Scientific American Supplement, No. 324, March 18, 1882
by
Various

Part 2 out of 3



sublimate, and scented with orange flower water.

2. _Eau de Blanc de Perles_.--The bottle contains 120 grammes of a weak
alkaline solution, with a thick deposit of 15 per cent. of carbonate of
lead, and scented with otto of roses and geranium.

3. _Nouveau Blanc de Perle, Extra Fin_.--(Lubin, Paris.)--The bottles
contains 35 grammes of a liquid consisting of water, holding in
suspension about equal parts of zinc oxide, magnesic carbonate, and
powdered talc, perfumed with otto of roses.

4. _Lait de Perles_.--A close imitation of No. 3, the bottle holding
nearly three times the quantity for the same price. The amount of the
precipitate in this case is 20 per cent.

5. _Lait de Perles_.--(Legrand, Paris).--The bottles contain 65 grammes
of a thick white fluid, the precipitate from which consists of zinc
oxide and bismuth oxychloride, and is scented with rose water.

6. _Lait Antiphelique_.--(Candes and Co., Paris.)--Each bottle contains
140 grammes of a milky fluid, smelling strongly of camphor, and having
an acid reaction. It contains alcohol, camphor, ammonic chloride,
half per cent. of corrosive sublimate, albumen, and a little free
hydrochloric acid.

7. _Lait de Concombres_.--The bottle contains 160 grammes of a very
inelegantly made emulsion, smelling of very common rose-water, with an
unpleasant twang about it, and giving a strongly alkaline reaction.
It consists of soap, glycerin, and cotton seed oil, made into a
semi-emulsion.

8. _Creme de Fleurs des Lys; Blanc de Ville Onctueux_.--About 30 grammes
of a kind of weak ointment contained in a small pomatum pot prettily
ornamented. It is simply a salve made of wax oil, and possibly lard,
mixed with a large proportion of zinc oxide, and smelling of inferior
otto of roses.

9. _Pate de Velonas_.-This paste consists of almond, and possibly other
meal mixed with soap powder, and has a strong alkaline reaction. It is
scented with orris-root.

10. _Rouge Vegetal_.--The box contains 81/2 grammes of raspberry colored
powder, consisting chiefly of China clay and talc, tinted to the proper
depth with extract of cochineal.

11. _Rouge Extra Fin Fonce_.--A small square bottle containing 11
grammes of a deep red solution, smelling of otto of roses and ammonia.
It consists of a solution of carmine in ammonia, with an addition of a
certain amount of alcohol.

12. _Rouge de Dorin_.--_Extract des Fleurs des Indes_.--A round pot
containing a porcelain disk, covered with about 6 grammes of a bright
red paste, which is a mixture of carthamin or safflower with talc. This
rouge, which differs from all the others, is harmless and effectual,
but must bear a high profit seeing that the ingredients cost only a few
half-pence, while it sells in St. Petersburg at about 4s. 9d. a pot.

13. _Etui Mysterieux ou Boite de Maintenon_.--A prettily got-up box
containing red and white paint, and two sticks of black and blue
cosmetic for the eyebrows and veins, with camel's hair pencils for
applying the latter. Sells in St. Petersburg at 6s. 4d.

14. _Philidore_.--_Remede Specifique pour oter les Pellicules de la
tete, etc_.--The bottle contains 100 grammes of a strong alkaline
solution smelling strongly of ammonia, and containing potash, ammonia,
alcohol, glycerin, and eau de cologne.

15. _Colorigene Rigaud_.--A blue bottle containing 160 grammes of a
clear fluid with a slight black deposit, consisting of a mixture of
equal parts of a 14 per cent. solution of sodic hyposulphate, and a 4
per cent. solution of lead acetate. Of course the longer this solution
is kept the more lead sulphate it deposits. It sells in St. Petersburg
at 8s. per bottle. It is also stated to be much more powerful if used
in conjunction with the _Pommade Miranda Rigaud_. This beats Mrs.
Allen completely out of the field.--_Pharmaceutische Zeitschrift fuer
Russland_.

* * * * *




ON THE MYDRIATIC ALKALOIDS.

By ALBERT LADENBURG.


We translate the following important article, says the _Chemists'
Journal_, from the _Moniteur Scientifique_ of last month. It may be
explained for the sake of our student readers that the word _mydriatic_
is derived from the Greek _mudriasis_, which means paralysis of the
pupil.

The synthetical researches which I have undertaken with a view to
explain the constitution of atropine have shown me the necessity of
studying the connection of atropine with the other alkaloids, which have
an analogous physiological action. According to the early researches we
could not discover any of these relationships which only become evident
when we come to study the new discoveries which have been made in
connection with the tropines, to which class belong both duboisine
and hyoscyamine, which, although differing from atropine, are equally
mydriatic in their action.


I.--ATROPINE.

Discovered by Mein in 1831 in the roots of belladonna. More thoroughly
studied some time after by Geiger and Hesse, who confirmed Mein's
results. Liebig next published an analysis of the alkaloid, which was
afterward shown to be incorrect. He consequently modified his
formula, and gave the following as the composition of atropine;
C_{17}H_{23}NO_{3}. Liebig's amended analysis was afterward confirmed by
Planta, who further showed that the alkaloid itself melted at 194 deg. F.,
and its double gold salt at 275 deg. F. It is worthy of remark that the
first figure was considered correct until my researches proved the
contrary. The physiological action of atropine, especially in relation
to the eye, has been most carefully studied by several celebrated
ophthalmologists, such as Graef, Donders, Bezold, and Bloebaum. Its
chemical properties have also been the object of very extensive
researches by Pfeiffer, Kraut, and Lassen. Pfeiffer first discovered
that benzoic acid was one of the products of decomposition of atropine,
and Kraut split atropine by means of baryta water into atropic
acid, C_{9}H_{6}O_{2}, and tropine, C_{8}O_{15}NO. Lassen, who used
hydrochloric acid, discovered the true products of the splitting up of
atropine, viz., tropic acid, C_{9}H_{8}O_{3}, and tropine, C_{8}H_{15}N,
and proved at the same time that atropic acid is easily formed by the
action of boiling baryta water on tropic acid, while hydrochloric acid
at all temperatures forms isatropic acid, an isomer of atropic acid.
Kraut confirmed these results, and showed that atropic acid as well as
cinnamic acid gives benzoic acid by oxidation, and hydratropic acid (the
isomer of phenylpropionic acid) by reduction with sodium amalgam. These
results are sufficient to show that tropic acid may have one of the
following two formulae.

I II

CH_{2}OH CH_{3}
/ /
C_{4}H_{5}CH or C_{8}H_{5}--C--OH
\ \
OOHO COOH

Fittig and Wurster, who discovered atrolactic acid, C_{2}H_{10}O_{3},
an isomer of tropic acid, gives tropic acid the second formula, while
Burgheimar and myself have shown that it is the true formula of
atrolactic acid. Lately we have succeeded in performing the complete
synthesis of atropic acid, and the artificial preparation of atropine
has been greatly facilitated since I have shown that we can easily
reconstruct atropine by starting from its products of decomposition,
tropic acid, and tropine.

Before my researches nothing was known of the constitution of tropine.
New unpublished researches into this problem have shown that it closely
resembles neurine,[1] a body which I hope will speedily lead us to the
complete synthesis of atropine.

[Footnote 1: As we shall probably hear a great deal about this alkaloid,
it may be as well to state that, although found in the brain and liver,
it may be prepared synthetically by the action of ethylene oxide,
(CH_{2})_{2}O, water, H_{2}O, and trimethyiamine, N(CH_{3})_{3}. Its
constitution is that of trimethyl-ethylene-hydrate-ammonic-hydrate, and
has the following constitutional formula:

{ (CH_{2})_{2}OH
{ CH_{3}
N { CH_{3}
{ CH_{3}
{ OH

or in other words, it is the hydrate of
trimethyl-hydrethylene-ammonium.]

The fusing point of atropine is not 194 deg. F., as stated by Planta, but
237 deg. F. Crystallized from not too dilute alcohol it forms crystals
which are aggregations of prisms. Toluene, alcohol, and chloroform all
dissolve atropine readily. Its double gold salt is very characteristic.
It is generally precipitated in the form of an oil which solidifies
rapidly and may be crystallized from hot water after the addition of a
little hydrochloric acid. This clouds in cooling, and after a certain
time it separates in small crystals of indeterminate form which unite in
warty concretions. After drying the salt forms a dull powder, melting
between 275 deg. F. and 280 deg. F. It also melts in boiling water, and its
aqueous solution exposed to the light is partially reduced, 100 grammes
of water acidulated with 10 cubic centimeters of 1.190 deg. solution of
hydrochloric acid dissolves 0.137 gramme of the gold salt at 136 deg. F. to
140 deg. F.

I should fancy that the above particulars are sufficent to completely
differentiate atropine from all the other mydriatic alkaloids.


II.--THE ATROPINE OF DATURA STRAMONIUM.

Planta has already tried to show that atropine is identical with the
daturine obtained by Geiger and Hesse, founding his opinion on facts
which we nowadays look upon as doubtful. This identity was generally
admitted by all chemists. The pharmacologists, headed by Soubeiran,
Erhardt, Schroff, and Poehl, were much more reserved in their judgment.
I thought it as well, therefore, to recommence the study of daturine,
the more so as I had already determined the incorrectness of the
long accepted point of fusion of atropine, and that my researches on
hyoscyamine convinced me that this base is an isomer of atropine,
although very analogous to it. I have also shown that Merck's daturine
differs from atropine, and is merely pure hyoscyamine. A short time
afterward there appeared a paper by Schmidt which again asserted the
identity of daturine and atropine. I therefore requested Mr. Merck, of
Darmstadt, to send me all the bases which he obtained from datura. This
eminent manufacturer was good enough to comply with my request, and sent
me two products, one of which was marked "light daturine," the other
"heavy daturine," the separation of which was effected in the following
manner: The solution of crude daturine in concentrated alcohol was mixed
with a little hot water; this treatment caused the deposition of the
"heavy daturine," while the "light daturine" remained in the mother
liquor. The "heavy daturine," of which only a small quantity is
obtainable, is far from being a body of definite composition, that is to
say, it is a mixture of atropine and hyoscyamine. If we convert the base
into a double gold salt we obtain by a single crystallization a dull
looking salt, melting at from 275 deg. F. to 280 deg. F., the appearance of
which is very different to that of atropine. I have succeeded
in splitting up "heavy daturine" by two different methods. By
recrystallizing the gold salt six times from boiling water, the salt of
hyoscyamine, which melts at from 316 deg. F. to 323 deg. F., crystallizes our
first, and by the successive evaporation of the mother liquor at last
obtain the pure gold salt of atropine, which melts at 275 deg. F. to 280 deg. F.
If we only want to isolate the atropine, it is better to crystallize the
free base two or three times from alcohol at 50 per cent., always taking
the earliest formed crystals.

These facts prove the presence of atropine in datura; but while Planta
and Schmidt assert that only this alkaloid is found in the plant, I have
proved that the proportion of atropine in it is but small, while its
richness in hyoscyamine is great. I think, therefore, that both Planta
and Schmidt must have worked with a mixture of atropine and hyoscyamine.
It is true that Schmidt had received pure atropine under the name
of daturine, for I have proved most conclusively that the so-called
daturine supplied by Trommsdorff, of Erfurt, is pure atropine and
nothing else. It has no action whatever on polarized light.


III.--HYOSCYAMINE FROM HYOSCYAMUS.

Discovered by Geiger and Hesse in 1833. It was first obtained in the
form of needles, which were much more soluble than atropine. In the pure
state it forms a viscous mass with a repulsive odor. These researches
were repeated by Thibout, Kletinski, Ludwig, Lading, Bucheim, Wagymar,
and Renard.

Hoehn and Reichardt have recently studied hyoscyamine in a very complete
manner. They have obtained the body in the form of warty concretions as
soft as wax, and melting at 194 deg. F., having a formula according to them
of C_{15}H_{23}NO_{3}. They have also studied the splitting up of the
alkaloid by means of baryta water, and have obtained an acid which they
have named hyoscinic acid, and which melts at about 219 deg. F., and a basic
body, hyoscine, C_{6}H_{13}N. They represent the reaction as follows:

C_{15}H_{23}NO_{3} = C_{9}H_{10}O_{3} + C_{6}H_{13}N.

According to this view hyoscyamine ought to be the hyoscinate of
hyoscine, or at any rate an isomer of this body. It is to be remarked
that they compare hyoscinic acid not with tropic acid, of which it
possesses the composition, but with atropic acid, C_{9}H_{8}O_{2}. I
have worked with the hyoscyamine of both Merck and Trommsdorff, as well
as with a product which I obtained from hyoscyamus seeds myself. The
best way of purifying the alkaloid is by recrystallizing its gold salt
several times, so as to obtain it in brilliant yellow plates, melting
at 320 deg. F. By passing a stream of hydrosulphuric acid gas through the
liquor the gold is precipitated in the form of sulphide. The liquid is
filtered and evaporated, precipitated by an excess of a strong solution
of potassium carbonate, and the alkaloid extracted by chloroform.
The solution is dried over carbonate of potassium, and part of the
chloroform is distilled off. By leaving the solution to evaporate
spontaneously the alkaloid is obtained in silky crystals. The crystals
are then dissolved in alcohol, which, on being poured into water, parts
with them in the same form.

Hyoscyamine crystallizes in the acicular form, with greater difficulty
even than atropine, it also forms less compact crystals. Its fusing
point is 149.6 deg. F. I have not yet succeeded in crystallizing any of
its more simple salts. The double platinum salt melts at 392 deg. F., with
decomposition. The double gold salt, which has been described above,
does not melt in boiling water, and its aqueous solution is reduced
neither by boiling nor by long exposure to light. By leaving the hot
saturated solution to cool it does not cloud, but the double salt
separates pretty rapidly in the form of plates.

One liter of water containing 10 cubic centimeters of hydrochloric acid
at 1.19 deg. dissolves 65 centigrammes of the salt at 146 deg. F.

These characteristics allow us to differentiate atropine and
hyoscyamine, the reactions of which are almost identical, as will be
seen from the following table, which shows the action of weak solutions
of the acids named on the hydrochlorates of the bases:

_Reagents_. _Hyoscyamine_. _Atropine_.

Picric acid. An oil solidifying Crystalline precipitate.
immediately into
tabular crystals.

Mercuropotassic White cheesy Same.
iodide. precipitate.

Iodized potassic An immediate A brown oil crystallizing
iodide. precipitate of after a time.
periodate.

Mercuric chloride. Same as picric acid. Same.

Tannic acid. Slight cloud. Cloud hardly visible.

Platinum chloride. O. O.

_(To be continued.)_

* * * * *




DETECTION OF SMALL QUANTITIES OF MORPHIA.

By A. JORISSEN.


The solution of morphia, free from foreign bodies, is evaporated to
dryness, and the residue is heated on the water bath with a few drops
of sulphuric acid. A minute crystal of ferrous sulphate is then added,
bruised with a glass rod, stirred up in the liquid, heated for a minute
longer, and poured into a white porcelain capsule, containing 2 to 3
c.c. strong ammonia. The morphia solution sinks to the bottom, and where
the liquids touch there is formed a red color, passing into violet at
the margin, while the ammoniacal stratum takes a pure blue. The reaction
is very distinct to 0.0006 grm. Codeine does not give this reaction. If
sulphuric acid at 190 deg. to 200 deg. is allowed to act upon morphia, there is
ultimately formed an opaque black green mass. If this is poured dropwise
into much water, the mixture turns bluish, and if it is then shaken up
with ether or chloroform, the form takes a purple and the latter a very
permanent blue. Codeine gives the same reaction, but no other of the
alkaloids. This reaction can be obtained very distinctly with 0.0004
grm. of morphia.

* * * * *




ON THE ESTIMATION OF MANGANESE BY TITRATION.

[Footnote: _From Jernkontorets Annaler_, vol. xxxvi.--_Iron_.]

By C. G. SARNSTROM.


If we dissolve black oxide of manganese, permanganate of potash, or any
other compound of manganese of a higher degree of oxidation than the
protoxide in hydrochloric acid, we obtain, as is well known, a dark
colored solution of perchloride of manganese, which, when heated to
boiling loses color pretty rapidly, chlorine being given off, until
finally only protochloride remains. This decomposition also proceeds at
the common temperature, though much more slowly, and we may therefore
say that manganese when dissolved in hydrochloric acid always tends to
descend to its lowest, and, considered as a base, strongest degree of
oxidation, which is not raised to a higher degree even by chameleon
solution. In slightly acid, neutral, or alkaline solutions on the other
hand, protoxide of manganese absorbs oxygen with great avidity and
forms with it different compounds, according to the means of oxidation
employed. Thus, for example, manganese is slowly deposited from an
ammoniacal solution, when it is permitted to take up oxygen from the
air, as hydrated sesquioxide, and from neutral or alkaline solutions,
as hydrated peroxide on the addition of chlorine, bromine, or chameleon
solution. For if to an acid solution of protochloride of manganese we
add a solution of bicarbonate of soda, as long as carbonic acid escapes
or till the free acid is saturated and the protochloride of manganese
converted into carbonate of protoxide of manganese, which forms with
bicarbonate of soda a soluble double salt, resembling the carbonate of
lime and magnesia, we obtain a solution which is, indeed, acid from free
carbonic acid, but has a slight alkaline reaction with litmus paper, and
with the greatest ease deprives chameleon solution of its color, the
permanganic acid being reduced and the protoxide of manganese being
oxidized to peroxide, which is precipitated as hydrate. This reaction
proceeds according to the formula,

3MnCO_{3} + 2KMnO_{4} + H_{2}O = 2KHCO_{3} + 5MnO_{2} + CO_{2}

and it may be employed for estimating the content of manganese by
titration. As follows from the formula two equivalents of permanganate
of potash are required for the titration of three equivalents of
protoxide of manganese, which has also been established by direct
experiments, as well as that the escape of carbonic acid indicated
by the formula actually takes place. The precipitate of manganese is
dissolved either in water to which 0.5 per cent. of hydrochloric acid
has been added, or in boiling nitric acid. When manganese occurs along
with iron, which in general is the case, we must take care that the iron
in the solution is in the state of peroxide, which is precipitated on
the addition of the bicarbonate of soda, and is allowed to remain as a
precipitate, because it does not affect the titration injuriously. The
removal of this precipitate by filtering would be more loss than gain,
partly because there would be a risk of losing manganese in this way,
partly because the precipitate of manganese, which occurs immediately on
the addition of the chameleon solution, proceeds both more rapidly and
with greater completeness in the presence of the iron precipitate than
otherwise. This appears to be caused by the iron precipitate as it
were inclosing, and mechanically drawing down the light manganese
precipitate, provided a weak chemical union between the two precipitates
does not even take place, depending on the tendency of peroxide of
manganese to behave toward bases, as, for instance, hydrate of lime
as an acid. Hence it thus follows that it ought to be arranged that
a sufficient quantity of iron[1] (at least the same quantity as of
manganese) be present in the liquid at titration, also that time be
given for the precipitate to fall, so that the color of the solution may
be observed between every addition of chameleon solution.

[Footnote 1: For this in case of need a solution of perchloride of iron
free of manganese may be employed.]

When the content of manganese is large, it is sometimes rather long
before the solution is ready for titration. The reason of this appears
to be that a part of the manganese is first precipitated as hydrated
sesquioxide, which is afterward oxidized to hydrated peroxide, for the
upper portion of the liquid may sometimes be colored by chameleon, while
the lower portion, which is in closer contact with the precipitate,
is less colored or absolutely colorless. From this we also see how
advisable it is to stir the liquid frequently during titration. Toward
the close of it, it is also advantageous, when the contents of manganese
are large, to warm the solution to about 50 deg. C., because the removal of
color is thereby hastened. When the fluid, which is well stirred after
each addition of chameleon, has obtained from it a perceptible color,
which does not disappear after several stirrings, the whole of the
manganese is precipitated and the color of the solution remains almost
unchanged after the lapse of at least twelve hours.

When the content of manganese is large the solution may be divided into
two equal portions, one of which is first to be roughly titrated to
ascertain its content approximately, after which the whole is to be
mixed together and the titration completed, which can thus be performed
with greater speed and certainty. If too much chameleon has been added,
one may titrate back with an accurately estimated solution of manganese,
which is prepared most easily by evaporating fifteen cubic centimeters
chameleon solution down to two or three cubic centimeters, boiling with
two to three cubic centimeters hydrochloric acid so long as the smell
of chlorine is observed, and then diluting the solution to ten cubic
centimeters, when one cubic centimeter of it corresponds to the same
measure of chameleon.

With respect to the delay which must take place during the titration in
order to give the precipitate time to fall, it is advantageous, in order
to save time, to work with several samples; but it is, in such a case,
desirable to have a separate burette for each sample, in order to avoid
noting every addition of the chameleon solution and afterward adding
them up. If burettes are wanting, and one must be used for several
samples, a Mohr's burette with glass cock is the most convenient to
use. For the titration of iron with chameleon solution, the latter is
commonly used of such a strength that 0.01 gramme of iron corresponds to
about one cubic centimeter of chameleon solution, which is obtained
by dissolving 5.75 grammes permanganate of potash in 1,000 cubic
centimeters water. The titration is determined by means of iron, a salt
of iron or oxalic acid. A drop of such a solution, corresponding to
about one-twentieth cubic centimeter, or 0.0001 gramme Mn, is sufficient
to give a perceptible reddish color to 200 cubic centimeters of water.

As what takes place in the titration of iron with chameleon is indicated
by the following formula,

10FeO + 2KMnO_{4} = 5Fe_{2}O_{3} + K_{2}O + 2MnO_{2},

it appears, on making a comparison with the formula given above, that
ten equivalents of iron correspond to three equivalents of manganese,
and that there is thus required for three equivalents manganese as
much chameleon solution as for ten equivalents iron. When we know the
titration of the chameleon solution for iron, that for manganese is
obtained by multiplying the former by (3 x 55)/(10 x 56) =0.295. If, for
instance, one cubic centimeter chameleon solution corresponds to 0.01
gramme iron, the figure for manganese is 0.01 x 0.295 = 0.00295 gramme
per cubic centimeter.

We can of course also determine the titration for manganese in a
chameleon solution with the greatest certainty by titrating a compound
of manganese with an accurately estimated content of it, for instance, a
spiegeleisen or ferromanganese; the test is carried out in the following
way: The substance, which is to be examined for manganese, is dissolved
by means of hydrochloric acid. If the manganese, as in slags, be
combined with silica, it is frequently necessary first to fuse the
specimen with soda. Iron ores and refinery cinders may indeed, if they
are reduced to a very fine state of division, be commonly decomposed by
boiling with hydrochloric acid with or without the addition of sulphuric
acid, but the undissolved silica is generally rendered impure by
manganese, which can only be removed by fusion with soda.

The dissolving of the fused mass in hydrochloric acid does not need to
be carried to dryness for the separation of the soluble silica, but the
boiling, after the addition of a little nitric acid, is only kept
up until the iron passes into perchloride and the manganese into
protochloride. The quantity, which ought to be taken for the test,
depends on the accuracy with which it is desired to have the manganese
estimated.

Of ferromanganese and other very manganiferous substances, in which the
manganese need not be determined with greater exactness than to 0.1 per
cent., only 0.01 gram. is taken for a test; but of common pig, wrought
iron, steel, iron ore, slags, etc., there is taken 0.5 to 1 gramme
according to the supposed content of manganese and the desired exactness
of the estimation. For instance one gramme iron, which has passed
through a metal sieve with holes half a millimeter in diameter, is
placed in a beaker 125 mm. in height and 60 mm. in diameter, and has
added to it twenty cubic centimeters of hydrochloric acid of 1.12
specific gravity, which, with a well-fitting glass cover, is boiled for
half an hour, in order that the combined carbon may be driven off in the
shape of gas. After at least the half of the hydrochloric acid has been
boiled away, there are added at least five cubic centimeters nitric acid
of 1.2 specific gravity, partly to bring the iron to peroxide, partly to
destroy the organic matters formed from the carbon, which might possibly
be remaining and might tend to remove the color of the chameleon
solution. The boiling is now continued till near dryness, when five
cubic centimeters hydrochloric acid are added, after which the solution
is boiled as long as any reddish-yellow vapors of nitrous acid are
observed. When these have disappeared a drop of the liquid taken up on
a small glass rod is tested with an newly prepared solution of red
prussiate of potash (2 grammes in 100 cubic centimeters water), to
ascertain whether there is any protoxide of iron remaining. First, when
no indication of blue or green is visible, the test shows a pure yellow,
it is certain that there are no reducing substances in the solution.

If a trace of protoxide of iron remains in the solution another cubic
centimeter of nitric acid ought to be added and the boiling continued so
long as any reddish-yellow vapors are visible, more hydrochloric acid
also being added to keep the solution from being dried up. The process
is continued in this way until two tests have given no reaction of
protoxide of iron, when the solution is diluted with water; but no
dilution should take place until the oxidation is complete, because
in the course of it the solution ought to be kept as concentrated as
possible. Silica, and graphite when it is present, need not be removed
by filtration, if it is not intended to estimate them, or there be no
fear that the graphite is accompanied by any humous substance, or that
any oily, viscous compound has been deposited on the sides of the
beaker. In the last mentioned case the solution should be transferred
into another beaker, and filtered, if graphite be present. When the
solution is evaporated to dryness, the remainder has five cubic
centimeters hydrochloric acid added to it, and the liquid is then
brought to boiling in order that the perchloride of manganese
possibly formed during the evaporation to dryness may be reduced to
protochloride, after which the solution is diluted with water till it
measures about 100 cubic centimeters. To this is now added in small
portions and with constant stirring as much of a saturated solution of
bicarbonate of soda (thirteen parts water dissolve one part salt), that
all the iron is precipitated, after which, when the escape of carbonic
acid has ceased, the solution is diluted with water till it measures 200
cubic centimeters and is then ready for titration.

A large excess of bicarbonate ought to be avoided, because in a solution
of pure protochloride of manganese it renders the liquid milky and
turbid; the addition of more water, however, makes it clear. The
solution of bicarbonate must be free from organic substances which may
tend to remove the color of the chameleon solution. To ascertain this,
the latter is added to the former drop by drop so long as the color is
removed.

If it be desired to estimate the silica in the same test, the iron, as
when it is analyzed for silica, may be also dissolved in sulphuric acid,
and afterward oxidized with nitric acid, after which the solution is
boiled to near dryness, so that the organic substances are completely
destroyed. In order afterward, to drive off the nitric acid and get the
manganese with certainty reduced to protoxide, the solution is boiled
with a little hydrochloric acid. In this way the solution goes on
rapidly and conveniently, but the titration takes longer time than when
the iron is dissolved in hydrochloric acid, because the iron precipitate
is more voluminous, and, in consequence, longer in being deposited. To
diminish this inconvenience the solution ought to be made larger. In
such a case the rule for dissolving is, one gramme iron (more if the
content of silica is small) is dissolved in a mixture of two cubic
centimeters sulphuric acid of 1.83 specific gravity and twelve cubic
centimeters of water in the way described above, and boiled until salt
of iron begins to be deposited on the bottom of the beaker. Five cubic
centimeters hydrochloric acid are now added, and the solution tested
with red prussiate of potash for protoxide of iron, and the boiling
continued till near dryness, when all the nitric acid is commonly driven
off. Should nitrous acid still show itself, some more hydrochloric acid
is added and the boiling continued.

As in dissolving in hydrochloric acid and oxidizing with nitric acid the
solution ought to be twice tested for protoxide of iron, even although
at the first test none can be discovered. The silica is taken upon
a filter, dried, ignited, and weighed. The filtrate is treated with
bicarbonate of soda, and titrated with chameleon solution in the way
described above. If the content of manganese is small (under 0.5 per
cent.) it is not necessary to warm the liquid before titration; but
in proportion as the content of manganese is larger there is so much
greater reason to hasten the removal of color by warming and constant
stirring toward the close of the titration.

* * * * *




ON THE ESTIMATION AND SEPARATION OF MANGANESE.

[Footnote: Read before the American Chemical Society, Dec. 16, 1881]

By NELSON H. DARTON.


The element manganese having many peculiarities in its reactions
with the other elements, is now extensively used in the arts, its
combinations entering into and are used in many of the important
processes; it is consequently often brought before the chemist in his
analysis, and has to be determined in most cases with considerable
accuracy. Many methods have been proposed for this, all of them of more
or less value; those yielding the best results, however, requiring a
considerable length of time for their execution, and involving so large
an amount of manipulatory skill as to render them fairly impracticable
to a chemist at all pressed for time, and receiving but a mere trifle
for the results.

As I have had to make numerous estimations of manganese in various
compounds, as a public analyst, I have been induced to investigate the
volumetric methods at present in use to find their comparative values,
and if possible to work out a new one, setting aside one or more of the
difficulties met with in the use of the older ones. This paper is a part
summary of the results. First, I will detail my process of estimation,
then on the separation.

From all compounds of manganese, excepting those containing cobalt and
nickel, the manganese is precipitated as binoxide; those containing
these two elements are treated with phosphoric acid, or as noted under
Separation.

A.--The Estimation. The binoxide of commerce, as taken from the mine, is
well sampled, powdered, and dried at 100 deg.C. 0.5 gramme of this is taken
and placed in a 250 c.c. flask; in analysis the binoxide on the filter,
from the treatments noted under separation is thoroughly washed with
warm water; it is then washed down in a flask, as above, after breaking
the filter paper; sufficient water is added to one-third fill the flask,
and about twice the approximate weight of the binoxide in the flask of
oxalate of potassa; these are agitated together. A twice perforated
stopper is fitted to this flask, carrying through one opening a 25 c c.
pipette nearly filled with sulphuric acid, sp. gr. 1.4, the lower point
of which just dips below the mixture in the flask, and the upper end,
carrying a rubber tube and pinch cock to control the flow of acid.
Through the other opening passes a glass tube bent at an acute angle
and connected by a short rubber tube to an adjoining flask, two-thirds
filled with decinormal baryta solutions. These connections are all made
air tight. Sulphuric acid is allowed in small portions at a time to
flow into the mixture. Carbonic acid is evolved, and, passing into
the adjoining flask, is absorbed by the baryta, precipitating it as
carbonate. To prevent the precipitate forming around or choking up the
entrance tube, the flask must be agitated at short intervals to break it
off. The reaction so familiar to us in other determinations is expressed
thus:

MnO_{2}+KO,C_{2}O_{3}+2SO_{3} = MnO,SO_{3}+KO.SO_{3}+2CO_{2},

When no more carbonic acid is evolved, another tube from this last flask
is connected with the aspirator, the pinch-cock of the pipette open, and
air drawn through the apparatus for about half a minute, and thus all
the carbonic acid evolved absorbed, or the flasks may be slightly
heated. If danger of more carbonic acid being absorbed from the air is
feared, and always in very accurate analysis, a potassa tube may be
connected to the pipette before drawing the air through. The precipitate
formed is allowed to settle, 50 c.c. of the supernatant solution
is removed with a pipette and transferred to a beaker; 50 c.c. of
decinormal nitric acid and some water is added with sufficient cochineal
tincture. It is then titrated back with decinormal soda; from this is
now readily deducted the amount of carbonic acid, and from that the
MnO_{2}, holding in view that 44 parts of carbonic acid is equivalent to
43.5 of MnO_{2} or 98.87 per cent, and that 1 c.c. of the N/10 baryta
solution is equivalent to 0.0022 grm. of CO_{2}.

If a carbonate, chloride, or nitrate, be present in the native binoxide,
it must be removed with some sulphuric acid. This is afterward
neutralized with a little caustic soda. This method yields the
following results for its value in amount of manganese to 100:
99.91-99.902-99.895, and can be executed in about twenty minutes.
Fifteen determinations can be carried on at once without loss of time,
this, however, depending on the operator's skill. I have made many
assays, and assays by this method with similarly excellent results.

Of the other methods, Bunsen's is acknowledged to be the most accurate,
but is, of course, too troublesome to be used in technical work,
although it is used in scientific analysis. Ordinary samples are not
sufficiently accurate to allow the use of this method.

The methods of reducing with iron and titrating this with chromate of
potassa, etc., have given a constant average of from 98.60-99.01. These
results are fair, but hard to obtain expeditiously.

Of the methods of precipitating the compounds of the protoxide and
estimating the acid, that of the phosphate is by far the most accurate,
titrating with uranium solution; 99.82 is a nearly constant average
with me, much depending on the operator's familiarity with the uranium
process.

The methods of Lenssen, or ferricyanide of potassium method, yields very
widely differing results. I have found the figures of Fresenius about
the same as my own in this case; that is from 98.00-100.10.

B.--On the Separation. First, from its soluble simple combinations with
the acids or bases containing no iron or cobalt; if they are present, it
is treated as is noted later. If sulphuric acid is present it must be
separated by treating the solution of the compound with barium chloride
and filtering. A nearly neutral solution is prepared in water or
hydrochloric acid and placed in a flask. Here it is treated with
chlorine by passing a current of that gas through it as long as
it causes a precipitate and for some time afterward. It is then
discontinued, the mixture allowed to deposit for a few moments, and
about two-thirds of the supernatant solution decanted; it is mixed with
some more water, and these decantations repeated until they pass away
without reaction, or by filtering it and washing on the filter; it is
then dissolved in hot hydrochloric acid, this nearly neutralized, a
solution of sesquichloride of iron is added, and again treated with an
excess of chlorine. After washing it is transferred to the flasks of
the apparatus mentioned in the first part of this paper, and estimated.
Myself and several others have found this always to be a true MnO_{2},
and not a varying mixture of protosesquioxide and binoxide, and will
thus yield accurate results. This reprecipitation may sometimes be
dispensed with by adding the iron salt before the first precipitation,
but it of course depends upon the other elements present.

From Compounds containing Cobalt, Cobalt and Nickel, Iron and group
III., together or with other elements.--Group III. and sesqui. iron are
separated by agitation with baryta carbonate, some chloride of ammonia
being added to prevent nickel and cobalt precipitation traces, and
filtering. If cobalt is present we treat this filtrate with nitrite
of potassa, etc., to separate it (that is, if it and nickel are to
be separated and estimated in the same sample; but if they are to be
estimated as one, or not separated, the treatment with nitrite, etc.,
is not used). The filtrate from this last is directly treated with
chlorine. If nickel and cobalt are not to be estimated in this sample,
the solution, as chlorides, is mixed with some chloride of ammonium
and ammonia, then with a fair excess of phosphoric acid, a sufficient
quantity more of ammonia to render the mixture alkaline. The precipitate
formed is transferred to the filter and well washed with water
containing NH_{3}Cl and NH_{4}O, then dissolved in hydrochloric acid
and reprecipitated with ammonia, filtering and washing as before. It is
again dissolved in HCl and titrated with uranium solution, or decomposed
by tin, as noted below, and the manganese precipitated as binoxide with
chlorine, and determined. The latter method is hardly practicable, and
I never have time to use it, as the titration and all together yields a
value of 99.80 in most cases, if accurately executed.

From the bases of groups V. and VI. these are separated by hydrogen
sulphide, from iron in alloys, ores, etc., and in general the iron is
separated as basic acetate, and the manganese afterward precipitated
with chlorine. Bromine is generally used in place of chlorine, the use
of which chemists claim as troublesome; but in a number of examinations
I have found it to yield more satisfactory results than bromine, which
is much more expensive.

From the acids in insoluble and a few other compounds, chromic, arsenic,
and arsenious acids, by fusion with carbonate of soda in presence of
carbonic acid gas; borate of manganese is readily decomposed when the
boracic acid is to be determined by boiling with solution of potassa,
dissolving the residue in hydrochloric acid and precipitating the
manganese as binoxide. This boiling, however, is seldom needed, as the
borate is soluble in HCl.

From phosphoric acid I always use Girard's method of treatment with
tin, using it rasped, and it yields much more accurate results with but
little manipulation. When the other acids mentioned above are present in
the compound, we treat it as directed there.

From silicic acid, by evaporation with hydrochloric acid.

From sulphur or iodine, by decomposing with sulphuric acid and
separating this with baryta chloride.

* * * * *




RESEARCHES ON ANIMALS CONTAINING CHLOROPHYL.

[Footnote: Abstract of a paper "On the Nature and Functions of the
'Yellow Cells' of Radiolarians and Coelenterates," read to the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, on January 14, 1882, and published by permission
of the Council.--_Nature_.]


It is now nearly forty years since the presence of chlorophyl in certain
species of planarian worms was recognized by Schultze. Later observers
concluded that the green color of certain infusorians, of the common
fresh water hydra and of the fresh water sponge, was due to the same
pigment, but little more attention was paid to the subject until 1870,
when Ray Lankester applied the spectroscope to its investigation. He
thus considerably extended the list of chlorophyl containing animals,
and his results are summarized in Sachs' Botany (Eng. ed.). His list
includes, besides the animals already mentioned, two species of
Radiolarians, the common green sea anemone (_Anthea cereus_, var.
_Smaragdina_), the remarkable Gephyrean, _Bonellia viridis_, a Polychaete
worm, _Chaetoperus_, and even a Crustacean, _Idotea viridis_.

The main interest of the question of course lies in its bearing on the
long-disputed relations between plants and animals; for, since neither
locomotion nor irritability is peculiar to animals; since many
insectivorous plants habitually digest solid food; since cellulose, that
most characteristic of vegetable products, is practically identical with
the tunicin of Ascidians, it becomes of the greatest interest to know
whether the chlorophyl of animals preserves its ordinary vegetable
function of effecting or aiding the decomposition of carbonic anhydride
and the synthetic production of starch. For although it had long been
known that _Euglena_ evolved oxygen in sunlight, the animal nature of
such an organism was merely thereby rendered more doubtful than ever.
In 1878 I had the good fortune to find at Roscoff the material for
the solution of the problem in the grass-green planarian, _Convoluta
schultzii_, of which multitudes are to be found in certain localities on
the coast, lying on the sand, covered only by an inch or two of water,
and apparently basking in the sun. It was only necessary to expose
a quantity of these animals to direct sunlight to observe the rapid
evolution of bubbles of gas, which, when collected and analyzed, yielded
from 45 to 55 per cent. of oxygen. Both chemical and histological
observations showed the abundant presence of starch in the green cells,
and thus these planarians, and presumably also _Hydra spongilla_, etc.,
were proved to be truly "vegetating animals."

Being at Naples early in the spring of 1879, I exposed to sunlight some
of the reputedly chlorophyl containing animals to be obtained there,
namely, _Bonellia viridis_ and _Idotea viridis_, while Krukenberg had
meanwhile been making the same experiment with _Bonellia_ and _Anthea_
at Trieste. Our results were totally negative, but so far as _Bonellia_
was concerned this was not to be wondered at since the later
spectroscopic investigations of Sorby and Schenk had fully confirmed
the opinion of Lacaze-Duthiers as to the complete distinctness of
its pigment from chlorophyl. Krukenberg, too, who follows these
investigators in terming it _bonellein_, has recently figured the
spectra of Anthea-green, and this also seems to differ considerably from
chlorophyl, while I am strongly of the opinion that the pigment of
the green crustaceans is, if possible, even more distinct, having not
improbably a merely protective resemblance.

It is now necessary to pass to the discussion of a widely distinct
subject--the long outstanding enigma of the nature and functions of the
"yellow cells" of Radiolarians. These bodies were first so called by
Huxley in his description of _Thallassicolla_, and are small bodies of
distinctly cellular nature, with a cell wall, well defined nucleus,
and protoplasmic contents saturated by a yellow pigment. They multiply
rapidly by transverse division, and are present in almost all
Radiolarians, but in very variable number. Johnnes Muller at first
supposed them to be concerned with reproduction, but afterward gave up
this view. In his famous monograph of the Radiolarians, Haeckel suggests
that they are probably secreting cells or digestive glands in the
simplest form, and compares them to the liver-cells of Amphioxus, and
the "liver-cells" described by Vogt in _Velella_ and _Porpita_. Later
he made the remarkable discovery that starch was present in notable
quantity in these yellow cells, and considered this as confirming his
view that these cells were in some way related to the function of
nutrition. In 1871 a very remarkable contribution to our knowledge of
the Radiolarians was published by Cienkowski, who strongly expressed the
opinion that these yellow cells were parasitic algae, pointing out that
our only evidence of their Radiolarian nature was furnished by their
constant occurrence in most members of the group. He showed that they
were capable not only of surviving the death of the Radiolarian, but
even of multipying, and of passing through an encysted and an amoeboid
state, and urged their mode of development and the great variability of
their numbers within the same species as further evidence of his view.

The next important work was that of Richard Hertwig, who inclined to
think that these cells sometimes developed from the protoplasm of the
Radiolarian, and failing to verify the observations of Cienkowski,
maintained the opinion of Haeckel that the yellow cells "fur den
Stoffwechsel der Radiolarien von Bedeutung sind." In a later publication
(1879) he, however, hesitates to decide as to the nature of the yellow
cells, but suggests two considerations as favoring the view of
their parasitic nature--first, that yellow cells are to be found in
Radiolarians which possess only a single nucleus, and secondly, that
they are absent in a good many species altogether.

A later investigator, Dr. Brandt, of Berlin, although failing to confirm
Haeckel's observations as to the presence of starch, has completely
corroborated the main discovery of Cienkowski, since he finds the yellow
cells to survive for no less than two months after the death of the
Radiolarian, and even to continue to live in the gelatinous investment
from which the protoplasm had long departed in the form of swarm-spores.
He sum up the evidence strongly in favor of their parasitic nature.

Meanwhile similar bodies were being described by the investigators
of other groups. Haeckel had already compared the yellow cells of
Radiolarians to the so-called liver-cells of _Velella_; but the brothers
Hertwig first recalled attention to the subject in 1879 by expressing
their opinion that the well-known "pigment bodies" which occur in the
endoderm cells of the tentacles of many sea-anemones were also parasitic
algae. This opinion was founded on their occasional occurrence outside
the body of the anemone, on their irregular distribution in various
species, and on their resemblance to the yellow cells of Radiolarians.
But they did not succeed in demonstrating the presence of starch,
cellulose, or chlorophyl. The last of this long series of researches is
that of Hamann (1881), who investigates the similar structures which
occur in the oral region of the Rhizostome jelly-fishes. While agreeing
with Cienkowski as to the parasitic nature of the yellow cells of
Radiolarians, he holds strongly that those of anemones and jelly-fishes
are unicellular glands.

In the hope of clearing up these contradictions, I returned to Naples
in October last, and first convinced myself of the accuracy of the
observation of Cienkowski and Brandt as to the survival of the yellow
cells in the bodies of dead Radiolarians, and their assumption of the
encysted and the amoeboid states. Their mode of division, too, is
thoroughly algoid. One finds, not unfrequently, groups of three and four
closely resembling _Protococcus_. Starch is invariably present; the wall
is true plant-cellulose, yielding a magnificent blue with iodine and
sulphuric acid, and the yellow coloring matter is identical with that
of diatoms, and yields the same greenish residue after treatment with
alcohol. So, too, in Velella, in sea-anemones, and in medusae; in all
cases the protoplasm and nucleus, the cellulose, starch, and chlorophyl,
can be made out in the most perfectly distinct way. The failure of
former observers with these reactions, in which I at first also shared,
has been simply due to neglect of the ordinary botanical precautions.
Such reactions will not succeed until the animal tissue has been treated
with alcohol and macerated for some hours in a weak solution of caustic
potash. Then, after neutralizing the alkali by means of dilute acetic
acid, and adding a weak solution of iodine, followed by strong sulphuric
acid, the presence of starch and cellulose can be successively
demonstrated. Thus, then, the chemical composition, as well as the
structure and mode of division of these yellow cells, are those of
unicellular algae, and I accordingly propose the generic name of
_Philozoon_, and distinguish four species, differing slightly in size,
color, mode of division, behavior with reagents, etc., for which the
name of _P. radiolarum, P. siphonophorum, P. actiniarum_, and _P.
medusarum_, according to their habitat, may be conveniently adopted.
It now remains to inquire what is their mode of life, and what their
function.

I next exposed a quantity of Radiolarians (chiefly _Collozoum_) to
sunshine, and was delighted to find them soon studded with tiny
gas-bubbles. Though it was not possible to obtain enough for a
quantitative analysis, I was able to satisfy myself that the gas was not
absorbed by caustic potash, but was partly taken up by pyrogallic acid,
that is to say, that little or no carbonic acid was present, but that a
fair amount of oxygen was present, diluted of course by nitrogen.
The exposure of a shoal of the beautiful blue pelagic Siphonophore,
_Velella_, for a few hours, enabled me to collect a large quantity of
gas, which yielded from 24 to 25 per cent. of oxygen, that subsequently
squeezed out from the interior of the chambered cartilaginous float,
giving only 5 per cent. But the most startling result was obtained
by the exposure of the common _Anthea cereus_, which yielded great
quantities of gas containing on an average from 32 to 38 per cent. of
oxygen.

At first sight it might seem impossible to reconcile this copious
evolution of oxygen with the completely negative results obtained from
the same animal by so careful an experimenter as Krukenberg, yet the
difficulty is more apparent than real. After considerable difficulty I
was able to obtain a large and beautiful specimen of _Anthea cereus_,
var. _smaragdina_, which is a far more beautiful green than that with
which I had been before operating--the dingy brownish-olive variety,
_plumosa_. The former owes its color to a green pigment diffused chiefly
through the ectoderm, but has comparatively few algae in its endoderm;
while in the latter the pigment is present in much smaller quantity;
but the endoderm cells are crowded by algae. An ordinary specimen of
_plumosa_ was also taken, and the two were placed in similar vessels
side by side, and exposed to full sunshine; by afternoon the specimen of
_plumosa_ had yielded gas enough for an analysis, while the larger and
finer _smaragdina_ had scarcely produced a bubble. Two varieties of
_Ceriactis aurantiaca_, one with, the other without, yellow cells, were
next exposed, with a precisely similar result. The complete dependence
of the evolution of oxygen upon the presence of algae, and its complete
independence of the pigment proper to the animal, were still further
demonstrated by exposing as many as possible of those anemones known
to contain yellow cells (_Aiptasia chamaeleon, Helianthus troglodytes_,
etc.) side by side with a large number of forms from which these are
absent (_Actinia mesembryanthemum, Sagastia parasitica, Cerianthus_,
etc.). The former never failed to yield abundant gas rich in oxygen,
while in the latter series not a single bubble ever appeared.

Thus, then, the coloring matter described as chlorophyl by Lankester
has really been mainly derived from that of the endodermal algae of the
variety _plumosa_, which predominates at Naples; while the anthea-green
of Krukenberg must mainly consist of the green pigment of the ectoderm,
since the Trieste variety evidently does not contain algae in any great
quantity. But since the Naples variety contains a certain amount of
ordinary green pigment, and since the Trieste variety is tolerably sure
to contain some algae, both spectroscopists have been operating on a
mixture of two wholly distinct pigments--diatom-yellow and anthea-green.

But what is the physiological relationship of the plants and animal thus
so curiously and intimately associated? Every one knows that all the
colorless cells of a plant share the starch formed by the green
cells; and it seems impossible to doubt that the endoderm cell or the
Radiolarian, which actually incloses the vegetable cell, must similarly
profit by its labors. In other words, when the vegetable cell dissolves
its own starch, some must needs pass out by osmose into the surrounding
animal cell; nor must it be forgotten that the latter possesses
abundance of amylolytic ferment. Then, too, the _Philozoon_ is
subservient in another way to the nutritive function of the animal, for
after its short life it dies and is digested; the yellow bodies supposed
by various observers to be developing cells being nothing but dead algae
in progress of solution and disappearance.

Again, the animal cell is constantly producing carbonic acid and
nitrogenous waste, but these are the first necessities of life to our
alga, which removes them, so performing an intracellular renal function,
and of course reaping an abundant reward, as its rapid rate of
multiplication shows.

Nor do the services of the _Philozoon_ end here; for during sunlight
it is constantly evolving nascent oxygen directly into the surrounding
animal protoplasm, and thus we have actually foreign chlorophyl
performing the respiratory function of native haemoglobin! And the
resemblance becomes closer when we bear in mind that haemoglobin
sometimes lies as a stationary deposit in certain tissues, like the
tongue muscles of certain mollusks, or the nerve cord of _Aphrodite_ and
Nemerteans.

The importance of this respiratory function is best seen by comparing
as specimens the common red and white Gorgonia, which are usually
considered as being mere varieties of the same species, _G. verrucosa_.
The red variety is absolutely free from _Philozoon_, which could not
exist in such deeply colored light, while the white variety, which I am
inclined to think is usually the larger and better grown of the two, is
perfectly crammed. Just as with the anemones above referred to, the
red variety evolves no oxygen in sunlight, while the white yields
an abundance, and we have thus two widely contrasted _physiological
varieties_, as I may call them, without the least morphological
difference. The white specimen, placed in spirit, yields a strong
solution of chlorophyl; the red, again, yields a red solution, which was
at once recognized as being tetronerythrin by my friend M. Merejkowsky,
who was at the same time investigating the distribution and properties
of that remarkable pigment, so widely distributed in the animal kingdom.
This substance, which was first discovered in the red spots which
decorate the heads of certain birds, has recently been shown by
Krukenberg to be one of the most important of the coloring matter of
sponges, while Merejkowsky now finds it in fishes and in almost all
classes of invertebrate animals. It has been strongly suspected to be an
oxygen-carrying pigment, an idea to which the present observation seems
to me to yield considerable support. It is moreover readily bleached
by light, another analogy to chlorophyl, as we know from Pringsheim's
researches.

When one exposes an aquarium full of _Anthea_ to sunlight, the
creatures, hitherto almost motionless, begin to wave their arms, as if
pleasantly stimulated by the oxygen which is being developed in their
tissues. Specimens which I kept exposed to direct sunshine for days
together in a shallow vessel placed on a white slab, soon acquired a
dark, unhealthy hue, as if being oxygenated too rapidly, although I
protected them from any undue rise of temperature by keeping up a flow
of cold water. So, too, I found that Radiolarians were killed by a day's
exposure to sunshine, even in cool water, and it is to the need for
escaping this too rapid oxidation that I ascribe their remarkable habit
of leaving the surface and sinking into deep water early in the day.

It is easy, too, to obtain direct proof of this absorption of a great
part of the evolved oxygen by the animal tissues through which it has to
pass. The gas evolved by a green alga (_Ulva_) in sunlight may contain
as much as 70 per cent. of oxygen, that evolved by brown algae
(_Haliseris_) 45 per cent., that from diatoms about 42 per cent.; that,
however, obtained from the animals containing _Philozoon_ yielded a very
much lower percentage of oxygen, e.g. _Velella_ 24 per cent., white
_Gorgonia_ 24 per cent., _Ceriactis_ 21 per cent., while Anthea, which
contains most algae, gave from 32 to 38 per cent. This difference is
naturally to be accounted for by the avidity for oxygen of the animal
cells.

Thus, then, for a vegetable cell no more ideal existence can be imagined
than that within the body of an animal cell of sufficient active
vitality to manure it with carbonic acid and nitrogen waste, yet of
sufficient transparency to allow the free entrance of the necessary
light. And conversely, for an animal cell there can be no more ideal
existence than to contain a vegetable cell, constantly removing
its waste products, supplying it with oxygen and starch, and being
digestible after death. For our present knowledge of the power of
intracellular digestion possessed by the endoderm cells of the lower
invertebrates removes all difficulties both as to the mode of entrance
of the algae, and its fate when dead. In short, we have here the relation
of the animal and the vegetable world reduced to the simplest and
closest conceivable form.

It must be by this time sufficiently obvious that this remarkable
association of plant and animal is by no means to be termed a case of
parasitism. If so, the animals so infested would be weakened, whereas
their exceptional success in the struggle for existence is evident.
_Anthea cereus_, which contains most algae, probably far outnumbers all
the other species of sea-anemones put together, and the Radiolarians
which contain yellow cells are far more abundant than those which are
destitute of them. So, too, the young gonophores of Velella, which
bud off from the parent colony and start in life with a provision of
_Philozoon_ (far better than a yolk-sac) survive a fortnight or more in
a small bottle--far longer than the other small pelagic animals. Such
instances, which might easily be multiplied, show that the association
is beneficial to the animals concerned.

The nearest analogue to this remarkable partnership is to be found in
the vegetable kingdom, where, as the researches of Schwendener, Bornet,
and Stahl have shown, we have certain algae and fungi associating
themselves into the colonies we are accustomed to call lichens, so that
we may not unfairly call our agricultural Radiolarians and anemones
_animal lichens_. And if there be any parasitism in the matter, it is
by no means of the alga upon the animal, but of the animal, like the
fungus, upon the alga. Such an association is far more complex than
that of the fungus and alga in the lichen, and indeed stands unique in
physiology as the highest development, not of parasitism, but of the
reciprocity between the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Thus, then, the
list of supposed chlorophyl containing animals with which we started,
breaks up into three categories; first those which do not contain
chlorophyl at all, but green pigments of unknown function (_Bonelia<,
Idotea_, etc.); secondly, those vegetating by their own intrinsic
chlorophyl (_Convoluta_, _Hydra_, _Spongilia_); thirdly, those
vegetating by proxy, if one may so speak, rearing copious algae in their
own tissues, and profiting in every way by the vital activities of
these.

PATRICK GEDDES.

* * * * *




COMPRESSED OIL GAS FOR LIGHTING CARS, STEAMBOATS, AND BUOYS.


We give in the accompanying figures the arrangement of the different
apparatus necessary for the manufacture and compression of illuminating
gas on the system of Mr. Pintsch, as well as the arrangements adopted by
the inventor for the lighting of railway cars and buoys. This system has
been adopted to some extent in both Germany and England, and is also
being introduced into France.

[Illustration: WORKS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF OIL GAS.--ELEVATION AND
PLAN.]

The Pintsch gas is prepared by the distillation of heavy oils in a
furnace composed of two superposed retorts. The oil to be volatilized
is contained in a vertical reservoir B, which carries a bent pipe that
enters the upper retort, A. The flow of the oil is regulated in this
conduit by means of a micrometer screw which permits of varying the
supply according to the temperature of the retorts. In order to
facilitate the vaporization, the flow of oil starts from a cast-iron
trough, C, and from thence spreads in a thin and uniform layer in the
retort. The residua of distillation remain almost entirely in the
reservoir, O, from whence they are easily removed. The vapor from the
oil which is disengaged in the vessel, A, goes to the lower retort, D,
in which the transformation of the matter is thoroughly completed. On
leaving the latter, the gas enters the drum, E, at the lower part of
the furnace. To prevent the choking up of the pipe, R, the latter is
provided with a joint permitting of dilatation. The gas on leaving E
goes to the condenser, G G, where it is freed from its tar. The latter
flows out, and the gas proceeds to the washer, J, and the purifiers, I
and I, to be purified. The amount of production is registered by the
meter, L.

When the gas is to be utilized for lighting railway cars or buoys, it
is compressed in the accumulators, T, which are large cylindrical
reservoirs of riveted or welded iron plate.

Compression is effected by means of a pump, F or F', which sucks the
gas into a desiccating cylinder, M, connected with the gasometer of the
works The pump, F, which is used when the production is larger than
usual, has two compressing cylinders of different diameters, one
measuring 170 millimeters and the other 100. The piston has a stroke of
320 millimeters. The two compressing cylinders are double acting,
and communicate with each other by valves so arranged as to prevent
injurious spaces. The gas drawn from the gasometer is first compressed
in the larger cylinder to a pressure of about 4 atmospheres; then
it passes into the second cylinder, whence it is forced into the
accumulators under a pressure varying from 10 to 12 atmospheres.

For a not very large production, the small pump suffices. This has a
single compressing cylinder connected directly with the piston rod, upon
which acts the steam coming from the boiler, K. This pump compresses the
gas to a pressure of 10 atmospheres, and is capable of storing seven
cubic meters of it per hour.

The carburets of hydrogen which separate in a liquid state through the
effect of the compression of the gas are retained in a cylindrical
receptacle, V, which is located between the pump and the accumulators,
T.

Besides the necessary safety apparatus, there is disposed in front of
the condensers a special valve, N, which allows the gas to escape into
the air if the retorts or the purifying apparatus get choked up.

When the oil gas is not compressed it possesses an illuminating power
four times greater than that obtained from coal gas; and, while the
latter loses the greater part of its luminous power by compression, the
former loses only an eighth. It is this property that renders the oil
gas eminently fitted for lighting cars, and it is for this reason that
several large European railway companies have adopted it.


APPLICATION TO CARS.

We show in the accompanying engravings the mode of installation that
the inventor has finally adopted for railway purposes. Each car
is furnished, perpendicularly to its length, with a reservoir, a,
containing the supply of gas under a pressure of 6 or 7 atmospheres. The
gas is introduced into this reservoir by means of a valve, which is
put in communication with the mouths of supply pipes placed along a
platform. The pipes are provided with a stopcock and their mouths are
closed by a cap. To fill the car reservoir it is only necessary to
connect the mouths of the supply pipes with the valves of the cars by
means of rubber tubing--an operation which takes about one minute for
each car.

[Illustration: LIGHTING OF RAIWAY CARS]

When it is necessary to supply cars at certain points where there are
no gas works, there is attached to the train a special car on which are
placed two or three accumulators, which thus transport a supply of the
compressed gas to distances that are often very far removed from the
source of supply.

The reservoir of each car, containing a certain supply of gas,
communicates with a regulator, b, the importance of which we scarcely
need point out. This apparatus consists: (1) of a cast-iron cup, A,
closed at the top by a membrane, B, which is impervious to gas; (2) of a
rod, C, connected at one end with the membrane, and at the other with
a lever, D; (3) of a regulating valve resting on the lever, and of a
spring, E, which renders the internal mechanism independent of the
motions of the car. The lever, acting for the opening and closing of the
valve, serves to admit gas into the regulator through the aperture, F.
This latter is so calculated as to allow the passage of a quantity of
gas corresponding to a pressure of 16 millimeters. As soon as such a
pressure is reached in the regulator, the membrane rises and acts on the
lever, and the latter closes the valve. When the pressure diminishes,
as a consequence of the consumption of gas, the spring, E, carries the
lever to its initial position and another admission of gas takes place.
Communication between the regulator and the lamps is effected by means
of a pipe, z, of 7 millimeters diameter (provided with a cock, d, which
permits of extinguishing all the lamps at once, and by special branches
for each lamp. The lamps used differ little in external form from those
at present employed. The body is of cast-iron; the cover, funnel, and
chimney are of tin; and the burner is of steatite. The products of
combustion are led outside through a flattened chimney, t, resting at o
on the center of the reflector. The air enters through the cover of
the lamp and reaches the interior through a series of apertures in the
circumference of the cast-iron bell which supports the reflector. There
is no communication whatever between the interior of the lamp and the
interior of the car, and thus there is no danger of passengers being
annoyed by the odor of gas. By means of a peculiar apparatus, f, the
flame may be reduced to a minimum without being extinguished. This
arrangement is at the disposition of the conductor or within reach of
the passengers. For facilitating cleaning, the lamps are arranged so as
to turn on a hinge-joint, m; so that, on removing the reflector, o, it
is only necessary to raise the arm that carries the burner, r in order
to clean the base, s, without any difficulty.

On several railways both the palace and postals cars are also heated by
compressed oil gas; and lately an application has been made of the gas
for supplying the headlights of locomotives (see figure), and for the
signals placed at the rear of trains. But one of the most interesting
applications of oil is that of


LIGHTING BUOYS,

in which case it is compressed into large reservoirs placed on a boat.
The buoys employed are generally of from 90 to 285 cubic feet capacity,
affording a lighting for from 35 to 100 days.

To the upper part of the buoy there is affixed a firmly supported tube
carrying at its extremity the lantern, c. The gas compressed to 6 or 7
atmospheres in the body of the buoy passes, before reaching the burner,
into a regulator analogous to the one installed on railway cars, but
modified in such a way as to operate with regularity whatever be the
inclination of the buoy. In the section showing the details of the
lantern on a large scale the direction taken by the air is indicated by
arrows, as is also the direction taken by the products of combustion.
These latter escape at m, through apertures in the cap of the apparatus.

[Illustration: COMPRESSED OIL GAS FOR LIGHTING CARS STEAMBOTS, AND
BUOYS.]

The regulator, B, in the interior of the lantern, brings to a uniform
pressure the inclosed gas, whose pressure continues diminishing as a
consequence of the consumption. The lantern is protected against wind
and waves by very thick convex glasses set into metallic cross-bars, c.
The flame is located in the focus of a Fresnel lens, b, consisting
of superposed prismatic rings, and adjusted at its lower part with a
circle, d, while a conical ring, e makes a joint at its other extremity.
This ring is held by the top piece of the lantern through the
intermedium of six spiral springs, c' c''. Under the focus of the flame
there is placed a conical reflector of German silver, t.

The buoy is filled through an aperture, k, in the side of the upper
tube. This aperture is provided with a valve which allows of the buoy
being charged by connecting it with the accumulators located on a boat
built especially for this service. As soon as the gas reaches 6 or 7
atmospheres the cocks of the buoy and reservoir are closed, and the
connecting tube is removed. The consumption of gas in the lantern
is. 1,230 cubic inches per hour. This being known it is very easy to
calculate from the capacity of the buoy how often it is necessary to
charge it.

A large number of buoys on the Pintsch system are already in use.

The oil gas is likewise applicable to the illumination of lighthouses,
and among those that are now being lighted in that way we may cite the
one in the port of Pillau, near Koenigsberg. Several large steamers are
likewise being lighted on this plan. In such an application of oil gas
the management of the apparatus is very easy, and the permanence of the
illuminating power of the gas gives every facility for the lighting of
the boat, whatever be the duration of the trip.

Although Mr. Pintsch's process of manufacture has been but recently
introduced into France, it has received a number of applications that
permits us to foresee the future that is in store for it. The Railway
Company of the West has contracted for the lighting of 250 first-class
cars that run within the precincts of the city; the State Railways have
56 cars lighted in this way running between Nantes and Bordeaux and
between Saintes and Limoges; and the Line of the East has just applied
the system to 80 of its cars.

* * * * *




DELICATE TEST FOR OXYGEN.


T. W. Engelmann proposes, in the _Botanische Zeitung_, a new test, of an
extremely delicate nature, for determining the presence of very minute
quantities of oxygen, namely: its power of exciting the motility of
bacteria. If any of the smaller species, especially _Bacterium termo_,
are brought to rest, and then introduced into a fluid in which there is
the minutest trace of free oxygen, they will immediately begin to move
about freely; and if the oxygen is gradually introduced, their motion
will be set up only in those parts of the drop which the oxygen reaches.
In this way Engelmann was able to determine the evolution of oxygen by
_Euglena_ and by chlorophyl granules.

* * * * *




DETERMINATION OF SMALL QUANTITIES OF ARSENIC IN SULPHUR.

By H SCHAEPPI.


Ten grms. of sulphur, pulverized as finely as possible, are covered
with hot water and a few drops of nitric acid digested for some time,
filtered, and washed till the washings have no longer an acid reaction.
Thus calcium chloride and sulphate are removed, and calcium sulphide, if
present, is destroyed. The sulphur thus prepared is covered with water
at 70 deg. to 80 deg., a few drops of ammonia are added, and the mixture is
digested for a quarter of an hour. All the arsenic present as sulphide
is dissolved, and the ammoniacal liquid is variously treated
according to the degree of accuracy required. For perfectly accurate
determinations the ammoniacal solution is mixed with silver nitrate, and
all the sulphur present in the state of arsenic sulphide is thrown down
as silver sulphide, acidified with nitric acid, filtered, and washed.
The precipitate of silver sulphide is dissolved in hot nitric acid and
determined as silver chloride. From the weight of the latter the arsenic
sulphide is calculated. As a less accurate but more rapid method, the
ammoniacal solution of arsenic sulphide is cautiously neutralized with
pure dilute nitric acid and considerably diluted. It is then titrated
with decinormal silver nitrate till a drop of the solution is turned
brown with neutral chromate. The arsenic is easily calculated from the
quantity of silver nitrate consumed. For very rough determinations it is
sufficient to treat ten grms. of finely-ground sulphur with nitric acid,
to extract with ammonia, and to add silver nitrate. From the intensity
of the color, or the quantity of the precipitate of silver sulphide,
it may be judged if the sulphur is approximately free from arsenic or
strongly contaminated. The author states that, contrary to the general
belief, reddish yellow sulphur is more free from arsenic than such as is
of a full yellow color.

* * * * *




HOW TO PLANT TREES.

By N. ROBERTSON, Government Grounds, Ottawa.


A great deal has been written and said about tree planting. Some advise
one way, some another. I will give you my method, with which I have been
very successful, and, as it differs somewhat from the usual mode, may be
interesting to some of your readers. I go into the woods, select a place
where it is thick with strong, young, healthy, rapid growing trees. I
commence by making a trench across so as I will get as many as I want.
I may have to destroy some until I get a right start. I then undermine,
taking out the trees as I advance; this gives me a chance not to destroy
the roots. I care nothing about the top, because I cut them into what
is called poles eight or ten feet long. Sometimes I draw them out by
hitching a team when I can get them so far excavated that I can turn
them down enough to hitch above where I intend to cut them off; by this
method I often get almost the entire root. I have three particular
points in this; good root, a stem without any blemish, and a rapid
growing tree. This is seldom to be got where most people recommend trees
to be taken from--isolated ones on the outside of the woods; they are
generally scraggy and stunted; and to get their roots you would have to
follow along way to get at the fibers on their points, without which
they will have a hard struggle to live. Another point recommended is to
plant so that the tree will stand in the direction it was before being
moved; that I never think about, but always study to have the longest
and most roots on the side where the wind will be strongest, which is
generally the west, on an open exposure.

For years I was much against this system of cutting trees into poles,
and fought hard against one of the most successful tree planters in
Canada about this pole business. I have trees planted under the system
described that have many strong shoots six and eight feet long--hard
maple, elm, etc., under the most unfavorable circumstances. In planting,
be particular to have the hole into which you plant much larger than
your roots; and be sure you draw out all your roots to their length
before you put on your soil; clean away all the black, leafy soil about
them, for if that is left, and gets once dry, you will not easily wet it
again. Break down the edges of your holes as you progress, not to leave
them as if they were confined in a flower pot; and when finished, put
around them a good heavy mulch, I do not care what of--sawdust, manure,
or straw. This last you can keep by throwing a few spadefuls of soil
over; let it pass out over the edges of your holes at least one foot.

I have no doubt that the best time to plant is the fall, as, if left
till spring, the trees are too far advanced before the frost is put of
the ground; and by fall planting the soil gets settled about the roots,
and they go on with the season.

Trees cut like poles have another great advantage. For the first season
they require no stakes to guard against the wind shaking them, which is
a necessity with a top; for depend upon it, if your tree is allowed to
sway with the wind, your roots will take very little hold that season,
and may die, often the second year, from this very cause.

All who try this system will find out that they will get a much prettier
headed tree, and much sooner see a tree of beauty than by any other,
as, when your roots have plenty of fibrous roots, and are in vigorous
health, three years will give you nice trees.--_The Canadian
Horticulturist_.

* * * * *




THE GROWTH OF PALMS.


In a paper (Russian) recently read before the Botanical Section of the
St. Petersburg Natural History Society, Mr. K. Friderich describes in
detail the anatomical structures to be met with in the aerial roots of
_Acanthorhiza aculeata_, these roots presenting a remarkable example of
roots being metamorphosed into spines. Supplementing this, E. Regel made
the following remarks:

Palm trees, grown from seed, thicken their stems for a succession of
years, like bulbs, only at the base. Many palms continue this primary
growth (i.e., the growth they first started with) for fifty to sixty
years before they form their trunk. During this time new roots are
always being developed at the base of the stem, in whorls, and these
always above the old roots. This even takes place in old specimens,
especially in those planted in the open ground which have already formed
a trunk, In such cases the cortex layer, where the roots break through,
is sprung off. In conservatories, under the influence of the damp air,
this root formation, on which indeed the further normal growth of the
palm depends, takes place without any special assistance. When the palm
is grown in a sitting room, one must surround the base of the trunk with
moss, which is to be kept damp, in order to favor the development of the
roots. When the base of the palm trunk has almost reached its normal
thickness, then begins the upward development of the trunk, which takes
place more slowly in those species whose leaves grow close together than
in those whose leaves are further apart. In specimens of many species of
Cocos and Syagrus, whose leaves are particularly far apart, the stems
grow so quickly when planted in the open ground that they increase by
five to six feet in height per annum. The stem of those palms which
develop a terminal inflorescence have ended their apical growth by doing
so, and wither gradually, In addition to this (withering) in the case,
e.g. of _Arenga saccharifera_, new inflorescences are developed from the
original axils _(Blattachseln)_ from above downward, so that one sees at
last the already leafless trunk still developing inflorescences in the
direction toward the base of the trunk. Almost all palms with this
latter kind of growth develop offshoots in their youth at the base of
their trunks, which shoot up again into trunks after the death of the
primary trunk, if they are not taken off before. As to the structure of
the palm trunks out of unconnected wood bundles, the assertion has been
made that the palm stem does not grow thicker in the course of time, and
that this is the explanation of the columnar almost evenly thick trunk.
But careful measurements that were made for years have led Regel to the
conclusion that a thickening of the trunk actually takes place, which
probably amounts to an increase of about a third over the original
circumference of the trunk.

* * * * *




THE FUTURE OF SILK CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Report by CONSUL PEIXOTTO, of Lyons.


In my dispatch, No. 140, dated September 1, 1880, I referred to the fact
that new machinery for reeling silk had been invented, which, in my
opinion, was destined to be of great importance, and to make this
industry extremely valuable and profitable in our country. I beg now
to submit some additional observations upon this subject, and for the
purpose of being definite, to entitle them


THE FUTURE OF SILK CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Silk reeling is at present accomplished by the use of appliances which
differ only in detail from those in use many centuries ago, and which
can scarcely be called machines, being rather of the nature of apparatus
depending entirely upon the skill and knowledge of the operative for the
results produced. In fact, even the most perfect of French and Italian
reels bear about the same relation to automatic machinery that an
old-fashioned spinning wheel does to our modern spinning machines.

Since the date of my previous dispatch upon this subject, the new
reeling machine of Mr. E. W. Serrell, jr., of New York (who still
continues in Lyons), has been undergoing improvement and development,
and it is with the hope of facilitating the introduction and culture of
silk, and of enabling our people to adopt the best means to that end,
and to avoid errors which have been disastrous in the past and are
likely to be extremely expensive in the near future, that I now
communicate with the department, which is equally interested in securing
new sources of industry and wealth for our people at home as for the
promotion and extension of their commerce abroad.

It will be recollected that from about 1834 to 1839 there raged a great
speculation in mulberry trees of a certain species (_Morus multicaulis_)
destined for feeding silk worms. This speculation led to a total loss
of all the time and money devoted to it, partly because of its wild and
utterly unsound character, and partly because the little silk which was
actually produced could not be reeled to advantage. As a result, silk
culture fell into utter disrepute and for nearly a generation was
scarcely thought of as a practical thing in the United States. Time,
however, showed clearly where the great obstacle lay, and although many
may have imagined that other difficulties led to its abandonment in
1839-40, those who have studied the matter are unanimously of the
opinion that the want of reeling machinery has alone prevented the
success of sericulture in those parts of the Union which are suitable
for it. Believing this obstacle to be removed, it remains to set forth
in a brief manner some of the points upon which, it appears to me, the
successful introduction of silk raising will depend.

For the success of silk culture in our country two things are now
requisite--the acquisition on the part of those about to engage in it
of sound knowledge of its processes and requirements, and proper
organization.

The details of the work of silk culture are of such a nature that they
may be readily understood, and I apprehend that there will be little
difficulty found by those who engage in it in mastering them, after some
little experience. The point at which it seems to me that there is the
most danger is at the very beginning.

In order to avoid delays and losses, the person who begins silk culture
should have a pretty clear idea of the scale of operations which are
likely to be most profitable; of the trees, or rather shrubs, which must
be obtained; of the apparatus and fixtures necessary, and of the results
which may be reasonably expected from the labor and expense required.
All of these items will be found to vary in different parts of the
country, and I fear that general rules, broad deductions, and such
information as would apply under all circumstances and in all places
would be extremely difficult to formulate, and too vague for practical
use at any given point.

In fact, as far as information which may be considered perfectly general
is concerned, I have, for the time being, only one point to put forward
in addition to what has already been published in the United States,
which is to repeat and show as emphatically as possible that the use
of the reels at present employed for the filature of silk is entirely
impracticable in our country, and that the raiser must sell his cocoons.

This has been so often said and so clearly shown that I should consider
it unnecessary to repeat it had not my attention been called to the fact
that the success of several people and associations in the United States
in raising cocoons has again made it a temptation to endeavor to reel
silk, and during the past year I have received applications from people
in different States for information as to the kind of silk reel employed
here which would be most suitable for use by them.

I am aware, also, that estimates have been made and published by some
eminent authorities tending to show that this work could be done on a
paying basis in some places in America. So far as I have seen them,
however, these estimates are fatally defective in that they do not allow
for differences in quality of silk reeled by competent or incompetent
people, and under circumstances favorable or otherwise, but seem to
assume that any silk reeled in our country would be a first rate
article, and paid for accordingly.

While this might be true in isolated cases, it could not be true in
general, as with present appliances the art of reeling _good_ silk is
only to be acquired and retained by years of apprenticeship and constant
practice joined to a natural talent for the work. So true is this, that
even in districts where the work has been largely carried on for many
generations, quite a large proportion of women who try for years find it
impossible to become good reelers.

Now, there is a considerable difference in price between well reeled and
poorly reeled silk--a difference so great that silk not well reeled in
every way is not worth as much as the cocoons from which it is derived.
It is, therefore, quite a hopeless task to reel silk unless the reeler
is skilled. Even if it could be done to advantage--which I do not think
it could--there exists in America no means of training reelers. In
Europe they are taught by degrees in the filatures, working first at
the easier stages of the operations, and afterward being helped forward
under the eyes and guidance of experienced operatives.

Another grave defect in the estimates alluded to is that all the profit
is assumed to be paid to the reeler. This can evidently only be the case
when each reeler runs her own reel, owns and cares for her own cocoons,
sells her own silk, and furnishes her own capital. Now, even supposing
that persons so fortunately placed as to be able to fulfill all these
conditions should wish to engage in silk reeling, which is in the
highest degree improbable, there exists an almost insuperable obstacle
to the production of good silk except by an establishment large enough
to use the cocoons of many producers.

Nearly every silk crop as raised by the individual growers contains
three or four grades of cocoons, and to produce good and uniform silk,
these must be separated and each sort reeled by itself, producing
several grades of silk.

Without going into detail, it is enough to say that this is not
practical for those who attempt to reel their own cocoons, and that for
this reason, and many others, hand reels and single basins have been
nearly abandoned even in Italy; the women finding so much difficulty
that they prefer to sell their cocoons and work in large establishments
where the work is done to more advantage.

It is evident, therefore, that, from the estimates made, there should be
a considerable deduction for poor workmanship, and another for use of
capital, organization, selling expenses, superintendence, insurance,
repairs, deterioration, etc. In fact, I do not see in what way the
reeling of silk in the United States, by the ordinary method, could be
made to bear a much higher charge for labor than that borne by European
filatures, which barely pay with labor at one franc per diem of thirteen
hours.

To be able, then, to reel silk by the ordinary reels, it would first be
necessary to find a sufficiency of highly skilled operatives willing
to labor in a factory thirteen hours per day for twenty cents each. I
sincerely believe and hope that this can never be done. I have enlarged
somewhat upon this difficulty for the purpose of showing that the
growers, or at any rate individual growers of cocoons, should not
attempt to do the reeling, but by no means with an idea of discouraging
the raising of silk worms, which is and should be an entirely separate
matter. To use a rough comparison, I should esteem it as wasteful, even
if possible, for each grower to attempt to reel his own cocoons as for
each farmer to grind his own wheat upon his farm and endeavor to sell
the flour.

It is, therefore, clear that the object of the sericulturist should be
to raise and market as good a crop of cocoons as possible to the best
advantage, and with the least possible expense and risk.

After what has been said, it may be very properly asked, if, seeing that
the hopes which have been entertained of reeling by the usual method
have proved fallacious, and as no radically new system of raising silk
worms is under consideration, it is not very possible that all hopes of
profit from rearing the worm may prove fallacious also.

In fact, not only has the question been asked, but an argument of
great apparent strength and much plausibility has been formulated and
extensively circulated, tending to show that the difficulty of cheap
labor, which it has been shown stood in the way of reeling without
improved machinery, will make the raising of cocoons also a hopelessly
unprofitable task.

Briefly summarized, this argument may be stated as follows:

First. To raise silk worms to advantage much time and attention are
required.

Second. Time and attention are more costly in the United States than in
other countries.

Third. Consequently, cocoons can be more cheaply raised in other
countries than in the United States.

Fourth. The United States possess no special advantages as a market for
cocoons, and therefore they must be sold as cheaply as elsewhere, and
the labor costing more, there is less profit.

Fifth. The profits made by raisers in Europe are not very great, and as
they would be less in the United States, it is not worth while to try to
raise cocoons in that country.

It must be acknowledged that upon the surface this all appears to be
very sound and almost unanswerable, but I hope to be able to show that
there is in reality not the slightest real foundation for the conclusion
to which this argument points.

Taking the points cited in order, I would say, as regards the first and
second, that although labor and time are required to raise cocoons, I
am convinced that the labor and time of the kind necessary will not be
found more expensive in our country than in Europe, for the following
reasons:

The work is a home industry. It can be carried on without severe manual
labor except for a few days, at the end of the season, when large crops
are raised.

Now, nothing is better known than that there exists in many of our
States an enormous number of wives and daughters of country people of
a class entirely different from any to be found elsewhere, except,
perhaps, to a limited extent, in England. I refer to the "well-to-do"
but not wealthy agricultural and manufacturing classes in small
villages.

One or two generations ago the farmers' and mechanics' wives and
daughters found plenty of work in spinning, weaving, dyeing, cutting,
and making the linen and clothes of the family. This has entirely ceased
as a domestic industry with the exception of the "sewing" of the women's
clothes and men's underwear. As a consequence, the women of the family
are condemned to idleness, or to the drudgery of the whole household
work.

Upon a proper occasion I think that much might be said of the evils and
dangers which are likely within a short time to arise from the fact that
perhaps a large majority of American women find themselves, because
of the present organization of society and industry, almost unable to
contribute to the family income except by going away from home, or in
doing the most menial and severe labor as household workers from one end
of the year to the other. I shall at present, however, only point out
that in hundreds of thousands of homes in the country an opportunity of
gaining a very moderate sum in addition to the present income by the
expenditure of some weeks of care and light work would be hailed as a
Godsend, and that, too, in families where the feeling of self-respect
and the desire to keep the family together are far too strong to permit
the women to go away from home in any way to earn money.

Let any one who doubts this consider the dairy work and similar
industries, and try to calculate how much per diem the women thus
occupied at home gain in money. It may be said with entire accuracy
that, as a rule, anything in which the women can engage at home, by
which something may be earned, will in general be regarded as net profit
through out many sections of the land. In the silk districts of Europe,
agricultural machinery is very much less employed than with us, and in
general every woman who can possibly be spared from other work is a
field laborer and valuable as such. So that time taken for raising silk
must be deducted from her other productive work and charged to the cost
of the silk crop. I think that there can be no doubt that this one fact
is quite sufficient to make the question of the cost of caring for the
worms really as much in favor of the United States as at first glance it
appears to be the other way; it being the case that in our country many
who would be glad to do the work have spare time to give to it, whereas
in Europe every hour that is given to silk worms would otherwise be
spent in the field.

In the South there are very large masses of inhabitants who are unable
to work in the fields, both men and women, and who would also find in a
yearly crop of silk worms a very comfortable addition to their
yearly gains, and one which could be derived from time not otherwise
convertible into money. Land is very much dearer, and taxes are higher
in the European silk districts than with us, and every little crop of
cocoons has to pay its share, which adds a considerable percentage to
its cost.

The buildings possessed by peasants and used for the raising of silk
worms are, in general, small, close, and miserable. Throughout America
the roomy barns which are empty at the cocoon season, will, with little
preparation, be much preferable, and enable the raisers to work to very
much better advantage.

In Europe diseases of several kinds have become more or less prevalent,
and in some cases have diminished the production of whole districts.

Notwithstanding the fact that many experiments have been made in
America, and in Georgia particularly, and silk has been raised
continuously for over a century, these diseases (_maladies des vers a
soile_) have never made their appearance.

The people of our country are, as a rule, much better educated than
those in Southern France and Italy, and will undoubtedly use their
intelligence in such a way as to derive a benefit from it, and economize
their labor by proper appliances, etc.

Taking all these facts into consideration, I am convinced that that
there will be no difficulty in raising cocoons for the same cost in
labor in the United States as in Europe, and I am inclined to think that
the work can be much more cheaply done.

It is true that the United States is not an especially good market for
cocoons; in fact up to this time there has been scarcely any market
at all for them; but with the organization of the industry and the
introduction of reeling machinery, the market will be at least as good
there as elsewhere. As to whether it will be "worth while" for our
people to raise silk worms, I would say that though the amount of money
to be paid by any one family is certainly not very large, it is nearly
all clear profit, and under the circumstances which I have above pointed
out, and which exist so generally, I am sure that the sum to be realized
will be regarded as very important by a vast number of people. As in
other points, it is extremely difficult to make any exact estimates on
such a subject which would be generally applicable to a country so large
and so various in climate, soil, and social habit as ours. I am inclined
to think, however, that were the members of an average family, under
average circumstances, to raise a crop of cocoons, the amount
which could be advantageously reared should produce, according to
circumstances, from seventy-five to two hundred dollars. Scarcely
any "paying" result can be hoped for, however, without more or less
organization of the work, as sericulture is an industry which is very
sensitive to the evils of a want of proper co-operation among those
who carry on its various processes. After some reflection, I am of the
opinion that individual growers will have great difficulty in selling
cocoons if they are isolated from others, and I therefore doubt the
wisdom of encouraging sporadic and ill-directed efforts, which,
however well meant and earnestly pursued, are much more apt to end in
disappointment, discouragement, and discredit to the newly developing
industry than in anything else. It seems to me to be neither wise nor
fair to furnish estimates of returns, which presuppose an organization
of the industry, without mentioning the difficulties which must be
encountered where the organization is lacking. The great difficulty
is in selling the cocoons after they are raised, and this can only be
practically overcome by such a development of the culture as will
result in the production, within the limits of a given neighborhood, of
sufficient quantities of cocoons to make it practicable to prepare and
forward them to market. It is as well known as any other fact in trade,
that small transactions are much more costly in proportion than large
ones, and this general rule is especially applicable to the cocoon
market. The product of two or three isolated families in the interior of
our country could not be marketed to advantage. Whereas, were several
hundreds engaged on the work in the same vicinity the charge of
marketing their joint crop would be only a small percentage of its
value.

Silk raising is the work of an organized people, and before it can
become successful in our country must possess proper channels for its
trade, just as much as wool, or cotton, or wheat. The machinery of this
organization, however, need not be either complicated or expensive. What
is required is a system of nuclei in towns or large villages, which may
serve as centers of information and as gathering receptacles for the
crops of surrounding producers.

The details of organization must be left, and I think may safely be left
to the good sense of the people of different sections, who will work
out the problem in different ways, according to their different
circumstances. Even were the need of organization not made evident to
those undertaking sericulture in the beginning, it would soon become so,
as it has, in fact, in several parts of the country. I have therefore
deemed it proper to call attention to this matter, on the principle that
a "stitch in time saves nine." I am informed that there exist already
in the United States several associations devoted to acquiring and
disseminating knowledge of the art of sericulture. This is a very great
step in the right direction, and cannot be too heartily commended. If
conducted with prudence and wisdom these societies will be of great
service, and I would respectfully suggest that any encouragement which
the government may think proper to afford would in all probability be
extremely useful and profitable to the country in the future. Provided,
always, that such societies are really devoted to the dissemination of
information and the careful organization of the industry, and are not
merely visionary and impractical cultivators of misapplied enthusiasm.

It would, I think, be of importance so far as possible, to direct
the attention of county and State agricultural societies, "village
improvement clubs," and in general the intelligent and careful portion
of our rural population to this matter. It is beyond doubt that the time
when sericulture can be begun and carried on profitably in our country
has arrived. Its successful introduction would result in a very
important yearly revenue and increase in the public wealth, for I think
that within a comparatively few years it could be made to be worth at
least fifty or sixty millions of dollars per annum, and perhaps much
more. This, however, is a less advantage than the fact that by supplying
a new home industry it would do much toward conserving home ties and
interests, and thereby help to strengthen and perpetuate good morals and
home living among our people.

* * * * *




THE HIBERNATION OF ANIMALS.


"Don't black bears sleep through the winter?" questioned the writer of
an attendant who was dealing out mid-day rations of bread and milk at
the park.

"That's the general impression," was the rejoinder, "but we have never
noticed any attempts at hibernation here. Bears are unusually lively
during the cold months, and demand their food as regularly as do the
lions and other feline animals. I don't know that any observations of
value on this question have ever been made on animals in confinement.
I have had some experience with outside animals, and a great many go
through what is called a winter's sleep; and in warm countries there is
what might be called a summer sleep. Bears begin in the fall to look out
for a soft nest; and if it's possible for them to eat more at one time
than another they do it then, and when the cold weather sets in they
are fat and in prime condition. According to some authorities, the fat
produces the carbon that in some way tends to induce somnolency. The
stomach of a bear at this time becomes empty, and naturally shrivels
or draws into a very small space, and is rendered totally useless by
a substance called 'tappen' that clogs it and the intestines; this is
formed of pine leaves and other material that the animal takes from
ants' nest and the trunks of trees in its search after honey. They lie
asleep in this condition for about six months, generally snowed in; but
you can tell the place, as the heat of the bear, what there is left,
keeps an air hole up through the snow. The bear seems to live on its
fat, the tappen preventing its too rapid consumption; and if you run
across them during this time--even along in March just before they wake
up--they are about as fat as when they went in. I have taken a slice of
fat from a black bear six inches thick--regular blubber. I remember,"
continued the man, "one winter I was 'log hauling' in the western part
of this State. We had our eyes on a big tree, and one morning when it
was about ten degrees below zero I tackled it to warm up. I hammered
away for about five hours at it and finally started her, and over she
came--slowly at first, and then as if she was going right through. The
snow was nearly three feet deep, and as the tree struck it flew up for
about twenty feet and half blinded me, and when I came to there was the
biggest black bear I ever saw standing along side of me, looking about
as mixed as I did. I had lost my ax, and the first move I made she
started, and on taking a look I found that she had a nest in the trunk
and had probably turned in for the winter. It was about twenty feet from
the ground, and was built with moss, leaves, and all kinds of truck, and
as warm and as snug as you please--a good place to spend a winter in."

The brown and polar bears have the same habit of lying up for the
winter. An Esquimau informed Captain Lyon that in the first of the
winter the pregnant bears are always fat and solitary. When a heavy fall
of snow sets in the animal seeks some hollow place in which she can lie
down, and remains quiet while the snow covers her. Sometimes she will
wait until a quantity of snow has fallen and then digs herself a cave;
at all events it seems necessary that she should be covered up by the
snow. She now goes to sleep and does not wake until the spring sun is
pretty high, when she brings forth two cubs. The cave by this time has
become much larger by the effect of the animal's warmth and breath, so
that the cubs have room enough to move, and they acquire considerable
strength by continually sucking. The dam at length becomes so thin and
weak that it is with great difficulty she extricates herself, which she
does when the sun is powerful enough to throw a strong glare through
the snow which roofs the den. Then the family comes out, and will take
anything that comes along in the way of food. During the long sleep
the temperature of the bear's blood is reduced to almost that of
the surrounding air. The power of will over the muscles seems to be
suspended, respiration is hardly noticeable, and most of the vital
functions are at a complete standstill--the entire body sleeping, as it
were. The male grizzly bear never hibernates. The young and the females,
however, build nests, one of which measured ten feet high, five feet
long, and six feet wide.

Bats are great winter sleepers, and in most of the known caves they can
be found during the cold months clinging to the walls and to each other.
During hibernation their respiration ceases almost entirely, and only
the most careful use of a stethoscope can reveal it. The air that has
surrounded numbers of them has been carefully examined and not the
slightest evidence found of its having been breathed; and, stranger yet,
they can exist in this condition in gas, that, were they awake, would
prove instantly fatal. A machine has been invented to examine these and
other animals while in this condition. A delicate index records the
slightest pulsation, while a thermometer shows the rise and fall of the
temperature at every moment during the period; and by an arrangement
of the wing, the circulation of the blood is recorded. A more delicate
experiment can hardly be imagined, as a strong breath, a sneeze, or a
footfall will cause the subject of the experiment to recover enough to
respire several times; and the effect of this on the machine can be
imagined when it is known that though, while in this condition, they
produce no effect upon the oxygen of the air about them, they consume
when respiring more than four cubic inches of oxygen an hour.

The common marmot is a great underground sleeper. They build large
storehouses, sometimes eight feet in diameter, and from the latter part
of September to April they lie in them, and, like the bears, give birth
to their young during this period.

The dormouse is a remarkable sleeper. Even in their ordinary sleep they
can be taken from the nest and handled without waking them. Toward
winter they acquire a great deal of fat, and stow away a vast amount of
provision around about their nest, and then go to sleep within; but they
rarely awake to use this food unless a very warm period comes around
before the regular breaking up of cold weather.

The hedgehog is a sound winter sleeper, and has been the subject of
an infinite number of experiments while in this condition. One
experimentalist, believing that cold was the cause of their curious
condition, surrounded one with a freezing mixture, and froze it
to death. By increasing the cold about another that was already
hibernating, it was made to wake up; and walked off.

If an animal is suddenly decapitated while in this hibernating
condition, the action of the heart is not affected for some time, a
second life seeming to outlive the one taken. An experiment has been
made in which the brain of the sleeper was removed, then the entire
spinal cord, but for two hours hardly any change was noticeable upon the
action of the heart; and a day after that organ contracted when touched
by the operator.

The writer has the winter nest of a family of ants. A piece of fence
rail was found beneath an old pile of boards and brought into a warm
room for the sake of a rich fungus growing upon it, and several hours
after the table and chairs were found to be covered with ants. Where
they came from was a mystery, until the old rail was accidentally jarred
and a number fell from it. A section was cut down through it, and the
winter home of the tribe destroyed--probably the work of weeks, perhaps
months. The interior of the wood was completely riddled by tunnels and
passages, some being large and holding several hundred ants, while
others contained only a few. In some of the interior passages the ants
had not been affected by the heat, and were packed in great masses and
evidently fast asleep; they soon recovered, however, and walked off
slowly in different directions, as if wondering if an earthquake or
spring had come.

A great number of insects go through a period of hibernation, especially
spiders. The young of the latter are often covered by the parent; first,
by coarse strings of silk, as if to hold them in place, and then by
a white, silvery web worked over them, which forms probably a sure
protection from wind and weather.

The writer has a cherry-stone in which is coiled up an insect, best
known as the sowbug. A squirrel had probably eaten out the meat and
opened the way, and in this snug retreat we found the little hibernater
snugly rolled up, as is also its habit when alarmed. The mouth of the


 


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