Science, Art, And The Drama.

Science , Art , and the Drama .

COTTON-SEED OIL . The cotton-seed oil industry , though it can boast but a comparatively recent origin , bids fair to attain to great importance . As the name of this product implies , it is the oil obtained by crushing the seeds of the cotton plant . Probably cotton-seed oil has always been known to cotton producers , but it is only within the last 25 years that even an eminently practical people

like the cotton farmers of the United States have realised the commercial possibilities of the product . Before the great Civil War occurred between the Northern and the Southern States , the Texas and South Carolina planters had hardly heard of this oil . New conditions , however , prevailed with the advent of peace . Great Britain was not so dependent upon the United States for her cotton supplies as she had been . The Southern

planters , too , had to work on the most economical lines possible , and thus cotton products , regarded during the " ante-bellum days " as of no account , were carefully utilised . Still cotton-seed oil made slow progress , and the year 1867 saw only some four mills for crushing the seed in the United States . At the close of 1894 , however , the number had increased to 253 , of which no fewer than 27 are in South Carolina . England , too , has a big share

of this oil business . Whole cargoes of cotton-seed , frequently in bulk , are brought to this country principally from Alexandria . The United States used to send us vast quantities of this seed . She now cloes so no longer , crushing the seed and manufacturing the various products derived from it herself . Hull is the principal port to which these consignments of Egyptian . and Brazilian cotton-seed find their way ,

the manufacture of vegetable oils being a very important one at the Humberside town , lc ' well known that the raw cotton of commerce is the fluffy or downy fibre surrounding the seeds of the cotton plant . When the cotton is picked , and the seeds excluded , it is only to be expected that some portion of the fibre remains attached to the seeds . Before the seeds are crushed this has to be carefully removed . The process is aptly

described as delinting , and the lint or cotton picked off in the process , though short in the staple , is extremely fine and silky to the touch , and has a high commercial value , being especially sought alter by manufacturers of gun-cotton . No portion of the seed is wasted . Formerly the hulls , or shells , were regarded as possessing no commercial value , and were merely used as fuel . Now , howe \ er , it has been amply demonstrated that fuel of

this description is extremely costly . They are largely used as cattle food , being mixed for that purpose with cotton-meal ' , the crushed kernel of the cotton-seed . Formerly , the cotton-meal used to be almost wholly exported to Great Britain or the Continent of Europe , where its efficacy as a cattlefattener has long been duly recognised . Mucn , however , of the seed-meal is now despatched from the cotton areas to the towns or cattle-raising

centres of the north and west of the United States , wh le another considerable portion of the output is returned to the land , mixed with phosphates , as a fertiliser , to promote the growth of future cotton crops . Strange as it may seem , the oil manufactured in England is held superior to that produced in the United States , on accojnt ot its greater clearness

and better colour . Among the inhabitants of the United States cottonseed oil is rapidly achieving popularity . Many housewives prefer it in their culinary processes to lards , and animal fats of a like nature , and an equally dubious origin . In fact , cotton-seed oil enters very largely into the composition of many of the compounds called " lard . " ( To be continued . )

The Schweitzer System Of Bread-Making In Paris.

THE SCHWEITZER SYSTEM OF BREAD-MAKING IN PARIS .

There has recently been established in Paris a society for forming in all the populous centres of France combinaiion milling and baking-houses , worked by machinery , known as the " Schweitzer system . " The ooj'rct is to furnish 100 kilogrammes ( 220 lbs . ) of nutritious and digestible white bread from 103 kilogrammes of grain at the lowest cost of production . The United States Consul at Roubaix , in his last report , says that the model

establishment which is at La Vellette , Paris , opened its doors to the public on 15 th June , 18 99 . It may be visited on Sundays by those desirous of studying its operation . At a meeting of the Society , in December last , a report was made concerning the success of the effort to supply good bread at a low price to the Parisian public . In the bakery at La Villette and in the branch houses sales are rising daily . Official analyses by the National

Agronomical Institute and by the municipal laboratory at Pans show that the Schweitzer bread contains more nutritive nitrogenous properties than ordinary baker ' s bread , and more than double the phosphates in the latter . The bread known as pain de menage is sold to the working classes at about 1 | d . per pound , considerably less than the usual price . Tha Villette establishment is a bjilding of iron and stone , about 515 feet long , situated on a

canal , and constructed at a cost of about ^ , 40 , 000 . The wheat arrives in a boat , which is moored in the canal , elevators hoist it into bins , whence it is carried by an immense elevator to the top of the mill , and lurnsd into the different cleaning and separating machines . After all foreign substances have been removed , and the grains of wheat have undergone a thorough brushing and washing , they are clean and shining ; but the grooves of the

wheat sometimes retain a little dust . This is completely eliminated by a Schweitzer appliance , which , seizing each grain lengthwise , splits it exactly in the groove . The wheat thus cleinsed passes into the mill , compased of flat circular steel grinders , grooved in such a manner that they accomplish the decortication of the kernel and its granulation into meal at the same time . Attached to the mill are the works for kneading

trie meal , water , and yeast into bread . All this is done mechanically , the works being separated into three stories . Special yeast is prepared in the upper story in rooms heated in winter and cooled i 1 summer . The yeast , fbur , and the salted and filtered water , are carried down by machinery into kneaders in the form of half-cylindrical tubs . The wneat , salted water , and yeast automatically enter one end of the tub , and dough , in an endless skein of pale yellow , issue from the opposite end . Tnis dough

finall y falls on tables on the ground floor , where it is weighed and made into bread of every shape and dimension . In connection with this model establishment is a laboratory forthe chemical ex imination of the samples of wheat submitted for purchase . These are , upon arrival , ground and passed through a sieve by a small hand-bolting mill , which determines , immediately , the nutritive volume of the grain in gluten and nitrogenous matter . This system is on view at the Paris Exhibition .

Miniature Painters In The Reign Of Elizabeth.

MINIATURE PAINTERS IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH .

( Continued . ) In the same collection ( that of Charles I . ) were several more of his works , particularly a view of the Spanish Armada , and a curious jewel , containing the portraits of Henry VII ., Henry VIII ., Edward V ., and Queen Mary ; on the top was an enamelled representation of the battle of Bosworth , and on the reverse the red and white roses . This jewel was

purchased by the King of Hilliard ' s son . The tablets upon which Hilliard painted his miniatures were seldom of ivory . " Hippolito Donato , a celebrated limner at Rome , used a card , or smooth piece of pasteboard , which , after he had rubbed with a slickstone , he , with starch finely laid on , pasted an abortive skin upon the same , upon which , when it was thoroughly dry , smooth pressed , and prepared , he did draw the form of the

face with lines of lake , " Peacham . In the essay towards an English school of painters , it is said that Mr . Fanshaw had the portraits of Hilliard and his father , finely executed , with inscriptions on gold letters ; on the former" Nicolas Hilliardus , aurifaber , sculptor , et Celebris illuminator serenissimoe regincc Elizabethan , anno 1557 , oet suce 30 . " On the

other" Ricardus Hilliardus , quondam vicecomes civitatis , et comitatus , Exonioe , anno 1563 , cetatis suce 58 , A . D . 1577 . " Virtue says he saw them , afterwards , in the possession of the last Sidney Earl of Leicester , and that they were then taken out of the old frames and set in a snuff box . Hilliard continued in vogue during this reign , and great numbers of portraits by his hand , especially of ladies , are extant . Of this

statement , doubts may reasonably be entertained , because so much time was requisite for a degree of finishing so elaborate ; and his price was also very large . Want of a careful protection , or the evanescent nature of the tints , has , at all events , reduced them now to a very small number . Miniatures , for many obvious reasons , are much more liable to be destroyed than oil paintings , if the fading of their colours only were considered .

Hilliard obtained still greater favour from King James , drawing his Majesty's and Prince Henry ' s pictures ; and receiving a patent to this effect—printed by Rymer : " Whereas our well beloved servant , Nicholas Hilliard , gentleman , our principal drawer of small portraits , and embosser of our medals , in gold , in respect of his extraordinary skill in drawing , graving , and imprinting , & c , we have granted unto him our special licence , for twelve years , to invent , make , grave , and imprint , any pictures of our

image , or our royal family , & c , and that no one do presume to do so without his licence obtained , & c . " This grant was of great emolument to him , as , about that time , he engraved many small plate and sold licences for others , with the heads of the king and royal family , which were then , and are still used for counters . Simon Pass , and other engravers were employed by him in these works . { To be continued . )

The Metropolitan Music Hall, Edgware-Road, W.

THE METROPOLITAN MUSIC HALL , EDGWARE-ROAD , W .

We had a spare evening last week , and paid a visit to the above music hall . Its exterior is very attractive , being well illuminated with electric installation . We were agreeably surprised with what we saw . A Mus Agnes Maltino , with a well-trained sweet voice , gave an operatic solo , in costume . A sketch , entitled "On Deck , " by the Ouda Bros ., was very smart ; one or two of the effects were original and unexpected .

Miss Goodwynne Earle , comedienne , has evident talent , The Dumond Italian Minstrels ( French rather ) we recognised as old favourites , having previously seen them at the Alhambra and elsewhere ; their music was as good as ever—the solo on the violin was played with great delicacy and finish . The Miniature Marie was a pretty young girl , full of life and animation ; she was , deservedly , a great favourite with the audience . Mr . Geo . Chirgwin , with his eccentric dress and minner . seemed to afford

great amusement . There were some good African and Chinese pictures—Bio-Tableaux they are called . During tne interval the March from " Tannhauser " was effectively rendered by the band . There was a laughable sketch , " Troubles in Monkeyland , " by the Lomas Troupe , which afforded opportunity to display their agility . Mr . Chas . E . Edwards , as the Happy Tramp , is very clever . The ever-blooming Minnie Palmer was seen in her American success " Rose Pompon . "

General Notes.

GENERAL NOTES .

Mrs . Langtry will open the renovated Imperial Theatre at Westminster with the new play written for her by Victorien bardou , called " Marie Antoinette . " The title role and leading character , we need hardly say , will

be impersonated by the fair manageress . •» * » At the Empire the new illusion now in rehearsal will be shortly produced It is styled " A Phantom Drill , " and in a spectral army appears and dis appears—as mysteriously as De Wet ' s forces .

The Alhambra Theatre , at the request of many of its patrons , is announcing a series of five matinees , at which children will be admitted at half price to the reserved seats .

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