140 
&tivMt jinks. 
Paper as a Material for Sugar Moulds. — The mould, used in 
sugar-refineries are sometimes made of clay, sometimes of zinc, or of plated 
copper, occasionally of glass, but, at least in France, most frequently of 
sheet iron, either printed or enamelled. The great disadvantage of such 
moulds is that the paint or enamel upon them invariably cracks after a 
time, where upon, if the defect be not instantly remedied, the portion of 
the metal which the crack lays bare rapidly oxidises, causing the mould 
to deposit upon the sugar spots of rust, which very greatly deteriorate its 
value. This disadvantage on the part of the moulds in common use, led 
MM. JDufoumet and Co., of Clichy, about seven years ago, to turn their 
attention to papier mache as a material for sugar moulds, and it is stated 
by M. Clemandot, in a paper on " The industrial applications of Stiffened 
Pasteboard " which he lately read before the society of Civil Engineers 
of France, that nearly a hundred thousand of their paper moulds have 
now been in use for nearly six years, without any one of them having 
required repair. The first cost of the paper moulds is somewhat greater 
than that of iron moulds, but iron moulds cost an average- of a franc 
and a half each per annum for repairs,, so that, to set against the excess 
of first cost on the hundred thousand paper moulds, is the saving of the 
nine hundred thousand francs which six years' repairs of the same num- 
ber of iron moulds would have cost. The paper moulds are still m 
excellent condition, so that the saving already realized does not repre- 
sent by any means the full amount of the economy to be effected by their 
use. This is the first instance we believe, in which papier-mache has 
received any extensive industrialapplication,but it is notlikelyto be the 
last. The lightness and cheapness of this material together with its non- 
liability to breakage and its power of resisting the action of chemical 
agents, render it well adapted to replace glass, porcelain and gutta-percha 
for a great many purposes. MM. Dufournet and Co. have begun to 
make of it basins and funnels for photographers, cells for electric bat - 
teries ; and many other similar articles. 
British Association. — The following are abstracts of papers read 
at the meeting of the British Association at Birmingham : — 
On the Adulteration of Essential Oils with Turpentine, and 
Means of its Detection. By H. Sugden Evans. — The adulteration 
of essential oils is well known to be extensively practised, and though 
numerous tests have been proposed for the detection of the fraud, all have 
proved unsatisfactory, giving at the best, evidence only of the fact of 
adulteration without indicating its extent. Availing himself of the power 
