703 
Oie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Simple 
Science 
By Dr. F. D. Crane 
The Science of a Boiled Potato 
Is tho effect of Ixtiliiip:. <>ii a potato, 
iiifchanioal or chemical. w. c. 
New York. 
Both. Ask the potato, if you have 
even a small microscope, lij' cutting as 
thin a slice as you can with a razor or 
very shai*p knife, and looking at it on a 
glass slide in a drop ('f water. ^ ou will 
see a layer of hrown. close-paclo-d cells, 
which make up the .skin: next a layer of 
small cells, nearly empty, and then a 
lot (if larger cells, filled with little dots 
and ovals, and these make tip the bulk of 
the potato. If you move the .slice about, 
some of these dots will fall out, and, if 
you have a little higher magnifying pow¬ 
er, you can see that th(*y are semi-trans¬ 
parent cells with faint markings like the 
lines on an oyshu- shell. If you now 
.add just a Uttle diluted IJincture 
iodine, the dots will all turn deep blue, 
and this, among other tests, shows that 
they are starch. But the cell walls and 
skin cells do not turn blue. 
If you soak another slice in a water 
solution of methylene blue, fit is a drug 
and is usually carried in drug stores), 
taking care not to have it too strong or 
l('avi‘ the .slice in too long, the skin and 
cell walls will turn blue and the starch 
will not be colored. N(‘xt. scrape fine 
some of the raw potato, add a few drops 
of water, and s(iue('/.e out the juice and 
water, filtering through a bit of absorb¬ 
ent cotton. .\dd a drop of water solu¬ 
tion of tannic acid, strong .solution of 
oak bark will do. and you will see the 
jKitato juice turn cloudy. But it does 
not blue with iodine. 
Now do the same things with the well- 
boiled potato. The .skin and cell walls 
still take the blue dye and refuse the 
iodine, but as you cut yon find the t('x- 
ture has changed, and ti water extract, 
(using more water) does not cloud with 
tannic acid and does turn deep blue with 
iodine. Under the microscope th«‘ cell 
walls have swelh'd and the contents has 
lost the grained appearance, and be(‘ome 
even, jelly-like masses, Avhich tend to 
spread into the water. These tests show 
that the heat, either wet or dry heat, 
change.s the starch to a .soluble form, 
tends to .soften the cell walls, and makes 
insoluble something that was before 
water-soluble. 
The chemi(*!il changes are jirimary. but 
tiiey induce mechanical changes which 
lielp to make the jiotato more easily di¬ 
gested. Incidentally they show that it 
is a mistake to peel potatoes befon* cook¬ 
ing, since the albuminoid bodi(‘s are then 
easi'y lost, and other tests .show that the 
.s;ilts. and other valuable food constitu¬ 
ents are in that layer of aiiparently 
empty fclls just undiu' tin* skin. 
F. u. r. 
(caustic soda), two parts dis.solved in 
](!() parts of water, and boil gentl.v un¬ 
der constant .stirring. If caustic potash 
cannot be obtained at a reasonable price, 
use 10 parts in all of caustic soda; the 
result will be nearly as good. 
Boil for some time, replacing the water 
which boils away, and let stand over 
Vt^XA^ f 
Making a Hand Cleanser 
'I'liK R. N.-Y. will confer :i favor on 
iiiiiny subscribers by imblishing a form- 
tda for making a hand jiaste. which is 
a paste for cleaning the h.inds. Ordinary 
cake soap gets worse each year, if pos¬ 
sible, and is no good. .7. o. 
l’enn.sylvania. 
We have examined tin* soap you men¬ 
tion and find that it is merely one of the 
g<‘neral class of hand .soajis which de¬ 
pend for their action on three* factors, a 
“soft soap” which is also :i “hiird water 
soa)!.” an excess of carbonate of soda, 
an l a mineral constituent. These .soaps 
:i'*(o carry a large per cent, of water, es¬ 
pecially of late, since tin* rise in the cost 
of potash salts has limit'd their use. _A 
fair proportion of cocoanut oil will give 
lathering power in almost any water, but 
this also has risen in price, still, as it 
helps hold the excess water, it pays its 
way. As to the mineral, it may be most 
anything that is gritty. Sea sand is 
about the cheapest and poorest, t>owdered 
pumice is very good, and a fine fresh 
water sand will work well, if you can get 
a clean lot. 
Here i.s a formula which will give a 
first-class cleansing soap as a base, but 
it is purposely made strong enough to do 
business promptly, and it will touch you 
up a bit if it hits a raw .sput. Cocoiinut 
oil, ,S0 parts by weight, cottonseed oil, 
20 parts, beef suet, clarified. 10 parts. 
Melt together with gentle heat, in a suit¬ 
able vessel three times as large as the 
final amount to be made. To the melted 
fats ad(l in small portions under con¬ 
stant stirring potassium hydrate, (caus¬ 
tic iiota.sh) 1.”. parts, sodium hydrate. 
Reproduced from the New York Evening Telegram 
night. Next day melt cautiously, as it is 
now liable to burn on the bottom, and 
see if a small portion dis.solves in a large 
(‘xcess of water. If it leaves some oil 
drops it should be boiled a little more, 
bringing back to weight with added watei-. 
.\s soon as finished, and only practice 
will tell just when, add one to two parts 
soda ash, crude carbonate of soda, or. 
if that is unobtainable, two to four parts 
washing soda, or more if you want some¬ 
thing fierce, dissolved in five parts water, 
and stir in well. 
This is your foundation. To it you 
may add as you will sand, pumice, or any 
grit you please, tind. if you want a soap 
which will lift most anything, take the 
kettle of hot soap well outdoors and stir 
in a half gallon or less of gasoline, and 
continue to stir till <|uite cool. (No 
smoking while you make it, the linished 
soap is safe enough.) Whatever grit you 
decide to u.se must be well stirred in 
last, while the soap is still Ihiuid enough 
to stir, but not enough to let the grit 
all sink. The (quantity of grit you use 
must be determined by trial, since dif¬ 
ferent kinds act differently in the soap. 
Rather coarse corn meal make.s a very 
cleaiKsing soap, but is too .soft for many 
uses; sawdust is another mild ingredient, 
.lust how much water to leavi* in must 
also be determined by trial. 
If you must iierfume it, use something 
rank,'as the delicate odoi-s will not stand 
the alkali. The smell is put in last of 
all. citronella. .sassafras, star anise, ro.se- 
mary and s,pike lavender are cheap and 
will last fairly long, but the plain soap 
will clean just as well. f. i>. c. 
Tanning Rawhi<ie 
Will you tell us how to tan rawhide? 
It has already been (.nit for 2-inch traces 
and 1-inch halter ties—a bull hide. 
Would it be as well just to remove the 
hair as told in .Ian. 20 issue and let it 
go at that? ■}. A. ,7. 
C’-obleskill. N. Y. 
Tanning h'.nther is no job for the 
amateur or experimenter, and a rather 
complete search through .several formu¬ 
la biioks showed none which would give 
much hope of succes.s. The process in 
general is to remove the hair in a lime 
bath, “plump” in a mildly acid ferment¬ 
ing bath and tan in a weak solution of 
tan bark with frequent stirring. It may 
be there is some practical tanner among 
our readers who will tell how to handle 
small pii'ces of cut raw hide such as you 
Imve. if so we would be glad to hear 
from him, and it will interest many of 
us. The hair can be removed as de¬ 
scribed, but for a small job like this why 
not use a safety razor? f. n. c. 
Briquettes; Draining With Dynamite 
1. What is used to make briquettes 
from coal screenings? 2. Is it practical 
to open up land that has a clay ami a 
sort of hardpan underneath by dynam |cV 
Rhode Island. a. c. 
1. The most common binder for bri¬ 
quettes is about five jier cent, of a suit¬ 
able cold tar, but the work has to be 
done under gre.at heat and pressure to 
get usuable product. Dozens of things 
have been tried, (many patented), and 
some bri(iuettes iire fairly good fuel. 
2. Dynanr'te will certainly open up 
the land, hardpan included, but whether 
it will pay on any particular field is 
more than we are willing to guess, for 
the results as reiiorted at various times 
are varied. 'I’ln* makei's of explosives 
will semi you information, whether it 
will pay to use tlu'ir goods at jin'sent 
prices you must dt'cidi' for yourself. It 
would cost little to try a small patch 
:ind see wluit it does this season. 
F. I). (’. 
“If war comes will you contribute 
your automobile?" ‘T will if my coun¬ 
try Avants it.” replied Mr. (’huggins. 
“But if they want me to help cover any 
groiiml with accuracy and reliability, 
they’d better let me go my.self and leave 
the automobile in the repair shop.”— 
Washington 'Star. 
T1 
Chalmers T-Passenger Touring Car—Price $1475 Detroit 
Chalmers 
Is Built For Long Service 
Chalmers builds for long life. Sturdi¬ 
ness is in every part. Severe usage and 
hard going only serve to prove Chalmers 
construction. 
The Chalmers is a light weight, roomy 
car. Light weight insures right road 
performance and true economy. Long 
springs give easy riding qualities both 
on good roads and in the ruts. 
Go to the nearest Chalmers dealer. 
See a Chalmers. Examine the car fea¬ 
ture by feature. See the beauty of the 
Chalmers lines. Note the fine body 
finish. The upholstery is genuine 
leather. The lamps are large and power¬ 
ful. Point by point the Chalmers appeals 
to your good judgment. 
Chalmers price is low for such quality. 
A cheap car is poor economy. A low 
priced, high grade, well performing car, 
such as the Chalmers is a genuine in¬ 
vestment. 
Ride in a Chalmers. You will then 
know its value. 
Touring Car, 7-passenger .... $1475 
Touring Car, 5-passcnger . . . . 1250 
Touring Sedan, 7-passenger . . . 1850 
Cabriolet, 3-passenger 
Roadster, 3-passenger 
Limousine, 7-passenger 
Town Car, 7-passenger 
- - - - 1625 
$1250 
2550 
2550 
(All prices f. o. b. Detroit, and subject to change without notice.) 
Chalmers Motor Company 
Detroit, Michigan 
