Feb. 1, 1899,] 
THE TROPICAL AGPJCULTUEIST. 
583 
USEFUL NOTES. 
Cinnamon. — Quills are dearer, the price of the 
usual sort to arrive being now 8 13-16d. c.i.f,, January- 
March shipnient, A fair business has been dole cn 
the spot since OMxWht.— British and Colonial Liuggist. 
Oils, Essential. — All East Indian Oils are quiet, 
Jr.pan df niemholited Oil of I'tj/jtermint is sellirg at 
3a. Pd. spot, and 8s. Vjd. ci.f. Lcnicnrtrass Oil is 
obtainable at 3d. spot. Star Avife Oil is 6s. Id. to 
63. 2d. spot. Oil of Cassia is unchanged. — Il)id. 
Vanilloes. — A special auction was held of these 
to-day at vrhith l.OfiS tins were cffered and 1,01'' 
sold." The auction began quietly, but the demand 
increpsed af teiwards, prices being irregular; but, 
on the whole, steady. The following shows the 
rates obtained : — t^ci/chellcs : Good beans sold at 283. 
for 8 + 8^ ins.. 26s. for 8 ins., 25f. 6d. for 7^ + 
8 ins., 22s. 6d. to i5s. for 7 + 7i ins., 21s. to 23s. 
for 6J- + 7 ius., 21s to 22s. 6d. for 6 + 6^ inp., and 
fnisller sizes ranged from 19s. for 3 + 4J ins , to 
21s. for f J + 6 ins. Bourbcn : Fair beans sold at 
19s fid. for 5+6 ins., and IBs. for li + 5 ins. 
No 3Jau)itisu or Jfadafiascar beans were put up, 
and the offerings of Tahiti and Ceylon begin con- 
fined to a few tins. — Ibid. 
Tbanemissicn ofElectkicPo'web. — Professor George 
Fop.EEs wriles:' — "Referring to the suggestion made 
in niy recent kcture to the Society of Arts that the 
copper used in electric works should be niortgnged, 
I find that the mention I made of Mr. Thwaite's name 
in a subsequent notice in the Jounal (see anti. p. 
103), led some people to believe that he was 
the originator of the scheme. This is not the case ; 
niy attention hp»s b'en drawn to the facts that his 
paper was read on the 12th November, 1S92 and 
that in luy Cantor Lectuie to Society 1 f Arts on 
the i:5th January, 1892, I had said "That far more 
coppi r would be put down in mains if people realised 
the low rates at which money could be raised in 
debentures on them." — Journal of the Society of Arts- 
Pure Water as a Poison — H. Koeppe has mad© 
a very interesting contribution of a recent number 
oithe Deutscli UeJicinishe Wochcnschrift (1698,624) upon 
the subject of water, and has arrived at the conclusion 
that absolutely pure water is a poison, a sentiment long 
since adopted in Kentucky. Isolated living elements 
and single-celled organisms die in distilled water, 
since this deprives the cells by osmosis of the salts 
which are essential to life. The epithelial cells of 
the stomach are destroyed by free ingestion of 
distilled water, and eventually thrswn off. This 
locp.l poisoning is indicated by the nausea and vomiting 
which follows the ingestion of distilled water. In 
support of this singular view Dr. Koeppe cites the 
fact that the very pure water which results from the 
melting of g'aciers and of snow upon mountains is 
very unwholesome. Another link in the chain .of 
evidence in the fact that a certain spring known for 
hundreds of years as the ''poison spring" yields water 
which, on chemical analysis, appears to bo absolutely 
pure. — A m e ric a n J>rur/f/ ist . 
General Kesultcj. — 1. The alkaloid is not contained 
in the sieve vessels, but in the parenchyma. 2. It 
is present in the green colls. 3. The alkaloid ap- 
pears as a conttilnent of living parenchymacells or 
cells of a kindred nature, 4. Cells containing oxa- 
late of lime contain no alkaloid. 5. Generally 
epeaking (there are e.xceptions) we find in the case 
of .young organic matter at the growiiig point the 
alkaloid dissolved in the cell sap, but in older 
organic mntler, as in the stcoridaiy bail', we find 
it in an amorphous solid Q)ndition. 6. Sometimes 
the alk;iloiJ is present in iLe foim of the tannate, 
whether it occurs combined with other acids wis 
not investigated. 7. Very active organic matter, 
such as a cambium, at the farthest portion from 
the growing point contains no alkaloid as a rule ; 
but closo to this cfiitre of activity it is found in 
considerable quantities. 8. In the neighbourhood 
of the growing paint of the stem much more ia found to 
be present than in the neighbourliood of the growing 
point of tho root. — llrilish end Colonial Divggist. 
Aromatic Cod Ijirm Oil. — According to Duquesnel 
the addition of two drops of oil of eucalyptus to 
eath 150 gms. of cod liver oil is sufRcent to com- 
pletely mask the taste and odour of the oil. — 
Aniei'ican Brvf/gist. 
The Botanical Localisation or the Cinchona 
Alkaloids. — Dr. J P. Lotsij. Government Botanist 
in Java, has made a very exhaustive report on the 
localisation of the alkaloids in the cinchona p'ant. 
We give below a translation of this report, omitting 
portions which are of an elementary botanical nature : 
Report upon the Localisation of the Alkaloid in 
the Cinchona Plant, issued by the Laboratory of 
the Government Cinchona Plantations. — British and 
Colonial Dnigrjist. 
In an Inteeesting Papee Entitled "Cacao 
Leaves.'" — Contributed to the Western Diuqyist (Chi- 
cago) for December by A. Schneider M.D., Ph.D., 
the author enters into a consideration of the com- 
parative merit of the several varieties of cacao leaves 
placed upon the mniket, and arrives at the following 
conclusions : — (1). The gross differences between the 
leaves of Bolivian, Peruvian, and Brazilian cacao 
are quite marked. (2). To observe the essential 
differences in the ridge along the upper surface of 
the midrib it is best to examine cross-sections 
under a medium power. (3). It is practically im- 
possible to distingui.'h the powders of Bolivian and 
Peruvian cacao. Powder of Brazilian cacao may ba 
recognised by the prominent globose papillcB on th« 
cells of lower epidermis. 
Vanilla Auctions. — The vanilla auctions to-day 
were very lengthy, and six catalogues took four 
hours to go through. Altogether (1,095 tins were 
offered, of which 1,!:17 told. Mr. W. V/. Green 
(Brookes and Green), while Mr, Dalton (Dalton 
and young) was Ln the rostrum, said that the course 
adopted by soma cf the brokers of offering single- 
tin lots which cnly weighed a few pounds was not 
an advantage to either buyers or sellers, and it 
was the desire of the trade that the lots should be 
made as large as possible by grouping the same 
lengths together wherever practicable. Mr. Heideman 
said that the offering of small lots was conveniene 
for those who did not reqaire large quantities, but 
he agreed with Mr. Green's remarks. Mr. Dalton 
said that he would see into the matter. 
As the sales were so long, Messrs. Brookes and 
Green conceived the happy idea of offering th« 
buyers some light refreshment in the shape of tea 
and sandwiches, and therefore, at about two o'clock 
the unusual sound of the rattling of cups and saucors 
was heard in the sale room. 
Particulars of the prices of vanilloes are givea in onr 
detailed items below. — British and Colonial Drugi/ist. 
Acetylene. — Gloser's Annalen, in a recent number 
has a paper by Dr. H. Gerdes, giving an account 
of a series of experiments by Herr J. Pintsch, of 
Berlin, undertaken to ascertain the true position of 
acetylene aa regards safety, in view of the common 
opinion as to its highly dangerous character. He 
explodes many fallacies, and puts the gas in its 
true place. The sins laid at its door were that it 
was very poisonous, ihat it formed dangerously ex- 
plosive compounds with copper and copper alloys, 
and that in its pure state it was as explosiTe as 
ordinary coal gas was when mixed v.ith air. The 
poisonous properties were shown to be non-existent. 
No acetylides possessing explosive properties were 
found. It was found possible to prepare an explosive 
copper acetylide, but only by keeping pure copper 
exposed for a long time to large quantities of the 
acetjlene. It is now well known that the pure gat 
does not explode when at ordinary pressure, aird 
that, if heat i.-j applied, the decomposition does not 
spread catalvtically through the mass, but only 
occurs at the point wlieie hcut ia applied. When 
cylinders of gas have e.xploded upon the iipplicalion 
of heat, it lias only been when enough heat lias been 
applied to produce an explosive pressure, which, 
it IS needless to at >le, wouhi be dangerous under any 
circumstauces. — British Journal of I'hotogmiihy. 
