, ten sheep, or seventeen calves, produces the same 

 quantity of dry albumen, viz. 1 kilo. 



Referring to Professor Graham's researches on the occlusion of 

 hydrogen by palladium, M. Favre states, that according to his 

 experiments the hydrogen in palladium saturated therewith is 

 present as a chemical compound, and not simply in the state of 



