CocoajsutFibee as aDefensive WaeMaterial. 
—In the last report of the curator of the ' Nilgiri 
gardens, attention is drawn to a new use for the Refuse 
hbre of cocoa nuts. Dr. Lawson savs that his attention 
was drawn to the subject by Mr, Money, a' planter in 
the Nilgiris, who sent him an article in the Revue dts 
deux Mondcs for August I, 1886,’by M. de la Barriere, 
entitled 44 B&tiuien-t de combat et de la guerre,” in 
■which the author described how the refuse of cocoa 
nut, after the process df retting, might be used for 
' backing the iron plates of ships of war. The method of 
proceeding was to take a quantity mf the powdeted 
refuse before it was* quite dry, *and subject it to 
pressure, when the. naturaj*viscidity of the macerated 
cellular substance of the nut caused the whole to 
cohere and to form a plate which in general appearance 
'was tike a mill board, only much more brittle. Owing 
to the hygroscopicity of this substance, if a hole i?f 
made through it, the parts adjacent to the puncture 
.absorb water, swell up’, and immediately close the 
orifice. Dr. Lawson got a sack of this refuse and made 
a plate 18ta. square, by about £in. in thickness, which 
he placed between two boards, and then fastened it to 
one side-of a box, which contained a head of one foot 
of water. A bullet half an inch in diameter was fired 
through it, but not a drop ooy.ed.out. This experiment 
Wiis repeated three times with the same result. Then 
a £in. bullet was fired through the plate, when a few 
drops only made their way through. Lastly, a bullet 
nearly lin. in diameter was firecl through the plate, 
when a large jet of water shot through, but in the 
course of a _ few seconds the stream decreased in 
volume, and in less than a minute had ceased to flow 
altogether, vi ‘ Whether or not this material could be 
advantageously used for the purpose which M. de la 
Barriere suggested, or„ for any other purpose, is a 
matter worth considering, for, as he truly says in his 
article, millions of tons float away annually down our 
rivers indtidi-a.” 
