Am.  Jour.  Phaem  ) 
June  1, 1871.  / 
Testing  Cochineal. 
263 
spectively  the  Soda,  Warm,  Big,  Steamboat,  Iron,  Favorite,  &c.  The 
mineral  contents  are  carbonate  of  soda,  carbonate  and  sulphate  of 
lime,  a  salt  of  magnesia,  carbonate  of  iron,  and  other  substances  to 
be  more  correctly  determined  by  chemical  analysis.  From  one  of 
them  carbonic  acid  gas  is  perpetually  boiling  and  bubbling  up,  hence 
its  name  of  the  Steamboat  Springs.  The  high  temperature  of  another 
implies  its  origin  in  subterranean  reservoirs  where  heat  is  communica- 
ted to  it  from  the  adjacent  rocks.  This  is  not  astonishing  when  a 
casual  survey  is  made  of  the  surface  rocks  of  this  region,  which  are 
to  a  considerable  extent  basalt  and  trachyte,  and  proving  the  whole 
tract  of  country  to  have  been  once  occupied  by  volcanoes,  now  ex- 
tinct. 
The  water  as  it  flows  away  from  the  springs  carries  with  it  the 
soda,  magnesia  and  other  soluble  salts  to  be  finally  deposited  in  Salt 
Lake,  but  much  of  the  insoluble  salts,  as  the  carbonate  and  sulphate 
of  lime  and  the  oxide  of  iron,  are  deposited  around  the  mouth  of  the 
spring,  and,  coating  moss,  leaves,  twigs,  and  other  objects,  forms  very 
fantastic  mosses  of  calcareous  tufa,  which  are  seen  lying  around  in 
every  direction.  Some  very  beautiful  mosses  of  this  curious  incrusta- 
tion have  also  been  received  by  the  Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office 
and  deserve  a  visit  from  those  who  are  curious  in  mineral  productions. 
—Journal  of  Applied  Chewvotry^  February^  1871. 
TESTING  COCHINEAL. 
By  J.  M.  Merrick,  Jr.,  S.  B. 
I  give  in  the  following  article  the  outlines  of  the  method  I  am  in 
the  habit  of  using  for  testing  samples  of  cochineal  to  ascertain  their 
comparative  coloring  powers.  I  have  not  seen  ic  described  in  print, 
and  while  it  is  a  much  closer  and  more  accurate  method  than  that 
which  is  based  upon  dyeing  strips  of  mordanted  woolien  stuffs,  it  is 
preferable  to  the  bleaching  with  chloride  of  lime  metliod — as  the 
oxidizing  substance  used,  viz.,  potassic  permanganate,  does  not  pre- 
cipitate the  coloring  matter  of  the  cochineal. 
I  grind  to  a  fine  powder  the  samples  to  be  tested,  weigh  out  two  or 
two  and  one-half  grammes,  and  boil  this  amount  in  a  capacious  nar- 
row-necked flask,  with  750  c.c.  of  water,  for  one  hour.  The  liquid  is 
immediately  filtered  through  dry  paper  filters,  and  tested  when  cold. 
To  test  it,  50  c.c.  are  measured  in  a  flask  of  that  capacity  and  poured 
