420) BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
furol on distilling casein and flesh, and Dtiring* has corroborated 
these observations as regards albumin, casein and fibrin. From 
fats also, whether of animal or vegetable origin, he got no furfurol 
and only very small quantities were obtained from cotton, Swedish 
filter paper and potato starch. 
In this laboratory, no furfurol has been obtained on distilling 
gelatin, rosin, paraffin, and tannic acid with hydrochloric acid of 
1.06 sp. gr., while a specimen of pith (‘*‘ Hollundermark”) from 
the European elder (Sambucus) gave 0.68% of furfurol or 1.25% 
of pentosans. 
F. Analysis of a Sample of Ashes left on burning the Bamboo 
Baskets in which Sugar is exported from Java. — Occasionally, 
considerable quantities of sugar are brought from Java to the 
American refineries packed in rough baskets or frails woven of : 
split cane, presumably a species of bamboo. ‘These baskets are 
lined inwardly with palm leaves and they are strapped or tied with 
flexible pieces of rattan. They consist for the most part however 
of the woven ‘‘cane” which is unlike and much larger than 
rattan. After they have been emptied, the baskets are washed 
and steamed to remove any sugar which may have adhered to them 
and they are then burned to ashes in the open air merely for the 
sake of getting rid of them. It is only occasionally that there are 
any of the baskets to be burned, and as no value is attached to the 
ashes ‘they are commonly left lying exposed to the weather at the 
place where they were formed. 
The sample here in question was obtained in 1895 by my col- 
league Mr. B. M. Watson from the Revere Sugar Refinery at East 
Cambridge, Mass., and consisted of a moist, black mass which on 
the addition of acids gave off some sulphuretted hydrogen. For 
the analysis, a couple of pounds of the material were ground to a 
fine powder and thoroughly mixed. It was noticed that this 
powder was not very strongly alkaline. In fact, 4.5105 grams — 
of the ashes neutralized no more than 0.01758 gram of sulphuric 
acid (H,S O,). 
A good general idea of the composition of the ashes may be got 
from the following record of the analysis. But it will be noticed 
that the ferric oxide (and the other oxides) mentioned in the list 
* Journal fiir Landwirthschaft. 1897, 45. 80. 
