Ma? 1, 1834.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 479 



label, and the Committee propose to copy these upon uniform labels 

 provided for the purpose. The names of contributors will be stated. 



5. Upon application at the Philosophical Hall, Mr. Denny will show 

 the room, cases, &c. The Committee will also have pleasure in giving 

 any further information desired. 



We have much pleasure in noticing this planting of a germ of our 

 own science, Technology, in such favourable soil, where it is jointly 

 fostered by the representatives of the Natural History Science, and by 

 the practical business men who belong to the Chamber of Commerce. 



This is as it should be, and we shall be much mistaken if the gene- 

 ral public do not find in this new department an important addition to 

 the treasures of the already admirable Museum, which is always open to 

 them by the payment of one penny. 



IrbEtilr Jfnte. 



Utilisation oe Brine. — Another has just been added to the many 

 instances in which purely scientific research has led to the development 

 of the arts and manufactures. Mr. Alexander Whitelaw, of Glasgow, 

 has invented and patented a process for the treatment of the hitherto 

 waste brine of salted meat, so as to produce therefrom nutritive and 

 wholesome extract of meat and portable soup. His process is the first 

 practical application of Mr. Graham, the Master of the Mint's recently- 

 made, curious, and interesting discovery of " dialysis." Mr. Graham, 

 after pursuing those elaborate investigations on liquid diffusion that 

 have occupied him for many yeais, found, that when animal membranes 

 (as well as some other bodies of a similar nature) were interposed be- 

 tween solutions of various substances and water, that " chrystallized " 

 bodies freely diffused themselves through the membrane into the water ; 

 but to " colloid " bodies, such as gum, albumen, &c, the merest film of 

 such a membrane presented an almost impassable barrier. Mr. White- 

 law has availed himself of this principle in his process, which is of the 

 simplest character. He can conduct the dialytic operation in vessels of 

 various forms and materials, but the arrangement he prefers to employ 

 as being in every respect practically the best, is a series of bladders, 

 fitted with gutta percha necks and plugs. These bladders are filled with 

 the previously filtered brine, and hung in rows from poles stretching 

 across and suspended into vats of water. The water is renewed in these 

 vats once or twice a clay, and the action allowed to go on ; when, at the 

 end of the third or fourth day, it will be found that nearly all the salt 

 and nitre of the brine have been removed, and that the liquid contained 

 in the bladders is pure juice of flesh in a fresh and wholesome condition. 



