A SUBSTITUTE FOR GLUE— VEGETABLE ALBUMEN. 
An improved process has been invented by E. Hanon, of Paris, by which 
he obtains vegetable albumen from gluten, for the purpose of applying 
it as a cheap agent for fixing printed colours on textile fabrics, and also 
for uniting pieces of wood, leather, &c. The following is the substance 
of the specification, as published in 'Newton's London Journal of 
Arts ' :— 
Gluten is obtained by kneading wheat flour paste with water. 
During the operation of kneading, the feculent part of the paste is 
carried off with the water, and the glutinous parts unite and form an 
elastic substance called gluten, which contains about twice its weight of 
water ; the gluten, in this state, is converted into albumen, by the pro- 
cess of fermentation. 
In carrying out the invention, gluten of the best quality, free from 
fecula, and after having been well washed in warm water, is placed in 
vessels, in which it is left to ferment until it is completely soft, and has 
lost its elasticity, and until the greater portion of the water which it has 
taken up during the operation of kneading is combined with it ; when 
the gluten has undergone the regular fermentation or modification, it 
offers no resistance to the finger, or to any article which may be passed 
through the mass, and the modified gluten should also adhere to the 
object with which it is brought in contact. The gluten, so modified, is 
then ready for use ; but as it has been brought, by the process of fer- 
mentation, into a very thin paste, it is necessary to place it in moulds 
for drying. 
The process of fermentation may be performed, either with or with- 
out the aid of artificial heat ; when artificial heat is applied, the process 
is considerably expedited, and the heat found most beneficial is about 
20° to 30° Fah., above the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere. 
During the fermentation, it is requisite to stir the gluten frequently, 
and to remove the water which rises to the surface. With the above 
temperature, and in operating upon about fifty or sixty pounds of glu- 
ten, placed in a vessel, the fermentation will be sufficiently advanced 
in three or four days, and the fermented gluten or vegetable albumen, 
will then be in the proper state for being made into thin plates and 
dried. The greatest care must be taken that the fermentation is stopped 
at the proper point, for if it is allowed to proceed too far, the gluten is 
converted into a noxious mass. 
When the gluten is converted into vegetable albumen it is divided, 
and formed into plates of about one quarter to three-eighths of an inch in 
thickness ; this is effected by spreading the albumen in metal or other 
moulds by. means of a spatula ; it is then left to dry, either in the open 
air, or by the aid of a gentle heat, and the plates, when dry, are about 
one-eighth of an inch in thickness. 
