SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 331 



with alcohol, are brilliant and of a reddish white colour. Their taste is 

 bitter and astringent. 



Hematin forms an orange red solution with boiling water, becomin" 

 yellow as it cools, but recovering when heated its former hue. Alkali 

 converts it first to purple, then to violet, and lastly to brown, in which 

 case it seems to be decomposed. Metallic oxide unites with it, forming 

 blue compounds. Gelatine throws down reddish flocculi. Protomuriate 

 of tin renders it lilac. 



Logwood shavings yield their colour to water and alcohol ; the latter 

 extracts it more readily than water. The colour of its dyes is red, in- 

 clining to violet or purple. Its aqueous decoction, left to itself, becomes 

 yellowish, and at length black. Acids turn it yellow ; alkalies deepen 

 its colour and give it a purple hue. Stuffs would take only a slight and 

 fading colour from decoction of logwood, if they were not previously 

 prepared with aluminous mordants. A blue colour may be obtained 

 from it by the addition of verdigris, but the great consumption of log- 

 wood is for blacks, which are obtained by alum and iron bases, and of 

 any requisite degree of intensity. 



The bark and the gum of the logwood tree are used as astringent 

 remedies. 



klnilk Jto 



Maple Sugar in New Brunswick. — It is not easy to estimate 

 the average quantity of Maple sugar manufactured annually, as 

 it is not subject to any regulation by which it could be ascer- 

 tained. We know, however, froxu the census returns, that in 1851 

 it amounted to 350,9571bs. ; but again in 1861 it had fallen to 

 230,0001bs. It would be unfair, however, to conclude that the average 

 manufacture had really declined, because very much depends upon the 

 character of the season, and the pressing nature of other employments. 

 There is no systematic plan in existence for developing this production. 

 All that is manufactured is by individual farmers and their families, 

 and the whole work must be accomplished in a few weeks in the spring, 

 generally from the middle of March to the middle of April. In order 

 that the sap may flow freely, it requires cold frosty nights, succeeded by 

 clear, bright days, and when, as sometimes happens, the interval is 

 marked by dull, cloudy, or stormy weather, it almost precludes the pro- 

 secution of the work. It is quite certain, however, that a profitable 

 trade might be made of the article if a little enterprise and capital were 



