Annual Report of the Consulting Chemist for 1884. 335 
The first sample contained the merest trace of alcohol, and 
when re-analysed nine months later, only showed "41 per cent. 
No. 2, made from sour fruit, on the other hand, contained a 
considerable quantity. No. 3 again had but very little. 
Soft-soap. — For washing hops, soft-soap dissolved in a 
decoction of quassia, instead of ordinary water, was largely 
used in Kent this season. The following is the composition of 
two good samples of soft-soap : — 
No. 1. 
Ko. 2. 
Glycerine, saline matters, &c 
48-38 
42-01 
9-17 
-41 
47-02 
42-30 
9-24 
1-44 
100-00 
100 00 
African Lake Soil impregnated loith Salt. — The water had 
been drained off from a lake in North Africa, and an endeavour 
had been made to cultivate the soil. Analysis of it gave : — 
{Soil dried at 212° Fair.) 
Oxide of iron 3 '69 
Alumina 6-87 
Sulphate of lime 10-61 
Carbonate of lime 25 • 14 
Magnesia 1-33 
Potash -98 
Sulphate of soda 7-42 
Chloride of sodium (common salt) .. .. 5*61 
Phosphoric acid '11 
*Organic matter 3-23 
Insoluble silicates and sand 35-01 
100-00 
* Containing nitrogen - 06 
Equal to ammonia - 07 
This soil — a stiff clay-marl — is largely impregnated with 
common salt and sulphate of soda, and to such an extent that 
nothing could grow on it. The surface on exposure became 
encrusted with a saline deposit, and the probability is that the 
saline nature of the soil is not due merely to submersion by sea- 
water, but to saline deposits existing there, and which would 
not be removed by draining and washing by rain, so as to leave 
the soil fit for cultivation. 
Waters. — Of the 102 waters submitted to me for examination, 
the greater number by far have been those which, if they could 
