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Show Uses of Seaweed. The various useff to which seaweed i now found to be applicable are far in excess ex-cess of what were ever dreamed of in years past. Formerly iodine, bromine, magnesia, and potash salts were the chief products of this bountiful substance of nature,; which was also employed, as is the case now.'when more 'or less decomposed, decom-posed, as a fertilizer on land adjoining the seacoast, its yield of ammonia being upwards of 2 per cent. Some varieties were collected as articles of food in Scotland, Scot-land, Ireland, Norway,' etc. Of late years seaweed has been made into charcoal, char-coal, and into a 'material for wh!p handles, and still more recently the curious curi-ous substance known as algin has been produced from it, having been introduced as a stratum for photographic films, and for other purposes. From this material, algin, what is termed alginic acid is likewise obtained, and by acting upon the latter with nitric acid a new light colored dye, which i insoluble in water, but dissolves in alkalies, alka-lies, yielding a brown solution, has been discovered. It is said that the amnio-niacal amnio-niacal solution of this new product dyes cotton a fine Bismarck brown, which is not removed by soap, and is found to be not only equal to aniline dyes of the same description, but to excel many of them. Unlike aniline dyes, this new product will dye cotton, but not wool, and its acid solutions will not act as dyes at all. Montreal Star, |