5D 
analysis shows about the same amount. This soap, however, is never 
absolutely alike, and sometimes, as shown by extended work conducted 
by Captain Emory, is very unsatisfactory. The coarse waste fish oil 
or “ foots” which he uses varies greatly at different times, and there is 
probably also a variation in the lye used, but, for that matter, I am not 
at all sure that his statement that he invariably uses caustic potash 
can be relied on from our earlier experience with him and his soaps. 
In connection with the subject of the water percentage in soaps, lL 
wish again to call attention to the fact that various publications 
intended for the practical farmer continue to give formulas for making 
soap which promise several or many times more soap in weight than 
the amount of lye and oil used. In other words, the formulas call for 
the use of a very large quantity of water. In our notes on soaps last 
year it was shown that in the best brands of hard soap the water did 
not exceed 12 to 15 per cent, and therefore any formula which necessi- 
tated the presence of 50 to 75 per cent or even greater percentage of 
water meant a soap already diluted with water to that extent when 
purchased, and not to be employed except at correspondingly greater 
amount in the formulas for washes based on standard hard soaps. 
In the experiments of last year also it was seen that the nature of 
the lye used, whether a soda or potash lye, did not seem always to offer 
a means of explaining the behavior of the soaps, in that some of them 
would be fluid in strong solution while others would solidify or become 
gelatinous. We have during the past year tested a great many formulas 
for making soaps, repeating them often several times, with slightly 
varying portions of ingredients, with the intention of determining if 
possible the secret of making a soap which will remain fluid when dis- 
solved at the rate of 2 pounds or thereabouts to the gallon of water. 
Our work of last year having apparently indicated that the lye used 
did not always explain the difficulties in this direction, experiments 
were first made with caustic soda (sodium hydrate), which is the lye 
commonly used by soap makers, with the addition of various quantities 
of salt and lime. With salt nothing satisfactory was gained, but it 
was early found that tbe addition of lime to a soap in sufficient quan- 
tity would break it up in such a way that it remained of a fluid con- 
sistency when cold even in very strong solution. Not only could the 
lime be added to soaps in the process of making and bring about this 
result, but any soap which in dilution hardened on cooling if intermixed 
when dissolved with the proper amount of lime would remain semi- 
fluid. The amount of lime necessary is considerable, however, and it 
was evident that the apparent fluidity of the soap with lime was merely 
due to the formation of the lime-soap salt precipitate seen in the use of 
soap with hard water, and the soap so broken up has more of a grannu- 
lar consistency than a real tluid and its value as an insecticide is very 
doubtful. The amount of lime necessary for the breaking up of hard 
soap which solidified in dilution on cooling was about at the rate of | 
