Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1917-10-19
wooo OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES -

lowering the cost of production and raised the
yield to such point that the introduction of this
alcohol a motor fuel seems likely particularly
with gasoline going up as it has been. AS Mark
Twain said, what chance has prohibition when
man can take ripsaw and get drunk fence
rail or drink the legs off the kitchen tabe?'
Western larch has an unusually high percent
age of gaactan, which it is believed can be con-
verified into a fermentable sugar for in making
grain alcohol. This same galactan in oxidation
yields large quantities of muric acid, and muric
acid take the place of tartaric acid in the
manufacture of baking powder. A number of lum-
bermen recently visited the laboratory and of
the chemists made baking powder from wood and
his wife made biscuit with it. Another advance is
the preparation of a fine sweet strip from galac
tose, a sugar derived from galactan. So If the
people of Montana, the home of the Western larch
get hard pressed they can make their hapjacks
with larch baking POWDER bake them
stove heated with larch alcohol and sweeten them
with larch strip.
Converting ceulose obtained from wood into a
geatnous material known as a viscose opens up
another field for research and adds line of
products running all the way from sausage cas-
ings to tapestry. Five million dollars worth of
silk socks sold last year got their silk from wood,
did many silk neckties and fancy braids. Prob
ably it won't be long before the whims of the silk
worm will have little control over silk market con-
ditions.
Kraft paper is made from sulphate pulp, and
the method of making it came to this country
from Sweden ten years ago. Kraft is much
stronger than other papers. 1t is brown, like what
usually think of wrapping paper. Large
quantities of it are used for that purpose and it
is particularly suitable for large envelopes. Kraft
is used for book covers for imitation leather and
for cardboard suitcases. An attempt is being
made to produce a paper Irvine that will replace
the binder twines made from imported
fbers. This question has become more active be-
of the recent shortage of these other fbers
account of the conditions south of u.s. sue
cessfu paper substitute would provide for the
utilization of a large amount of wood waste and
at the same time build up home industry indie
pendent of foreign materials.
The problems put up to the laboratory to solve
many and complex. One man in the frog bust
ness suffering heavy losses from the death Of
his tadpoles. He asked the laboratory to find out
If there anything in the wood which when
washed out poisoned the tadpoles.
The government chemists undertook to study
the matter. They could not locate the trouble, so
it was put up to the section of timber tests After
a few experiments it was found that the resonant
croaking Of the large frogs produced vibrations in
the boards of the tanks. The vibrations were
transmitted through the water to the ganglia of
the tadpOles (they have no brains), causing a dis
ease somewhat akin to infantiIe paralysis.
The remedy simple. The man was advised
to separate his tadpoes from his large frogs thus
combining the vibrations to the older generations.
This was done and the mortality among the tad
poles decreased wonderfully