ve as a food
supply for moulds when suspended in distilled water containing the
requisite mineral matter and placed in the dark. The growth is rapid,
and a considerable quantity of the vegetable growth accumulates round
the masses of cellulose nitrate, but no growth is observed if mineral
matter is absent. Cellulose itself cannot act as a food supply, and it
seems probable that if glycerol is present cellulose nitrate is no
longer made use of.

NITRATION OF CELLULOSE, HYDROCELLULOSE, AND OXYCELLULOSE.

LEO VIGNON (Compt. rend., 1898, 126, 1658-1661).

(p. 38) Repeated treatment of cellulose, hydrocellulose, and
oxycellulose with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids in large
excess, together with successive analyses of the compounds produced,
showed that the final product of the reaction corresponded, in each
case, with the fixation of 11 NO groups by a molecule containing 24
atoms of carbon. On exposure to air, nitrohydrocellulose becomes yellow
and decomposes; nitro-oxycellulose is rather more stable, whilst
nitrocellulose is unaffected. The behaviour of these nitro-derivatives
with Schiff's reagent, Fehling's solution, and potash show that all
three possess aldehydic characters, which are most marked in the case of
nitro-oxycellulose. The latter also, when distilled with hydrochloric
acid, yields a larger proportion of furfuraldehyde than is obtained from
nitrocellulose and nitrohydrocellulose.

* * * * *

~CELLULOSE NITRATES-EXPLOSIVES.~

(p. 38) The uses of the cellulose nitrates as a basis for explosives are
limited by their fibrous character. The conversion of these products
into the structureless homogeneous solid or semi-solid form has the
effect of controlling their combustion. The use of nitroglycerin as an
agent for this purpose gives the curious result of the admixture of two
high or blasting explosives to produce a new explosive capable of
extended use for military purposes. The leading representatives of this
class of propulsive explosives, or 'smokeless powders' are ballistite
and cordite, the technology of which will be found fully discussed in
special manuals of the subject. Since the contribution of these
inventions to the development of cellulose chemistry does not go beyond
the broad, general facts above mentioned, we must refer the reader for
technical details to the manuals in question.

There are, however, other means of arriving at structureless cellulo