Fibres- 



392 



[November, 1911. 



They are as follows :— 

 15-5° C 



Sp.gr. at ... 0-898 to 0-910 



15-5° U 



Optical rotation ... -7° to -13° 

 Acidity expressed as 



acetic acid Not above 0-25 per cent. 

 Soluble in 2-3 vols, of 80 per cent, by 



vol. alcohol, and clear on further 



addition of the alcohol up to 10 vols, 

 Acetylisable consitituents stated as 



geraniol, at least 58 per cent. 



Estimation of Geraniol. — Ten c.c. of 

 the oil with 15 c.c. of acetic anhydride 

 (Note 1) and 1 gram of anhydrous sodium 

 acetate are boiled for two hours under 

 a reflux condenser. The mixture is 

 cooled without removing the flask from 

 the condenser, and about 50 c.c. of water 

 is slowly added through the condenser 



tube. The contents of the flask are 

 heated to not more than 70° C. for about 

 twenty minutes, poured into a separat- 

 ing funnel, and washed with cold 

 neutral brine (Note 2) until all soluble 

 acid is removed. The washed acetylated 

 product is dried with anhydrous neutral 

 sodium sulphate, and from 2'5 to 5 grams 

 saponified with alcoholic potash in the 

 usual way. Any free acidity is neutral- 

 ised before measuring the volume of 

 decinormal KOH, and saponification is 

 completed by heating on a boiling water- 

 bath for forty-five minutes. The excess 

 of KOH is titrated with decinormal acid. 



The acetic anhydride should contain 

 at least 95 per cent, of actual anhydride, 

 and be free fiom higuei Immologues. 

 Water may be used instead of brine, 

 but the latter is to be preferred, as it 

 separates more rapidly from the oil. 



FIBRES. 



THE PHILIPPINES AND THE 

 BAMBOO. 



(Prom the Manila Bulletin,) 

 The Philippines is interested in the 

 development of the manufacture of pulp 

 for paper out of the bamboo, and the 

 following from the Literary Digest on 

 recent developments is worth reading. 

 It will also be noted that no reference 

 is made to the Philippines as a source of 

 bamboo pulp, while Porto Rico and the 

 Panama zone are set forth as the only 

 American territory where bamboo is 

 available. The Digest says : — 



Our Vanishing Forests of spruce, cut 

 down to supply the enormous demand 

 for print-paper, may find relief in the 

 discovery of a new source of supply in 

 the tropics. Bamboo pulp is likely to 

 come to the front as a main source of 

 paper stock supply according to an 

 article contributed to American Forest- 

 ry (June) by Harry Vincent, who quotes 

 The World's Paper Trade Review 

 (London) as his authority. The difficulty 

 heretofore has been in the bleaching, 

 as the colouring matter could not be 

 eliminated except by the expensive 

 causcic-soda process. This has now been 

 obviated. Bamboo has incontestable 

 advantages over other pulp material, 

 A piece of land once established can 

 be cut over annually for an indefinite 

 period, as bamboo in the tropics grows 

 thirty feet or more yearly. As it re- 

 quires but a three-year period to pstab- 

 lish a field, no other material can 



compete with it. The United States 

 has control over large territories in 

 Porto Rico and the Panama Zone most 

 suitable for bamboo cultivation, and a 

 permanent future supply up to millions 

 of tons a year may be assured, the 

 writer thinks. We read :— 



" The advantages of bamboo as a pulp- 

 maker are : (1) It has a good, strong 

 vegetable fibre ; (2) it is in general easily 

 accesible for water transport; (3) it is 

 cheap and easily collected ; (4) it is avail- 

 able in large quantities and abundant 

 within a given area; (5) it is available 

 for a regular and constant supply, and 

 not subject to violent fluctuations either 

 in quality or pr ice ; (6) it admits of 

 simple and ready treatment, mechanical, 

 chemical, or both, for easy and inexpen- 

 sive conversion into bleached pulp; (7) 

 land established in bamboo, which will 

 take three years from first planting to 

 reach a height of thirty to forty feet, 

 can then be reaped annually for an 

 indefinite period. 



" Ordinary thick walled bamboo which, 

 when given suitable soil and climate, 

 grows with amazing rapidity and yields 

 annually at least forty tons to the acre, 

 contains fifty per cent, of* a very strong 

 yet fine and flexible fibre, easily digested 

 by the ordinary bisulphide process, and 

 by a new method simply and inexpen- 

 sively bleached, yielding when properly 

 treated an excellent pulp, felting readily, 

 and producing a paper, pliant, resistant 

 and opaque, of enduring colour, thicker 

 than other paper of the same weight, 



