478 
gale's  non-explosive  gunpowder. 
tropical  colonies  should  be  carried  out.  If  the  residue  in  the  still 
is  thrown,  yet  boiling,  upon  a  cloth,  the  clear  yellowish  liquid 
which  passes  through  the  cloth  deposits  after  a  few  days  a  large 
amount  of  yellow  crystals.  My  experiments  with  these  crys- 
tals have  proved  that  they  are  identical  with  the  substance  dis- 
covered in  1828  by  Lebreton  in  unripe  bitter  oranges,  and  called 
by  him  "  hesperidine."  This  hesperidine,  which  1  find  very 
widely  spread  in  the  genus-  Citrus,  is  the  pure,  bitter  substance 
contained  also  in  orange  peels.  As  this  hesperidine  is  a  pure  and 
quite  innocent  bitter  substance,  which  can  be  obtained  easily,  and 
in  tolerably  large  quantities,  from  shaddock  flowers,  it  deserves, 
perhaps,  attention  as  a  substitute  for  hops. — London  Chemical 
News,  Sept.  29,  1865. 
GALE'S  NON-EXPLOS1YE  GUNPOWDER. 
Mr.  Gale  is  repeating  his  experiments  in  various  places  with 
undoubted  success,  and  the  subject  is  attracting  much  attention. 
The  secret  is  now  made  known  by  the  publication  of  the  patent, 
and  we  learn  that  the  incombustibility  is  produced  by  mixing 
one  part  of  gunpowder  with  three  or  four  parts  of  finely  pow- 
dered glass.  By  the  addition  of  this  powder,  every  grain  of 
gunpowder  is  isolated,  and  thus  only  those  grains  are  ignited 
which  come  immediately  in  contact  with  the  source  of  heat. 
Mr.  Gale  is  not  the  first  who  has  experimented  in  this  direction. 
A  French  and  a  Russian  chemist  have  both  made  experiments 
on  the  subject.  M.  Piobert,  in  1835,  tried  a  variety  of  sub- 
stances, and  among  them  sand.  He  tried,  also,  the  separate 
constituents  of  gunpowder,  and,  of  the  three,  gave  preference  to 
nitre,  which  he  found  to  deprive  gunpowder  of  its  dangerously 
explosive  character.  M.  Fadeieff,  the  Russian,  preferred  a 
mixture  of  wood  charcoal  and  graphite,  which  he  found  to  be 
unaffected  by  moisture.  Mr.  Hearder  has  lately  found  almost 
any  dry  compact  powder  will  answer  the  purpose,  and  states 
that  pipe-clay,  gypsum,  or  chalk  do  very  well.  Our  readers 
know  that  Mr.  Gale  only  proposes  that  stored  gunpowder,  and 
powder  for  transport,  should  be  treated  with  his  process.  When 
this  powder  is  required  for  use,  the  fine  glass  is  separated  by 
